United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) after Carlisle's 2-2 draw at home to Huddersfield, Abbott saying that the performance was everything he was looking for :
Blues boss Greg Abbott
JP
You must be delighted with that point after three weeks without a game?
GA
Yeah, take the point out of it, which obviously it is a point and a point is important as points are at this time of year. The performance was everything we are looking for, we were up against the odds when we conceded the goal, we thought we were playing OK. The second one, speculative, just bounces for them and he (Scott Arfield) just pops it in, a simple soft goal.
It is 2-0 and you think that sides could crumble against a team as powerful as Huddersfield. But, we never crumbled, we did more than match them after that and probably on the balance of play we might be counting ourselves a bit unlucky that we haven't won the game.
But, a fantastic game to be fair from both teams to be fair, it was a superb effort from our lads, the determination and the very fact that we have been off nearly three weeks just shows that the boys have looked after themselves. It is hard because of the training, it has been a shambles the training in terms of we were Middlesbrough one day and Morecambe the next, that is a fair journey in between.
But, we have got on with it and they have shown today that they are going to have a go, and they have given a lot of honesty for the fans and I think our fans should get right behind the players. Because, they have been sensational today in terms of the commitment and the determination not to lose a football match.
JP
We were talking about the turn of the year, 2011 starting today, over the last 12 months what has it been that has changed in the squad that has meant that you haven't crumbled on a day like today when that second goal went in?
GA
I honestly think that we have got fantastic people in the dressing room, we know we have made mistakes today, certain players have made mistakes today, quite a few of them have made mistakes. But, they just get on with it, we have said to take the disappointment on the chin because players at this level are going to be inconsistent, are going to have poor games, are going to make errors.
But, as long as they have got that determination and desire and attitude to be better and improve and still want the ball and still go forward then we can put up with all that. We know we are not going to get the finished article with the money we have got available for players, we are not going to get the perfect player.
To be fair you wouldn't have looked at the two teams today and said they were any better than us, and their wage bill must be seven or eight times more than ours. Our lads have more than matched them in every sense of the word in terms of quality and determination and effort and all that sort of stuff.
So, that I think is the big key that the players are having a go and they are giving honest performances. Take two or three out of the season already and that is all it is, we have given a really good account of ourselves, and there have been average performances in there as well. But, the honesty in the performances has been first class near enough all the way through.
JP
There were a couple of surprises in your line-up which we will talk about in due course, but honestly, did you go into this game expecting to face (Gary) Roberts and (Anthony) Pilkington, and did Lee Clark surprise you there?
GA
Yeah, he did, I think that is the respect to us, I think they played a system that they thought we would play, and we probably surprised him by playing the system we did. So, it was two managers sort of looking at the other team thinking, we thought we could get at their full-backs because we thought they were get-at-able, if that is a word, I don't even know if it is a word.
But, we thought we could get at their two full-backs with (Ben) Marshall on one side and (Mike) Grella on the other. But, when they didn't play with wingers they played narrow and (Joey) Gudjonsson started to cause us a problem and we had to switch ours around and then they switched theirs around. In the end the game sort of suited us because we played a system that we are used to doing.
JP
Was there a lot more going on off the pitch then in the heads of two managers than the fans always see?
GA
Well, obviously, I went down to Southampton and watched them and I thought we could expose the two full-backs. If you play narrow in the system we play without any wingers than you are not going to expose what we thought was a weakness. So, we had to change it to look at their weaknesses and exploit them. As it happened they played a different shape than we are all thinking.
With what we have got we have to try to think and get things right and systems right and personnel right. Today you might think we got bits right and bits wrong, bits a bit indifferent. But, what we got was eleven players and the substitutes that came on giving an absolute honest performance, and that is what we are always looking at.
JP
One of the best players on the pitch for the 90 minutes only got 38 minutes in Ben Marshall, what is the situation with him?
GA
We thought he was sensational, we thought he looked like a match-winner. He has got a dead leg and he is going to be sore, how sore he is over the next two days we don't know. But, I thought he was sensational and I mean that, he was terrific for the 38-40 minutes, whatever he was on.
But, a big blow for us when he came off, but we coped and we kept going and we managed to get our goal. He is someone that creates for us and his shot that hit the post was magical. He was torturing them on the right-hand side and we want to see more of that.
