Press Conference Notes (MK Dons 28th April 2006)
“<img src="https://griffinpark.org/images/[email protected]" hspace="5" align="left" alt="Wimbledon">Yes it’s a very good performance we were put under pressure in the end, had a few close calls, our goalkeeper made some good saves but of course the penalty miss was a bonus of course”.
Q “Did you think it was a penalty?”
MA “I did personally”.
“It’s hard because there’s a very strong wind, direct down the pitch and our goalkeeper who normally kicks a very good distance, could kick it as hard as he could, as well as he could, back to the old schoolboy days, balls getting up in air and then drifting back into our own half, wasn’t quite making the half way line and they were of course running onto the headers and our players were jumping underneath the ball which meant that we were heading back to our own goal, which certainly wasn’t through choice, it wasn’t ‘cause we changed anything we just kept going forward. It does sound pretty basic but if you don’t win that first header the whole team’s constantly going back to your own goal. it’s only 10 days ago when this team beat Southend so to come here and keep a clean sheet. Today we had a bit of luck , they played very well tonight, they played very, very well first half, that was more like how our teams been playing and they showed confidence, they showed self believe and they battled well and by half time we should have been well and clear”.
“You had to be here to see it, their centre forward is about 6’ 10” (McLeod) …. Every time they had a free kick, wherever it was on the pitch it went up to him high, deep, long and it's hard to beat people like that in the air and it means that you’re always scrapping for ball around your own box , it was a percentage game, they used it well, they used it to their advantage, there’s nothing wrong in that they played to their strengths and it’s difficult to cope with it especially when you’re going into the wind and he’s (McLeod) a difficult player to play against and our centre halves (Turner & Sodje) tonight were commanding and the way they play is difficult to play against, Michael (Turner) was superb.
“When you lose three games doubts creep into the players mind and it's not easy coping mentally, we saw that on Saturday, they’re good players, but on Saturday they were very tired, particularly in the second half. It wasn’t ‘cause they’re not fit but mentally it can be draining and it's not easy, its not easy. Everyone that’s been involved in the two years since I’ve been here, we had the Great Escape where there were a couple of dodgy performances where they looked absolutely out on their feet; last year it was tough getting into the play offs with a couple of performances that were below par. The players stood up tonight they showed a lot of bravery in possession and without possession and they kept going right to the end and really showed a lot of character, a lot of character”.
“Before the game I never said anything to them, I sat back and waited, we had a chat yesterday at the training ground before training - this was the game in hand the game everyone‘s been talking about for a couple of months, it was the game in hand the players were aware of how important this game was to our club and I reinforced that to them yesterday before training. You don’t become bad players overnight and the way that they have been organised, the way that we were training, you don’t become bad manager or coach overnight, but the only way they’re going to get their way through it is to get out on the training pitch and practice what we’ve done and do so well. You’re not going to make yourself better by crying at home. You’re not going to make yourself better by sitting at home and blaming other people. When you’re in a tricky spell you have to take responsibility yourself get your shoulders back, get your head up, get out in the middle and do it. You can’t sulk and worry and be frightened because they’re good players and that is what I said to them, tonight they really showed that they can do well”.
Q “Was it important to win today going to Colchester on Saturday?”
“I know what you’re saying there, it's hard to tell, tomorrow morning we’re going to wake up and we got a 1-0 win away from home, 3 points onto our total, I see where your question is but I can’t really answer but we all probably know the answer in the back of our mind”.
“It reinforces that they all have to do their jobs, collectively and individually. We work very hard on our training pitch through the season to organise our players, to get them to do their jobs. Over the last couple of weeks individual errors, errors cost us dear, individual moments of not good play and then on the other hand there has also been in the games at Gillingham and Swansea a lot of chances that have gone our way and we haven’t taken them. In the first half tonight we had 7 chances for a comfortable lead but they weren’t taken and for the players it just reinforces that they have to keep doing their job within the team framework that we layout on the training pitch. If they do that over a period of time I promised them that they would be rewarded - if they followed it and stuck to it and worked at it and trusted me. When you lose 3 games you start to get a little bit of doubt in the mind and you have to keep reinforcing it, do you job in the team and over a longer period of time you’ll be successful and if you work hard and do those things you do sometimes you make your own luc. Tonight, yes, we did have a bit of luck but I think its fair to say we might have been due a bit of luck, there’s been a couple of games recently when we’ve been very unlucky “.
