Greg Abbott On The Bristol City Win

Last updated : 26 August 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Blues boss Greg Abbott
United boss Greg Abbott spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips after Carlisle's excellent 2-0 Carling Cup win away to Bristol City, Abbott very happy with the way that his players have started the season :


" We feel very pleased with ourselves to be honest, we feel that we are going in the right direction as a club and as a group of players. A lot of praise on the players, they have been terrific through the start of the season. Things haven't gone our way in terms of the whole lot of results but in terms of the way they are preparing and their attitude and their determination, and the way that they are setting about their job……

" We think that we are going to be OK, we think that we are improving bit by bit. Results are vital in this game because that is what we are judged on. If we play the type of football that we are starting to play at the moment then we think that we are going to get the results and things will start to go our way. Confidence will run and momentum will gather and we think that we will be fine.

" We have won because we were better than Bristol City on the night, it is as simple as that. In the first-half we had to cope with a different system, which we talked about before the game, and we coped with it very, very well. In the first-half we had four chances, very good chances against probably Danny Haynes's half-shot on the turn, if you can call it a chance.

" We should have gone in up at half-time, again we are thinking that with our good play we have not got a goal. We said that we had to do it all again though and I thought that the second-half performance was absolutely terrific all over the pitch. We scored two fantastic goals and to be fair we deservedly won the game. "



" We felt that we were the better side in the first-half, sometimes you come to places like this and you are fearful of the type of players that you are playing against and the standard of Bristol City. They are a very, very good side, they have been pushing for the play-offs for the Premier League over the last couple of years. Today we have come and we have been, not apprehensive, we have played very well in the first-half and I thought that in the second-half we were terrific.

" Some fantastic football there and the boys have got to believe and everybody has got to believe in them. Results won't always go our way but the type of football that we are trying to play and we are working towards playing, the confidence and the momentum gets going, then we could be a very good side. At the minute they are playing very, very well without getting probably the rewards that they deserve.

" It is very easy not to go over the top about it because I have just told them that this is a stepping stone. It is just another performance that sets us on our way to playing better and competing better and getting better results. I wasn't overly disappointed on Saturday, well I was bitterly disappointed with the result because of the way that we played, but I don't get too downbeat any more. I don't take anything over one and two and three games, it is a period of football that we have to be worried about.

" The way that we are playing at the moment and the type of football that we are trying to produce, and the way that we are defending, is very, very encouraging. Can I guarantee anything? No, I can't guarantee anything but what I can probably guarantee is if we defend like we are and if we shape up like we are and we work as hard as we are then we are going to get more good performances and results than we are bad. "



" I think that you have got to think further ahead, I have always had that philosophy. I have never got too excited about one particular game, I would like to think that we are building a team that is going to be an improved side on what we have been. That takes time, and at four or five games starting to get excited about winning, well if we were top of the league after four or five games then you would have me talking exactly the same.

" If we are top of the league after 46 then you might get me in a different mode but what we have got to try to do is to keep producing the type of football and determination and the attitude through the group. I don't just mean the eleven, I mean the 20 players that we have got, and hopefully results long-term will improve and we will be a better football club for it.

" One signing like Richard Offiong often springs the others into action, and Gary Madine has scored and Scott Dobie has scored and Joe Anyinsah I thought was absolutely outstanding tonight. He has absolutely bullied the hell out of (Louis) Carey and Liam (Fontaine) so for me my biggest problem is which two do I pair up now on Saturday.

" That is a nice problem to have though and it is one which we haven't had in the past and we are all talking about four good strikers now. We are talking about we needed one, but it just shows you how quickly times change in football. If you show confidence in players, which we are doing, then just look at the performances that they produce. We did that with Scott Dobie on Saturday and he has produced a goal and a smashing performance again alongside Joe Anyinsah."



" That left-back that you keep saying that Matty Robson is, the run that he did on Saturday when he took on the whole of the Exeter team and shot just wide sets me thinking. Then today setting up the goal for Scott Dobie, maybe he is turning himself into a winger, even in your eyes.

" It doesn't surprise me that Kevan Hurst impressed because he is a very good player. Kevan Hurst is a very, very good player, a very intelligent footballer. The job that we asked him to do tactically, him and Matty Robson today, they carried it out to the letter and I thought that that the two of them were excellent. To the eye, you might not always see it to the eye, the job that they did for their team tonight was tremendous.

" I thought that the Richard Keogh and Danny Livesey partnership was flourishing as well as the Peter Murphy and Danny Livesey one. So again that just gives us strength in depth and it gives us an opportunity to carry an injury, as has what has happened to Richard in Richard's bad luck. Murph has come in and that was Murph back to something like his best, I thought that he was miles better tonight than he was on Saturday.

" He did OK on Saturday but tonight there is a different proposition, there is a really quick striker in Danny Haynes and a really good striker in the air in (John) Akinde. Then they have had the two brutes at the end, Akinde and (Jamie) McCombe to deal with and they have dealt with everything terrifically well. Again, that just augurs well for the future, it is a good little squad that we are building. "



" It is good to get Offiong in because if that is the reaction that I have got from the other players because he is here then he has done his job near enough really, and he has not kicked a ball yet. It is terrific and what we want is options and alternatives and if we can't break through with the two that we have got then we know that we have got two on the bench that can come on and make a big impact.

" That will have done Gary Madine the world of good today because he is chomping at the bit, he is feeling that he should be involved. He is the young one, he is the one that is developing, and I keep telling him that time is on his side and that he has got to keep playing and keep improving and keep his head down and keep working hard. All the things that everybody should be telling him, not that he should be this and he should be that, we are in charge of Gary's development and we hope that we are doing it the right way.

" We are going to go back now and have our soup and sandwiches and refuel at the hotel. They are going to be in bed very, very early, we are going to train again tomorrow, we are going to warm down with the lads that have played and they are going to walk and swim and jog. The lads that have not played are going to train at Bristol City's ground, back there again on Friday morning, we are going to train there.

" We are then going to go to Leyton Orient and we are going to hopefully give a similar performance as we have done today, and then we think that a result will come off the back of a performance. We are hopeful that by 4.45pm the long week that it is when you are away from home for such a while and you are all together, pays its dividends and we can come away with two victories, which would be magnificent for the club.

" You are looking to be unbeaten everywhere, we hope to transfer those sort of performances to at home. Maybe everybody needs to start believing in this side and be starting to give it a little bit more patience and urging them on and we can reproduce that type of form and those types of goals which we are scoring away from home, at home. Because we owe our fans performances at home and that is what we aim to do. "