Greg Abbott - Radio Cumbria Interview Part Two

Last updated : 18 September 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Blues boss Greg Abbott
United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) on Friday evening ahead of Carlisle's League One match at Boundary Park against Oldham tomorrow, Abbott first talking about the latest injury situation at Brunton Park :



JP

Just on the injury front, of course we have learned this week that Kevan Hurst has been carrying a bit of a knee problem. Is he looking likely to be available for you?

GA

He is fine, Kevan is fine, he is one that we have got to nurse through. I have had a bit of a, not anything like the Martin O'Neill altercation, but I have had to make sure….. Kevan just wants to play, that is a great thing about the lad, he just wants to play and perform and he wants to train. He loves his training with us, he says that it is a good tempo and he enjoys the quality of the work we are doing.

Sometimes with the problem he has got he needs to come out a little bit and take it easy during the week. That is what I said to him, we are guided by him, I don't know how bad his knee is but what I don't want to do is work him really hard during the week and then him suffer on a Saturday. So he is fit and ready and he will be in the starting line-up tomorrow, that is one that I will give you. But we need to make sure that with the amount of games and the amount of training that we have got, the workload on him, it doesn't cause his knee too many problems.

JP

And is Richard Keogh the only man still out and how much longer is he likely to be out for?

GA

Richard Keogh trained today and he looked very good, so there is one that is a big bonus for us.

JP

He has even got an outside chance of being in the squad?

GA

He is going to come with us, he is going to come with us tomorrow because he trained today and Richard has been chomping at the bit. He has been doing a lot of work with Dolly (Neil Dalton) the physiotherapist and it was a big surprise to me that he has come through the session today as well as he has, so that is an unexpected bonus for everybody.




JP

Your away form it has been fair to say has been underpinning what you have been doing this season. How important is it with the Oldham match tomorrow that you keep that momentum going away from Brunton Park?

GA

I just want to keep winning, what I want to do is get us into an area where we have got daylight between us and the teams at the bottom end of the table. So if we can get a result tomorrow then it is a really positive start to a really tough week, and obviously what is following that is tough as well. So the three points tomorrow would be massive in terms of giving us a bit of breathing space and daylight between the teams at the bottom end. We can start looking the other way rather than over our shoulder.

JP

We have been talking on BBC Radio Cumbria about perhaps the more cautious, even counter-attacking style, you do adapt sometimes on the road seems to suit your team. Is it possible that you can do that in front of an expectant crowd at Brunton Park or is there a sort of expectation that you have to take the game to your opponent, is it difficult to do that?

GA

It is difficult and people have to understand that we are getting a bit of respect now with the quality of our play. So it is hard to play counter-attacking football when teams sit back in two banks of four and wait for you to have the initiative. Tomorrow the initiative is on Oldham to come out and play against us and that does invite the counter-attack system. We are not a counter-attacking team, what we have got is pace in the team which we haven't had in the past.

When teams do come out and play against us it opens up holes for us to exploit and that is what we do. Rather than say it is a rearguard action and then we will hit people on the counter-attack, it is more that people at home have to come out and play against us and then it gives us more space. At home that never, I wouldn't have thought, would be the case because teams are going to sit back and let us try to come out and attack them, which is up to the home side to do that to be fair.

JP

Just finally then regarding home, would you say it is almost fair to say that you are still to discover quite how you want to play at home against teams who will come and sit back against you?

GA

Well, we have got to find a way of dealing with that and that is what we are doing. That is the key to the work we have done this week and it will be the key towards the Portsmouth game and the Southampton game which are at home after this one. But we have got to find a way of dealing with teams that make life difficult for us at Brunton Park and that is something we are working on and something we will try to find the answers for.