United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 3-1 League One defeat at home to Doncaster, Abbott saying the home fans were fantastic at Brunton Park during the game:
JP
I know you will be disappointed with the defeat, but I am sure you will feel like the fans clearly did tonight that the performance was a lot, lot more?
GA
I thought the fans’ performance was fantastic, absolutely fantastic, because I think they are waiting to cheer their team now they know that we are in a situation that is tough and a struggle. But, I think to a man near enough they were absolutely fantastic. I can’t ask any more of the players, when they go in there and give everything they have got, we had one player with cramp in both legs at the end and if players come off the field like that there is not much more you can do. Criticism would be the goals are shite, sorry, extremely poor, sorry.
JP
Yeah, I apologise if you were offended by that but it is an emotional time.
GA
Of course, sorry, extremely poor, I do apologise, I meant extremely poor.
JP
I know.
GA
And that is my big disappointment and my big gripe, but the rest of the football was as honest as it can be. The amount of balls that we have got in the box, we have got a number nine sitting in the stand (Lee Miller) that we keep talking him but he knows where the ball is going, he just anticipates where the ball is going with his experience. He would have had a hatful of goals with some of the crosses that we have put in of late and that is what we miss badly.
But, we have got to get through this period without him and without others. But, I thought the kids were really, really up for the battle, gave every little bit they had in terms of energy and determination. Like I said, my criticism is the goals we conceded, although they are desperately difficult to defend against with people like (Rob) Jones when the ball is delivered like that.
The third one we don’t think is a free-kick, and it loops off David Symington’s back and into the back of the net. We don’t get goals like that at the minute and that is what happens when you are down on your luck, you concede stuff like that but you generally don’t get it. So, there is another bit of a gripe there from me.
JP
You described the goals the way you have and a number of fans have asked why is Sean McGinty not getting a chance after four goals conceded at the weekend?
GA
Well, listen, we have got tough games and I have seen what Sean………. Listen, he came in as a last gasp measure at Preston, we had only 15 fit players on the morning and Manchester United said take him, he will give you a bit of cover, we know he probably needs a little bit more time at this level. He has not played much, one league game or two league games and Danny Livesey, to be fair Danny I thought was pretty decent tonight.
It is a time where we already had three 18-year olds and we are as young as we could possibly be, and throwing another one in, you are handing initiatives over and they had (Iain) Hume and (Billy) Paynter and (Chris) Brown on the bench who are as tough and as experienced as they get. Listen, there is your reasons, not an excuse, a reason, and Sean is desperately disappointed.
He wanted to play but Danny wanted to play and Danny has headed everything, he has tackled as well as he can. Take the set-piece things out of it and we are not a million miles off defensively. But, they were terrific deliveries and the third one is a bit of a fluke, I don’t think you can blame too match on Mike (Edwards) and Danny for that, it is just disappointing.
JP
They didn’t have bad games, no doubt about it, but it is still another three goals conceded at home?
GA
Yeah, but you can only make changes if you have got better players to bring in, we have what we have got, to go into a game like this……. You must accept the experience and quality they have got in their team, the strength they have got and the levels that all their players have played on. I am near enough going in with nigh on a youth team if I go with too many more, we could have put Mark Gillespie in, we could have put Sean in, that is five 18-year olds and you are just going to get absolutely battered with experience.
So, we have gone with three, I think it is enough to blood at one point and I don’t think they let us down at all. But, listen, hindsight, would it have been any better, nobody knows that, we are a cock hair away from getting an equaliser at 2-1 and when we have got the ascendency we give away……..
I mean I thought the referee (Mark Brown), not for us but for both sides, he ruined a good game in terms of every finicky decision he gave. But, we get one that ends up in the back of our net and for that you are a little bit disturbed because you think you have got a fighting chance of nicking something out of a game which was always going to be tough.
JP
I guess the disappointment will be that if you perform like you did tonight against a side like Leyton Orient you would have beaten them, but unfortunately you were playing an excellent Doncaster side, and despite playing a lot better you still get beat?
