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GA
He is a player that we tried to get last year to be honest. We made an enquiry and Mark Hughes said we were the first in for him and it was a good spot from us because he was a good player. But he wouldn't let him come because he had got into his first-team squad and he found himself around the first-team last season. He has been again this season but with the arrival of other people like Gareth Barry and (Carlos) Tevez and Robino and people like that, it has just dropped players like Adam down the pecking order.
But he is a very good player and he is one that will give us a little bit of strength in that position and one or two things we can cover with him being here should anything happen. But we have brought him in to push very hard to play, it is a chance for him to get his career going and it is a chance for us to see what he can do and give us some strength and energy in the middle of the park.
JP
What sort of central midfielder is he? Is he a pushing forwards or is he a sitting deeper sort of player?
GA
He is a good footballer, he is a tough tackling good passer who wants to get forward. He has got a nice range of passes, he is probably similar in a lot of ways to how Paul Thirlwell plays with a little bit more in his attacking game. But he is a tough competitor, he has got a good build, he likes to tackle, likes to pass and likes to play from the middle of the park, and he has got plenty of energy to get around. So we feel he will be a good foil for the players we have already got.
JP
And when you say that he is going to come in and try to push those front players, do you see him coming in in the way Tom Taiwo has and pushing his way in, or do you just see him as cover really in that midfield?
GA
I don't want him to be cover, I want him to come and push and prove that he is good enough to get in the team and give us real strong competition there. Obviously with Paul's injury and not knowing when that will be sorted, and little Bridgey (Marc Bridge-Wilkinson) has had his problems where he is not quite 100% match-fit yet.
So if anything should happen to Kav (Graham Kavanagh) or Tom at the minute then we wouldn't have had much cover. But little Bridgey is getting there and Adam coming in gives us plenty of competition for that position now.
JP
Does that mean Michael Burns is essentially out of the first-team picture at least for now?
GA
I think for the time-being, we have seen what Michael we can do and at the minute I think he is probably just a little bit behind the level that we are chasing. But it is up to him to prove us wrong with that and keep playing and keep trying and keep working at his game to get a level. But the situation with us at the minute is it is all about now.
We haven't got time to wait too long, as you have seen with all the stuff that has gone on over the past couple of weeks. That is something where sometimes some players suffer from that situation and Michael is probably going to be one of them.
JP
And your new man Clayton of course in the short-term, I would have thought will struggle to get into that starting eleven after the, at least second-half from your two central man at the weekend.
GA
Well they were terrific weren't they, Kav and Tom second-half especially I thought they played really, really well. They supported everything that was happening, won every second ball in the middle of the pitch, won every tackle and made some very good passes and obviously got forward well.
Kav with his two goals gave a perfect second-half performance and they are two good players in their own right and we need more of that. But we have got the chance to vary things and change things and should other things happen in other areas of the pitch, we now know with Adam in that we can cover all that. So he gives us a much bigger depth and strength to the squad we have got.
JP
In terms of the display itself against Charlton, where did that come from, such a good performance, even beyond the Southend game it was a hugely improved performance.
GA
I think it has been coming to be honest, I think we have played some really good stuff this season and that is why patience and support and people not getting anxious should come into it. We feel that we are producing decent football, Saturday we capitalised on all our good play, we scored two wonder goals, we got the rub of the green with the penalty which we haven't been getting and things dropped into place nicely.
But I think it would be fair to say we feel we have worked hard enough to get the rewards that that performance on Saturday got. I thought we were very justified in winning the game, and it is a lot of hard work that is going on to get to the level we are getting to and keep getting there and keep performing like that.
The football we feel is decent, we just need to be a little bit more clinical at both ends of the pitch and on Saturday we found that. Even with a bit more clinical-ness we could have had a couple more goals and it would have made the win even bigger.
But we think we are on the right lines, we think we are making progress and I still call for patience and I still call for the supporters to try to understand where we are going and what we are trying to do. I think they have seen a very determined group of players over the last fortnight.
JP
And after a run of, it is fair to say, a few sloppy goals, how pleasing was it for you aside from one rash tackle, it was a very strong display at the back from your team.
GA
The way I am and the way I like to try to build my teams is from a solid base and we have had that at times this season, but just of recent weeks……… The injury to David (Raven) is one position that upset us a little bit and we tried one or two things and they didn't work. Richard (Keogh) has come in there and to be fair the performances as individuals have been excellent, Ian (Harte) has gone to the centre-half position and played his best football this season.
Richard has gone to right-back and taken to it like a duck to water and Evan (Horwood) has come in and done ever so well, and then you have got Danny (Livesey's) consistency. So all-in-all we have done a lot of work on the training ground with that unit because we felt after the Yeovil game it needed to be done.
