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JP
How are you feeling after that weekend then and the late drama at Colchester?
GA
Yeah, we are feeling alright. We got a good point at a very difficult place. I thought the lads in the second-half might have been our best half a performance as we go. I thought they were tremendous, especially when you take into consideration the opposition, the journey, how far away it is, how strong a club it was that we were up against. But, I thought they were outstanding.
Then after that we have had a day at MK Dons to watch Swindon who are our next opponents, Dennis (Booth) and myself. They were unbelievable the people at MK Dons in the way they looked after us. So, the weekend slotted into place nicely and then I got home and I was a bit washed out, but it ended up like you feel you achieved quite a bit over the weekend, so it was a good one.
JP
What did you make of Swindon then? A bit of good news I suppose in a way came out of that game for you in David Prutton's dismissal?
GA
Well, we think he probably will be OK for the game against us because he is available for the Johnstone's Paint game, so we think he will probably use his suspension up for that. But, that apart, we have seen Swindon, it was good because I had seen Colchester at Sunderland in the League Cup. So, I have now seen Swindon first and it does make a difference when you see people and you can make your own opinions and see what they have got.
I think it is another game where we can do alright, that if we can keep the form going and the tempo of our play and the quality of our football then I think they are a team that we can really get after. They are off to a sticky start and they will be anxious for their first win, and maybe we can delay that a little bit and get stuck into them.
JP
Are you expecting to see a familiar face in big Vince (Pericard) in that game?
GA
Yeah, it will be lovely to see the big man, I like him a lot as a person. Hopefully he is not playing and he doesn't score against us, and he doesn't get involved in any of their stuff. But, I like him, I like him a lot you know, the way he left and the way we did it was full of respect for each other. So, I am really looking forward to seeing him.
JP
And Charlie Austin was the sensation coming up out of non-league to Swindon last year, there is talk that he is just struggling a bit with the weight of expectation. How do you try to keep that on top of him for this weekend's game?
GA
We keep the ball away from the penalty area, because he is a penalty box player. He works hard but he does come alive in the penalty box and that is where we have got to keep the ball out and away from. But, he is a bit like (Sam) Baldock and (Jermaine) Easter, they are very, very good players but we managed to starve them.
Swindon couldn't do it on Saturday with Baldock and he scored two headers inside the six-yard box, which would be disappointing. But, with Charlie, second year in, people know about him and they pay a little bit more attention to him let's say, so he will find it more difficult. But, he is still a goalscorer and he is still proven with his 20-odd goals last year, so we need to keep him quiet for sure.
JP
There is no doubt about the way Swindon play the game, they will look to try to keep hold of the ball and dictate the play here at Brunton Park. Do you think the way you are setting up at the moment and the confidence that you have got, that you will be able to wrestle it off them and play your own game?
GA
Well, we have done up to now, so we have got to believe we can do that. We have got to believe we can take them on at football and keep the ball off them and use our quality. But, we have certainly done alright, MK Dons are a footballing side and we probably beat them at it.
Brentford are a more physical and a more direct side and we managed to cope with them. Huddersfield are a footballing side and we managed to probably play as well as them and the same at Plymouth and Colchester. So, at the moment we are giving as good as we are getting if you like and hopefully Saturday is no exception.
JP
Not to dig too deep into your team line-up, but Kemal Izzet in a deep role seemed to have quite a bit of profit in staying very close to Francois Zoko. We are pretty sure Jonathan Douglas will do that for Swindon, do you maybe for the first time this season think about moving things around a little bit for this game?
GA
Well, we moved things around a little bit on Friday in the second-half and that is why Francois got more play. Although he is not going to have the same effect on the game over 90 minutes he still had a big effect in the second-half. Where we shifted him about and told him to get a little bit higher up the field and certainly go a little bit wider at times, and he was involved in most of our best work if you like.
