United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 3-0 season opening day defeat at home to Notts County, Abbott saying it is difficult to know what to say after the game :
JP
What do you make of that then on the opening day?
GA
Erm, just one we never saw coming to be honest. The preparation has been ever so good, the performances have been ever so good, it is just strange, it is difficult to explain sometimes and it is difficult to know what to say after the game, because, it was just a performance devoid of any positives really throughout the team. I think sometimes players have to stand up and take their fair share of responsiblity at the end of it, I am at the top so the buck stops with me but the three goals were comical goals, and take them out of it and we have been bullied out of the game a little bit, physically they were stronger.
Then we had people that didn't stand up and be men and that is the disappointing thing, we need to stand up and be men, the staff included, we all need to stand up and be men and today was a real knock to what we have been doing. I hope it is a one off but you can never tell, but too many of them wouldn't go down very well, and we wouldn't accept that. But, today was a second best display in all departments.
JP
Do you think this is just one of those games that can happen on the opening day of the season or is that maybe letting the players off the hook?
GA
Erm, no listen, let's everyone take responsiblity for that performance, it was the physio, it was the manager, it was the scout, it was the assistant manager, that is one that everybody has to shoulder a bit of blame with it wasn't good enough. At the end of the day we put them together, once across the line they know what to expect, we told them what to expect and we didn't cope with the problems that were thrown at us. So, listen, a shared one if you want.
JP
Do you think Martin Allen's team came with a gameplan to stop Carlisle United today, the little things like (Karl) Hawley and (Lee) Hughes pulling wide to stop Adam Collin giving your full-backs the ball, just little things like that just seemed to unsettle you?
GA
Yeah, they watched the Middlesbrough game and they matched the system up and they did it very well and they have got some physical players. But, the goals we conceded were dreadful, but take no credit from Notts County, they were better than us today and their gameplan was to match our system up and stop us playing, they stopped us playing and beat us up along the way.
JP
What do you need to do next then?
GA
Improve, absolutely improve.
JP
Just put a line under this one?
GA
Well, I won't be able to do because I am the manager and I have just said to the players 'you can forget about it on your way home, it will linger in my mind until Monday until I get the lads back together at eleven o'clock on Monday morning, it will linger in my mind and I won't be able to think of anything but how do we put that right and how do we make things better.' That is what you are paid to do as a manager.
JP
I am sure your instinct on full-time is just wholesale changes, get them all out there, but I suppose in a way when it gets to Tuesday you might want them to go out there and show everyone that they are not as bad as that as we know they are not?
GA
No, I think that sometimes you have to say 'well hang on a minute, you have had opportunities', and opportunity knocks really doesn't it, some of the other players would think that if I am not going to change it after that it is unfair to them. Because, to be fair the boys that were out of the team have been doing ever so well, I made some decisions I thought and backed the players I thought would give us a good account of themselves, they haven't so I will have a look at it. It is not something I have made my mind up now but I will certainly think about it over the weekend, but it is something we will look at on Monday morning.
JP
What can you tell us about Frank Simek's injury?
GA
Erm, not a lot to be honest, I know his hip is giving him a bit of trouble and he felt a click in his hip, I don't know what it is, it might be one that settles down and there is nothing to it, it might be one that lingers on for a couple of weeks, I hope not because you have seen that we missed him. So, it is something we will have to look at again, Dolly (Neil Dalton) will speak to me tomorrow morning and then we will see what we have to do from there.
JP
Do you have to do a bit of picking up now with Tom Taiwo? I mean I know you said some of the goals were a bit comical, just one of those almost naive mistakes from him when slipping into a position he is perhaps not familiar with?
GA
I don't think we should make excuses for Tommy, I have told him that, because we think he is a really good player and in that position, he could find himself in that position as a midfield player in that area, he knows he has to turn away from goal and it is safety first. But, listen, we know what he is and what he isn't, he is a terrific fella, a great competitor, you can hang your hat on him to compete for you, he doesn't make mistakes deliberately, he has had made a mistake today and that is by the by, it is not something I will dwell on with him.
JP
I want to stress that to your credit you have not brought this up, but I want to ask your opinion on it, do you think it was a foul in the build-up to the first goal and might that have changed things a little bit?
GA
It doesn't really matter because they scored two other soft ones after that.
JP
I can't really argue with that. What do you need to see now? What is the core thing you need to see from them?
GA
Spirit, a lot more spirt, we need to see spirit, we need to see good, honest spirit you know. We can play, everyone has seen we can play, Doncaster and Bradford and Middlesbrough will tell you we can play. We need to see if we can really roll our sleeves up and compete against sides that are physical and strong and are going to have a right go at us. This is League One after all and we have to be able to do that.
JP
And are you confident that the guys will be able to turn it around for those fans who are going to make the trip to Oldham on Tuesday?
GA
Well, from what I have seen we are capable and we have always bounced back in the past, so it is one of those bounce back games isn't it. We need to go on a run now but it is the spirit, I want to see spirit, I want to see some guts, and we didn't have that in abundance today and that is what we need.
JP
And just finally, what did you make of Notts County? A side who flirted fairly heavily with relegation but they have made a few additions and they looked like they could be more of a force this year?
GA
I don't know because we never really gave them a game, so we will see when they get a decent team against them we will find out how good they are. They are not world beaters but they are strong and they are organised and they will pick up some results.