Crawley Town travel to Peterborough United in Saturday for their latest League One clash. Here Rob Elliot looks ahead to the game, gives an injury update on Dion Conroy and Junior Quitirna and talks about the January transfer window
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00:00Rob, thank you for joining us. After a rare weekend off, we're back on the road this weekend
00:05as we travel to Peterborough. Can I get your thoughts ahead of that game?
00:08Yes, it's going to be a good game. Peterborough play some really good football. They're expansive,
00:14got a lot of young players, a lot of energy. It's going to be a difficult game, but one
00:20we're looking forward to. I think our mindset is just to enjoy the challenge every time.
00:26We've come up against these so-called bigger clubs and the experiences and the travel.
00:32I think it's going to be another good day for the club and another good day for us in
00:36terms of going and challenging ourselves against what is a very well-established Ligue 1 championship
00:41club over the last few years.
00:43Did the rare weekend off give any extra help to the players? Obviously we saw them heading
00:48down to the gym to get some work in on what was meant to be match day, but do you think
00:52this will be of any benefit to us?
00:54You know what, it's sort of yes and no. You always want to keep going, keep the momentum
00:58going, but missing 10 days between the games is nothing, not the end of the world. It means
01:03we have a little bit more rest as well. Obviously Tuesday was a massive effort against Chorlton,
01:08so you can look at it two ways. You get a bit of extra rest and the lads have trained
01:11really well yesterday. They worked hard on Saturday in the gym and the attitude was tremendous
01:17considering you get yourself geared up for a game and then it gets called off, but rightly
01:22so. Obviously with the conditions all over the country it was horrendous. We've just
01:26got to make sure we take all that little bit of extra energy we were able to conserve and
01:30use it on Saturday.
01:31Is there a difficult decision to be made when the decision was made as early as it possibly
01:36could, but naturally at 10 o'clock on a Saturday it is quite late notice in terms of you are
01:41in match day mode. Is it quite a difficult decision to decide where to go? Do you just
01:47call it off, get the players to stop travelling in before they leave, or is it an easy decision
01:51to still come in and get some work done?
01:54Yes, it makes sense because obviously everyone is preparing to come in for half 12, one o'clock
01:58anyway. Very fortunate with the gym, with Ricky speaking to the guys at the gym who
02:05managed to get us in, which was brilliant of them. So we just kept the same schedule
02:08but then obviously just went to the gym instead of the game. Obviously it was made aware a
02:13little bit before it was called off that there might be a potential that the game would be
02:17off. So we just have a bit of planning and then with the conditions there was no way
02:21you could go and train anywhere because it was bad enough that the game was called off,
02:24you are not going to be able to train. So we just thought the best thing to do was give
02:26the lads a tough gym session. They worked in groups of teams and stuff like that so
02:30it was a bit of team bonding and just get that spike as close as you can to a Saturday.
02:36So yes, then the lads get a little bit of an extra weekend to themselves and you have
02:43got to look at the positives really, a little bit more time with family and give the bodies
02:47a little bit more time to rest and a couple of injured players a bit longer to recover
02:52ready for maybe when the game is rearranged.
02:55Yes, on the flip side of that, Peterborough had a later game than the Saturday, obviously
02:59they played on Monday night, losing to Northampton. So do you think that has any potential benefit
03:03or is that just a myth that we have not played and they have played on the Monday?
03:07Yes, I think you can read into it too much sometimes. When you are winning every week,
03:11Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, you cannot come quick enough when you are not
03:13doing so well. Saturday, Saturday, you want it to be even longer. So no, I do not think
03:17there is too much in it. I think obviously they did lose on Monday but I do not think
03:22it was a case of, no I do not think it was a poor defeat, I thought they were excellent.
