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" The lads have been good this week, I think all players whether they win or lose want to get on to the next game, particularly if you've lost. We could have done with one on Tuesday I think such was the mood about them on Monday. We've had the week to get at them, we've given them a little breather as well because there has been a lot of travelling and a lot of football over the past few weeks. We've brought them back in on Thursday and they look really fresh and lively, hopefully we can take that into tomorrow.
" I said to the players the same that I have said publically, there seemed to be a body language that we had where we'd scored first and we seemed to think that we would go on to win it. Because they'd been used to that I guess, and we'll be OK, we never really established that lead and pushed on. We went on the back-foot a little bit and maybe took that foot off the pedal thinking that we would be OK.
" That's something that I've said to the boys, just go and push on, if we are able to get the first goal tomorrow let's push on. As we did against Millwall and as we did against Chester, you can't do it for 90 minutes but certainly the first five or ten minutes after the goal let's go and push forward. I think we've just revived the attitude of that towards it and toughening up a little bit. Sometimes it is an instinct that players switch off after they have scored.
" I did point that out to the guys after the Millwall game that the second, third and fourth goals against them was a great victory for us but on those three occasions the ball was in our penalty box after their kick-off. We perhaps just switched off a little bit, it is a tendency to do it, the England international side got themselves a goal up and managed to get beat in midweek so it can happen but it's my job to remind them and toughen that up a little bit. Hopefully we've got that message through this week.
" It's good news on extending Joe Anyinsah's loan, Paul Simpson has accepted that from us, he's got a 24-hour recall clause in which is normal. Joe is looking forward to spending the next eight weeks with us, we've got some big games obviously in that period of time. My early views of Joe is that he is a good young footballer and there is quite a bit more to come from him.
" If he was recalled then that is complete, he can't go back and play one game for Preston and then come back with us. It has to be a renewable loan after that period of time. Hopefully it won't happen, Paul has put that in as managers normally do, he's got to put that in to make sure that he protects himself. He can't come back and do that afterwards though. "
" I hope Greg Abbott extending his contract is a compliment both ways because I want Greg to stay and I said that from the beginning. Obviously he has expressed his disappointment at not getting the job and that's fine, I want an ambitious coach, I want people who want to push on and improve and go forward.
" We've had that little period together, we've talked about it and now everything seems very, very settled in the football club which is very important for the team and the supporters. There has been a little bit of up-heavel this season, now it has settled, now it's calm. Greg, myself, Dennis Booth, we're at it trying to get this football club pushing on. There is a real theme of continuity, Dennis is a favourite from the football club and people have got great respect for him.
" Dennis is going to help us greatly on the training pitch but also trying to recruit players and looking at people and getting himself out and about and doing that. As and when Dennis comes back and says to me that there is a player here that you've got to go for then he'll be on the training pitch with Greg. So we've got it mapped out, we think that it's going to work, we're going to do our very best to make it work.
" The problem for me at the moment is that if I was to ask a player to come in loan and he wants to know where I am going to play him, and I say that I'm not sure then he is not going to come. They want to come and play so we may have to wait, and hopefully we don't get injuries, but we may have to pull them in. I've been to a number of games, as have the rest of the staff over the past two or three weeks just to clarify that and get some names on the board.
" We're also looking a little bit longer term should something be able to arrive in January. So in both areas we've got names down that we need to move quickly then hopefully we can. If we need to go a little bit longer term then we are looking at that department as well.
" We need a bit more depth at the back I think of the team. We've got probably four places in the back four and five players that are really competing that are of any seniority. So that's an obvious area that we've got to look at, I'm not going to say definite positions though. I've said to the staff because they have asked me the same questions, if we see good players then let's get them in and find out later. If we get good people in that compete in the middle or the front end of the pitch then so be it. "
" Let's find them and see if we can get them around the football club and develop that squad. Whatever I do or the way we that improve it I am going to upset people, I will do tomorrow, I'll name eleven and that's all I can do. I've got a squad of 17 or 18 players who are all capable of playing at this level in somebody's first team. Tomorrow they are not going to do that but I want to extend that number and we are going to try hard to do that.
" Teams tend to raise their game if they have got a new manager, players will do that, for all we know there might be a new Gillingham manager in the crowd somewhere having a look at that and they might be aware of it. I really don't know, what I've said to our team this week is that that is something out of our control and if we play enough and play to our potential then we'll give them a tough game. Whether there is a new face in their management team or not. I think that is the key, you reckon Gillingham will be travelling up here today thinking this is a tough fixture and I've told our players not to disappoint them in that.
" I hope that he (Joe Garner) has missed the team, he didn't play against Chester, he only played half a game against Millwall after the booking. He's only played about half a game for me at the moment, he didn't then travel to Yeovil because of that suspension so that is the area that he has got to improve. If anything hurts him then it should be that he is not involved in that team, and obviously one of the games we have lost.
" So we need Joe and Joe and needs us and if he can channel it the right way, there is no way I want to take his aggression away because that makes him the player that he is. It has to be channelled correctly though, as with every player, we can't afford with the size of the squad to be losing people for any length of time. Paul (Thirlwell) is not going to make tomorrow, we'll chat about that tomorrow but he is not going to be correct for that, everyone else seems to be OK though.
" We all need each other in this job, you like to get bits off me and we need to put things across to our supporters through yourselves. None of that is a problem to me, it's part and parcel of the job. The more the merrier I think, the higher you may you want to go, and we want to go a bit higher, the more people will become interested in what we do at Carlisle. That's why I've got the trustworthy people behind me on the staff like Greg and Dennis and we can share the workload, it's fine.
" I think that the higher you go and the further it works that more people want the time of players and management around the club. I've been very lucky at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa, they are in big demand of what they want and people want information. Sometimes you guys probably want a little bit of an exclusive as opposed to the scribes and vice versa. I've also got the website to look after and the club's own interests, so there is a heck of a lot goes on that has to be put together to try to keep you all happy, but I don't think that I'll ever do that. "