Greg Abbott On The Charlton Win

Last updated : 01 November 2009 By Thetashkentterror

Blues boss Greg Abbott
United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) after Carlisle's 3-1 win at home to Charlton, Abbott understandably very pleased with United's second home win in a row :



JP

A wonderful display from your team, how do you feel about that?

GA

Very pleased, the dressing-room is very excited at the moment. We feel we have contributed to a really good game of football, we feel we have beaten a very, very good side and it is important the way we have stuck together through what has been a very difficult week.

But you have seen a club that is definitely united and the players have done their part and we can't do anything about anything else. All we can do is try to produce performances like that, and we have been trying to do that all season. Today things have gone for us and we have produced we think a top quality performance against a really good side.

JP

The experts said, and lots of them as well, that it is difficult for players to avoid noticing things like this that happen at the club, the turmoil this week, but your players have clearly done that.

GA

The experts know nothing because the players haven't given a damn what goes on in the boardroom. It doesn't concern them and never will concern them, what they have got to do is make sure what they do out there is right. So I don't know what experts we are talking about, but experts don't know very much because players are only concerned on what happens on the green stuff and that is where they are at their best. That is all that matters to them and if they can produce things like that then things everywhere else in the football club will be miles better.

JP

Graham Kavanagh, discuss.

GA

Listen, we had words about the decision making at half-time, and maybe the challenge for the penalty was a little bit rash. Was it in the box or outside the box? We don't know really but we felt we shouldn't be making those decisions and we felt a lot of our good play had been hampered a little bit by that.

I thought his second-half performance, especially along with Tom Taiwo, I thought was absolutely magnificent. Playing from behind, supporting every attack, picking up every second ball, and dominating an area of the field against two really good players. His two goals, well that is Kav is all about, he has got genuine top quality in his locker, that is why he has played at the highest level. He has produced two pieces of absolute magnificence for us today and they have won us the game.

JP

Those two goals, you don't see many of those in League One, do you?

GA

Well, they will be playing them won't they at the end of season party, because they will be up there with the goals of the season we score. His second one especially was a sublime curl from 25 yards out, but that is what he is capable of, he is everything isn't he, he is the good, the bad and the indifferent and he gives you everything.

But I tell you what, the character he showed second-half is unbelievable and it is fitting that he will never say die, he will never say no, he will never shirk any responsibility and along with Tom I thought they were absolutely magnificent second-half especially.





JP

And it is good that you involved Tom there, Tom Taiwo, because Carlisle won the fight first but then against a team full of quality like Charlton you actually won the football battle as well.

GA

You don't win anything unless you win the fight in this league, this is League One, this isn't Serie A or Premier League, this is League One and unless you win fights you don't win nothing. That is what we talked about at half-time and I was very, very upset that I didn't think we got it into our two front players with enough quality often enough.

Them two (Scott Dobie and Vincent Pericard) are a handful, they look like a decent partnership. They are a great foil for each other and if we can get in there and keep the ball then we give ourselves a great chance to play our football high up the field and that is what happened today.

JP

Richard Keogh got man of the match again, but it could have been any number, it could have been Pericard, it could have been Kavanagh as well for his second-half display, how important is that?

GA

I think man of the matches don't really interest me too much, I am not about individuals because we don't win anything about individuals. The three lads you have mentioned there, add another eight to that or another nine or ten onto that then we have got a chance. But I think today the man of the match was the team performance, the men of the match it was today. Everybody has put a shift in, everybody has done their job and that is what we need to do on a more regular basis and we might be half a decent side.

JP

Two shifts together now for that back four, with Keogh at right-back, (Evan) Horwood at left-back and (Ian) Harte and (Danny) Livesey in the centre. Today aside from the penalty which you said was perhaps a rash moment from Kavanagh, Charlton just have not broken you down and this is a team who are scoring for fun in this league.

GA

I think you are talking about performances, Ian Harte who has found an unbelievable performance again today against (Izale) McLeod and (Deon) Burton and they score goals Charlton don't they. They are not a team that is struggling to score goals, they are a real danger, they are a real threat. I thought the back four, I thought the work in front of them was awesome as well.

Even Vincent and Dobes upfront were making challenges high up the field to stop the ball getting into areas cheaply and getting us stretched. We didn't look stretched today, we looked really cohesive, we looked a very compact team, and the key is everybody is united and I keep saying it. We will stick together and what we have got here is an honest group of people that play football and an honest group of people trying to run the club.

Whilst you have got that, we don't confess to being anything we are not, we are just honest, we have a right go at everything we do. I think today and last week we have got our rewards and we want to kick on from here and not let this be a one-off situation. We want to go on a run where we can really let people know that we are not bad, because we think we are half-decent.





JP

And you are certainly are, looking at the games coming up, it is a fortnight before you are back to this action because Morecambe coming up in the cup on Saturday. Happy for that break or would you rather just to try to get a bit more momentum in the league?

GA

Do you know what, I think yes we would like to get the momentum in the league but these have been tough times this past fortnight. I think everybody has been really under the scrutiny of pressure and hype and these last two weeks have taken a lot out of the players, they have taken a lot out of the backroom staff. We have worked our socks off, make no mistake about that, and everybody else has at the football club.

So collectively we probably deserve a breather, we can look forward to the FA Cup tie, we want to win that, we want to progress in that, with no disrespect to Morecambe we think it is a game we can win. Then we kick on for Bristol Rovers who have had a bit of a blip, I don't know how they have got on today, I have not seen the results. But we can take our team down there and hopefully give them a right good game as well.

JP

Bristol Rovers lost I am hearing, crowd today - 6,077, for a big game like this I am sure the club would have liked a few more on that. But with this result you can hope and expect now for a few more to come for the next one.

GA

Well, people that have come to see that today will go away spreading that the team is back, the club is in decent hands. We know we have not played so badly this season, we have not got results we possibly deserved. Today we got what we deserved and I think that if we had had a little bit more of the rub of the green then we could be talking about ourselves in the top eight or nine easily.

But we are not there, we won't rest until we are there and we will keep trying our best and try to persuade the fans to come down and support their team. To be fair the 6,000 that were in, bar their 700 or 800 were absolutely magnificent again, but it was a good game for them to support Carlisle United.

JP

It certainly was, out of the match itself, any knocks? Certainly at half-time Danny Livesey looked like he was in a bit of trouble, anything come out of the game?

GA

No, just our water carrier needs surgery from the kick that Phil (Parkinson) gave it, so apart from that we think we are alright.

JP

He got sent off for that as well, out of adversity I think is the phrase that springs to mind here finally, because in a week of troubles off the field you have underlined everything with an excellent performance and result on it.

GA

That is all we can do, all we can do is play football to the best of our ability and get good results to lift everybody's spirits. I think today it is a nice club to be a supporter or a player or manager of.

JP

And you are a happy man today.

GA

Absolutely.