Greg Abbott On The Hereford Defeat

Last updated : 25 March 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Blues boss Greg Abbott
United manager Greg Abbott spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey after Carlisle's 2-1 defeat at home to Hereford, Abbott partly blaming his misfiring strikeforce for the result :


" There was not enough good stuff but I am just ruing the fact that we can't put the ball in the back of the net. At times in the game we open up and as soon as a team attacks us we look like we are going to concede a goal. At both ends of the pitch we are just showing massive inadequacies, again, I have to take responsibility and I have to shoulder the blame.

" When people put the ball over the bar from four yards out though with no goalkeeper anywhere near them, how do I explain that? When people miss headers at the back-post when there is nobody to beat, how do I explain that? These things are massive in terms of what happens in a football match and if that is my fault then that is my fault. Certainly the defending side of our game was poor, but attacking chances and options, we have created enough to win two or three games tonight and just not done it.

" We wanted a physical presence at the back and we wanted Gareth (Taylor) and Richard (Keogh) to dominate that area of the field. Across the back four we get exposed too quickly, it is easy to point fingers, it is easy to say that we should have done this or we should have done that. Gareth has played there before, he knows the game, his experience we think was going to help us.

" Is he to blame for the goals?, I am not so sure that you can single him out, we haven't had any cover. His experience and the fact that he has got a presence, he is very good obviously in the air, he is comfortable on the ball, we have exposed him and Richard. I don't think that the full-backs, Michael (Liddle) has not had one of his better games and David (Raven) either.

" Collectively we have got to hold a responsibility for defensive frailties, not just isolate one person. Actually I don't think that it was all down to Gareth to be honest, it is because it is a strange position to him in terms of his normal position, we think that that is an easy one to isolate, but I am not so sure that I would do that. "



" Playing Lewis Neal inside was something that we did, we tried to get on the ball, we have been criticised for not passing it and going too long. We tried to play a little bit narrower and move the ball around, but the first goal comes from Michael (Bridges). He has held his hand up, it is an awful pass, it puts anybody in trouble the way that he has tried to play the ball behind everybody and square.

" It puts so many of the players out of the game, it puts them right on the front foot and us on the back foot. It's true, there is no chance to get any cover on with a pass from our inside left position to their outside left position and opens up the whole of the game. We have suffered for it and that is the way that it is going for us at the moment, every mistake we make is punished.

" The amount of times their goal has been peppered and the keeper (Peter Gulacsi) has dropped the ball and it still doesn't go over the line. We put the ball underneath the keeper, he spills it and we still can't finish it. We get the ball in five yards from goal with an open goal, we still can't finish it. These are the frustrations and they change the course of the game, and today it is not down to luck, it is down to poor finishing. I will have to say that it is poor finishing and we have paid the price for that.

" Scott (Dobie) has got in there, he has got to the far-post, he has got himself in a great position, he hasn't finished it off. Did he mean to head over the bar?, of course he didn't but these are the narrow margins that send supporters home saying that I don't know what I am doing, and supporters saying that he was unlucky because they missed chances.

" Some err on the side of sympathy at the moment and some have no sympathy at all and I have to respect that and just accept that. It is so close to being a goal though and 2-2 at that stage, we might have won the game 3-2, who knows?, but we have lost the game and the manager always has to take the responsibility. "



" It is a situation now that we have found ourselves in, we have caused the problem, we have created that problem, we have it to deal with. Like Dennis (Booth) has said, and Dennis has given a terrific rallying speech to the boys afterwards, talking about responsibility, people rolling up their sleeves and digging deep and finding a performance. Because ultimately we can play any system, we can set any team, we stand and fall by the players when they cross that white line.

" At times tonight there were too many poor things happened, it was a chalk and cheese performance, a lot of good things but so many poor things, and the good things didn't end up with the goals that the play probably deserved. Then that puts you in that situation then on Saturday where we have got to find a performance from somewhere, and we have got to have some bravery and some honesty from the eleven players that go out on the pitch.

" There is no magic formula, you don't just say some words and they respond and the performance comes. They have got to keep digging, they have got to keep searching, they have got to keep trying to do the right things, they have got to keep their discipline, they have got to keep their shape and keep their determination.

" If they don't and they can't find that then we are going to be in serious trouble. We have got to ask the question and we have got to keep giving them the encouragement that they need, and the support that they need. Ultimately though, once they go across that white line they have got to do things at both ends of the field more effectively than they are doing. "



" I think that the players now are aware of the situation that we are in. We have had to talk about a serious battle against relegation haven't we, and that is what we have talked about there and for the last half an hour. Do they take it on board?, we have to hope so don't we, I can't speak for the players but me and Dennis know that it is a serious situation.

" We are doing our utmost to resolve it, hopefully we will get the response from the players, that is what we need. Because ultimately we can only go so far, the rest of it has to be the players that go out there and deliver. They have got the hardest job of the lot because they are the ones that cross that white line and have to make a performance from somewhere.

" Paul (Thirlwell), obviously it was before half-time, he has got a calf injury, it is a major problem for us isn't it because he has had that one before and it has kept him out of the game for a few games. We are looking at similar news so, Peter Murphy, Paul Thirlwell on top of Danny Livesey on top of Marc Bridge-Wilkinson. Is it time to say that we are missing those players?, well I think that we are but we have to get on with it, we have to find a team, we have to find a performance and we have to find a result.

" We will have to look at the loan market tomorrow, I will have to speak to the people at the club and see if we can do that. There are a couple of irons in the fire so we will have a chat tomorrow and see if something develops from there. We have got strikers that score goals, if they get into the positions that they have got into tonight, they weren't half chances, they were cast iron golden chances.

" We have got so many options upfront, is there an amount of money there to buy strikers as well as midfield players and defenders, I am not sure. We will have to ask the question, at the minute the strikers are in the right positions but they have just been poor in front of goal. Is it an option?, we will have to have a think about that tomorrow when I break it all down and try to digest what has happened tonight. At the minute though I am more concerned at the other end of the field I have to say. "