Preston boss Graham Westley spoke to his club's official website ahead of his side's League One game against Carlisle at Deepdale this evening, Westley seemingly still unsure of his team selection for the game:
“In the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Carlisle played pretty much their outfit, and as things have turned out the side we played that night, there will be a few of those boys playing tonight anyway. The likes of Steve Simonsen and Chris Robertson came in that night so there are lads who played that night who we got fined for who are in our team, so bizarre. But, we are a work in progress, we've always said that. We always knew it was going to take time to learn each other’s way.
“Carlisle are in a similar league position to us, got a few less points than us, but just like Yeovil they are in and around us in the league table. We know that they bring a threat with them, Yeovil had Paddy Madden Saturday, Carlisle have got Joe Garner, they have got that threat, they can nick a goal. You have got to make sure that you defend well against them. We can’t afford to defend like we did at the weekend because if we keep defending like that we will concede.
“We don’t want to be doing that, we want to respect the clean sheet, crave clean sheets, earn clean sheets. Then the other way round we were clinical at the weekend but probably from three of the very few chances we created. We have got to make sure that our attacking play is much more positive and much more consistent and sustained than it was at the weekend. So, there is a lot of work to be done, we were definitely at 80% of our level at the weekend, the good thing is we won but we know we have got to be a lot better to win games consistently.
“The beauty of changing a side is freshness, somebody coming in with a point to prove, somebody else with a new agenda, somebody’s opportunity arriving at their feet. But, it is obviously a nuisance when you have to make changes that are ones you probably wouldn’t have put in place. Jeffrey Monakana going out, he has been doing OK, his game has been improving, much more solid in a defensive sense, working harder for the team, still got that cutting edge going forward, so you wouldn’t want to be without him.
“But, the good thing about him being out tonight is that he won’t be tired when it comes to the weekend, we have often seen when he goes Tuesday-Saturday that he looks a bit weary. David Amoo off the back of a goal is still going to give us that pace and give us that threat, so every cloud has a silver lining, so to speak.
“We will get to a state this season where we put the same side out ten games on the bounce, and when that happens I am sure that we will get a few extra points along the way. Because, consistency of selection when you get what people might argue is your top team on the pitch then you are going to get more consistent results. We have had the likes of Lee Holmes, Lee Trundle, John Mousinho out, big players for us, John Welsh at the weekend, all big players. When you get all those boys back and all firing and all fit, let’s face facts, your standard of performance is bound to go up.”