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JP
Where did it all go wrong today?
GA
Maybe it was the start of the game when we had two fantastic opportunities to get ourselves the goal. The first-half was very much 50-50, they have had the one chance and they have scored it. We have had probably two or three, possibly even four if we are a little bit better quality in the box we might have had another one. But we didn't and after that you concede your goal and we are fighting an uphill battle and we didn't battle too much in the end.
JP
It is a familiar story though isn't it, not taking the chances and maybe a little bit sloppy at the back.
GA
Yeah, you are always going to cause your defenders problems if you don't score. They (Oldham) have probably not defended as a team very well today, they have given us chances but they have got away with it. But when they score their two goals then all of a sudden they look decent players. At the start of the game they weren't, they were likely to gift us a goal but we couldn't take advantage of that and we suffered our punishment today.
JP
You are the manager, you make the decisions, one appreciates that, why did you choose to go for (Scott) Dobie and (Richard) Offiong rather than perhaps Joe Anyinsah today?
GA
They are decisions I make and we have got a tough lot of fixtures going on. It was a partnership we thought might work against Oldham today. If Scott Dobie scores the two chances he had in the first-half then it is absolutely the right decision, he doesn't score the two chances and people question it. So we can hindsight it all day long but if he scores those two chances, which were very good chances, and to be fair he has made the keeper (Dean Brill) make a save, he has hit the post, there is no problem with that selection.
People will make a big thing of that but that is the line between success and failure and good decisions and poor decisions at the minute. It looked like the wrong choice but I manage players and man-manage the team that I have got and we felt that that was the right thing to do. Like I said, if those goals go in there is no problem.
JP
You say the fans will make a fuss of it, they will have and they have, the feeling was that Dobie was the less confident of Anyinsah and Dobie - the partnership you had had. He missed, it was absolutely gilt edged the chance wasn't it, 1-0 there and you say well we hope we don't live to rue that one and you did.
GA
We did and I can't argue with that you know. But he has got in there twice, terrific effort for the second one, it hits the post, that is his luck at the minute. We felt that with the pace that we could get down the sides with him and Richard would cause them problems. We knew that we could get in behind them, we did do, the plan worked, we just couldn't finish it off, so it makes it look a poor decision.
But he had two great chances and we are talking about a really fine line between it being the right thing and the wrong thing. Is it the wrong thing? I still don't think it is because he had the two chances that even when Joe came on didn't get and Richard didn't get, so that is why we made those decisions as the game went on as well. But in hindsight it maybe looks like it has a maybe got an argument to it.
JP
I appreciate that, a good honest answer from you. Why did you choose to take Offiong off for Anyinsah though and not perhaps Dobie, and give them a run-out together?
GA
Because Dobie had had the two chances, Richard hadn't had a sniff all game round the goals.
JP
He provided them both.
GA
He provided them both but he is there to……, we can argue these all day long. Dobie and Joe we felt would get us back into the game, it was a toss up really because we were not showing great invention anywhere. Not just those two up the front but the whole of the team, the passing stopped, we didn't show the bravery and the type of football we have been getting. We didn't get the same sort of service from down the flank possibly today that we have been. The substitution, again it is one that can be debated because we didn't win the game or we didn't get back into the game, but there you go.
JP
A fan has texted to say why has Tom Taiwo been on the bench for a game and a half now when he seems our most productive midfielder?
GA
Well he has given himself a massive argument for me. But again after last week's performance when we thought a lot of the game was good, we give the players another chance, that is being fair to my players. Nobody can question me from within the club to say that they haven't all had opportunities, players make and take opportunities and some players haven't taken their opportunity today. Possibly the time is for me to have a think about what I do for Tuesday and Saturday, but Tom has come in and done really, really well, he has done what we know he can do.
JP
They had a lot of quality down the left-hand side, Alan Sheehan is a cracking player from full-back, Chris Taylor very dangerous as well, all of their goals came down that left-hand side as well. Was that a disappointment for you?
GA
Wherever the goals come from is a disappointment but Chris Taylor is a player that has been valued at a lot of money and Alan Sheehan has been a Premiership full-back, so there is quality there. I don't think David (Raven) has had his best game today but as a team I don't think a few players have had their best games today. So when you have got a few players not performing to any levels that we know they can then you are going to cause yourselves problems.
