Reaction From O's Boss Russell Slade

Last updated : 08 January 2012 By Thetashkentterror

SladeOrient manager Russell Slade spoke to BBC Radio London 94.9 and his club's official website after his side's 4-1 defeat against Carlisle at Brunton Park, Slade not at all happy with the efforts of the O's in the opening 45 minutes of the game :

 

"I was disgusted with the first-half I have to say, I thought it was really, really poor. To be fair Carlisle are decent at home, we know that, but the manner in which we conceded the goals has really, really upset me, I feel sick really with the goals we conceded. After a team that has kept a clean sheet against Charlton, a clean sheet against Stevenage, defends like that in the first-half? I don't know where that comes from, honestly.

"It was ridiculous defending for the first goal so they are on the front foot, and then the second goal is a free-kick and the wall is appalling, and then we have got a touch on it and deflected it into our own net from a shot that is going nowhere really. The third one I have to say, that is the only one I can accept because it is a little bit of a fluke, what he (Tom Taiwo) has done is he has hooked it back into the box and it has gone into the top corner and I don't think there is too much we can do about it. Then the fourth one is ridiculous as well.

"I was more satisfied with the second-half display but by the same token they took their foot off it and sat back and looked to counter us a little bit. To be honest we could have scored two or maybe three goals in that second period, we were much better but the game had gone, the game was already over. So, it is difficult at this level to come back from 3-0, as much as we tried and we huffed and we puffed and we tried to get on top of them, we did get a goal, we deserved a goal second-half, we probably deserved two goals but the damage was all done in the first period.

"I didn't want Jamie Cureton's first goal to come in such a manner, you wanted it to be a winner or an equaliser or something but in the end it is just a token gesture. He took one on the back for Jimmy Smith as well didn't he that was going in, but there you go. Bad day at the office, it happens, it is about what we do now, it is about us bouncing back straight away. Whether all of a sudden we thought we were a good side because we had beaten two decent teams I don't know. Whether people thought there were one or two injuries so their place was safe, well let me tell you their place isn't safe because I won't have that, I won't have that first-half and I will not forget that first-half."

 

 

"It's Chestefield now and they are fighting for their lives aren't they, so you can be sure that under John Sheridan they will come and they will battle for everything. We need a return to that, we were absolutely magnifcent six days ago, absolutely unbelievable we were, defensively and we were putting our bodies on the line and then we serve up that 45 minutes of a shocker.

"The one thing that I can assure everybody of and the fans that made the journey today and the fans that were listening to it on the radio or the television or whatever, is that the only way I know is to work hard and when things go wrong you have just got to work harder. So, you can be sure my players will be working harder. But, Stephen Dawson is out now for a good period of time, it is his ankle, all I can tell you is it has blown up massively and he is going to be a fair time out now. I am not sure if there are any other knocks but that was a serious one, I don't think there were anymore serious injuries.

"The one little positive if there was one to take was Curo's goal and Coxy (Dean Cox) coming on, he for me put in two or three fantastic balls. Of course we have scored from one and it was good for him to get half an hour under his belt, it is an important week for him now because he is a very good player, he is an integral part of what we are trying to do here and to have him back and pushing now is fantastic.

"If you had asked me about the transfer window at half-time than I would probably have wanted 16 new players. But, we have to be realistic, we have to sit down probably over a cup of tea or a glass of wine and be realistic. But, we do need to look at one or two little things and hopefully we can get the right one in just to strengthen us up as a squad a little bit. But, I think it is a fine balance you know between having a competitive squad and competition for places, rather than people thinking that with one or two injuries their place is secure, well really I don't want that because it is not."