So, he has had made that vital contribution even though he wasn't as free as he would be if he was just playing a normal 4-4-2. But, whilst people are taking care of Francois then they are detracting from their own strengths, so that is a probably a plus point from us and in the end it paid off.
Possibly Francois could have equalised with one of his headers, with his shot that hit the bar and certainly his all-round contribution in the second-half was absolutely fine in an attacking sense, so we are OK with that.
JP
What does that tell you about him and the fans as well, some people who might think that he is one of these guys that comes in, if it is a bit hard, if it is cold or whatever he might not play to his full capacity? But, he had a hard first-half, he was well marshalled by them, but he came out and he still managed to put in a really good performance in the second-half, that says something about him as a player?
GA
Yeah, and it says something about him as a person as well. His half-time thing was that he was grabbing me after my talk and he wanted to ask me how he could get away and where he could go, and if he was allowed to do this or if he was allowed to do that. Because he doesn't always understand all the English perfectly when I am talking to him quickly at half-time.
So, we sat with him for about five minutes at half-time and said do this, do this, do this, and he was really pleased with that that he was free to then vacate that little area behind and go wherever he wanted to get the ball when we had it. Then as a defensive unit he had to get in a certain position when we lost it and he was really good.
But, for a player to come and almost plead with me to ask what he could do in terms of where he could go, because sometimes when I am saying it to him in the half-time team-talk at speed, he doesn't grasp it fully. His English is getting miles better and my French is getting superb, but he still needs a prompting.
But, we did it on the board with him and he picked it up, and that is a good sign that Francois wants to do it. He is not going to be comfortable with just going through the motions and not contributing, he is going to be good for us I think, really good.
JP
How long until we get him in here then if he is learning so much off Abbott and Booth and (Graham) Kavanagh?
GA
Erm, I have told him not to speak to you anyway, because he won't understand the way you slant things. But, you will enjoy him, you will enjoy him because I think it is more fun with broken English.
Which is better? A broken English-man from Derby in Dennis Booth or a broken English-man from France in Francois Zoko? So, I think you will enjoy doing it and I think he will be great fun for you. So, do until he can talk proper English and then he can talk to you and say "no comment" to all the questions you ask him.
JP
Any news on your two players out on loan, Andy Cook and Richard Offiong?
GA
Andy is not playing enough football for me, but he is still out there. But, if he doesn't play then he will come back and he will join in with us. Richard I think has found life tough even at the top of the Conference, it is a tough league, so I am going to speak to Mark (Cooper) sometime today for an update. But, I think that that level is a good level and again you have got to be bang at it when you go out to these places.
JP
Jason Price back in training as well today, how is he shaping up? Any chance of him back that soon?
GA
Erm, Pricey we would hope would be involved certainly. If he can get through a full week of training without any set-backs then he will be back in the squad, that is a certainty. We just have to see how he goes, obviously muscle strains at his age might take longer and they sometimes react to the early training. But, he has looked like he has got through that OK today and we will press on again tomorrow.
JP
And Danny Livesey was at your open training session today, but how is he getting on at the moment?
GA
Brilliant, that is the first time I have seen Danny on the grass running and he was running freely. Danny can't wait to get back involved, he has seen how we have started and he has seen the sort of good football we are playing and he can't wait to disrupt that.
JP
Any idea on a timeframe for Danny at this stage?
GA
The longer the better as far as I am concerned at the minute. No, we love the big man, he is brilliant, he is fantastic, he loves the club and we love him. I don't know, I wouldn't like to put a limit on him but the quicker he is fit, put it this way, the quicker he is fit the better.
JP
Any other doubts ahead of the weekend?
GA
No, not at the minute. It is funny when teams are going reasonably well or you think you are going reasonably well, that people tend to be wanting to be on the training ground and not in the treatment room, and that is the case. Now we have got Pricey out there we are really just waiting for Danny, and Danny is obviously a long-termer, but we are free of ill health at the moment.