Paul Thirlwell - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 03 March 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Blues skipper Paul Thirlwell
United captain Paul Thirlwell spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips and Amanda Little from the News and Star on Monday morning about the 1-1 draw at home to Bristol Rovers on Saturday, Thirlwell later trying to avoid all talk of the dreaded "r" word as the Blues slip closer to the bottom four :


" I think that it is good that we have got another game coming around. It was obviously disappointing not to get three points in the Bristol Rovers game, especially the way that we started. We came out and we started like a house on fire, it is probably the best that we have started all season. I think that we had four corners in the first two minutes and then Kav (Graham Kavanagh) scores a worldy and you think here we go.

" Then it must be the first time that they get into our half they equalise after whatever it was, 15 minutes or so. Then it is a bit like someone putting a pin in a balloon for the next 20 minutes after that because you have started well and ultimately you have got nothing to show for it. We have got another game on Tuesday though, we take the positives out of it, we have got a point and we go to Crewe which is now a really big game for us and hopefully get a win there.

" You can look at it one or two ways, you can look at it like we are not scoring and we are conceding or you can look at it that we are creating chances and at the minute they are not going in. That is the way it is, you have got to be positive about these things, there is no point taking the negative approach. We are creating lots of chances, it is just a matter of getting that ball in the net.

" That is right through the team, from obviously the back four right up to the centre-forwards. We have to defend better at times as a team as well because the goals that we have been conceding aren't goals that you could sort of say well done to the opposition, they are goals which we could be avoiding. "



" I don't think that the players are concerned about Danny Graham scoring, I think that when you are out there playing then you are out there playing. I don't think that you think about, well I don't know, I have never been in the position of a centre-forward having scored 16 goals and then gone on whatever it is, four or five games without scoring one.

" I think that they just have to get themselves in the right positions though and things will change. I don't think that we are playing like a team that is where we are in the league, I think that we are creating the chances but it is just a case of getting that win, obviously with it hopefully coming on Tuesday. If we get that on Tuesday then I am sure that we will kick on from then.

" We have proved this season already that we can be more than a match for anyone on our day. The position that we are in in the league makes these next few games bigger games than what they would be ordinarily, there is no point getting away from that. Obviously Tuesday with Crewe first and foremost and then we have got another big one on Saturday at Yeovil.

" So they are massive games but we know that if we can just tighten up in certain places and, it is easy to say, but put some of the chances away that we are creating all over the pitch then we are going to be more than alright. So we know that we are playing some decent stuff and it just a matter of putting the package together if you like, and I am sure that we will give someone a hell of a game.

" From a moral side of things there is probably more responsibility on me as a captain. It is not up to me to be walking around with my head down, you have got to keep your head up. I like to think that I am that way inclined anyway though. You take the positives, I don't get over-excited when we win and I don't get too distraught when we lose. The wife might tell you different but that is the general consensus of how I like to go about it.



" We are fine though, the lads are bubbly again today and that is the way that you have got to be. Because we know that we have got a good side in there and we know that we are more than capable of stringing a few results together and climbing the table.

" Everyone will talk about relegation and rightly so, but we just don't talk about it. We have put ourselves in a situation where it is going to get mentioned because we are in touch with the teams below us. Not by any stretch though do we talk about it, think about it or even discuss it. We have got important games coming up with teams in and around that area and if we get the results that we are capable of getting then we will be well away from it.

" I think that I am looking like one of the ones in the best nick injury-wise at the minute. I think that a few of the lads are struggling from the game but I think that everyone will have knocks and niggles with the games are coming thick and fast. I am sure that the gaffer (Greg Abbott) and Dolly (Neil Dalton) will speak today though and see who is fit and who isn't, then the gaffer will pick a team to go out and win at Crewe.

" He (Kavanagh) might be threatening me for goal of the season now so I was a bit disappointed when I saw it go in. He has got that in his locker though Kav to be fair, he likes to have a good old lash at it and have a shot. So I think that I will be struggling to improve on that one but I will take a tap-in.

" I have been in a lot worse problems in the table than this at Sunderland. We lost about 17 on the spin I think at the bottom of the Premier League so that was a lot worse than the current situation. Even then though, I remember then, we used to just, you lose one game, you brush it to one side, you do your best to win the next one and that is the way that you have to think. "



" I suppose it is like everything, if anyone has had a bad day at work then it is pointless dwelling on it, it has gone, you move on and you try to make tomorrow a better day. Obviously with 40-odd thousand watching you get beat every week it is not pleasant, it wasn't a nice situation to be in. It is probably good that I have had the experience though when we look at the situation.

" We are by no means a team that is in relegation, I wouldn't say relegation form. We are not getting the results I think that the performances have deserved but that is the way that football is. You can't whinge about that either, we have to go out and make sure that we get the results in the coming weeks.

" I don't know how everybody else feels but as a team we don't feel like we are playing like a team that should be near the relegation zone. I think that, yes we haven't put chances away and yes we have conceded goals at the wrong time, and that is what the game is all about, the bits inbetween though are promising.

" I think that the younger players are generally fine because I don't think that they have any fear. They are kind of in there and they are just happy to be out there playing. I think that we have got some good heads in the dressing-room though, obviously you have got the likes of Kav who is senior, although that is the nice way of putting it. So obviously he has been, seen it and done it at every level of the game.

" Then obviously we have got Lummy (Chris Lumsdon), Murph (Peter Murphy), whoever else you care to endorse, Bridgey (Michael Bridges). All been there in situations of promotions and situations with relegations so we have got more than enough in the dressing-room to get clear of where we are now. It certainly wouldn't be an excuse of the situation overtook us with emotion, blah, blah, blah, you wouldn't use that as an excuse. We just keep doing what we are doing, fine tune ourselves at both ends of the pitch and we will be fine. "