United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Paul Newton (PN) at Wednesday lunchtime's press conference for the local media, Abbott first looking back on Carlisle's 4-1 home win over Colchester last Saturday :
GA
It is what we have been trying to advocate to the fans to the way that we are trying to play and the type of football we are aiming for and what we believe the players can produce when there is total belief and confidence running throughout the club, but in terms of a pure football game that was as good as it gets probably for us. But, it is not always that easy because we have got opposition that make life difficult, and if we hadn't got an early goal then even Saturday's game might not have been as comfortable. So, there is opposition there to stop us doing that and the longer we get a reputation, or the quicker we get a reputation for playing football the more teams come to try to stop you, and that will be the problem that we are going to face.
PN
There will always be factors preventing you from playing like that from game to game, but does that set the standard for you for next season for your team?
GA
Well, it is not going to happen on a regular basis, it is what we strive for but it is not going to happen in real terms. We are not going to be able to play like that every week, we will strive to play that type of football but you have got an opposition and a strength of opposition. We caught Colchester on a good day for us and not a good day for them, so that will never always be the case, we might have bad days and other teams have good days and the type of football we want to play just won't happen. But, we want to try to play good football and try to win playing good football, and we did it on Saturday and that is what we will strive to do, but it won't always be as comfortable as that.
PN
James Berrett's reputation seems to be growing week on week and game on game, he scored another great goal on Saturday, are you anticipating interest in James and maybe some of your other younger players in the summer?
GA
I have no idea because it is my job to build a team here, it is not for me to say what other clubs are going to do, and I am trying to make something here that is going to give us a chance next season and James is going to be part of that. What other people see in him I am not really sure.
PN
Is there a price you could put on a player like James Berrett?
GA
There is always a price, there is a price on everybody but it is not something I have even thought of because he is not a player I would like to let go. He is a player I want to keep at the football club so it has not even been discussed or even thought about, but every player at every club, including the Manchester Uniteds, as you have seen with (Cristiano) Ronaldo has a price. But, at the minute James isn't something we are talking about in terms of doing that to generate any interest at all to be honest, I would rather there not be any interest in him.
PN
Where would you put James Berrett in terms of players you have managed to bring into this football club?
GA
He has had a terrific season, he has done everything we have asked of him and he has without doubt been a very, very good signing. He is one that if he keeps improving and keeps playing like he is then he might be able to step up higher. But, at the minute we would like him to be doing that with us, but he has certainly been a really big plus for us this year.
PN
In terms of planning for the summer, whereabouts are you with that at the moment?
GA
Further down the line than I was last year, and that is again being in the job over a longer period, that the wheels are always rolling and that part of the job is going to be probably easier than it was last year, or certainly I have done a lot more work towards it than I had last year because of the time I have been in the job. So, we are in a good position with that and hopefully we can wrap up stuff for the start of next season, but I am optimistic we will be again in good shape come July.
PN
What areas in particular do you think you need that extra competition?
GA
I just think the squad needs a bit more depth to be honest, I think it just needs a little bit more quality and a bit more depth, and I think we are not going to be far.......... I think if we can make that improvement to it then we can maybe get the type of performance on Saturday that we have got on a more regular basis. I certainly think depth is the key, we need players that are proven, we probably need a couple more experienced players to add to the young ones we have got who are doing really well, and then the balance is a bit better, a bit more even. You can't have too many old players or too many young players, but I don't think we are a million miles away with that.
PN
And in terms of targets, are those players relatively fresh targets if you like or might you go back and revisit some of those you maybe tried to bring in over the last year?
GA
Bringing in new players isn't as easy as that, it is not black and white, it is probably more grey, so there are people on a list that are long term targets, there are new targets all the time, there are players you didn't know were available that become available. So, what we are trying to do is, within our price range, is get the best options out there that are available, and that is something that can sometimes change day by day. But, we have certainly got some hard and fast ideas of what we want to do.
PN
And somebody like Francois Zoko who was off the radar I guess before he came, does that suggest you might perhaps look at the option of looking abroad to find players who may be off other peoples' radars?
GA
It is not ideal because when you do that you are always gambling, the thing with Francois is we had him for a month before we made any decisions, and the best players from abroad will get snapped up, the others you don't get enough chance. We have got one that somebody has said is exceptional, scored at the weekend, he is terrific, we have watched DVDs and he does look really good, but without knowing the character, without knowing much about his background it is a big gamble.
League One for a foreign player doesn't always work, and getting acclimatized to the culture and the level they are at, it doesn't always work. So, we have to be very careful when we go down that road, with Francois we had him for a month and found out about his character and we liked what we saw as well as the ability. So, it was pretty comfortable in the end to do that one.
PN
You have been fairly careful with Marco Gbarssin who has been out on loan at Walsall, are you any closer to knowing what might happen with Marco?
GA
Yes, I know exactly what is going to be happen to Marco but until I have spoken to the player, he is away at Walsall at the minute, then I will keep that to myself. But, in the next sort of week to ten days I will probably speak to him and let him know of our intentions.
PN
You have spoken as well about trying to get the contract talks wrapped up before the end of the season with some of your players out of contract in the summer, any movement on that?
GA
No, not at the minute, we have sort of just started talks, opened up talks, so we are going to present the players with some sort of idea of what we are thinking. Not been helped this week, John (Nixon) has been away for three days with a stomach upset so I have not been able to really get that moving. But, he is back in today, he is not great but he is back in so I will get some idea off John of what the club wants to do, and then sit down with the players and try to present some idea of what we are talking about.