Shakers boss Richie Barker spoke to his club's official website ahead of his side's League One match against Carlisle at Brunton Park on Saturday afternoon, Barker first looking back at Bury's 3-3 draw at home to Huddersfield last weekend and Tuesday's 4-1 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday :
“I don't know if self-belief is missing from the lads, because later on in games we seem to show that self-belief and last Saturday we had a genuine belief right from half-time that we would get something from the game. Heads didn't go down and they kept fighting and they are excellent with that sort of stuff, but on the flip side of it, I don't want to keep coming out after games and saying the same things and that I am pleased that we got back into the game. We need that genuine belief that we can be in the game from the first minute.
“With regards to Tuesday at Sheffield Wednesday, I could sit here and say it was individual errors. You can watch the goals and not see individual errors, there's nobody falling over the ball or mis-kicking it. We've watched the DVD over and over again; we've watched it with the players and on our own. We've picked things out that we know we have to improve on. As a unit, a group and a team - the defending is not good enough. We are a little bit naïve with some of the defending and now we are getting punished with this naïve defending where you probably don’t at the level below.
“We did create chances in the game, and it speaks volumes when you are away at Hillsborough and you are losing 4-1 when they take a centre forward off and bring a midfielder on with ten minutes to go. They were genuinely panicking that we would get back into the game because we did create some good chances. Lateef (Elford-Alliyu) hit the bar that on another day would go into the top corner, then he put's one wide. It’s all ifs and buts and that's why Sheffield Wednesday paid money for Ryan Lowe, Gary Madine, Mike Jones and others.
“There was also a touch of 'new manager syndrome' and to be fair to Dave Jones, he said to me after the game that it was always going to be hard for us no matter what, but coming there in his first game was harder. He was honest about it but how many times is that going to happen. The last thing we needed was a new manager, a hungry group of players, a change in style and formation, and a change in personnel. It gave them an extra 5 or 10%."
“Desire is either in you or isn't. I can't put a session on to coach desire, it is something that is within your genetic make-up, you either have desire to want to go and score or desire to stop the ball going into the net or you haven’t. I can coach them where to go, what to do, how to do it and to help them in their career, but desire has got to come from within. It's a desire to go and do the right things, be aggressive and maybe get a few scars every now and then, it is not something that you can put on at the training ground.
“There is an argument that people play better when they are comfortable and they are keeping their shirt, well I agree but I also think there is an argument to say that if I keep giving people their shirts and they don’t want to keep them then they are going to keep losing them. It is their responsibility to make sure that I keep giving them their shirt back and at the minute they are making it too easy for me to keep taking it off them.
“No day off for them was something we discussed after the game on Tuesday night, I put it to them that I think that the only way we are going to get through this was to come in and work on it. I am well aware there is a lot of tiredness and stiffness about with the number of games we have had recently, but they were all in total agreement that if we are going to get through this then the only way to do it is working at it. So, we came in and did quite a lot of work on it but it is not something that is going to be solved overnight and a couple of hours on the training ground won’t help with the way we are going at the minute.
“Carlisle are an established League One side, they have been one of the teams that over the last few years have slowly worked their way up and they have had some success with the JPT which has helped them financially I am sure to push on. They are one of those clubs that are looking at the next step now, they are in that small group outside the big teams looking at that last play-off place. They are where we want to be in two or three years time - an established league one side having a push for the next level."