United manager Graham Kavanagh (GK) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 1-1 League One draw at home to Walsall, Kavanagh saying he was proud of the players after last Saturday's 6-1 defeat at Preston:
JP
What are you feeling tonight?
GK
I am feeling proud of the players, I think we have had a difficult week after what happened last week, very difficult to turn the belief around and give the players confidence, but I think they showed that today. I think we were unlucky not to win the game, if we could have managed to get the second goal we would have done. But, disappointed we conceded as late as we did but very pleased with the performance of the players considering where they were on Monday after the game.
JP
Yeah, in that context it is a good recovery isn’t it because you did push them and if anything it was n more deserved that both sides got a point, but certainly Carlisle you almost could have hung in there?
GK
You could argue we deserved to win I would have thought, I mean we hit the bar three or four times. I know that they hit the post on the counter which they are going to do because they have got good players and they have got a very good team. Dean Smith has done a tremendous job there and all credit to them, they have had an absolutely fabulous season.
So, well done to him and his staff for that but I knew it was going to be a difficult game today and I also knew that psychologically amongst the group the way we were going to have to pick them up and instil belief was probably going to be the biggest task that we had this week. I think once we scored the first goal we dropped off and we sat back in, we tried to protect and that wasn’t the gameplan whatsoever.
I think that is probably a little bit of human nature, players want to or are so desperate to see the job through that human instinct dictates you drop off. But, we were screaming from the sideline to get up, get out, press the ball, engage their back four when we could, but it wasn’t to be.
JP
Whichever way we analyse it, it was one of those games that you thought was probably a bit must win with the run-in of games that you have got and you haven’t won it, do you think you have got enough within the squad to get the points you need still?
GK
Don’t know, hope so. Other results have gone for us so it wasn’t a must win game because we have got a game in hand and if we manage to equal or better whatever everybody else does on Monday we then come into a home fixture against Oldham which we will be looking to win, and we will certainly be looking to win the Crawley game.
So, it is all to play for, I am not trying to be cocky or clever by saying that, I think I have got to be realistic and I have got to understand where we are as a group and a team. We have got a hell of a lot of weary bodies and players are playing with injuries and fair play to them for that. But, we have got to regroup tomorrow, look forward and be positive and go there looking to get a result on Monday.
JP
The other way of looking at it, and some fans are, is that you have gone two points adrift ahead of an extremely difficult looking trip to Peterborough who are fending off Swindon in that final play-off spot, so they are not going to give you anything cheaply are they?
GK
No, I think we have seen today that Walsall don’t really have anything to play for and they haven’t given us anything cheaply. That is a credit to the English game, I think it is the way we are as people, we all want to compete and scrap and fight for every single point and I wouldn’t expect anything different. I am sure they won’t expect anything different from us either so we go there and we give a good account of ourselves.
We have obviously beaten them at home so we know we are capable, but we just need to try to change the mindset in terms of if we do manage to go into the lead we don’t become, negative is probably the wrong word, but we don’t become too distant from the areas of the pitch and the back four and the midfield.
The strikers today became a little bit too disjointed and we couldn’t get too much pressure on the ball, which ended up meaning we couldn’t get in support of Gary Madine when he did get hold of it. So, there is a lot to look on and a lot to work on but we are going to have to do some work tomorrow and Sunday to try to get it right for Monday.
JP
I certainly wouldn’t ask you to justify it because it is your decision to do whatever you like, but it was unpopular when you made the change with Courtney Meppen-Walter, could you explain that to fans who perhaps didn’t understand why you did that?
GK
Yeah, it was a tactical decision, I thought with us playing a 3-5-2 I was concerned with 20 minutes to go in the first-half that our two wing-backs weren’t engaging their wide men early enough and I didn’t want it to become a 5-3-2. I wanted it to be a 3-5-2 and it was a 5-3-2 at times, so I thought will I do it at half-time or will I wait until after that, and I thought the best thing to do to engage their full-backs would be to go to a 4-3-3.
So, I needed to take a centre-half off and we could have been sitting here if we had scored a goal saying it was tactically a very good thing to do, but I thought Reece Brown came in and did particularly well. But, it was a decision I made, I felt it was right at the time and did it work? You could argue it didn’t because we got the draw, but we didn’t lose.
