Former United loanee and current Bees striker Mike Grella spoke to the Hounslow Chronicle ahead of his side's League One game against Carlisle at Brunton Park this afternoon, Grella ready for some game time :
“I am 100 per cent fit now. I'm not sending out a message to the gaffer (Uwe Rösler) or anything like that, as he will decide what is best for the team, but I am ready for action whenever he needs me. Of course it has been frustrating not playing more, but we have a good squad with some really good strikers here who have been doing their job, so I cannot complain.
“Carlisle have a good squad, and Greg Abbott is a good young manager who gets them playing as a team, so they won't make it easy for us up there – and hopefully I will get the chance to feature. Obviously I had left Carlisle by the time they reached Wembley, but a lot of their players from the final are still there, as are a lot of the guys here, so I imagine a few of our lads will be out to put things right.
"At Leeds the key we found to getting promoted was winning as many home games as possible and picking up what you could away from home. I guess we've got half of that right at the moment, as our away form is excellent, and if we start picking up some wins at home too we won't be far off. We have a good squad here, and one which should be up there challenging.”
Meanwhile Bees midfielder Toumani Diagouraga commented to the Richmond and Twickenham Times :
“The manager (Uwe Rösler) made it very clear how he wanted us to play in pre-season and I feel it brings the best out of everyone. We have a very fluid style and work hard on our one touch stuff in training. You are starting to see that come on to the pitch now and it is a style I really enjoy.
"It was frustrating for me at the start of the season because it is the first time I have been seriously injured. I feared the worst. I don’t even think about the injury now. You have to play with freedom. Hopefully, I did enough to get another start and if I get another chance I will take it.
"But everyone at the club has done brilliantly in getting me back and fit again, and it's good to be back as I've been desperate to be involved again. The gaffer has also brought in Jonathan Douglas in my position, and the other lads have also been doing well in the middle, but I just see it as healthy competition, which can only be good for Brentford.
“I always like getting forward, and the way we play at the moment allows me to, with Kev (O'Connor) sitting back and letting me and Marcus (Bean) get up and join the attack. The way we are playing under Uwe, with a lot more passing and moving, definitely suits my game, and I just hope I have done enough to stay in the side.”
In team news for the Bees today they have a definite quintet of absentees as they will have five players missing, three through injury and two through international call-ups. As far as the injuries are concerned two of them are longer term with former Manchester City right-back Shaleum Logan sidelined with an ankle ligament problem, while centre-half Leon Legge is on the treatment table with a torn hamstring.
Meanwhile shorter-term, and working his way back to full fitness at the moment is veteran striker Gary Alexander (knee). The Bees meanwhile also have doubts over the participation of centre-half Karleigh Osborne after he missed Brentford's midweek 3-0 Johnstone's Paint Trophy victory over Charlton with a groin problem.
Finally, internationally the visitors duo called up, and therefore missing the game at Brunton Park, are Hammersmith-born central midfielder Marcus Bean and Celtic-loanee winger Niall McGinn. Bean for Jamaica’s friendly game in Honduras on Tuesday, while McGinn is in the Northern Ireland squad for their two EURO 2012 qualifiers over the weekend, those two games being at home to Estonia on Friday and away to Italy on Tuesday.
The referee for this afternoon's match is Rob Lewis from Shrewsbury in Shropshire and he will be assisted down the lines by Richard Clark from Morpeth in Northumberland and Peter Wright from Southport. Meanwhile the fourth official is Ollie Yates from Stoke-on-Trent.