John Ward On The MK Dons Defeat

Last updated : 12 October 2008 By Thetashkentterror

John Ward
United manager John Ward spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey after Carlisle's 3-1 defeat away to MK Dons, Ward suggesting that the Blues need to be mentally stronger and believe more in what they are doing :


" It is hard to take because you don't like getting beat, and you certainly don't like getting beat five league games on the trot as we have done. So it is a really difficult time but I think that we have not been strong enough or clinical enough at both ends of the pitch. We had opportunities to score more than one goal and we haven't taken those.

" We got behind them enough times in wide positions and not finished off those areas, which are really dangerous areas. Particularly if you get as many of them away from home then it should be a better return for us. Then we have made mistakes in our penalty box, so it is like going over an old record, I am saying similar things after each game. That is obviously worrying when you are not getting those things a little bit better.

" It was certainly a better performance and a better shape-up. I am just saying that what I can't believe is that I am coming in at half-time saying pretty much well done and everything is looking decent. We are at 1-1, we are right in the game, we are creating some bit and pieces, defending very well. Then as football shows you, as sport shows you, sometimes the second 45 are not quiet the same.

" We have played alright in terms of that which is why I was not sure what to say to them, they have played OK but we have made those errors. The concerning is that it is not the same people every week, it drops into different laps, and that is the thing that is hard to take I think.

" We have to keep going and believing in what we are doing training-wise because it has stood us in good stead for a long time, not just in my time here but prior to me coming. The training work has been very good and of a high level, I have to say that they do work exceptionally hard on the training ground, as do my coaching staff. It is a tough time though and this is where everyone has got to try to pull together and eradicate those little errors, or big errors as they are turning into. "



" We have to make sure that we keep working at what we are doing, and believing a bit more in what we are doing. Because then you see one or two with the body language, the shoulders drop a little bit, 2-1, 3-1, here we go again. That is understandable because it is human nature but it is something that you have got to try to shrug off if you can and improve your own individual performance during that difficult period.

" The second goal should have been cleared, without looking at the television, which everyone else has got the benefit of, I can't really comment on it. I haven't seen it again but it does look as if it could have been cleared. Maybe it shouldn't have been a corner but it happens that way, but you can't just keep saying that it is bad luck and be relying on that to change. You have got to make it change, it is a decision but you deal with it.

" We haven't dealt with it well enough even though it might have gone against us, but that is something that we have got to be a bit tougher and a bit stronger with. Not just physically, because I think that physically we have handled ourselves pretty well today, but mentally we have got to believe in what we are doing.

" That has been shaken a little bit, not just by the players but the supporters too, so we have all got to try to return to that belief that this is a good football club with a good football team and one well worth watching. There were little signs of it again today, so we have got to keep working, we will be back at the training ground and seeing if we can improve it. We are going to have a test at home aren't we next Saturday, all of us, not just me, not just the players but the supporters too.

" You saw a terrific support here for MK Dons when they were 1-0 down and they have probably helped bring their team back into the game. That is something that we can all look and learn from, when everybody is together as they were here today, and as we have been at Carlisle, and that is a really difficult proposition. "



" He (Graham Kavanagh) tired a little as you would expect, he has not played a lot of first-team football. Even at this level it is quicker and faster but you know that we have to handle that, that is what I mean, he knew that he wasn't going to probably go travelling around the pitch in the 70th or 80th minute as he did in the first 20 minutes. So he has adapted and that is why he is a very good player, and those are the adapations that we have got to pass on to these other players. It will only help, he will be a big help to us on and off the pitch, I am certain of that.

" Michael Bridges has got a sore knee, he felt it in the game at Rochdale and then it was very sore, he tried to train on Thursday to his credit, but he couldn't get through the first warm-up period. So he has got to have a scan on that on Monday, it is a bit worrying.

" Scott Dobie had a sore ankle, which kept him out of the Rochdale game, which we fully expected to be OK for the weekend, but that is still sore. Again we are looking at that, rather than the knock that we thought it was we may be looking at a bit of ligament damage for Scott. So we will get those decisions made a little bit clearer at the beginning of next week.

" It never rains but it pours but you have got to put your umbrella up then and force the rain away, and that is what we have got to do. In that metaphoric term we have got to make sure that we don't let it drop on us and make sure that that is an excuse. There can't be any ready-made excuses, we play with what we have got and we work as hard as we can, and that is what we have got to do.

" I have got no problem with the attitude of the players, I never have done. Other people will question that because they don't know them, but there are no hidden agendas with those guys. I am in that dressing-room with them and I have got a very distraught, upset group of players. We were just asking them, they are the ones that can pull out of it, so their attitude towards it and their effort towards it, there is nobody here not trying to pull their weight. We have just got to make those decisions better when we get in the positions that make it count. "