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GA
It is the type of performance that we have been trying to get that we were getting earlier on in the season. We had a bit of an indifferent spell didn't we with the injuries and bits and pieces that went against us, but we got through it pretty much unscathed. I thought last night's performance was terrific, and at half-time on Saturday you are thinking - why is the team performing like this?
But, it does sometimes happen and there were other shock results and there were other poor performances, they do happen. But, we managed to find our form I just thought in the conditions, I just thought that the team was really, really back on top form and delighted to see that type of performance.
JP
What did you think was behind that? How did you get that sort of a performance off the back of the weekend?
GA
Well, we are a good side I think and we know that sometimes when the psychological test is Tamworth or Sheffield Wednesday, it is probably easier to raise yourself without even knowing it and without deliberately setting out to play average.
On Saturday it happens, they were up for it, they came out of the traps guns blazing. We warned them, we prepared them but it is something in peoples' minds and it happens not just for our side, it happens for all the types of sides, Manchester United included.
If you are not prepared right at any level then you find life difficult and we did on Saturday, but we really got it sorted out and I thought we were well worth the win. We played more like the side we know we are and that is one defeat I think in nine games or something, and six wins and a draw in the last seven home games, so we are not a bad side.
JP
21 goals in a month as well, finding those a lot easier to come by these days, what is behind that?
GA
Erm, well contrary to you and what you say I always believe that there are goals in the side and I don't get worried about it when the team are playing like they did and like they have been. I told you they would come and I told you we might have a 25 goal a season man, and you were talking about where is he going to come from I think as early as August.
That doesn't give many people much time, so I think patience is the virtue as well there. Gary (Madine) is proving that he might be that man, maybe he is not, but he has certainly got a better chance of getting them now. He has got his 13 and I think that patience is the key and not making rash statements before anybody has had a chance to prove anything.
JP
Along with Gary scoring as well, the goals coming from all over the park, that must be great for you as well?
GA
And I think I said that as well didn't I as early on in the piece, that if you are patient and you look at the side and you look at the chances created there are going to be goals. I did say didn't I all along that there are goals in this team but we get making statements so early without giving anybody any opportunity or any chance, it sort of puts a little bit of added pressure on. I think three or four games into the season is probably too early to make rash predictions.
JP
It is only December though, if they all dry up will you be OK if I turn this back around on you then?
GA
No, I talk on facts, you talk on assuming and presuming which is always dangerous. But, if we don't score over the next few games it will be because other teams have worked hard and they have stopped us. But, we are certainly at the minute a side that looks like scoring, a side that looks like creating and a side that is trying to get the thing right at both ends.
We have improved our goalscoring record, but the point I am saying is that you have got to give systems and teams and players and individuals time before you start heaping a load of pressure on them. I am not saying we are going to score goals in the next four to five weeks but I think we have already proved that there are goals within the group and the performances have been pretty decent.
JP
And a good run of form in November, obviously hoping to build on that?
GA
Well, you can never guarantee but what we have just talked about as a group is our preparation and our mindset and the way we approach the games. We know the things we need to do when we have got the ball, we know the things we need to do when we haven't got the ball.
Sometimes there are basic, basic fundamental things in football that you have to stick to, there are a set of rules in football and if you stick to them then you don't go far wrong. We can dress up the coaching, we can dress up the tactical side and we can talk about all sorts of things.
But, if players haven't done the right things and don't stick to the rules then they find themselves coming off second best. More often than not this season we have done not bad, we have stuck to those rules and the players are starting to believe those things. That is, don't overplay it your own half, don't give away cheap goals, in midfield pass the ball positively and accurately and move it quickly.
Then get it into our front players which we think are a match for anybody, if we can get it into our front players, the (Francois) Zokos, the Madines, the (Ben) Marshalls, the (Craig) Currans and the (Matty) Robsons and the (Mike) Grellas then we are going to be a real handful for teams. That is what we are trying to do, get it into them with a bit of quality and that enables them to show people what they can do.
JP
In terms of that doing the right things in the right areas, how happy have you been with your midfield three of (Tom) Taiwo, (James) Berrett and the returning (Paul) Thirlwell? A long time out for Paul Thirlwell and you just wouldn't know it?
GA
Yeah, but, I have been saying as well for a while how influential he is and how much we have missed him, and what part he plays. I think you notice Paul sometimes more when he is actually not there. But, his influence on Saturday was immense, I thought he was terrific again last night and he supplies players with confidence as well.
Look at Tom Taiwo, all of a sudden he is getting back to his best. But, in there on his own with James, very inexperienced and needing that experienced shoulder to look for for a bit of guidance, and with Paul you get that.
But, I thought the three of them last night completely dominated the middle of the park and won every challenge, passed every ball, supplied the front men and supported the front men. I think that is that Paul is very instrumental in using Tom and James's legs and energy to good effect if you like.
JP
Ben Marshall is really starting to show the qualities he was showing last year and actually more now, he is starting to look almost the complete player. He is off back we believe to Stoke next week to have future talks with his parent club, are you still hopeful that he will be here beyond Christmas?
GA
Yeah, I think we are good for Ben as Ben has been good for us at the minute. He got off to a slow start, I think the way that Ben is performing now is what we know he is capable of. I think we would be daft not to try to persuade Stoke and Ben to stay a little bit longer.
JP
What about Lubomir Michalik and his longer term future? You intimated last night that you had talked to Leeds, what are your hopes and what is concrete with him at the moment?
GA
There is nothing concrete with any of them but what I can assure everybody is, and I keep repeating this to yourself, come the end of January I hope I have got the same strength of squad if not stronger than I have got at the moment.
That is what I am working at as well as the coaching and the training and the preparation and the games, I am working on that as well as I can imagine. Round the clock it doesn't stop and come January 31st I hope I have got at least the same quality and strength that I have got right now.
JP
Do you want the fans to sort of stick with you and try to trust you a bit on that one? Because, you have proved with some of the loan signings you have brought in in recent weeks, and your general signings, that you can find these players when your back is to the wall, even if a couple of the key players you have got now were to leave in January?
GA
I think the fans are trusting everything we are doing at the minute and they have been fantastic for us, and hopefully we have been good for them. I think there is a fantastic spirit right throughout now, and they do see what we are doing and they are understanding of how we are doing things, so I don't think there is any problem there.
JP
There are always those sceptical fans though, a few are looking at what the squad would have in it if you were to lose all of those loan players, but do you think maybe they should just trust in the fact that you will be able to find more if that case were to arise?
GA
I have just answered your question before, come January 31st, let's leave it at that, I am hoping that I have got the same strength of squad. The fans have seen us improve things bit by bit slowly and they are seeing a good squad. So, it is not easy but that is what the aim is and I am pretty confident I can do that.