Greg Abbott - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 25 November 2008 By Thetashkentterror

Greg Abbott
United caretaker manager Greg Abbott spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Derek Lacey on Monday morning ahead of Carlisle's League One match at Millwall, Abbott hoping that the Blues can carry on from where they left off in their 1-0 home win over Cheltenham :


" It's a good game, it's a game where we are going to a side that is doing really well. I thought that they might do, it is a tough place to go is Millwall when they have got some good players. They have started the season well so it is a good one for us to go and see, put a bit of a benchmark to see where we have progressed to. I think that we are doing better, we have improved and it would be nice to go down there tomorrow and make life difficult for Millwall, and I anticipate a good performance from us.

" I am more encouraged by the way we played against Cheltenham and the way we performed and the amount of chances that we created, and the amount of times we got the ball into the box from really effective areas. Maybe we can argue and say that we should have been a little bit more clinical and we could have put our chances away and made the game a little bit easier. At 1-0 you are always open to a counter-attack or a sucker punch, but fortunately that never happened and we got the result that we longed for again, and we go on.

" A clean sheet has been a long time coming hasn't it but the defenders have been getting a bit frustrated. I think that you actually defend from the front though and if you have got as much attacking play in the game as we have had in the last two games, then it is going to be easy for the back four. They can then get a bit of confidence back and a bit more belief. I think that there was a lot of determination there though, I think that Richard Keogh looked a really determined character.

" I haven't seen that as much in him as I would have liked. Apart from his lack of concentration where he played his one-two off the crossbar, which maybe that was the little bit of luck that he has needed. He was determined though and alongside him Danny Livesey was better and we want Danny to get even better. We know that he again from where he was last season he is still not at that level yet, but we are cajoling him on. "



" I think that if we can play the sort of football in front of them as we have been doing in the last couple of games, that life will be a bit more comfortable. Because I think that they have been overworked a little bit in the last dozen or so games. Saturday was a case where they didn't have a great deal to do but what they did do 99% of it was effective enough.

" He (Michael Liddle) is an enthusiastic kid isn't he, he has got a lot of energy. I think that with the way that he is he will be a crowd favourite, I think that they like him. He is a good lad to have around, he wants to do things in the right way, he gives us a bit of composure from that area and he looks like he is enjoying himself, as do a lot of other players.

" All of a sudden you have got my two wide players (Simon Hackney and Cleveland Taylor) flying down the flanks and taking players on and getting terrific crosses in. Again, we are encouraging them not to be disappointed when things don't go their way. You can't just get the ball and beat a man and cross it, there are defenders there to stop you doing that. What we do want to do though is to encourage them to keep taking their man on, don't be too disappointed if they lose the ball.

" Be positive though, every time that they get the ball be positive, because I think that they have been a big threat for us in the two games. Certainly in the second-half I thought that the pair of them were a real threat for Cheltenham and at times they were uncontainable. If they get behind their full-backs in those areas then they are putting balls into the box which are going to cause teams lots of problems. "



" We can't play any worse than we did at Millwall last season and that's the truth. If you are asking should we go back to the Millwall game last season then I would say that no we shouldn't, we should be looking forward to the game tomorrow night. If that is me being a bit damp on the thing then that is me but I have got to look forward, we can't look too far behind.

" We will maybe be reminded and say that we didn't perform here, regardless of where it left us in terms of promotion and not getting the points that we needed. That is irrelevant now, it doesn't matter, it is about this season, it is about going there now to maintain form that we have struck up over the last few games.

" I will be disappointed if we don't perform better than we did, obviously I will, but I think that it is about what we do now and that is the important thing to say to the players. Right, come on, new slate, new time, let's have a go at them and let's put them on the back foot. Let's cause them as many problems as we can and let's make sure that we are hard to beat and so determined that if they are going to get something out of the game then they have had to work their socks off to do that.

" The two long journeys don't hamper our preparations or training programme. I keep having it thrown at me about the journeys, it was part of the job, Carlisle is always going to be where Carlisle is and long journeys will always be part of our season. What we have got to do is not talk negative, we have got to talk positive. We are going to train today and then we are going to travel, we will have our normal preparation tomorrow, we will have our normal day off on a Wednesday. We will then train on Thursday and we will prepare for a game on Saturday. "



" It's not a great deal, there will only be issues if players let them be issues and people keep talking about them as problems. They aren't though, if we lose the two games then I am not going to come back and use the excuse of two long journeys. I am not going to do that, I am going to say that it is because the other team has deserved it more than us, or we didn't do this or we didn't do that on the pitch, but our preparation will be fine, don't you worry about that.

" No new injuries from the weekend, Dolly (Neil Dalton) has had a quiet Sunday, I think that he has gone and had his Pizza Hut with the kids, so he is fine. So that tells me that everybody is OK, I will be upset if anybody does come with a late one. At the minute there are a couple of little niggles but nothing that I think will hold anybody back. So with a full bill of health we are going down there optimistic and really looking forward to it to be honest.

" I thought that he (Paul Thirlwell) was outstanding again on Saturday. I did say to him to see how his ankle was on Sunday when it stiffened up, I got a phone call from him yesterday and he said that it was comfortable. So let's hope that he is still the same way this morning, but I have not heard from since so I anticipate that he is ready for training, ready for travelling and ready for playing.

" We are alright, I think that everybody is pleased, I think that there is a nice buzz about the place and we are all OK at the minute. We are just getting ready for the game tomorrow, that is the key thing in my mind at the moment. "