JP
Certainly not, late on in the game were they just absolutely shattered the players because when the last Walsall corner went in they were walking away and the fans were a bit cheesed off at that because they thought they could have gone forward and had that one last attack, were they just gone?
GK
Well, they were exhausted, I mean it is obviously a hot day and stuff. I think when you are a team like Walsall and in the position they are in you don’t carry any nervous energy, you have got a real freedom of spirit to be able to express yourself and go and play. We are not at that stage at the minute because we are scrapping for our lives, so I know the nervous energy that the players will experience can fatigue you.
But, we still showed at times a little bit of inexperience, I mean David Symington gets the ball with six or seven minutes to go, he is running at the full-back and Brad Potts thinks he needs to overlap him, for whatever reason I don’t really know. Then as Dave crosses it we lose the ball and now Pottsy has an 80-yard run, and I am saying to Pottsy that if the ball goes into the box and they clear it then you need to be aggressively trying to recycle the second ball or picking up the pieces to get your shot away.
So, it is game understanding, the players are learning on the job and that sort of little bit of inexperience and know-how showed a little bit at times today. But, we can’t fault them, I had Dave and Pottsy in the office yesterday and we had a very good chat and the two kids are doing their absolute utmost, and they are really, really giving everything for the cause and their absolute maximum, they were dead on their feet today. So, it is certainly not a lack of fitness but I think it is just the circumstances with which we are playing at the minute.
JP
I know you like to play football, a bit of joy though when the balls went up quite high to Madine and David Amoo who both won their flick-ons when people were getting up to them, can you almost engage that more now? Is there a way to go a bit more ugly, maybe even Madine and Lee Miller up top and just try to shell the ball in and I guess cross your fingers?
GK
I think if we are crossing our fingers and hoping we are just in the lap of the Gods, so why then would we tactically try to be aware, and I swear I am not trying to be clever saying that, but I did think about in the second-half of the game. I thought well put Lee on and then hopefully they would get hold of the ball, would we get support off it, and then I thought who is going to run off the back of them and we will end up getting camped in more. So, hindsight is a great thing, I can’t say what I should have done or would have done.
But, I felt with putting Sam Byrne on on the left he would be one if we could get the ball to his feet early he would jink and take the defender back into his own box, he might get a shot away, he might get a penalty, we might create something. It wasn’t to be today so it is disappointing that we didn’t manage to get the three points, but it has been a very good performance from where we were last week.
JP
I think your first answer was bang on, I think it is important people view this game in context of how you have come on since last Saturday against Preston, how do you now take that the next step ahead of the game at Peterborough?
GK
Well, two weeks ago I went to see them and I felt there were areas that I thought we could try to exploit. But, I am going to have to face tomorrow and see what the players can give me in terms of energy and injuries, all the things that we are going to need on Monday to give us a performance of quality and an opportunity for us to beat them if you like. So, I will evaluate that tomorrow and ew will set a gameplan up accordingly.
JP
One of the biggest games do you think of your career as a manager and player that one?
GK
Well, the next one is, it is because it is the next one. I mean I don’t want to draw more attention to it than what it is already, they are all big, we all desperately want to stay in the league and we will focus on trying to do that.
JP
Sean O’Hanlon missing today, what is the situation there?
GK
Injured.
JP
Any chance of him back for Bank Holiday Monday?
GK
Doubt it.
JP
Any other knocks that you know of ahead of that one?
GK
Paul Thirlwell was stretching his calf, I am hoping he is alright, Pascal Chimbonda was limping at the end of the game but he was limping last week and he got through training this week, so I am not really sure of the outcome with that one. Who else was there? I can’t remember off the top of my head but there are people, oh, Chris Chantler has got ice on him. To be fair there are a few, James Berrett is icing his groin, there are a few, so it is one that they are throwing their bodies on the line and giving their absolute maximum.
So, I am just hoping that Lady Luck is on our side in terms of results, injuries and performance. When we needed it today at times I felt it was there because at 1-0 they hit the post and Jordan Pickford made one or two very good saves. But, in the end it wasn’t because we didn’t manage to get that second goal, so we go again tomorrow.