Neil McDonald - Radio Cumbria Interview

Last updated : 07 February 2007 By Thetashkentterror

Blues manager Neil McDonald
United boss Neil McDonald spoke to BBC Radio Cumbria's James Phillips on Tuesday afternoon as he gave his thoughts on the recent wins against Nottingham Forest and Doncaster. McDonald also commenting on the home game coming up against Yeovil this weekend :


" He (Johann Smith) got half an hour which is excellent for him. He's a young centre-forward with bags of pace, lots of good touches, lots of tricks in his bag and he contributed for the second goal as well. He had a little hand in the second goal as well which is good for him, he just needs games, I'm sure he'll score a couple of goals and I'm sure he'll make a couple of goals with his pace and his way of playing.

" You get those scenarios where you tell the team that they are going to come out of the blocks, they are going to come at you and if you keep them quiet for 20 minutes then you might be able to get on top. Then after three minutes we're 1-0 down, they've responded really well though, and after that they've started to come into the game. Doncaster never really hurt us in the first-half, I changed the system from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 to put a little bit more pressure on them and I think we finished the game stronger in the second-half.

" Come half-time it was ‘no panic, move the ball along a little bit quicker into the front, then support with lots and lots of pace and if you get a chance you have to stick it in the back of the net.' When I said to stick it in the back of the net I thought it was going to be from five or six yards not from 25 and 35 yards for the two goals. That's an extra bonus though because sometimes we don't try our luck, we haven't tried our luck enough this season, then we've tried our luck twice and scored so we might score a few goals away.

" They were both very, very good goals, Jeff (Smith) has come inside and curled it into the top corner with his left foot. The second one though, Karl (Hawley), as we've played the football and got it wide to him, he's come inside. We were directly behind him and he's bent the ball and we could see it was going in, it was a fantastic feeling when it left his foot that we knew it was going in.

" Tactically, if you are being caused a problem, or you're not performing as well as you could do, then I think you have to be in a position where the players have to change. We try and play 4-3-3, we try and play 4-4-2, and there is just a slight adjustment on the two positions or the two formations, the players are very, very comfortable with that. (James) Coppinger was in the hole which was causing us a little bit of a problem, although he wasn't really hurting us, then we just snuffed him out and I can't remember him having a touch after that. "



" I think the answer at Doncaster was grit and determination because we were on a little bit of a run, everyone was on a high from the Forest game. Yet the most important game was the one before against Brentford where we weren't beaten, we should have won that game which we were disappointed about so that tells you that the form was OK. To get a great result against Forest puts everybody in good spirits, we knew that we had beaten Doncaster in the first game of the season anyway.

" It wasn't a bad little test trying to be the first team to win at the Keepmoat Stadium which spurs you on anyway. Those factors along with a very good training week as well as result week gives you a chance to win away from home. Certainly to put your name in lights and in the history books by Carlisle being the first team to win at the Keepmoat was excellent motivation in itself. There have only been a couple of games so far this season where we have been very, very disappointed on the Monday and have felt sorry for ourselves from away games.

" The performances have been half-decent, it's just the chances and putting the ball in the back of the net. If that's the improvement, which I think it is, then long may it continue because the chances seem to be coming along and we seem to be sticking them in the back of the net. We struggled to get an away win and now we've won two since the turn of the year, and we've drawn another one so we're well on track on beating the first half of the games away from home.

" That (Yeovil) was a strange experience, I'd just won my first game and drawn my second one, and then I couldn't believe that we had been beaten. That's football though, sometimes you don't get what you deserve, if you work hard, the harder you get I suppose the luckier you get. We've just got to keep ourselves focused on our game plan and hopefully our abilities will shine out, which I think it did against Yeovil away. We just didn't stick the ball in the back of the net, as usual in that when you look back that was always going to be the problem away from home.

" Hopefully we've addressed that a little bit, each game doesn't get any easier now though. We thought Forest was a difficult game, we certainly felt Doncaster was even more difficult than that, and I'm sure that Yeovil is going to be even more difficult than those two because that is the next game, then we play the top six again. There is no revenge on Saturday, I'm not a person for revenge, I'm just a person to try and improve. If we can take three points off them (Yeovil) then that would be excellent, that would be half and half. "



" You are trying to take four points from two games against teams I suppose. We've had a couple of sixes so far against Brighton and Doncaster and we've had a nil against Crewe with losing both games, so we're quite on track. If we can get another really good result at home against a team that has performed really, really well then the confidence will go even higher than it is at the minute. It doesn't matter what level you are at, if you switch off for five seconds then you normally get punished, we certainly have done that this season where we've made one mistake and been punished.

" We've just got to make sure that we're nice and concentrated over the 90 minutes and hopefully we can have another performance like Forest where they have only probably had two little half-chances in the game. That's fantastic considering where Forest are and what sort of stature of club they are, if we do that to Yeovil, because they have got lots of attacking people in the team, and goalscorers in the team, if we can do that then we'll be alright.

" Danny (Livesey) had a little bit of a tight hamstring coming on at Doncaster so we didn't want to take a chance because of who we have on the bench as well, that's what substitutes are there for. Everybody is starting to come through the games now, and we've almost got a fully fit squad to choose from which is excellent because that tells you that you've competition for places. If somebody doesn't play well then somebody is ready to take their place.

" He (Joe Garner) is playing really well and I think he's having a good relationship with Karl (Hawley) at the minute, they are working hard for each other, and with each other, and when his chance comes along he'll stick it in the back of the net. People keep on talking about the word ‘experience', Jeff Smith has got experience, we've got vast experience in the team, with Zigor Aranalde, Peter Murphy, Paul Murray, Karl Hawley, David Raven and Kevin Gall. There is vast experience in Paul Thirlwell as well, to throw a young kid in is no problem whatsoever because we have good professionals at this football club who want to look after young kids. Young kids also want to inspire the more experienced ones, and if you get that balance then it's fantastic.

" It's always good to have that little bit more experience, Jeff (Smith) knows this league inside out. I feel as though he can play higher, his contribution so far has been excellent and he has settled in really well. That shows the lads have taken to him, we've got a good bunch of players here who are honest and hardworking, and just to add that little bit every now and again is really, really good. I think we've got that balance back now which is good. I think anything is achievable now because we are on a run of three undefeated games, we're one point away but we've still got a lot of hard work to do. The players are in fine form, who knows where it is going to take it us. "