Greg Abbott On The Everton Defeat

Last updated : 03 January 2010 By Thetashkentterror

Blues boss Greg Abbott
United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) after Carlisle's 3-1 FA Cup third round exit away to Everton, Abbott understandably having mixed emotions after the match :



JP

How do you feel this evening after that display?

GA

Mixed, we are pleased with the way the players have gone out and performed and the way our football club has been represented today, from the fans right the way through the staff and right the way through the players. We are really pleased with the way we have conducted ourselves, I thought the fans were outstanding, absolutely outstanding. Then the players have contributed to a terrific game we think and we feel a little bit aggrieved that we are not standing here with a little bit more than a 3-1 defeat.

We thought we were better than that, we thought that a bit more rub of the green at times and certain things gone our way then we would maybe even have won the game. That is how well the boys have played today, so we are a little bit disappointed but pleased with the way we have conducted ourselves and the way that the players have performed.

JP

(Marouane) Fellaini, the Belgian in the middle of the park had a superb game, the guy with all the hair, but should he have been on there all the time?

GA

Well the referee and the linesmen have got to do their job at certain times and we feel that today they didn't. It is not as important for Fellaini to stay on the field as it is for the linesman to give the free-kick which led to the second goal. We think that it is a cast iron free-kick and those decisions go against you and that is what turns really good performances into bad results.

At the end of the day we have got beat so we are upset with that and we feel that they should do their job. We don't think that they have done today but they might argue different, in their opinion they are always going to be right but we have to suck that.

JP

It did appear, and certainly in the view of the commentary team, that two key incidents went very much against you, aside from that though, the performance of the team, what does that give you? What does that tell you about your team and just how high they can play when you are going into League One again next weekend?

GA

Well it tells us that we have got great spirit, we have great potential, we are doing the right things, the team is moving in the right direction. We have to come back down to earth, we have to get ourselves organised for next week. This performance will mean nothing if we can't take the momentum and the quality through to next week and get a result against Millwall, it will soon be forgotten.

If we win the next two or three games it will be remembered as another platform to give us that belief and that confidence that we can be a really good side. We have played some nice stuff against a really decent Premier League side and they know they have been in a hell of a football game today, and they know that they have probably been a bit fortunate to get the win.





JP

By a twist of fate we had four Cumbrians sat behind us, two Carlisle fans and two Everton fans who were on their trips, and all of them felt at half-time that you couldn't tell who was the Premier League side. Is that a big compliment?

GA

Well that is the compliment of the day isn't it when people come in that are impartial and say that. I thought that we played really well in the second-half at times, we really thought Matty Robson has really caused problems. But our tenacity, our desire was all there and a lot of times through the game our quality was very good. So we have to take a lot of pats on the back, well the players do, from the way that they played. If people are saying that at times they didn't know who was who then that is a nice compliment.

JP

Isn't there more you can take out of the game, even though it is a defeat in the end, even though the luck went against you, that it was luck and it was even a mistake in the first-half that allowed Everton to score. It was only those little things that took this away from being at the very least a replay for you.

GA

That is why we are disappointed because we feel that at the very worst we should be taking Everton back. But we have talked about positives and I think next week is a day for talking about more of the good stuff that came out of the game and how we can kick on and improve from here. Let's now look forward to an exciting league campaign and we have got the Johnstone's Paints as well. So there is a lot for those fans, those 6,000 magnificent fans, to look forward to in the second part of the season.

JP

Perhaps against Tranmere just a little bit sluggish after the 13 days but you made sure you weren't beaten, you have got another point, you kept the clean sheet in that match. Now with this performance against Everton you will feel that you can go into that next match all guns blazing?

GA

Well that is it, we have to take the good performances and the quality that we have been showing of late into these games and drive on now. It is time, cometh the hour we have got to drive on, cometh this team, we have to drive on and make sure that we keep the impetus going and we keep the season exciting. Because at the minute it is an exciting day for everybody connected with this football club and I don't think we have disappointed too many, I hope not anyway.





JP

Tom Taiwo can't have failed to catch the eye a little bit with his display in the middle of the park again today. This was officially his last game for the club, he is to have more do we know yet?

GA

We are going to talk about all that on Monday and hopefully we will have some good news on that situation. But I think today is all about the players and the fans and the club as a whole and how well they have done and how much they have contributed to a terrific game.

JP

Nothing more then on the three (Taiwo, Adam Clayton and Vincent Pericard) at this stage?

GA

I just said that didn't I? (laughs)

JP

You kind of did yeah, press conference on Tuesday, I will look forward to that one, just a final word then for your fans, 6,000 of them made it. A lot were caught because of snow and the railways and couldn't even make it today and will have been listening today. What would you like to say to those who made it and those who couldn't?

GA

Well the ones that didn't, we really are upset for them because I think the ones that were here have enjoyed a nice occasion. We have kept them in the game, we have kept them on the edge of their seats all the way through, we have given them a performance that I hope they are pleased with.

We have given a performance that they must have thought at times that we were going to win the game. They were outstanding, the round of applause that we got at the end of the game, the players got, was fantastic. I have to say it was absolutely fantastic, probably the best since I have been at this club.