United manager Graham Kavanagh (GK) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 2-1 League One defeat away to Crewe, Kavanagh saying the performance lacked energy, tempo and confidence:
JP
What do you make of today’s game?
GK
It wasn’t good enough, it wasn’t good enough first-half, we were way off the pace, I know you are going to ask why. Right at this moment I actually don’t know why, it lacked energy, tempo, confidence, all the things that we have been over the last few weeks, the style and the manner in which we have played, I just didn’t see that coming today. I am gutted for the fans that travelled today because that first-half performance was way off the mark and wasn’t anywhere near good enough.
JP
Did that then set a bit of tone, is it little things that get into the player’s minds early in the game because you would think they would be full of confidence after how well they played against Peterborough?
GK
Well, to be honest they are full of confidence but confidence is great if you are prepared to do the work that needs to go with it. In the first-half as much as it was 0-0 I didn’t think that we played with the level of belief and cohesion as a team that we needed to. We looked ragged, we looked like we were on the outside of the game instead of being narrow as we have been. We looked like we could be cut open, we didn’t look aggressive and I was tearing my hair out.
I couldn’t wait to get in at half-time, so they got a rollocking at half-time and I thought fine we started well, David Amoo has a good chance, he cuts inside, does really, really well and somehow manages to hit the inside of the post and it stays out. You just think is it going to be our day, but you have got to make it your day, you have got to make it your day by having positivity, being on the front foot, winning your second balls, competing and winning your battles, and I was really disappointed I have to say.
JP
It still wasn’t as if you were getting over-run or anything by Crewe, but it was just the final third again, it just seemed that they created a bit more in earnest than Carlisle did today?
GK
Yeah, I understand where you are coming from with that but I thought there were too many individual battles where in previous weeks when balls were bouncing we were in contention and we were winning the majority of them, which enables us to play in the opposition half more. They were doing exactly to us today what we have done to teams over the last few weeks and I couldn’t understand why.
Because, we played the extra man in midfield and we didn’t get the ball out wide quick enough to David Amoo and Tom Lawrence. Their gameplan was decent, they doubled up on both of them when they had the chance but we then didn’t use our intelligence to move the ball back through the pitch and go out the other side. I know it was a difficult surface, it was difficult conditions, it doesn’t feel it up here but down at pitch level it is very, very blustery and windy and it obviously really started to rain second-half very heavily.
When they get their goal their backs are up, they have confidence, they are playing at home, the fans get behind them and we didn’t deal with it very well. I even felt at that stage when it went 2-0 that there was still an opportunity if we could get a goal. As it showed when Tom gets his free-kick it lights us up again. I have just had a conversation with the players there that we seem to have this every four or five or six games where we play well and then we have this one performance that none of us see it coming.
Is it because I am praising the players too much, is it because I am putting an arm round them and telling them how well they are doing. Because, I know players like to hear that, I know I certainly did as a player but you have got to take the rough with the smooth and I wasn’t going to tell them well done after the game because it just wasn’t good enough.
JP
We talked at length in the commentary today with one of your former team-mates Andy Legg about teams in transition, are these the sorts of problems that you would expect to see when you are trying to introduce new philosophies long-term to the players?
GK
Yeah, I mean it is still on the whole the same group of players, I think there is no way that they don’t give us honesty, I think they very much do. But, some of the same players are making mistakes the same way and as much as it is not costing us in terms of the goals, we are conceding possession and we are conceding momentum.
I have said there, it is vitally important that although we talk about intelligence within this structure of how we play, you have got to be aware of the experiences you have had and what may have caused us problems. If you are continually the one who is causing us those problems then it is going to affect that person’s position and it is also going to affect how we play.
So, we are working every day, the players are definitely buying into it, it is a project that is going to be slow in its progress. But, we are seeing performances of note where you think we are definitely moving forward, but we seem to take two steps forward and now one step back again. It is frustrating for me, I am going to be honest, but that is maybe part of the job I need to sort of be a little bit more patient with myself and the players.