GA
Yeah, well, I think they have won seven out of the last nine or something like that, it was always going to be tough. I am in my office all day long, I couldn’t go home today, I stayed in there all day long and I looked at their team and I looked at our team and I kept looking how strong they were and how inexperienced we were.
Man for man, pound for pound they are better than us, they are better players than ours because they cost a lot more money and they have been at a higher level all their careers. It was always going to be tough but all you can ask is for the boys to give us everything they have got in the tank and they did that tonight. When you come out and get beat like that you can’t go flying into your team.
You could argue that we could defend set-pieces even better but I would get criticised for having everyone back from corners and set-pieces, that is why we do have everyone back because we need to fill as many holes as we can. Tonight the balls, the deliveries were superb, Rob Jones is 6’5 when he is on the run and he gets the leap on people, it is very, very difficult to stop, not an excuse just a reason, but that is where we are.
JP
I asked you at the weekend after that performance if you still felt that you could get Carlisle out of the situation, a number of fans again tonight on the text and twitter are asking whether you are the right man. But, I am not going to ask you that direct question again tonight because the fans here at the ground, they weren’t asking that, they stuck with the team, can you now lift from this and start getting the performances?
GA
I don’t think we can drag any more out of the players than we have got out tonight, If there is anybody out there that can tell me something different and do it different so it will enable us to get a win then tell me and I will do it. But, you have got young players there, you have got players fighting for their lives giving everything they have got. I thought we were awful for the first 45 minutes on Saturday, awful, not acceptable, and the manager always comes under scrutiny, he takes responsibility.
I actually don’t want to take all the responsibility because it wasn’t me that miskicks the ball down on the left-hand side, it wasn’t me that gave it away for the fourth goal, it wasn’t me that tells them to do that but I am the one who takes the can. I am alright with that, I understand that responsibility and the buck stops with the manager, I will take that all day long.
But, what I have got to do then is try to get their confidence levels and their mindsets into thinking they are better players than that, it was just one of those situations that was really poor and turn them round into trying to get a performance against a really strong side tonight. Which to a man they have near enough given, I couldn’t have got much more out of them, and like I said, I am looking at two sets of players today, theirs and ours, and if you look at where they have come from and where they have been, at this particular moment in time with the people we have got sat on the treatment table, they are stronger than us.
It is always going to be difficult when they turn up and they play the game right, to be fair in the first 20 minutes they were terrific and they really hurt us and caused us problems. But, after that when the shackles are off and we start thinking this is a game, for 65-70 minutes of the game tonight we have matched them all over the pitch. The disappointment is we have not come out with anything, we conceded an awful third goal for the free-kick and the way it has gone in, and that knocks out all the positives of the night.
I think the players deserve some positives and you can see why the fans, they agree with that, and there will be grumbles because we got beat. I am grumbling because we got beat, I am annoyed about the goal, but knocking players and destroying confidence and things like that are things that won’t make the situation any better. I have got to pick them up, they are upset now because they now they have given a good shift but they have got beat still, so we have got to go on Saturday and not get beat, put in the same effort and performance and we might just get something out of the game.
They are the beliefs you have to have and they are the positives in my mindset. I am actually happier than I was on Saturday in terms of what I have got out of the players, I am not happy with the result at all. I am a manager that is under extreme pressure now because of the run of results I have had. Listen, I accept all that but I am not going to duck, I am not going to hide, I am not going to cheat my way out of it.
I am just going to work with what I have got, I am crying out for my injured players to get fit and the experienced players to get fit. I looked at my team, fully fit, with a full strength squad to pick from, with Joe Garner still at the club, we would be a match for anybody and that is an absolute promise. We were earlier on and we have not had Lee at all all season, and he is a major player for us.
