Head Coach quotes from pre-match press conference
Head Coach Uwe Rosler spoke to the media ahead of Tuesday’s Sky Bet League One fixture with Shrewsbury Town at Highbury Stadium.
On training in difficult conditions ahead of the Shrewsbury match…
“We are footballers so we have a great job to be out in the fresh air and on the grass for ten months of the year. We footballers get used to it and for us it is no problem.”
On playing three games in eight days…
“It’s not just the last two games, you have to see the amount of games we have had in the last four weeks. The culmination of games that means that there is not much we can do on the training pitch. We have very short sessions to reinforce certain things and that’s exactly what we are doing. The most important thing is that we go into the games as fresh as we can – both physically and mentally. At this stage we have analysis which helps to reinforce certain things.”
On Alex Cairns coming in for Chris Neal in the last match…
“I think Chris Neal did nothing wrong. I had a talk with him this morning and just felt with the way we wanted to play, it was a tactical change in the first place when we did it in the first place against Southport because of how he (Cairns) played against Carlisle and Chesterfield before. He did very well and that was the main reason why we made the change. Chris Neal was a very reliable, solid goalkeeper so far this season. Now Alex is pushing Chris, and at the moment it is quite even and I think that is what I wanted to create. I wanted to create a fair competition for the number one spot and at the moment I’m in a very good position because I have two very good goalkeepers.”
On George Glendon stepping into the side in the absence of Jimmy Ryan…
“A lot of people wrote him off. He probably started to doubt the move he made himself, but he never gave up and that is not only in football but what life is about. When you dig deep when things are not going for you, you have to turn the momentum into a positive and that is what he did. He got the chance, used it very well and I think he worked a lot on his physicality and he is now playing the game differently. He is now playing to his strength which is his qualities on the ball, but he also understands what is needed in League One football. It took him a little bit of time to understand that, but now I think he is the player I always thought he could be. It’s now up to him to keep that level. When you first come into the game it’s about adrenaline and then getting to a normality and then you put that sort of performance in what you do lately and he it’s defiantly one of the big positives in the last month.”
On the challenge of facing Shrewsbury Town…
“It’s a massive game. We achieved making a good gap between ourselves and Chesterfield at this stage of the season. We want to create a big gap between ourselves and Shrewsbury. We are playing on our home pitch where we have a quite good home record, where the players feel confident going out at Highbury. We need to use that to our advantage and be ruthless. But by saying that, Shrewsbury, since they changed their manager, have had an uplift. They play with far more energy, they play football what can give your results in our league. I think they are on their way up, but we must make sure they start their progression after they’ve met us.