We will keep reminding them and we will keep doing that work and it is paying its dividends at the moment. But a lot of our joy will come if we can defend like that and keep clean sheets or certainly restrict teams like Charlton to the amount of attacks they had on our goal, which we think was very few, so we are pleased with that.
JP
A bit of a break now from league action with a couple of cup competitions to take in, of course this weekend though I am sure you won't even be thinking about tinkering with your team when it is the FA Cup?
GA
Well I don't tinker with much, I want to win and we have got a real maybe aggressive mentality now that this is all this game is about. Sometimes how we get there, it is important because we want to win nice, but sometimes when you are in this situation where we are and people are throwing the criticisms that they have done, winning becomes a vital component of what is going on.
So we want to win every game and that is the message going through the club now, I am sick and tired of being described by other managers and other people as a good football club and a club that is in the wrong position. The club that should be doing better than it is but not getting results.
So my message has been, yes that we can play nice football but before we do anything we must make sure we don't lose games and we massively compete in everything we do to make sure that the outcome at the end of it is positive for this football club.
JP
And with League Two Morecambe on Saturday in the FA Cup and then League Two Chesterfield in the Johnstone's Paint on the Tuesday. You are looking at, if you play well and you are disciplined and it is a good performance, maybe four unbeaten, maybe even four wins on the trot going into the Bristol Rovers game. Is that the ideal situation?
GA
Well of course it is but we are not talking about wins lightly here. We won't beat Morecambe and we won't beat Chesterfield unless we are absolutely in the same frame of mind as we were against Charlton. Nothing less than total commitment from everybody, and as I say everybody, because I think the fans have a big part to play. I mean everybody getting behind the club and making sure that we don't falter and we keep the momentum going.
From my side with what I can direct, which is the players and the backroom staff, we will be giving it everything. The message this week is don't think that you are coming just to turn up on Saturday and win the game and turn up on Tuesday and win the game because it just won't happen. We have been kicked in the teeth by teams in games like this before and I have to try my utmost to make sure it doesn't happen.
JP
It is a classic case though of after the Lord Mayor's Show isn't it, the really big game, important game, the big team in Charlton. Can you make sure that your team are at that level that you are saying you want there?
GA
Well I am going to be saying all the things I am saying to you to them. So anybody that drops below the standards we are looking for, or drops below the type of performance we are wanting won't find themselves on the pitch for long. Because I will have no problem with the strength of squad we have got now in making a few changes.
Because it is very, very important to this football club that we have a run in the FA Cup and we go to Wembley in the Johnstone's Paint if at all possible. So there is the key to what we are doing and that is the message to the players, so they had best be up for it.
JP
And focusing on the next opponents in a bit more detail, you have seen them once of course already this season, what are you expecting on this occasion from Morecambe?
GA
Morecambe to absolutely work their socks off and make life difficult for us, get men behind the ball, compete for every tackle and if they get a chance at the other end then try to put it in the net and give themselves something to defend.
But we have got to be up for all that, we have got to match them in every department and hopefully we have got better players than them and we can cause them problems as well and go on and win the game. But the first thing for me is just match them in everything they do in terms of their attitude and their work-rate and their desire to get a result out of the match.
JP
And Wayne Curtis upfront for them last time was a big lump of a player, a real pain in the backside, how confident are you that your new look back four can handle him? If of course you choose to go with that.
GA
Well we will have to see but he has got strength and a bit of power but I think they will be worried about a lot of our things as well on Saturday. So we know what they can do and you are always guarded against that but we will see on Saturday what the outcome of that is.
JP
Curtis when you played against him, he looked like just the sort of player who Carlisle maybe needed a bit of, do you feel you have got that now in Vincent Pericard?
GA
Vincent has been a big plus for us because he has definitely put defences on the back foot. That is what we brought him in for, he is a great foil for Scott Dobie or Joe Anyinsah or Richard (Offiong), should Richard play. But he does take up a lot of a defender's time, he has got massive strength and then when the ball goes into him it stays there and he is hard to get round.
So the more and more defenders that go round Vincent leaves space in other parts of the pitch for us to exploit. We have done that over the last couple of games and he has been a big plus for us, and he has been a joy to work with.
JP
What is the injury situation at this stage?
GA
Still David Raven seeing a specialist, Paul Thirlwell going back to London to see a specialist. Apart from that a few niggles but we are not bad.
JP
Any closer to durations on the two long-terms?
GA
No, you would have to speak to Dolly (Neil Dalton) about that. I would never give you a duration on an injury, I am not qualified to do that and you are in the hands of nature so it is difficult to say that and build peoples' hopes up. But we are not expecting them to be fit for the next week or so at least.
JP
So longer-term and with the options you have got, you are pretty comfortable at the moment with that?
GA
I have to be, if they are not fit then I have to get on with it don't I, so until they are right then they are not even under consideration. That is why the likes of Adam has been brought in to make sure the squad retains that strength and that depth and we are comfortable with what we have got available at the moment.