|
JP
What are your reflections on today's game?
GA
Well, obviously we are disappointed with the result. We were pleased with the way we started the game, we thought we were playing some decent football, we were opening them up quite comfortably, we were passing the ball nicely.
Then we give the goal away and as we have found out to our cost before, the goals change the way games pan out. After that goal we never managed to get a foothold back in the game, missed a couple of chances that we needed to score and found the game hard work in the end.
JP
Did you feel in the way that you say you gave the goal away, do you feel that was the case? It wasn't the fact that they scored a good goal, it was a soft one to concede at a time when you needed to stay level?
GA
It was a really soft one, it might look a good goal from here but if you are talking about it defensively, we don't close down the centre-half (Gordon Greer) which we have to do. Then we allow him to play the ball into the centre-forward (Charlie Austin) who has scored 13 or 14 goals in his last 15 games and don't track him then I think that is disappointing.
We have got to make life harder, and he gets on the end of the ball and puts it in the back of the net. So it was a soft goal from us, I don't know what it looks like to you up here, I am down there, but we are thinking we should stop the centre-half and then we are thinking that the centre-forward has got into space far too easily. He has got a relatively simple job at the end of it.
JP
You said after the Huddersfield game that you didn't feel that you made yourselves hard enough to beat, against a good side admittedly in Huddersfield. Do you think the same was the case today against Swindon?
GA
They are a good side, they are a very good side, the goals change the shape of the game. We were fine, we started the game miles better than Huddersfield and didn't quite put in that killer ball when we got into some good areas. After they got their goal we never got a real good foothold back in the game. We struggled to find that equaliser and then find any fluency after that. We got ourselves put on the back foot.
JP
Why do you think that was?
GA
Because mentally I think we have not been as strong as we are generally. They got a real lift from it, as we did against MK Dons, it is amazing what goals can do to you. But we have got to be bigger and braver than that and we have got to make sure that when we do concede we roll our sleeves up and keep the game tight and keep doing the things we are good at and force our way back into the game. But we didn't do it today.
JP
Andy Hall, your media officer, told us going into the game that Jonathon Douglas was one of the men that you wanted to try to control how much of the ball he saw. Do you think that perhaps didn't happen today?
GA
It did for half an hour, he didn't have a great deal of the ball in the first 25 minutes. But once the goal went in we started chasing it a little bit, we got a bit ragged, their play improved and I think they were frustrated to be fair. We never got a hold of that position and the two lads (Austin and Billy Paynter) were elusive upfront at times, and we got undone in the end.
JP
You have mentioned this half an hour, no doubt you played well for that half an hour but you know yourself as a manager, I am sure you will say to the players after the game, games aren't half an hour long. Are you disappointed with the fact that you didn't get more of a reaction after going behind today?
GA
Of course, the very fact that it has taken me quite a while to get up here says we have had one or two things to say and talk about. We are close knit, we are together, I have to say what I have to say, I say it through sheer honesty to the players, I don't hide from anything. We have had a good chat and a good talk and we are expecting a response from that for Tuesday night, that is for certain.
JP
When you play against a player like Douglas and some of the other players that they have got in the midfield, they are a good bunch of players you have to concede are Swindon. But do you feel that maybe you needed a bit more bite in there yourself to try to harry them, give them less space, make them a bit more concerned that they are going to get hit if they dally on the ball themselves?
GA
There is enough bite in there.
JP
Did you think there was?
GA
There is enough bite in the team. There wasn't after the first half an hour I agree with you, I am agreeing with that statement. But if players can't fight and bite and scrap and win battles in certain areas then that is the problem I have got.
JP
One of the big things that has come up with the fans after the game has been why Tom Taiwo didn't start or at least come in and try to give you a bit of bite in the game. Is that something you considered?
GA
I will tell you the reason Tom didn't come on is because we needed an attacking issue didn't we, we needed attacking things, we needed to make a goal happen. The game was theirs won, we had to fight it to get it back and we feel that little Bridgey (Marc Bridge-Wilkinson) gives you a little bit more going the forward way and Tom gives you a little bit more the other way. That situation, if we had been 1-0 up then it would have been a Tom Taiwo substitution. So that is my idea behind that.
JP
I'll ask you it the way the fans are asking us with the texts that are coming to us, why not Tom Taiwo ahead of say Paul Thirlwell just for a bit more fight in there? Do you feel you are getting as much as you want out of Paul Thirlwell at the moment?
