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JP
What have you made of that one today?
GA
Well, we improved in the second-half, we were decent in the second-half. We were fighting in the game and we were trying to get something out of the game. In the first-half we didn't come out with the energy that we are looking for and the determination and the quality that we are looking for when we have got the ball and we have not got the ball.
We have conceded two soft goals and life is going to be very difficult, we are not a team that scores lots of goals and after that what we are trying to do is not going to be good enough because you are massively on the back foot. The first-half disappointed me in the way that we didn't deal with the situation that we have dealt with before. We didn't squeeze the game, press the game, I think that Ian Harte's tackle just in front of you in the second-half is what we are looking for right from the minute one.
We didn't get that until about 50 minutes into the game and that is what we are after at the start of these games. We have got a strong enough team, a powerful enough team, we have got four strikers on the field that are all capable of goals and we didn't get enough quality service into them. We didn't squeeze the play and press the play and be determined enough with the ball in the first-half to give ourselves a chance.
JP
With that first-half, understandably I am sure you will agree, there are some angry fans with that. What would you like to say to them after that?
GA
Yeah, I mean there is an angry manager as well, what do you want me to say to the fans? I am an angry manager, I have just tried to explain what we didn't do and that is what we didn't do. I am as angry and as disappointed as they are, I can assure you of that, possibly even more because it is my job. We didn't come out of the blocks with that determination and we have to do that.
It is alright getting upset at half-time and fighting in the dressing-room, not fighting in the dressing-room but screaming and bawling at each other and trying to put it right at two goals down. Two goals is a lot for us at the minute, especially, well against any side, but it is a mountain to climb and we are disappointed.
JP
Why did you think it was though? In particular their two goals, they were so easy for Yeovil to come by.
GA
Yeah, because we are not high up enough the field and we are not determined enough to stop the supply and then when the supply does come we haven't tracked runners and they have got in behind our back four too easy.
It is a system that works if you keep space and from back to front we had too much space and what we wanted to do was play as high as we could and get the back four even around about the halfway line. The lad (Ryan Mason) has probably picked up the ball for the first goal on the edge of our box and in that respect he has got space to work in, we didn't deny that and we got punished.
JP
The second goal though, trying to play an offside on halfway, when he (Mason) ran through from his own half to score the goal. That must have hurt you as a manager?
GA
Yeah it does hurt me, it is a wrong decision, it is a wrong decision for the second and third goal, even though we have gone three at the back it is still the wrong decision that we have made for both their goals. So that does hurt and what we are saying is defend narrow, and ultimately if you have got to chase an attacker back then you have got to chase him back and those rules will never change, and we have got hurt with that.
JP
What do you need to do to stop first-halves like that as a manager? That is the hardest question for you tonight, what do you need to do to start better than that?
GA
That is a difficult one because we prepare right, we are always on the ball, the players are responsive to what we are trying to do, but I don't know. It is something that, we talked about winning the game, wins and performances become harder and harder if you are conceding and leaking goals and losing games. Is it anxiety? Is it confidence? Is it belief? Is it just basically poor defending at times? Maybe it is a mixture of the whole lot and that is something we have to rectify and rectify quickly.
JP
What did you say at half-time though? Because once again you got another excellent reaction like you have done in a few matches recently, but maybe too little too late perhaps.
GA
Just what I have been saying to you, that we had to squeeze the play, we had to be brave enough for one of the centre-halves to go in on the 13 (Mason) and the other one dropped round. The two full-backs then come narrow so there is no space. The wide players didn't really hurt us that much, it was all down the middle in the first-half.
Then we did that and pressed the play and got some better service into our front players and some better quality with our passing then we looked half a decent side in the second-half. But they are small crumbs of comfort to take out of it because overall we have been beaten 3-0 (ed - 3-1) and after your first-half it is going to be very difficult to come back from that and win a game.
JP
And in the second-half at 2-1 you had a glorious opportunity with Kevan Hurst or (Vincent) Pericard to make it 2-2, it could have been different.
GA
That is probably the story of where we are isn't it and other teams have done that against us. But we have found a performance in the second-half, it wasn't good enough probably to get us at least on level terms. But the chance that Kevan has is very similar to the chance they had for two of their goals and we can't finish them and that is what happens.