I spoke to Everton today at length about players and about the situation, and they have lost (Marouane) Fellaini to injury and they have lost (Johnny) Heitinga to injury, they have lost three or four more, and do you know what, they are thinking now that the next four or five games are going to be an unbelievably tough period for them because they have lost three players. If it is good enough for them to be struggling it is where we are as a club, and we can’t do much about it at the minute.
JP
You mentioned Joe Garner in amongst all of that, this was his last game of his loan, how hopeful are you that you can have him for the weekend?
GA
Well, I am staying up tonight and I am staying in the office late tonight. We have got to work out just how to deal with that situation, we are looking at depth of squad and Joe is gobbling up a little bit of money, but do we keep him and not do anything else or do we let him go back and try to get two or three more players in. But, we are looking at probably numbers rather than absolute quality, so it is one of them, it is a flip of the coin, what do we do. We need some depth to the squad, but we need Joe’s goals and we need Joe’s presence.
But, I don’t think there are extra monies coming in with obviously the gates down a bit, which makes it difficult for me to go and ask for more. That is part and parcel of the way it is and I know that and I understand that, so it is juggling acts. We could probably afford to let one or two of ours go out on loan and sacrifice them to get one or two in positions that we need as a priority more, but you can’t just do that over a 24 hour period. It is one thing I will have to sit now and digest and try to work out where we go with it and what we need to do.
JP
One who is out on loan is Paddy Madden, is he not able to play against you at the weekend?
GA
He can’t play.
JP
As things stand with the scoring that he has done, although he has got one goal in six now, he is someone that might come back into your thinking beyond the fact that he can’t play against you at the weekend?
GA
Listen, Paddy is at Yeovil at the minute and he is doing what he is doing. We can’t afford a player to have one in six but he has scored goals, Joe has scored goals, so Paddy needs to get games and the system we played and we have been playing didn’t suit him. So, we have made a brave decision to allow Paddy to get some football, he is doing that and at the minute he is not in the equation, he is at Yeovil, so we can’t get him back at the moment.
JP
Danny Cadamarteri out with an injury, how serious is that at the moment?
GA
It is not great, it is a couple of weeks, it is another experienced player there that we are desperate to have in as a central striker. I mean at the minute we have got one central striker, if you count Mark Beck we have got two, I thought he played ever so well tonight but he is 18 and trying to get that performance out of him week in and week out is probably going to be very difficult. But, without Joe we have got no central strikers of any experience fit and ready at the minute.
I don’t want to detract from Mark’s performance either because I thought he was terrific, led the line great, won a fair share of headers, got on the end of stuff and in the last two games probably could have had a couple of goals. But, he is a baby and that position is again you get better with age and experience, it is like goalkeepers. At 18 he is learning the game but it is tough.
JP
Peter Murphy has picked up an injury as well and wasn’t involved tonight, just what you needed?
GA
Yeah, not brilliant, absolutely not brilliant, I think Murph might have something that is quite serious, so he could be a month or six weeks. So, I am actually sitting here now with two centre-halves, one with a broken hand (Livesey) and one short of confidence (Edwards) and a young player from Manchester United (McGinty) making his way in the game. It is not an ideal situation at all.
JP
Rory Loy, is there any light on the horizon with that one, did he play on Monday in the friendly?
GA
He only played 20 minutes, he is working his way back and he is probably a couple of weeks off. Again we need people that are absolutely right on top of their game fitness-wise because the effort that is going to be needed to get out of this is for those types of players. Rory is not quite there at the minute, he is working desperately hard and we are egging him on as quickly as we can. But, we are going to try to get a game for him on Monday or Tuesday of next week, and he needs to play a full 90 minutes to show us that he is ready. But, he has only had 20 or 25 minutes at the most at the moment.
JP
What are you going to do to make sure that you get that performance and maybe a little bit more belief in there for Saturday then for Yeovil?
GA
Well, what I have done over the last couple of games is be honest with the players, trying to get them to believe in themselves. There is a shortage of confidence at the minute, I think there are some of the players looking round for the senior players to come back to give them that help.
