Town boss Paolo Di Canio spoke to his club's official website and the Swindon Advertiser ahead of his side's League One game against Carlisle at Brunton Park tomorrow afternoon, Di Canio expecting his players to be coming up against a confident United side:
“I expect to be facing a team with confidence because they won away 2-1 after going behind 1-0. They scored two goals and had other chances so they are a good side but to be honest for 70 minutes Hartlepool should have been 3-0 or 4-0 up. It means they have quality but they also have weakness, but, if my team plays with the quality and mechanism that we know then I am not worried about anybody, but, I am curious to see a pitch this big, we can use all the space, we can play our football.
“We need to go there and do our job properly and it is important to see an improvement in terms of commitment and desire and belief in what we are doing. It is important to send a positive message to each other otherwise it will be difficult. It’s a beautiful place to go and to be honest I am very happy. I want to see my team away from home on a day when they have to show something different and do our job properly. There is a good mood at the moment - positive energy, positive attitude - I’m really sure, I’m fully confident.
"It's not about the three defeats; what makes me worried is the way the defeats came. For a time they lost their determination and belief. I've had the chance to clarify a few points with my team and new players. In the last few days we've trained really well so now I'm very happy. On Saturday we are going to try and win. In a month's time we will be more than OK.
“I know that in different places there are different habits and I know it is not easy to cancel this in 40 days but it’s important to stop straight away the personal habits. Otherwise I signed 11 new players - if everyone came with this habit and wants to say his words, his opinion then it becomes an anarchist team. From Millwall, from Brighton, from Huddersfield - it’s true they all have similar habits but they can say ‘we used to warm up like this, we used to warm up like that, I used to warm up quickly in five or ten minutes only, with (Gus) Poyet we used to warm up for 25 minutes, but we used to use more of the ball, do what you want.’"
“One manager sends the details and the regime and you have to follow with devotion because from now I don’t ask my players who wants to be professional. Who wants to stay has to follow me with devotion and believe in my job. I say that in a normal way because they are more mature now. Even one can cause a problem and you know what happened at the beginning of the season and I had to make a very tough decision. There is nothing incredibly wrong but we went straight to the point and clarified it and I really believe that we will change habits from now on.
“The last week gave me the opportunity to think that I have improved as a manager 20 steps forward because I was more calm - I was angry in the way that it happened but I went through and analysed all the situations at home and selected exactly the points we should go through on Monday. We went through and the message was clear, not like I used to do at the beginning of last season. I said straight, as a man, this is the situation and to be honest I received a good answer from some older player who said ‘gaffer, that was the moment’.
“It was an important week for me. I recovered two or three players. I can see more players with more quality to give more options to me and their teammates. It was an important break because we start again now with Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday. It’s obvious last week was very tough because something went wrong but more importantly was the way it happened and the way we came out of this week that made me upset. I wasn’t upset in terms of the result but the way it came. It was a deep moment that made me think what’s going on.
“Once again, when I’m tough I speak with fire and the people have to understand that managers are all different. Sometimes they do something because they know exactly what’s going on. Once again Paolo Di Canio works in the way he works because he knows exactly what dressing room he’s got, which is very good and with more knowledge and experience than last year.
“They have to be leaders on the field when they play but there is nothing wrong when I say the real leader is Paolo Di Canio. It’s nothing against my players. I have to handle and manage my group. We have very good players that if they follow the details, work hard in what they’re doing then they will be the best players in their positions and we will be the best team in the league.”