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" We are really pleased that we have managed to get Cleveland Taylor sorted out and get that deal done, it's a reward for the perseverance and patience of us here. It's been a ongoing saga but we've managed to get that settled and the lad is in the football club. He's been here for most of the week and he trained today, he has already become a popular member of the dressing-room. Hopefully we can get him going on the pitch and he can do well for us.
" Joe (Garner) is happy, we kept Joe informed of what was going on, he's got quite an old head on his young shoulders as you can see on the pitch as well. He's a big asset to us, he's our leading scorer, my view, just as his manager, is that he is going to get better. In six months time if he can finish with 20 goals or so this season, and even in 12 months time start off again like he is going at this moment then the young man is just going to improve and attract bigger fish if you like.
" I'm happy with our dealing but we still tried to involve Richard Keogh back into the football club, that was another ongoing saga as you well know. We went into yesterday trying to finalise that if we could but we were unable to do that at this moment in time which was a pity. Overall, considering the shortish time that we have, I'm not a fan of these window periods but considering the time that we have had I'm pretty pleased with what we have recruited.
" We've asked the question of the players about Oldham and they're as baffled as I am and everyone else is. Hopefully it's a rare occurrence, we were disappointed with the final half-hour at Bristol Rovers, I said at the time that we didn't want to have many of those again. We had a full 90 minutes of it at Oldham though, all I can say is that it is a people factor, sometimes we have a good day and sometimes we don't but we actually went well below our recognised standards at Oldham. "
" Everyone at the football club, the players in particular and myself are very disappointed because we are the people responsible for that. I want people to be aware of that, that we are very disappointed and upset. Tomorrow we've all demanded from the dressing-room that there is a major response and that we put together a really good performance for people.
" A not lose mentality is not something I ever say to the team, we want to be hard to beat, we haven't been so I think that is a factor that we have to make better. We don't want to go away and be easy to beat, we weren't easy to beat at Cheltenham, we had something like 18 attempts at goal which was more than the home team on the Friday. We went down fighting, we lost but we went down fighting there.
" The biggest cause for concern was that we probably didn't go down fighting at Oldham. We don't set out people to say let's not get beat, or let's get a draw or whatever. We do try to win games of football but we have been a little bit too easy to beat sometimes and that's something that we have to improve upon. The performances have got worse away from home but at home they have stayed steady and we have kept ourselves in a good position.
" I wouldn't like to think that I have changed the way we play, we were 4-4-2 when I came in with two wide players with Joe Anyinsah and Simon (Hackney) on the wide positions and we attacked people. We didn't have Joe from the middle of December, we've hopefully rectified that bringing Cleveland in so that is something that I have wanted to keep going. I like my wingers, I like people going forward, I like pace, we've scored a fair number of goals so I think that we've tried to keep the forward football going.
" The midfield isn't concerning me greatly, not so much as I'm looking to drop those lads (Marc Bridge-Wilkinson and Chris Lumsdon). We're fifth in the table with a decent record overall of the season so far, we've got a couple of games in hand over a number of people round and about us. I said during the week that if you had come off another planet and looked at this league table then you'd think that Carlisle were in a good position. "
" We're only in a good position because in the majority of games people have performed pretty well. Yes, everyone has an off day and Chris and Marc will tell you themselves that on Tuesday they didn't perform very well. In the main though they have been reasonably regular in the side since I came and I think they were before I came. They have the responsibility for putting this in this top six position and while they wanted to be better on Tuesday particularly they've not overall been as disappointing as people may think.
" I'm responsible for the results and there is no doubt about that, the players themselves are responsible for the performance and how they perform on the pitch. I select them so that is partly my responsibility but they have to work out how they are going to play. We're very disappointed with what we've done on Tuesday night but I think we really must remember that we are fifth in the league and it doesn't feel like it the way that things are being arrowed at us a little bit.
" I spoke to the manager or Exeter City - Paul Tisdale - in the week and he said that they have just gone to sixth in their division, won their last two and they were pretty excited about what was going on. I said that we were fifth in our league and we're disappointed with ourselves, so I think it puts it into perspective a little bit.
" While we want to be better, and we want to be better with our away form, the home form has been excellent. There have been some very, very good performances in that where we've threatened goals, have scored goals and we're not in fifth position in a very difficult league by accident, we have played some good football at times. "
" We looked at it (4-5-1) a little bit at Oldham and it didn't work out. I changed it at half-time and we went back to the four and the wide players, we tried to go with three in the middle and tighten it up a little bit but of course we then concede goals by some sloppy play from the back areas. We gave the ball away in our own half, it doesn't matter what formation or shape you play, when that happens to you as a team you are pretty much in trouble.
" We've got to just improve performance wise whatever shape or whatever tactics we play. Sometimes people can look at tactics and think they are the all-important but it really is down to good performances off people and making good decisions, and that's me of course as well.
" They (Walsall) are in good form, I think they have gone 16 or 17 games without defeat. It is ironic though, we are grumbling at the team, grumbling at performances, and yet tomorrow if they (Carlisle) win the game then they are the best home form team that this football club has ever had. We've also been in the highest position that the club has been in for 30 years at one stage at the top of this league.
" So there are not a huge amount of things wrong with the football team and the football club all the way through. The reserve team have had eight games I think without defeat, the youth team are doing extremely well. There are a lot of good things going on at Carlisle and it's very important that we don't forget that in the disappointment of a couple of away games, or four or five away games in which we've not been able to gain points.
" He (Cleveland Taylor) is going to have a shirt tomorrow, there is no point in bringing him in and not giving him a shirt, we've waited this long so let's see what the young man can do. Everybody is alright on the injury front so that's another good thing. Hopefully people can get these things off their chest, particularly my players, and get on to the pitch tomorrow and show everybody that all is quite well. "