But, do you know what? They are all in the dressing room tonight, they are all having their ten penneth, they were all geeing the young kids on, they were all geeing the other players on. It was a collective effort tonight and I think everybody wanted to get a result for the club, for ourselves, for the fans, for the board as well, who are taking a bit of flak at the moment which I would rather take all of it. I would rather detract from anybody else getting it, I would rather take the whole single lot because at the end of the day it is me that puts a team out on the pitch.
It is the players that are responsible for performances on the pitch, the board have given us everything they have got. They have always said they have cried out for investment from anywhere and it has always been welcome, they have what they have, they have given us whatever we can generate.
JP
Are you at the limit then? You can’t get really any more help from them without moving people?
GA
No, it is a juggling act otherwise the club will go into financial desperation. Hey, at least the fans want the club and that is what the board have said, if they make £100 they will spend £100, but they have to make that £100, and whatever they make they will spend. Obviously, they are not making as much as they were because of the crowds, now I have been told that and I am passing that on to everybody because I think they need to know that.
But, anybody, they will welcome investment from anywhere and I would now because obviously I need some money to get some players to get me through this desperate injury situation. Not excuses, reasons, and the fans need to know that and it is no point turning at the board and shouting and bawling at them, they have given what they have got, that is what it is, whatever we generate they will spend.
JP
And just a final one, having seen the reaction to some of the good stuff tonight from the crowd when they got up on their feet at tackles and things like that, Chris (Lumsdon) in commentary suggested something, he said how about on the bus on the way down to Yeovil, because what a long trip that is for you at the weekend, getting on a few of the big moments in Carlisle United’s history on the bus to try to see if that can inspire them and show them what it means to the Cumbrian people and make sure they take that into the game on Saturday?
GA
Listen, anything that could get into their psychological mindset would be more than welcome. I think it has got to be a feelgood factor now, we have got to look forward to the trip, we haven’t got to go there with an edginess or a nervousness. Listen, probably at the minute being away from home takes away the nervousness that is being created at the minute. Because, fans are edgy for results, they are anxious for results, that is why they act like they act and they behave like they are and they grumble like they do.
I understand all that, listen, I have been a long time in football, I have been booed myself as a player quite a few times, I am absolutely used to that. I am absolutely getting used to it now as a manager, but I will tell you what, we ain’t hiding, we ain’t going to detract from the job that is in hand and we are going to give it our best shot until somebody tells us any different.
But, that is where we are as a group, we know we are understaffed at the minute in terms of personnel, we know we are lacking a few experienced players. But, I tell you, nobody is arguing, nobody out there, I didn’t hide in front of the Paddock, I am not bothered about what the Paddock say, they can say what they want.
They are entitled to, they are supporters and they are grumbling because they are anxious, and do you know what, they are probably pleased that at least they have seen some effort tonight. The ones that have grumbled will grumble because we are losing, because through all the effort we still got beat and they still grumble about that. Do you know what? When I was a fan I grumbled about that so I can understand where they are coming from.
JP
I was actually talking about the positive reaction to it out there.
GA
No, it is not something I am talking about as a negative, it is what happens, that is what happens. Fans are anxious because they want to see winning games, I want to see winning football. They probably at the minute, and like me, would have probably liked to have seen an awful game and us to nick a 1-0 win just to see us through this little period. But, it has not come yet so we have to go on and wait for Saturday.
But, what I am saying to you is we have to go down on the bus Saturday and train on Thursday and Friday as positive as we can and upbeat as we can to rectify it. Because, you know what? Yeovil will not give us anything, Yeovil will not want us to win because they feel sorry for Greg Abbott and Carlisle United. Nobody feels sorry for us, and that is what you get in football, you have to go and earn it and then it turns and slowly the wheels change and you go back to where we have been in the past. But, at the minute it is a tough job, a really, really tough ask.
JP
I hope you go down and earn it and plenty of fans do here tonight as well.
GA
Brilliant, thank you.