United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Look North's Dawn Thewlis (DT) this week, Abbott first looking back on Carlisle's penalty shootout defeat against Preston in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on Tuesday evening:
GA
We thought we worked really hard, we really upped the game in the second-half and put Preston under pressure, strong, a really strong and physical side. We get to 1-1 and we think we are going to go on and win the game, but we get a sending-off with ten minutes to go or something like that and then we are probably holding out for penalties, and losing in an area where we have done really well in the past. So, a bit disappointed but that is the way it goes.
DT
Penalty shoot-outs are something that you have done pretty well in in the past, is it especially galling when you lose a match in that manner?
GA
Yeah, I mean it is probably better it is the first round and not the semi-final or the final to lose there. But, we really like the competition, we enjoy taking part in it and the two times we went to Wembley were really special days for the club. So, it is a nuisance to be knocked out, but on penalties at least going forward the performance second-half and the later stages of the first were encouraging. If we can reproduce that on Saturday against Hartlepool then they will have to play well to get something out of the game, so there is that to look forward to.
DT
I suppose it is the old cliche that you can concentrate on the league now?
GA
Yeah, well we are still in the League Cup, we have got Tottenham at home which is another big game. But, the league is everybody's first thoughts and if you can get a good start and a good run of points to make sure you are in the middle to the top half after 15 to 20 games then most managers would probably take that, and then see where you can go. But, it is difficult when you are playing catch up, so we need to get some league points on the board for sure.
DT
I know it is very early days but it has been a slightly frustrating and slightly inconsistent start really?
GA
Yeah, I think that is maybe where we are as a club at the minute, we try to avoid using the financial equation but finances do play a part in football. We know we are not at the top of the list with that and with the players we bring in, we bring in some flaws and every now and then we show them.
As a group we have to accept that, but we try to eliminate as many of them as we can, we try to get on as much of a powerful run as we can. We know confidence breeds better football, better results, and we need to probably eliminate the poor performances. I am only saying things that probably top Premier League managers will be saying as well to be honest, so we shouldn't be too embarrassed about that.
DT
Hartlepool at the weekend, a local derby, how much of an extra incentive is there to win that?
GA
Well, massive, because I think we were 3-0 down after half an hour last year and our 2,000 fans were pretty upset. So, it is tough, it is always going to be tough there, they are good games, Neale (Cooper) has got his team working very hard, he has done well since he has come in. I am looking forward to meeting him and meeting their players and having a right good go at it, and hopefully we get something out of it and we are not 3-0 down after half an hour again. It will be tough again, but all games are tough at the minute.
DT
Hartlepool had a dreadful home record last season actually all-in-all, but they seem to have kind of got it together a bit at Victoria Park this time around. Is that going to be a big advantage to them do you think?
GA
Well, I think they have got us to thank for that because I don't think they had won a game until they beat us 4-0, so Neale should thank me quite a bit for that performance. No, sometimes being at home is more difficult, the expectancy from your home crowd and when you go on a run and it gets to six or seven games and you haven't won the crowd get a little bit more frustrated, and that pressure definitely spreads to the players and affects performances.
So, Hartlepool are under pressure because they are at home, we are under pressure because we need results and we need points. At the end of the day most teams for some reason are under some sort of pressure but it is who deals with it. We just go there off the back of a good performance, bad end result with the penalties, but a better performance than the MK Dons game, and we are hopeful we can cause them a few problems.
DT
You brought a few players in over the summer, you obviously lost a few as well including the likes of Francois Zoko who seems to be scoring for fun, how much of a miss are players like him?
GA
Well, we have lost a lot of players, Danny Graham, Gary Madine, Joe Garner, Richard Keogh, Ian Harte, the list is endless. What we have to try to do is try to find other players to come in and take their places, it is very difficult. We have probably got one of the strongest teams in the league of what we have sold, but it is a typical situation for most League One managers, as soon as anybody does well the bigger clubs, Championship, top end of our league and even Premier League come looking.
You are powerless to prevent them moving on and making a name for themselves in the game at higher levels. But, we deal with it and we have done alright over the last four years, we have had gradual improvement in the league positions. With the scouting people we have got and the backroom staff we have got, we have to just work extra hard to try to replace players when they have a bit of success individually.
DT
And how realistic or otherwise would promotion be this season?
GA
It has got to be realistic because that is what we are all here for, on paper there will be favourites and people who are not so favourites. People don't expect us to be up there outside of Carlisle, but everybody in Carlisle wants us after the season last year and the cup runs we have had to be pushing.
That has got to be a manager's ambition to be pushing round the top six or seven, and seven is no good, eight was last year, six would be a fantastic achievement this year for the club with where we are financially right now. But, there is a long way to go yet and I am sure we will put a run together at some point during the season, and then we will find out where we are. But, at the minute the league has sort of not really taken shape in any sense, but it will do after maybe ten games.