03:26Obviously they had a couple of good chances, they could have got something from the game
03:29and I think they have always been competitive, they have always been high goal scoring, create
03:34a lot of chances individually and as a collective, as a team, the way they play. And yes, they
03:39do obviously concede a lot of chances as well but that is more the nature of their
03:42play. Obviously Darren has been there for years, he is a legend there and he develops
03:47young players, takes them from their own league and they are probably one of the best in the
03:51last 5-10 years of developing talent, especially the attacking players. So it would be a really
03:56good test for us to go there and try and give another good account of ourselves like we
04:01did at Chorlton. I just think the most important thing is that we set the bar in terms of where
04:06our physical output is and sort of the metrics we want to hit because Chorlton was physically
04:12our best performance of the season and it coincides with a fantastic win and I think
04:18the lads, what we are asking them to do in training, the way we are asking them to train,
04:22the type of runs we want them to make, the lads are really grasping that and taking it
04:25in their stride and it is adding to the performances and the results.
04:31Looking at the table, Peterborough are one of the teams you can actually go above if
04:34you win on Saturday, it is insanely tight that table isn't it, it's crazy.
04:38Yeah, it's carnage really isn't it and I think the table never really settles down
04:42until probably February because again January the window opens and it becomes crazy again
04:47because a lot of changes, teams will strengthen, they will lose players, whatever it may be
04:51so the big thing for us and especially for myself and my experience is in football you
04:57just have to look at game on game, you don't have a peek at the table really because it
05:01doesn't really mean anything. I think we've gone from nearly mid-table to fourth, fifth,
05:06bottom, whatever it's been in the last few days without even playing a game so it doesn't
05:09take away from the work we've done, the run we've been on but I think what's probably
05:13good and I'm really pleased for the lads especially is that all their hard work, they're now caught
05:18up with a big bunch in front of us, at one point it was a little bit detached and now
05:22there's probably up until tenth or something, I think there's like five points, I can't
05:26remember the exact details but something like that and that's obviously good for the lads
05:30because I think it gives them confidence going into games that they can really start
05:33to see the positives from the results and the points and start seeing themselves catch
05:38up and feel like they're in the pack rather than sort of always looking up.
05:42Yeah, they've got Poku, their top scorer, he's out for three months now apparently,
05:47what other sort of dangers have they got on the pitch at Peterborough?
05:51I mean to be honest with you I think it depends on what they go with, they go with the two
05:55strikers, they play with the ten, I think the thing with Peterborough is they can score
06:00from anywhere, especially from wide areas, when they isolate you they try and switch
06:04the ball and isolate it in wide areas, so a 1v1 battle's got to be really good and in
06:08terms of balls coming in the box as well, they get the ball in but they don't just put
06:11the ball in there, they put it in with real quality.
06:14So look, there's not really one particular person, obviously Poku's a massive miss because
06:18anyone would miss their top goal scorer but I think the strength of Peterborough is the
06:23fact that they've got so many players that can come in and that can affect it and I think
06:28the big thing for us is that not only do we want to try and hurt them but first and foremost
06:33we've got to try and mummify them and respect what they can do and how good they are in
06:36possession and they play through the furge really well, they can be direct but mainly
06:41through possession play, so when they are direct it's usually more controlled and it
06:45is sort of percentage if that makes sense.
06:50No, it's going to be a real tough game for us, a really tough game for us but what I
06:53think I'm looking forward to is I think it will be a good game of football, two teams
06:56that play good football.
06:57Yeah and injury wise for yourselves, anybody due back?
07:01Dion and Junior have trained, this is their first four week back in training, don't know
07:05if it will be too early to see them on Saturday but going into the Christmas period it will
07:09be brilliant to have them back within the squad.
07:11It's obviously, Dion's been out, obviously he's been really unlucky with his injury,
07:16had a setback six, seven weeks ago just as we come in actually but he was on the training
07:20pitch and you can see his quality and obviously being the captain he's been at all the games
07:24and he's been brilliant around the dressing room as well and Junior we've seen glimpses,
07:30I say not even glimpses actually, we've seen his real quality and what he can bring to
07:33the team and Junior's worked really hard with Ricky in the gym and physically he's in a
07:38fantastic shape, he's put on weight, he's working hard, he's working on the things he
07:43needs to work on to make himself more robust because we know he's got the quality so to
07:48be able to have our captain back and have Junior back in the attacking option it's going
07:53to be brilliant for us but we'll just have to assess Saturday and see if that's viable
07:57or not because we don't want to rush them back too much and miss out on them, especially
08:01with the amount of games that are coming up in the next few weeks or so.
