Greg Abbott On The Millwall Draw

Last updated : 15 August 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Blues boss Greg Abbott
United boss Greg Abbott spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips after Carlisle's 0-0 draw away to Millwall, Abbott very happy with the defensive efforts of his team at the New Den this afternoon :


" I am pleased, I am pleased for the players. We are working exceptionally hard at all aspects of our game, but certainly the defensive side of it to make sure that we get our clean sheets that gives us the chance to get points on the board.

" I thought that defensively today as a team everybody, I don't mean the back four and the goalkeeper, I mean right throughout the team, little Tom Taiwo in the midfield epitomises what we are about. He closed people down, made endless runs to support people. If we get these clean sheets then we will start turning them into 1-0 victories and then we can start turning them into 2-0 victories and we can get some big points on the table and have a better season.

" I don't know about extending his stay so soon, it is the last thing on my mind, but he has certainly come in and done a fantastic job for us in the middle of the park. He has got great energy, he breaks things up, I don't know - you watch it from up here, how many times did he back tackle, intercept stuff and break things up for Millwall. They must have thought that he was a real pain in the backside for them today but it is something that we will have to look at.

" This happened because we are together, we are together as a football club, everybody from top to bottom is together. There are frustrations and anxieties from elsewhere but what we have got to do is just look at how we are performing and the manner in which we are performing. We want to get better and if you are together as a football club then you have a genuine chance.

" Time is of the essence, people need to give this team time, it is a young side now being built with a couple of experienced players in there. We are going to build though and try to improve things at this football club, and with the attitude and commitment that we have got from top to bottom, we are going to be fine. "



" I don't know how Norwich have got on today but they got beat 7-1 last week and I feel sure that they haven't got beaten 7-1 today. Last week we conceded soft and sloppy goals which does happen, it does happen in football matches, and it makes them very difficult to win. We didn't think that Brentford were better than us last week and I said to my team at the start of the week on Monday, let's find out if we are a good or a bad side.

" Because we don't find out if we give away goals like we did last weekend, and today we find out that we are a decent side. On Tuesday night we found out that we are a decent side, we need to build on the defensive part of our game and then start taking that play into the other part of the field and scoring goals to win us the games that we are drawing at the moment.

" He (Tom Taiwo) when he had his chance looked like he had got into an area where he doesn't get very often. I know that Tom, it is a part of his game that we want to improve, his work with the ball and his goalscoring record.

" To be fair though it looked like he had run out of energy, he hardly had the energy to swing his left foot. He has picked up from that though and battled on away for the last 20 minutes. For him to have scored the goal at Millwall away would have been fantastic but it wasn't to be, but the other parts of his game are very, very good. "



" We have put a lot of hard work into the defensive side of our game and you can see by the players' energies and efforts that they want to play for this football club, and they want to keep clean sheets and they want to defend properly. Sometimes they have a tendency to try too hard and that causes them problems.

" What we are saying to them is just defend properly, look at Ian Harte, he defends properly, he doesn't get flustered by a lot. He had a couple of different problems to deal with today and he deals with it. Richard (Keogh) and Danny (Livesey) and Rav (David Raven) can learn from the experience that Ian shows. The time to be composed and the time to go bull at a gate and smash people about, and I mean smash people about in the nicest possible way.

" With due respect to Evan (Horwood), Hartey is one that you can rely on. As the game has gone on he has got better and better and the threat on his side has become less and less. You need your experienced players at places like this and Evan will learn off Ian as well. There was a time in the first-half where he stepped up and played offside that was part of Evan's game that we have been working on.

" All these younger players that are on the sidelines at the moment will learn from quality players that we have got and good professionals. Ian is one of them and Kav (Graham Kavanagh) is one of them, Paul Thirlwell is another one of them, that the younger players will learn and they will be better people and better players for playing with these sort of people.

" If we defend as well as we did today on Tuesday then we won't get beat at Stockport, that is a certainty. Now what we have got to do then is try to find the goals and the play to win us the games. It is one step at a time for this football club though isn't it. "



" We were expected probably by a lot of people to come here and roll over and let Millwall take the points. They have been very surprised by our determination and our quality today. If we can turn that round and defend as well and attack with a little bit more purpose at times than we fear not on Tuesday night.

" We are always looking at striking options, you know that, and we are going to try something this week. Again, Dennis (Booth) was away today and we are going to speak to Dennis today and then we are going to regroup again and find out where we can be with bringing a couple of players in. The game is obviously a priority on Tuesday but that is another priority that needs addressing and we will work desperately hard to do that as well.

" We are interested in good players and they (Scunthorpe) have obviously leaked it out at the other end that we have made an enquiry about Kevan (Hurst). We are hopeful that we can try to do something and persuade the lad to come and play for us. He is a very, very good player though and we have made a firm enquiry.

" We just go for good players and Scunthorpe have got a few, if you can tell me some more that are fit and available then we will go for them as well. It is a search that goes on far and beyond, Kevan is one that has come under the radar and if we can manage to persuade him to come then that would be terrific. It is the early stage of that yet, but I have got a game on Tuesday to sort out and I have got a squad to build and make better to sort out as well. "



" We are hopeful on both a striker and a winger, we are seriously hopeful on both. It is something that I think the players wanted to happen because we want an improvement in the depth of our squad, and certainly the fans and myself want it to happen. So I think that it is a common denominator, we all want to improve this football team and I think that the players deserve that. Let's go in there and take the game to some of these big teams, even when we are away from home, that is what we are looking for.

" You are always hopeful on injuries, with the two boys that we have left behind (Peter Murphy and Paul Thirlwell) I won't know until Monday. There were a couple of bumps and bruises there today, but we are hopeful that they are only bumps and bruises and we can play through all that. I don't think that there is anything touch wood though that is serious.

" The job is a hard job, being is a football manager is hard job. What I am saying to everybody is that the things that are going on at the football club are right. We need time to improve the thing, we have had a real knock last season and there is a lot of knocking round the area.

" What I am telling the people though is that we are going to be fine given time. Patience is something that you don't always get but what we are saying is that you can see the determination, you can see the attitudes of the players. We are going to build and improve this football club though, I can guarantee that. "