Neil McDonald - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 05 December 2006 By Thetashkentterror

Blues manager Neil McDonald
United boss Neil McDonald spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey on Monday morning before the long trip down to Bristol City. McDonald commenting on what he thinks the Robins will have to offer :


" Sometimes you would think that they would be a little bit jaded with all the games and all the travelling, I was at the game against Gillingham and it went right to the wire so they have had to work for 90 minutes. Whereas at half-time they were 3-0 up and I was thinking it was going to be too easy for them, but Gillingham played a lot better in the second half and put the pressure on. Hopefully with them working for 90 minutes and having very little rest with a game during the week you would like to think that they would be a little bit jaded and tired.

" They have had a couple of injuries as well so we'll keep our fingers crossed that they won't be fit and they will have to make a couple of changes. They have a fair squad though so they might rotate, but when you rotate you lose a little bit of balance and fluency, with the games that they have had then hopefully that will happen. We're ready and fresh though and if we perform the way we have done over the last two games then we'll be fine. The next three games are very, very important, we've got Bristol City, Scunthorpe and Swansea so if we come out of those in decent fettle then that will set us up for the rest of the Christmas period.

" The fixture computer does it's best I suppose and nine times out of ten it comes out well, but there is the odd one that gets thrown up where people have to travel a long way. You have to accept that I suppose, it's not very nice for the travelling fans who like to support their team and have to travel far, they have to give up a days work and even give up the next days work as well when they are travelling back. We have to try and put a smile on their face like we did at Bournemouth though, and make sure that when they do come and support us that we give it our best shot.

" Everybody is fine at the moment, even David Raven has been training – he looks a lot better, and Paul Arnison has had a good few days training so we'll see how they are. It's good news but, as I've always said, if you perform to a high level and you play well then you deserve to keep your place, so we'll see what happens.

" We've got a plan for the match, Greg (Abbott) went to watch them during the week against Nottingham Forest and I went to watch them on Sunday so we've already spoken about what we are going to do. We have other reports on them as well so we'll know how to play, they are slightly different to Bournemouth, City play 4-4-2 whereas Bournemouth played a diamond shape, so it's going to be a slightly different game. We need to come out of the blocks though and try to take the advantage in that they've played three games in a week and we've only played one and have had a bit of a rest, we'll see how that pans out.

" We need to start at a high tempo though and pass the ball a little bit better than we did against Bournemouth, defend like we did against Bournemouth, and create the chances like we did against Port Vale, and play the football like we did against Port Vale. Then if we can put that all together we'll give ourselves a good chance to nick some points. Bristol City are a big team in our league, along with Nottingham Forest this is a big game. Their supporters are more or less demanding promotion I suppose, they are in a good position at the moment but we're only three points behind them so if we can win the game then that puts us level with them. They'll probably stay above us on goal difference though, unless we absolutely tonk them.

" We're training later on and then having up a big slap up meal with the chairman again so he is out of pocket, which he's quite happy with to be fair. Then we'll travel down in an effort to beat the traffic that way, I went yesterday and fingers crossed – if it's half as good as it was yesterday when I travelled down then we'll be fine. Let's hope it's a happy journey back because it was the last time, and that is the first time that we've had that this season, and we'd love to have it again. "