United boss Greg Abbott (GA) spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips (JP) following Carlisle's 5-2 Capital One Cup defeat at home to Leicester City, Abbott saying that the Blues under-performed in the match:
JP
What do you feel tonight?
GA
I felt that we have under-performed really to be honest against a side where there is a great deal of quality in their side and the gulf is very difficult to bridge. But, looking at the first-half I actually thought we did OK, we still could have retained the ball better and caused them a few more problems but we gave the ball back to them.
If you give the ball to players like that with the pace they have got in the team and the quality they have got then they are going to hurt you. But, again, I think we are in the game and then we are disappointed with the manner of the first three goals, and then after that it becomes very difficult and we get a bit ragged.
But, the manner of the first three goals I think has cost us the game, and a game where I thought we could have made life difficult for Leicester, especially with getting the bonus of a goal first and giving ourselves a head start. But, we have got players learning the game and we make mistakes, and to be fair we have got senior players in the team that are making mistakes.
So, it is difficult and in any game when you make errors you put yourself on the back foot, and in the end it was the middle period of the second-half which was difficult for us. But, a little bit of credit to the boys, they fought back and ended the game on a bit of a high with James Berrett’s goal, and we have to take some positives out of that. But, again, it is important that we are tougher and don’t make errors, I mean the first three goals are really, really poor.
JP
I think on the face of it the fans could have stomached losing to Leicester, maybe they are expected to come here and win, it is the manner of the goals that you conceded that has disappointed a lot of people tonight?
GA
Yeah, but that disappoints me, and we have sort of said to the players that the errors have got to stop, they have to stop, you have to be better at doing your job. People are given specific roles in the team and they have to do better in those roles, otherwise we are going to find ourselves struggling. Against better teams you get punished, badly punished, but after the good work we did on Friday night at Colchester that has just rocked us again.
But, they are good a side are Leicester, they have got some terrific players and loads and loads of pace and we found it difficult. With teams like that you have probably got to be a bit tougher and compete a bit harder and make more tackles and win more headers, close people down quicker.
We didn’t do that and that is my disappointment that the things you can do for free, like in terms of closing down, tackling, winning headers and tracking people and runners and stuff and defending, we didn’t do great or well enough. That is a worrying sign but I have said my piece to the players, again, that remains private but I think we have made life too easy for Leicester tonight, but they are a terrific side.
JP
Yeah, no doubt about that. There is sort of a split with some fans, some are asking what Greg Abbott can do, he sends them out there and so many players haven’t done what they needed to. But, on the other hand some fans are saying, in response to their own tweets essentially, they are still Greg Abbott’s players, he has put them together, he has coached them all week and they have not gone out there and done that, why is that, why does that keep happening?
GA
I don’t know, you can’t atone for errors, we worked on our shape, they were terrific on Friday night with a similar shape first-half. I think there is a bit of a confidence problem, there is a bit of a gulf in ability, and better players generally if they apply themselves properly win games like that. You couldn’t put the two squads together on paper, you can’t, they have got better players, but we have to make life tougher.
But, if players make errors then they make errors and sometimes they have to just say that they have made an error. I can’t take responsibility for everything all the time, I am trying because I want my players to go out there believing that they can win games, they can compete for anything.
But, when we do things that we have done at times tonight across the board and they are not quite what we are asking for, well they aren’t what we are asking for because I don’t ask them to do that, then we are going to cause ourselves problems and the players themselves will cause themselves problems.
But, what we have to do is work harder to be tougher and respond to the criticism I have delivered to the players, because we have actually set the team up no different to how we set up against Colchester. But, we have actually given I think far too much respect to Leicester by not getting round them, not closing down quick enough and then we have conceded the goals too cheaply.
But, that is an Achilles heel at the minute that we have to do something about. We will have to change the system yet again because we have to make sure we do something about it, but you are running out of what you can actually do. The players are there and when they go out on the pitch they have to do their jobs properly, and if they don’t we will come into some trouble.
JP
Grant Holt in commentary made a point tonight, Leicester City are the best team we are going to see here, the biggest team probably we are going to see here this season unless we draw a pearler in the FA Cup, fewer than 3,000 Cumbrians here after 21 goals conceded at Brunton Park, can you see why that is and do the players understand how important it is that that has to improve. Even if you lose games the manner in which you lose them is crucial?
GA
I hope they understand the importance of that, I hope they do.
JP
OK, in terms of the players, a lot of people were talking about your job in the build-up to the Colchester game, you said your job and the players’s careers are in question if they don’t start eradicating some of the mistakes that happen out there on the pitch. What is different from the performance we had on Friday to where we are tonight?
GA
Well, we were playing against a much better team to be honest, we are. Listen, when you are matching up players on £15,000 a week against people on £300 a week then there is a gulf in class, there is a gulf in difference, and if they apply themselves properly then they should win the game.
But, what we have got to do is bridge the gulf right, we have to try to find a way of bridging the gulf. I think that is why the cup and the love of English football is that teams like us sometimes pull off shocks, but that is what they are is shocks, and it would have been a shock tonight if we had beaten Leicester, because they are on paper a better side than us.
But, it is difficult when you look at the type of team they have got at what you can actually do to stop them when they play as well as they do and we make one or two individual errors, it is a recipe for disaster and that is what we found in the end tonight.