You are always likely to then concede again at the other end because we are pressing and pressing and pressing to try to get that equaliser. But missed chances again, sloppy defending, people are probably getting bored of that.
JP
They are I am sure and it is becoming the story of the season, sloppy goals and not taking chances. There are some fans as I am sure you would expect questioning whether you are the man to take it forward, are you confident that you can get these things sorted?
GA
Well you have to have confidence don't you but at the end of the day what I say to the players is that once we get to 3pm and they cross that white line then I am in their hands. I can't make those bad decisions for them, I can't be responsible for stepping up and playing offside and I can't be responsible for people tracking runners.
That is what as a manager you would always say to do that. So maybe I have got to be responsible then for saying to those players that you are not doing what I am saying and we have to change it round, otherwise my position will probably get changed round. So it is either or isn't it and the fans are entitled to do that but listen, sometimes we are all responsible.
If we won the league I would be responsible as well as the players and the position we are in now is a dual header as well. I am responsible mainly and the players have to share that responsibility as well, and today we have both come up short haven't we because we have lost the game.
JP
A few question marks about the team itself, Ian Harte at right-back, he seems to be finding it pretty hard there, he is your best option there? Do you not really have much else with (David) Raven out?
GA
Well you know we haven't, it is a silly question really.
JP
Well one thing the fans have said is could you maybe have (Peter) Murphy there and (Danny) Livesey or (Richard) Keogh at right-back instead?
GA
No, possibly you couldn't because if they come up against a winger with the pace and trickery of Andy Welsh then they might have found that difficult. It might work, it might not, it is a hindsight thing, we think that is the best of what we have got. We work with the players every single day and that at the minute is probably our best option and today it didn't really work and we have got hurt with it.
But David Raven is probably the one player in the whole club that we can't accommodate if he gets an injury. I don't think Danny or Richard is the answer, it might have been different if we had tried that today, that is something that you would have to think about because of the result and the way it has gone today.
JP
I am sure the fans will be happy to hear how much you have thought about today, what did you make of Vincent Pericard today? He brought something different to the team.
GA
He did OK, Vince as the game has got on has got stronger and better and when we get balls into him he is a big lad and we can build that play off him. I thought that he has not wanted to come off, he has wanted to go the whole distance. His fitness levels aren't 100% but they are not far off and I think from what he has had and the work he has had, he has put in a good shift for us. At times in the second-half him and Scott (Dobie) looked a real handful and we thought they might just find something to get us that equalising goal between them.
JP
Some fans are asking whether you can motivate the team against the lesser teams, but you have clearly shown you can do that at half-time, but it needs to happen all the way doesn't it from the start.
GA
Well their answer is that I have done it because I have done it in the second-half. Their answer might be that I didn't do it in the first-half and they are absolutely right, I need to do it in the first-half. If we have to come out of the blocks with a bit more fierce intensity then that is something I can have a look at, but motivation is probably one of the things I am good at. Like I said, out there responsibility and decision making is down to players, motivation yes, tactics down to themselves, collectively not good enough today.
JP
And with the right-back situation, and the defending for some of the recent goals, some fans are also questioning whether you might go into the loan market for another defender.
GA
Well we have got Tony Kane back from Darlington next week so that is something we will have a look at. Tony will be chomping at the bit, he has had his games which is what we wanted so he has got some real league football. So we will see him and we have spoken to people there to see how he has done, and he had a couple of tough times later on. But Darlington as a whole, the lad I spoke to said the team were really, really struggling but he has done OK, so it is something we look at before we look further.
JP
A couple of big home games now for you.
GA
Well everything is a big game at the minute, it is just a question now of not dropping our heads, not filling everybody with some support and we have to go again next week. They are all big games now, our next win is a massive one, we need to find that win and find it very, very quickly.
JP
Is today in a way, almost a case of let's write the whole game off but you have got to produce that second-half against Southend from the word go.
GA
I don't we think can write the whole game off because what we have got to do is play like we did in the second-half. If we had had that performance, we wouldn't have gone with three at the back, we wouldn't have thrown the game wide open, we could have come in at half-time 1-0 up if you turn the game on its head.
That is the type of performance and we need to instil into the players that we need to be tougher and braver and more determined in our work and have a better idea of how to deal with the situation right from the kick-off. We can't keep going a goal down or two goals down otherwise life is going to be difficult for us.