JP
You are in the lap of the gods then whether he can be available on Monday, it is just whether the dead leg gets better?
GA
Yeah, it is going to be sore but we will have to wait and see.
JP
What about Matty Robson coming in at left-back? What was your thinking behind that one today?
GA
Well, Matty has got pace and we thought that if Pilkington played then he might have the pace to handle that, because he is a very good player. But, we also know that if we change the system we revert to then Matty is a naturally forward minded player. So, in the way we played after that he suits it very well.
He wants to play and his attitude has been first class. You have to look at the attitude from the players, the last 17 days since we had the last game and you look at who has done this and done that in training, and Matty has looked terrific, and he has been rewarded today with his place.
JP
Sponsors' man of the match today for Gary Madine as well, everything but the goal from him, he was outstanding and there are going to be people hunting around him in January?
GA
Well, like I have said before, if people aren't then they are not doing their job properly, and I know there is. I thought he was excellent today, they have got two really, really powerful centre-halves and he has given them a real torrid afternoon today, and he is 20-years old by the way. It is a terrific feat for him to be leading the line of a football club at this level at 20-years old.
JP
Would somebody have to offer sort of club changing money to take Gary Madine away from you at this stage?
GA
Erm, that is something the board would have to look at. I mean somebody asked me this week if he was for sale, and he is not for sale but no player is unsellable. Wayne Rooney is for sale if somebody offered £200 million I would suggest.
So, Gary, there will be a figure where the board will have to consider it, and it will be massive, if I have got anything to do with it then it will be absolutely massive. Because, he is a real big part of what I am doing and I have got Gary loving the football, loving the playing and loving everybody here at this football club, and he hasn't been in that state of mind I don't think since he was 17-years old.
JP
Gary Madine clearly key to the team at the moment, so are a number of the players you have got in on loan, and a number of them, those loans expire I think after the game on Monday. Where are we on those?
GA
Yeah, Monday, I am not trying to hide anything, we have worked hard to wrap….. We have had good conversations with Ben and Chessie (James Chester) obviously. We will find out on Monday with the two Leeds boys (Grella and Lubomir Michalik) and see where we go with that. But, hopefully we will have some news by Tuesday.
JP
You had said that you were looking for answers before Christmas, privately did you get those? You don't have to tell me how they went.
GA
Erm, I have got sort of big steers on a couple. I know the situation with Lubo, I am not prepared to say just as we speak here, but hopefully I can give everybody that news after the game on Monday.
JP
OK, talking about that game coming up in quick succession after so long off, that is going to be tough on your players who are going to feel a bit jaded after all this time without a game?
GA
Yeah, don't start making excuses for them, they will start believing they are tired. Tranmere are in exactly the same boat so there can be no complaints there.
JP
Your new man as well, Marco Gbarssin, I think I have got that right, tell us about him?
GA
Well, Marco, we like the look of him actually, he has been recommended by a nice source and he has quietly surprised everybody. He is going to come in for a month, obviously it gives us time to look at whether he is going to be better than what we have got. But, he is really tough, handles the ball well, the right type to go to places like Dagenham and Exeter when we have been slightly bullied, and the Tamworths of this game.
He is a really tough cookie and I don't think we will get bullied with his like, with his type in the game. So, he is coming in, we are going to see what he is like, like I said, decent with the ball and for the type of money it has cost us it was an absolute no-brainer again.
So, we have brought him in to give us a bit more depth in midfield, because if anything happened to (Paul) Thirlwell, and Thirlwell has had a knee problem for a while by the way, which is why he didn't start the game, I will tell everybody that. But, if he was injured and then anything happened to Bez (James Berrett) or Tom (Taiwo) then we are really light in that area.
JP
And just finally, how close are you to anything in terms of what you want to do in terms of bringing players in rather than players leaving?
GA
It will all take shape. We are sort of waiting to see what happens with our players, the revenue situation and the money situation is that I can bring players in as long as everything is balanced. There is not a pot to go at to add to what we have got, so if some go out then some can come in, and that will be the situation right the way through the month.
JP
Watch this space then?
GA
Yeah, something like that.