United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's Paul Newton (PN) at Friday's press conference for the local media, Abbott first talking about Carlisle's current injury concerns ahead of tomorrow's FA Cup first round tie at Brunton Park against Ebbsfleet United:
GA
No Paul Thirlwell, no Matty Robson, doubts about Chris Chantler and Peter Murphy, they have trained for the first day this morning so we are hopeful that they will wake up tomorrow with no lingering doubts. But, it has been tough again, we thought we had cracked it, I was sitting here this time last week, last Friday, and we thought we were getting Jon-Paul McGovern and we thought we were getting Rory Loy back into training and we were just sort of waiting on Lee (Miller).
But, since then four or five went down over the weekend and Monday included and it has rocked us a little bit. But, we have grouped up and we have said we have got to go out and show a good account of ourselves. It is a really important game and the boys are ready, we have worked very, very hard on the mental attitude and putting our defending right and the mindset that we are going into the game in, and not letting anything distract us from putting in a powerful performance that hopefully will see us through to the next round.
PN
Is it possible at this stage to determine how long Paul and Matty might both be out for?
GA
No, because Matty has been down to see a specialist in Leicester and he will tell us probably the results of that by Monday or Tuesday. Thir we are hopeful possibly next weekend, but that still could mean him missing another two games, Preston away and Brentford away, they don't get much tougher than that at the moment. So, we are hopeful but that is where we are right now.
PN
It does present other players in your squad with the opportunity to establish themselves in the team now, and this is something you talked about in midweek, about the slate being wiped clean with regard to your team selection?
GA
Yeah, I mean it is important now that players that get picked now do their jobs. I think have been ultra loyal and ultra defensive and I think the time has come for the dressing room to show me their return for that and go out and put powerful performances in. If they don't then we will have to fiddle around with it until we get some consistency there in terms of our defending and protecting our goal and then obviously winning games.
I don't like applying too much pressure, there is enough pressure from everywhere so I don't like applying pressure, but somewhere along the line this industry is about that type of thing and you have to deal with it. You have to man up and come to the task, I have to do it, I have to face all you guys and all the criticisms that go around. So, sometimes I am only as good as the players that go out there, and I have said to them that once you go out there you have got to start representing yourself in a better manner at times than we have done, certainly in the defensive facility.
PN
It is an opportunity as well to make a point to the supporters, some of whom will be there tomorrow and some of whom might choose not to come down?
GA
Yeah, I mean there are things to prove and things not to prove, I don't know where we are going with that one. We are sitting there 14th in the league and I think with the situation we have found ourselves in this season, things have been more difficult than they have. Day to day football changes, clubs go through periods where things are tougher than they were.
Sitting here before the Stevenage game I was really confident we had a really good squad, we were flying in pre-season, we had played some really good stuff, we looked sharp, we looked bright, we looked inventive. Then 20 minutes into the game and I lose Lee Miller, and since then things haven't got much better in that respect in terms of injuries and suspensions.
So, it makes it harder and supporters can say and do what they want and grumble about what they want, but sometimes just try to be realistic and try to be understanding of the situation day to day. Now if we had all those players fit and we were conceding goals like we were then I would be really upset, and they should be doubly upset.
So, I think sometimes you have got to actually look at the situation and think yeah, we have had a tough time of it, what we need to do is regroup, stay together, pull together, get through this period, get Lee Miller back, get J-P McGovern back, get Paul Thirlwell back, get Matty Robson back, get Rory Loy back, the list is endless. Then if we are not performing then, then we have major, major problems, but at the minute we are below our best in terms of the squad we can call on, and that does affect performances and results.
PN
I have got to ask you about Paddy Madden, the two clubs in yourselves and Yeovil have agreed to extend his loan down there until the New Year, what is the thinking behind that?
GA
Yeah, well I don't think there is a win situation with Paddy, it has been a really difficult one. There are ten reasons for bringing him back and there are ten reasons for letting him stay where he is. We have looked at all of them, I have looked at the way we play, I have looked at Paddy's frustrations and again, I think I have shown Paddy a bit of loyalty and respect to not hamper a situation that really, really suits him.
Now, the easy thing for me to do would be just to bring him back, easy, job done, but if he comes back and he doesn't fit into the way we play and he doesn't score goals for us, which to be fair he hasn't in the past on a regular basis then I have got an unhappy player and I have got a player that is not going to play regular football like he will definitely get guaranteed at Yeovil. So, we have looked at a whole host of situations and hindsight will tell us if we have made the right decision and hindsight will tell us if we have made the wrong decision.
But, that is where we are and it is such a close one to call that I don't think anybody without looking into a crystal ball can actually say it has absolutely got to be that or it has absolutely got to be that. I have hankered on this for a good week in my own mind and I have made my decision and I have put that towards John (Nixon) and John and the rest of the people have supported it. We have to go on from here and see if it is the right one or the wrong one, only time will tell that.
PN
In Paddy's case personally did he express a desire to you that he would prefer at this point to remain down at Yeovil?
GA
Yeah, that is the situation, that is part of, like I said, there are ten.......... I am not going to reel off all the reasons for and against but Paddy wants to play football, he wants regular football, he is enjoying himself and he is scoring goals. So, he has expressed a desire to continue doing what he is doing, I have had to take that into consideration because Paddy has been the most frustrated animal over the last two years ever.
He has had two brutal injuries at brutal times, both in pre-season which have kept him out for three months. When he has been fit we have actually been doing really, really well and people in his position have been doing really, really well. and he has been a bit part player, which isn't what Paddy wants.
GA
Longer term then, obviously Paddy is out of contract in the summer, with the January transfer window coming up might there be a possibility that Paddy could move on if it was right for both parties?
PN
Like I said to you before, club circumstances change day by day, football circumstances. They might not want him in January, they actually might not want him, he might not score again, but he might score five or six goals, he might score ten goals and then a really, really big club might want him.
There are loads of things and case scenarios that can happen, who knows what those answers are going to be. Hand on heart nobody can actually say he is going to do this or he is going to do that. So, I think it is one of those, we wait and see how he fares over the next period and then again we revisit the situation and see where we go with it all.