08:04Yeah, when Dion does come back it's going to be some tough decisions for you, obviously
08:08good decisions to have because Joy, Charlie and Toby have all been magnificent so far
08:13and obviously Josh was very good before and it's his unfortunate injury, it's going to
08:16be some tough decisions.
08:17Yeah, there is but that's the nature of it but I don't think they've been tough at this
08:21moment in time, it's not going to be tough decisions when you've got five games in 11
08:25days so I think it's probably perfect timing for us as a squad because we probably needed
08:29Toby, Joy and Charlie have probably played too much in terms of we couldn't even rest
08:34them for some of the Bristol Street Motors games etc and obviously the only reason Toby
08:39missed the game was because of the suspension.
08:41So yeah, the challenge is there isn't it for the lads, you do well, you stay on the team
08:45don't you let yourself come out of the team and obviously we know what an excellent player
08:48Dion is and obviously the qualities he brings so for me it's not so much of a tough decision
08:54but just knowing that we've got a stronger squad and there's more depth because we know
08:57we're going to need it because of just the nature of this league and like we've seen
09:01with Flinty who was exceptional for us before his injury, you just don't know what's around
09:06the corner so the stronger the squad the better place we'll be in.
09:11Yeah and obviously January's coming around soon, have you put a shopping list in yet?
09:15And another question on top of that is Louis going to be added to the squad?
09:19You said last week what a good player he is, Louis Story, is he going to be added to the
09:23squad in January do you think?
09:24I don't know, I think with Louis he's picked up an injury actually in training so we'll
09:27see how he is because he joins in when he can.
09:29I think with Louis it'll be a case of where the squad's at by the end of the window and
09:32if he can be added to the squad, if there's space then we probably would but that's probably
09:36like, you know, Louis is very selfless, that's not the priority if that makes sense and I
09:41think he's enjoying the journey in terms of stepping up with his coaching but we'll assess
09:45that sort of when it comes to January and where the squad is.
09:47But no, look, I think for everyone you want to try and improve the squad and you want
09:52to try and help in areas where we are lacking, you know, where the depth isn't as strong
09:58but I think that, you know, that comes with obviously balance as well, you know, with
10:02finances and where we're at as a club in terms of what we need because I don't think we've
10:08really had a chance to see this squad fully develop yet because it was such a new squad
10:13coming together, so many new changes and so many young players so hopefully in the next
10:17few days in games, in the build-up to Christmas we can see the squad, the team keep developing
10:23and then whatever we do in January can just add to the momentum and add to the lads so
10:31that we can keep moving forward and not disrupt it too much.
10:34And last question from me, Saturday obviously the game was called off because of the weather
10:37and that but one of the reasons was the East Stand, the temporary nature of it. The club's
10:42supporters' alliance yesterday put out a call to the Landlord of the Council to say can
10:46we have some proposals for a permanent structure there, it'd be great to see that, wouldn't
10:49it, having a permanent structure on that side of the ground?
10:51Yeah I think so and obviously it's another step to where the club wants to get to in
10:57terms of being in a league like this consistently and then obviously developing the club not
11:02just on the pitch but off it and we know that it's not going to be something that happens
11:07instantly, it's not going to happen within a few weeks that we can just snap our fingers
11:10and we can become an established league one club with all the facilities that the clubs
11:15have but as long as we can just keep getting a little bit better every day or every week
11:19and every season then I suppose that's all we can ask but yeah I think it's the intent
11:24to want to improve which is since I've been in you know, that's all that's been spoken
11:27about and I've seen it myself in terms of we're trying to make the club a little bit
11:32better, we don't always have the resources to make it instantly but I think as long as
11:36the mentality's there then that's all you can ask for.
11:38Brilliant, thanks Rob.