GA
We did against MK Dons, so we can't be picking bones out of it from week to week, let's look at it over a period. We like Tom Taiwo, Tom is going to be a good player and he will find his chance and find his opportunities. But like I have said, individuals don't do their job and the team doesn't do their job, I have to do something about that and I sure will.
JP
What do you think was behind the defeat today? Obviously a big factor in it was how good Swindon are, and they are a very good side, you did tinker with your tactics today, you went to a more, I am sure you will say a 4-3-3 today. Do you feel that quite worked? Do you feel that is something that the whole team and you can learn from, or do you think that is was more than just that?
GA
Yeah, the tactics were fine, like I said, for half an hour the tactics were fine. We should probably get a goal up in that period, and we don't, and then we concede a soft goal. Then we get a little bit ragged and the system, if you want to look at the system, got pulled around a little bit. But you can get pulled around as a 4-4-2 like we did against Huddersfield, so we don't need to make that as an excuse. Today we were comfortably beaten in the end after half an hour, and we need to be better than that.
JP
Do you think Evan Horwood perhaps deserves a chance again back in the side? He was out for an injury but he was on a great run of form before that.
GA
Like I say, players come into the team, I look at the team, I look at how we played Tuesday, I look at how we played today. If I think I need to change things round then I will do.
JP
The one thing you have always said as a manager is the minimum you expect is 100% effort and commitment out there on the field. Do you think you have got that over the last couple of games?
GA
It might appear to people looking that we weren't, but I can assure you that players don't not give everything they have got. Sometimes the game and things that happen in the game, events that happen in the game, go against you and it looks as if you are not as aggressive or not as determined as you might otherwise well be.
It is similar to MK Dons, did they not try last week? That is the same situation, when you get two and three put past you that is the time when you really find out your characters. That is what we need to make sure happens at this football club, that when we do go a goal down we have got enough character and enough determination to draw that back.
JP
Is there an argument, I am sure you will bat this one away, is there an argument that you were too nice today? Do you need to kick lumps out of a team as good as Swindon a bit to make them feel that they are in a game?
GA
You could say that yeah. Everton have beaten Manchester United today so they must have rolled their sleeves up, worked hard, chased everything and closed people down. Because Manchester United are better than Everton, so there must be a reason behind why Everton won because man for man they have got better players. That is what the message actually was before the game started.
Everton, we watched it on the bus were 1-1, they are only 1-1 because they are giving and they are tackling and they are giving everything that they have got. Like we did when we have been to bigger clubs than Swindon, the big clubs that we have played against and got results. Maybe that is something that we did talk about after the game, is making life very, very difficult for people and that is something that was a big message.
JP
Carlisle have a reputation for doing well, almost belying your league position sometimes against some of the bigger teams in the division. This season you have done the same as well but you have played some very tough games against some big teams over the last few weeks. Now you have got Hartlepool coming up on Tuesday, how important is it to make a real fight of that and make sure they don't get anything easy from you?
GA
Listen, games are all important, whether it is the first, the middle, the last game of the season. I don't like losing games, we have got to the final of a trophy because I have not liked losing games. I have wanted to win everything we play in front of and I wanted to win today and we haven't.
So the next one is Hartlepool and it is a big game because it is the next one we have got to play. I want a response, I want to make sure that we go there and we show a real fight, aggression and determination in everything we do.
JP
And you said that you have been down there obviously saying a few things to the players. You were a bit delayed coming up and I quite understand that, what sort of things do you want to see, what are the key things that you want different on Tuesday from what you got today?
GA
I think I have just said that, it is the aggression, it is the determination, it is the never say die attitude. When things go against you, maybe a goal or a decision or a tackle or anything. Our response has got to be bigger and braver and collectively we have got to make sure that we are tougher to beat.
JP
And what is the injury situation out of the game today?
GA
We think we are fine at the minute, I don't think anybody is too badly, I think we are alright, tired legs I suppose but only like the Swindon boys. We will dust them down, they will be fine and I think they will all be wanting to put things right on Tuesday. So we have the weekend to get over it and look at it on Monday morning and see where they are at and go again.
JP
And just finally, how good do you think this Swindon team can be? Because they did look quite a class act at times today.
GA
That is probably one crumb of comfort that there have not been many teams that have come here and got results, they are a good side.