But I think somewhere along the line everybody has to take responsibility, that is what I have told the dressing-room that I will, I will stand up and be brave and come up and talk to you and try to explain things to you. I think players sometimes have to be brave enough to say that they don't think they have performed as well as they can and we share the blame.
Ultimately I take responsibility but I think sometimes players are big enough and brave enough, and the dressing-room has been quiet in there because I have said what I had to say. I didn't want a fight scene because we didn't show enough fight on the pitch to want to fight in the dressing-room. So we talked it through, there wasn't much response there, I think they agreed with what we are saying and we have to get on with it.
JP
In the last two matches you have gone 2-0 down, do you feel that you have got a Plan B in these situations, there didn't seem to be that much of a change in personnel or even tactics to try to drive forwards and get back into the game.
GA
Well we made three substitutions, we can't make any more than that, so there is a change in personnel.
JP
Do you feel you have done enough then to try to effect a change?
GA
Well we have got a smallish squad in terms of depth, but we make changes, we have got four strikers there that are working as hard as they can to try to make that goal happen and it hasn't happened today for the four of them. You can put them all into a pot and think who is going to score us the goal and if anybody can come up with the answers then we are all willing to listen.
But we work with them day in and day out, we see what they can do. All we can do is play the players there that we have seen in matches and in training and have done what we are asking them to do, and try to come up with the right combination. If in the games it doesn't happen then it looks like that you have got the wrong pairing or the wrong two.
But I don't think you can put it down to just the strikers, I think the service into them today at times was pretty ordinary. We didn't pass the ball well enough and certainly not as well as we did, and we didn't get the same supply from the wide areas that we have been getting.
JP
And two games with no goals, you have to face that question again about the emergency loan window. Do you have to start looking at that if they continue not to score for you?
GA
You have got to look at some way of doing it, you have got to find a way of scoring goals and you have got to find a way of winning games haven't you. So that is something that maybe I have to ask the question can we bring another striker in, that would be five strikers, is that too many?
You run the risk then, well I am not bothered about upsetting people and I am sure that the players don't mind because they take responsibility. But there is only so far you can go in terms of bringing players in with the players we have already got, so if we can juggle players around when I think it is necessary then I would have to do that.
JP
You know the dilemma then, could you maybe loan say Dobie and (Gary) Madine to teams lower down to try to get them some confidence and then get somebody in just to try to put the ball in?
GA
Possibly, possibly, but the phone has not been ringing so far for my players and until that happens it is probably a tough question for me to ask the board for more at the moment. But we have a look at it and again the situation is not desperate but it is not a good one, we need to score more goals, we understand that.
We have been working very hard at it, it hasn't happened again today, the margin between scoring and not scoring is very, very slim as we have found out today and that is when people start asking all the questions. But we think on another day we might have got our noses in front today and made a better fist of it but in the end we ran out miserable losers.
JP
Four conceded in the last two, do you think that Richard Keogh being back on the bench is a positive sign, maybe just even if he is not back in the starting line-up for your next games, at least it shows the defenders in there that there is competition?
GA
Well it is good that he is there for competition but we can't just start making rash snap judgements over one or two games. I have got a job to do to manage footballers and if you start chopping and changing very time somebody makes a mistake then we are in serious trouble. But what you have got to do is say we are pleased now Richard is back in contention, it gives us a little bit more competition at the back.
JP
How important now next weekend against Southampton is it to get that home form right?
GA
It was important today, I am stood here pretty miserable to be honest with you, as the fans are. I have got to think all weekend about what to do about it and sometimes you can think too much over a weekend. I probably should leave it lie for a day and have a good think about things on Monday, but I won't do because that is not the type of guy I am. So I will sit down tomorrow and get my head around things and what we can do to make things better, and we will have a look at that.
JP
I am sure your board of directors will be happy to have a potentially lucrative game against Portsmouth in the cup in the week. Is it a distraction for you when you need to concentrate on the league or are you happy for that?
GA
No because I want to get the next win as quick as I can. So I am comfortable with having a game, it is a good chance for us to maybe enjoy a game without the pressure of the league. There is always pressure there in the cup but there is a different type. We have got to ask the players to go out there and play with no fear, play with a spirit and a determination. We want to find a couple of goals and we want to find a win that starts you off on the ball rolling again.
JP
And how do you approach that game?
GA
Trying to win it.