JP
The stats say that it is three defeats on the trot away from home, but is that almost a coincidence because as you mention these performances that creep in every once a while with a downer, it doesn’t seem like you have got a problem playing away from home, it just seems like they have sort of fallen on these three games?
GK
To be honest I actually don’t know, I really don’t know. Because, we have really tried to address the home form which it looks like we have done. The lads really enjoy playing at home and the fans have got right behind us and we look expansive and we look like creating lots of chances. I thought in the second-half today we created loads of chances, but again we didn’t look like we were going to put them away. You look at the game against Peterborough where we created, every time we went forward we looked like we were going to score.
So, trying to get the balance of understanding as to why, I don’t know, it is a difficult question I am going to be honest. But, we will keep working, there is a big, big game now on Sunday which I am sure everybody will be massively up for. We want to make ourselves proud, we want to make the fans proud and we want Sunderland to take note of how good a club we are. So, it is important that we come in, we dust ourselves down and we get back on the bike if you like and we go again.
JP
You sound like you have got a few things to try to work out yourself in your head as to what to figure out, but are you confident you are still seeing enough there that it is not going to become rather than just today a long-term problem?
GK
No, listen, I am frustrated because we have had a really good run, we have had a really good period in my tenure. Today we have had, not so much a great performance because it wasn’t first-half, the second-half was a lot better but we conceded both goals, but we did look a goal threat when we went forward. But, we have now sort of got six or seven injuries that are to real sort of key players and they have all come in the place of week.
We have got another couple today, Max Ehmer dislocated his shoulder, it came out and went back in, Paul Thirlwell has pulled his calf, Tom Lawrence has got a kick on his ankle. There are quite a few and you look at it and think that the squad is becoming a little bit fragile again, Courtney Meppen-Walter comes on and gets a knock on his ankle and he rolls his ankle and stuff.
So, there is a little bit of walking wounded and on my part a bit of frustration but I was looking forward after the Peterborough game thinking we are certainly going to jump into the top half of this table pretty quickly and who knows what the second part of the season holds. So, it is a little frustrating but I will get over it, I will be back in myself tomorrow and I will have a gameplan in mind for how we are going to try to beat Sunderland on Sunday.
JP
Yeah, Sunderland is a wonderful thing, we will come onto that, but just you have got a very crucial period now as you go into this transfer window, because I think all of your loan player’s deals are now up after today’s game aren’t they, so how confident are you of re-signing any or all of those?
GK
Again, it is up in the air and I am not trying to be vague by saying that but we are basically relying on other clubs and waiting for an answer. They obviously have their own situation and their own problems and they have got one or two injuries they are waiting on and they are trying to make some movement in the market, and if they can it will enable us to keep the players.
So, it is a big jigsaw puzzle that we are a very small part of, but we have had dialogue, the clubs have been brilliant up to this point and I am just hoping that we can keep what we have and obviously try to add it. I think if we can and we can get that settled squad then maybe we could move one or two on as well, especially if we have a run in this FA Cup. Which, no doubt about it it will be difficult on Sunday, but I am sure the lads will come in fighting fit and raring to be in the starting line-up.
JP
I guess it is no real secret the players you would like to move on, those who haven’t been involved for a while, is there a realistic chance that you might be able to find other clubs for them, I mean given that they have not played football for a while?
GK
Again, I suppose the answer is that I don’t know but I would like to think the players in question, I have spoken to them all and they all sort of have a fair idea as to how I want to play and if they are part of it and if they are not. I think it is in their interest to be doing all they can to get a move because football doesn’t stand still for anybody and if you don’t get yourself ahead of the game and get yourself an opportunity, come the summer when they are lots of numbers of players out of contract it is very, very difficult.
It is even becoming more and more difficult, we have seen that with certain players who have even left our club in recent times. So, we will wait, I think hopefully on Friday I will have a player in who looks like that is all agreed. It will be Conor Townsend, it looks like it is nearly sort of done.
JP
Is that another loan is that?
GK
That will be a loan yeah because things have changed at that end as well, because it looks like Conor is going to sign for Hull and then he is going to come on loan to us for the second half of the season. So, that is more or less compete really without being signed, but it is more or less complete.