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Q “Did you think it was a penalty?”
MA “I did personally”.
“It’s hard because there’s a very strong wind, direct down the pitch and our goalkeeper who normally kicks a very good distance, could kick it as hard as he could, as well as he could, back to the old schoolboy days, balls getting up in air and then drifting back into our own half, wasn’t quite making the half way line and they were of course running onto the headers and our players were jumping underneath the ball which meant that we were heading back to our own goal, which certainly wasn’t through choice, it wasn’t ‘cause we changed anything we just kept going forward. It does sound pretty basic but if you don’t win that first header the whole team’s constantly going back to your own goal. it’s only 10 days ago when this team beat Southend so to come here and keep a clean sheet. Today we had a bit of luck , they played very well tonight, they played very, very well first half, that was more like how our teams been playing and they showed confidence, they showed self believe and they battled well and by half time we should have been well and clear”.
“You had to be here to see it, their centre forward is about 6’ 10” (McLeod) …. Every time they had a free kick, wherever it was on the pitch it went up to him high, deep, long and it's hard to beat people like that in the air and it means that you’re always scrapping for ball around your own box , it was a percentage game, they used it well, they used it to their advantage, there’s nothing wrong in that they played to their strengths and it’s difficult to cope with it especially when you’re going into the wind and he’s (McLeod) a difficult player to play against and our centre halves (Turner & Sodje) tonight were commanding and the way they play is difficult to play against, Michael (Turner) was superb.
“When you lose three games doubts creep into the players mind and it's not easy coping mentally, we saw that on Saturday, they’re good players, but on Saturday they were very tired, particularly in the second half. It wasn’t ‘cause they’re not fit but mentally it can be draining and it's not easy, its not easy. Everyone that’s been involved in the two years since I’ve been here, we had the Great Escape where there were a couple of dodgy performances where they looked absolutely out on their feet; last year it was tough getting into the play offs with a couple of performances that were below par. The players stood up tonight they showed a lot of bravery in possession and without possession and they kept going right to the end and really showed a lot of character, a lot of character”.
“Before the game I never said anything to them, I sat back and waited, we had a chat yesterday at the training ground before training - this was the game in hand the game everyone‘s been talking about for a couple of months, it was the game in hand the players were aware of how important this game was to our club and I reinforced that to them yesterday before training. You don’t become bad players overnight and the way that they have been organised, the way that we were training, you don’t become bad manager or coach overnight, but the only way they’re going to get their way through it is to get out on the training pitch and practice what we’ve done and do so well. You’re not going to make yourself better by crying at home. You’re not going to make yourself better by sitting at home and blaming other people. When you’re in a tricky spell you have to take responsibility yourself get your shoulders back, get your head up, get out in the middle and do it. You can’t sulk and worry and be frightened because they’re good players and that is what I said to them, tonight they really showed that they can do well”.
Q “Was it important to win today going to Colchester on Saturday?”
“I know what you’re saying there, it's hard to tell, tomorrow morning we’re going to wake up and we got a 1-0 win away from home, 3 points onto our total, I see where your question is but I can’t really answer but we all probably know the answer in the back of our mind”.
“It reinforces that they all have to do their jobs, collectively and individually. We work very hard on our training pitch through the season to organise our players, to get them to do their jobs. Over the last couple of weeks individual errors, errors cost us dear, individual moments of not good play and then on the other hand there has also been in the games at Gillingham and Swansea a lot of chances that have gone our way and we haven’t taken them. In the first half tonight we had 7 chances for a comfortable lead but they weren’t taken and for the players it just reinforces that they have to keep doing their job within the team framework that we layout on the training pitch. If they do that over a period of time I promised them that they would be rewarded - if they followed it and stuck to it and worked at it and trusted me. When you lose 3 games you start to get a little bit of doubt in the mind and you have to keep reinforcing it, do you job in the team and over a longer period of time you’ll be successful and if you work hard and do those things you do sometimes you make your own luc. Tonight, yes, we did have a bit of luck but I think its fair to say we might have been due a bit of luck, there’s been a couple of games recently when we’ve been very unlucky “.
----------------------------
This story has been brought to you from The Griffin Park Grapevine, a supporters' website for Brentford Football Club. If you've come from a consolidated feed or RSS referal you might like to learn more - visit our <a href="www.griffinpark.org">Home Page</a>