United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 4-0 League One loss away to Charlton, Abbott saying that there isn't a lot to say about the defeat:
JP
What do you say after an afternoon like that?
GA
Well, there is not a lot to say you know, the obvious disappointment that the little bit of a run we had going has come to an abrupt end, but it is the manner in which it comes to an end. A little bit disappointed, again we are sympathetic with our fans, I thought they were fantastic again today, I mean probably because the game was out of reach so early on in the piece that they have tried to enjoy themselves. But, we have got a job of putting something right on the football pitch and today we made some really basic individual errors and we were punished for every single one of them.
You probably have errors like that strewn over a five or six match period and we have had them all in one game, and it hurts and we are going back with a long journey and our tail between our legs a little bit. But, we have to pick the boys up now for Tuesday and look forward to a big game, at the end of the day we have lost three points and that is the good thing about it, that is all you lose. But, the second-half performance grabbed a little bit of pride back I would think.
JP
Is that a silver lining in a way that those things could have happened in consecutive games elsewhere and you might have had to learn from them individually after losing points from different games?
GA
Yeah, if it is 0-0 on Tuesday night and we miss a penalty in the 90th minute it is a couple of points lost again, but I am glad we have missed it today if we are going to miss one, then miss it when you are 4-0 down. There is never a good time to make mistakes but there are certainly better times than others and hopefully they are all out of the way now and we can excite everybody with a really powerful revenge performance, a revenge against ourselves by the way, not anybody else, on Tuesday night.
JP
In terms of the mistakes, in particular obviously Adam Collin with the goal and James Tavernier with the second goal, are they things you need to talk to them about or will they know? Will they immediately react to that themselves?
GA
We have done it, you know me better than I will come out and publically criticise any individuals, because we make mistakes as a team, as a group, I have just said that is all of us, when one player makes a mistake it is all of us. Listen, we know and individuals now themselves, and they don't need me coming up here and lambasting them on public radio, but we talk in there and they know, they accept and we move on, that is the way it is.
They don't mean to make them but they can't make too many of them because that means that they are not going to find a level of performance that we need at the club. But, we are not coming up here to say it is his fault or his fault, we have lost, we have made mistakes as a team, it was poor in the first half an hour, whatever could have gone wrong has gone wrong and then we are wondering where we go from there.
Matty (Robson) gets sent off then and again it puts himself under a lot of pressure, but the second-half they have come out and done what they probably should have done in the first-half. They have been pretty decent and have popped the ball around nicely and created a couple of chances and played how we know they can, but they have got to do that from the start on Tuesday and we can put this one out of our mind.
JP
We have already had one fan who said as much as it wasn't Carlisle's day today Charlton were just exceptional, I mean they look like a potential title winner don't they?
GA
Yeah, I mean we had this with MK Dons and MK Dons I think at the start of the day were a point ahead of us or something like that. So, if you make mistakes like that you are going to make anybody look good, and I am not going to decry Charlton's performance, they have comprehensively beaten us today. But, we contributed to the game actually, we played some decent stuff at times, but when you make errors to the level we made today you are never winning any games.
We could have played a Conference side today and if we had made errors like that we would have got beat. They are a good side, there are 16 or 17,000 in here, they are top of the league and they have got a lot going for them, they have got a bit of momentum and yeah, they are decent, but whether they are good enough to win the league who knows. But, we weren't as good as we can be to find out the real truth about them today.
JP
Is it a godsend having such a big game on Tuesday night?
GA
We have just said all that in there, we are delighted we have got Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday, you won't need anything to pop us up for that. To be fair I think the players want to look after the staff as well you know, we all work together and I shoulder responsiblity, I have no problem with that whatsoever and I take all the criticisms. I would rather they take the praise when we win but I don't mind taking the criticisms because I am braver than them and tougher than then and I have been around the game a long time.
I think there is a feeling in there that they want to do it for us, the staff, because like I said, there is a close group in there and people care about each other. They care about me and I certainly care about them, Kav (Graham Kavanagh) and Caigy (Tony Caig) and Dolly (Neil Dalton), we all care about them such a lot, and I think that is why we generally do bounce back. There is a good feeling in there about what can we do about it now, which is very, very important off the back of a really disappointing defeat.
JP
And I assume that is Matt Robson out of that game, it kicks in straight away does it?
GA
Yes, that is that one, that is something for me, I have got plenty to think about haven't I over the weekend.
JP
One or two selection issues for you, you don't need to motivate anyone for the game, it will be we hope one of the best gates of the season for you and I am sure all those fans there as well who do make it to Brunton Park wiill be hoping they can put this one to bed like you?
GA
Yeah, I mean in adversity people generally stick together, and I know that is what we will do. I know that is what the crowd will do on Tuesday night, and they will see a tough game against a massive, massive club, and they will be on our side and they will want to see us try to produce and we will be doing our utmost to do that for them.
JP
Tom Taiwo just finally, one card away from a booking now, is that anything you can ever eradicate from his game or would that spoil him as a player?
GA
No, I think you have just got to let Tom do what Tom does, and if he gets the bookings then he gets the bookings. But, tackling and breaking up is massively part of his game, I am not going to tell him.......... We could tell him to be a bit more careful, it is 100 and odd games now to his belt, he has got to start learning when and where and be a bit more careful. But, when they are out there they have to fend for themselves and work that out for themselves, and if he finds himself out of the team through suspension then he has opened the door for others. So, that is an issue for Tom as an individual to deal with, but that is his game and there are people get more bookings than others and he is one of them.