JP
Yeah, that will be really good news because you have got a little bit of a defensive crisis now haven’t you, especially if as you say Max Ehmer has a longer-term injury and Courtney as well, especially with Thirlwell presumably being out for a little bit with that?
GK
This has a history of his calf, Sean O’Hanlon did his glute and sort of tweaked his ligament in his knee and wasn’t available today. So, he was obviously a massive loss because that was something going into the game that I was worried in that area, I knew that their aerial presence has been huge for us with Max and Sean together as a combination who have been absolutely fantastic. I am also conscious that Courtney is still learning, he is still growing into what we are asking of him and I do think it is going to take a while.
But, I do think that he is more than capable of doing it, but I think probably with him because he hasn’t had a pre-season and stuff we have to be careful we don’t over-push him we could extend him too much and he gets injured as well, and he is now going to be part of the next few weeks now. So, it worked the other day, we reshaped and rejigged the squad and we got a great performance and a great result. It didn’t quite work today.
JP
Just a few other little things to touch on, Alan Moore you have got in as a new youth coach, most important after Davie Irons had been sort of doing the dual roles for quite a while?
GK
Yeah, it is very important, I think the youth-set up with us going into this very sort of important time with this Elite Player Performance Plan coming up, we have an audit which we are trying to get Category 3 status and it is hugely important for the football club and the development of our younger players.
JP
What does the Category 3 status mean then?
GK
Well, there are Categories 1,2,3 and 4 and we are in the Category 3 status where I think it is worth more money to the club and it gives us more opportunity in terms of under-9s to under-16s. We can have our own Academy and we can develop our own players, I think if you get a Category 4 the players can only come in at 16 I think. That would be hugely disappointing if that was to happen to the club but we are definitely on track.
Alan has been part of the Bury set-up and I think the auditors have been very impressed with the way Bury have structured their audit. I have known him for years, I played with him at Middlesbrough, we were together for six years at Middlesbrough and he is a great lad. He will add huge amounts to the younger kids and I am just looking forward to working with him, so I think he will be a great addition.
JP
A very interesting period in terms of signings, just finally of course, we have already touched on it, a wonderful game to be able to put any result, win, lose, draw, whatever, behind you because you can look forward to such a big game on Sunday?
GK
Yeah, there are a number of factors which we will obviously have to deal with going into the game but I think the fact that we are at the Stadium of Light, I am hoping there is going to be massive crowd, I know our fans have got right behind the fixture. I think there are nearly 6,000 of our fans are going to go and give us their utmost support, which will be absolutely magnificent.
I am hoping, I know they have a big squad at Sunderland and I know a lot of the players haven’t actually played as of yet this season because they have made the signings that Paolo Di Canio has made. Gus Poyet then does or doesn’t fancy them, I am not really sure but he looks like he has stuck with a settled team up to this point. They have obviously had a successful run in the League Cup which they play the first leg of the semi-final on Tuesday, so I am thinking and hoping they may re-jig their group.
That will probably give us a problem in the sense that there is an unknown quantity and they will all be coming in wanting to express themselves and perform. But, likewise, we want to try to make it a cup tie of real conviction and energy and tempo and tenacity. Obviously, we are going to have play extremely well, there are no two ways about it, but that is what is the FA Cup brings up. If we can manage to do that hopefully there will be an upset.
JP
But, before gets disappointed who has got a ticket, they are still going to be top drawer players, it is not like they are going to be putting in kids is it because they have got such a big squad as you say?
GK
Oh, they have spent fortunes, I think Poyet has already signed Marcos Alonso, the left-back. There is talk of him bringing in one or two others, I am not sure if they will be in for Sunday but, listen, we are just going to look after ourselves as of now. I know how big the task is going to be, it is going to be a tough game. They are coming into a little bit of form where they are getting a few runs of results, but I am hoping they take their off the ball, they maybe don’t give us the respect that maybe we deserve, and if that is the case we will try to do our utmost to spring a surprise.