Crawley Town drew 1-1 with Wigan Athletic at the Broadfield Stadium. Here is Rob Elliot's full post match press conference. He comments on how the Latics were the better team, 'exceptional' Liam Fraser and Charlie Barker's stunning strike.
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00:00Rob, thank you for joining us. It's another point on the board ultimately. Can I get your
00:04thoughts on the game first?
00:06It's a point gained, isn't it? I think it was probably the effects of the last few games,
00:12the physicality and obviously everything tonight. We tried to freshen the team up as much as
00:17possible to give ourselves the best energy. Probably seven or eight lads are carrying
00:21knocks and whatnot. I thought the application, the mentality was terrific. The lads were
00:27dead on their feet out there. We're going with a better team, there's no doubt about
00:31that. I love the mentality of the lads to stay in the game, despite the fact that we
00:36didn't get the play right. We didn't threaten them as much as we could, although we had
00:39good chances at times. To be able to stay resolute, defend the set-pieces, defend the
00:45onslaught and dig in for each other, I was really proud of the lads for that. I'd definitely
00:51say it's a point gained. We want to win every game, especially at home. You've got to take
00:56the positives in scenarios like this, but we need to make sure we reset for Saturday
01:01because it's been a tough run. Obviously, the Saturday-Tuesday is difficult. Liam coming
01:06in hasn't had loads of information. I thought he was exceptional in terms of his running
01:09and some of his play. We've just got to look at the positives going forward and take the
01:14point and move on.
01:15Yes, take the positives defensively. Although we conceded one goal, there was a lot of good
01:20defensive actions in there. I don't think you'll have to practice defending corners
01:23any time soon, 17 of them. Faced this evening, it's the most we've certainly had in a while.
01:29We've looked to have taken the attacking positives out of the last few home games, but is tonight
01:33one where we'll look to take the defensive ones mostly?
01:35Yes, I think so. Obviously, you want to come away with a clean sheet. I think, ultimately,
01:41they're very good wingers. We didn't get the press right, so they were getting to wide
01:46areas too early, but I thought Charlie and Harry defended well. A lot of the crosses
01:49were stopped at the source, hence why the corners come. We did get overloaded. We defended
01:53the box well. You've got Charlie, Ben Radcliffe, Dion, Harry were exceptional. Harry's been
01:59fantastic the last few games. There's things we could have done better. The frustration
02:07for me was that they're a good team and have good patterns and they do get out, but we
02:11made it a bit too easy for them. Secondly, on transition, when we were having the moments,
02:15especially in that second half period for 10, 15 minutes, where we looked like we were
02:18getting on top and getting back into our rhythm, we weren't as aggressive in terms of the lock-up
02:22and stepping on them to allow the second, third, fourth phases of attack. It's a learning
02:28curve, but ultimately, I think the one thing now you can't question with this group is
02:33they put their bodies there. Everything on the line, they run themselves into the ground
02:37and, like you said, they've earned a point from that, as much as we'd like it to be free.
02:42I think, just being brutally honest, maybe a couple of months ago that isn't the point,
02:46so take the positives and move on.
02:48Do you think, on reflection, having seen now the last three games, five points is probably
02:55actually quite a good return, isn't it? As you say, we're always going to want to win
02:58every game, but ultimately, as long as we're not losing matches and we're staying in the
03:02fight, that is what we need to do.
03:03Yes, I think it shows that these players and the group, they're here for the fight, they
03:09want to affect it. They want to fight for every moment and even when things aren't going
03:14so well for us, even when they score, we come back. Charlie scored a fantastic goal.
03:17I don't know what's going on at the moment with the goals we're scoring, but it's a fantastic
03:22goal from Charlie. Rushy, exceptional again down the outside. I think, even then, the
03:29mentality to not be playing well but still get something from the game, get something
03:32within the moment where we could have crumbled, was excellent. Playing against a massive club,
03:39good team, very good manager. I thought ultimately the defensive stuff was the fact that we stuck
03:47to it and never threw in the towel. The lads who come on, I thought they did have an impact
03:51in terms of going forward, but they also had to do the work and carry on the work from
03:54the other lads, which they did.
03:56Yes, the lads, I think, as you've already touched on, naturally will be struggling with
04:01the amount of games that we've had. We've now been dealt the card of, after three nice
04:06home games in a row, we've got our longest trip of the season away at Blackpool on Saturday.
04:10Is there a tricky decision to be made during the week now of how you let the lads recover?
04:15Because I'm sure you'd want them in to make sure they're doing their bits, but equally
04:19we've got the longest trip at the weekend, so what's the full process that has to go
04:23beyond that?
04:24It's just full recovery now. It's full recovery for two days and then it'll be complete prep
04:30for a day and a half, really. Because ultimately, when the body gets tired, the mind gets tired,
04:36so we need to be as refreshed as possible. We have to assess a few lads as well after
04:40tonight because I think a few were just redlining and getting towards the edge of injury, so
04:45we need to make sure that the selection for the squad and the team for Saturday is something
04:48that we consider in terms of everything, really. We're at the stage where we want to win every
04:54game, but we also need to make sure we have the players on the pitch to win every game.
05:00I think it's a breather for us as a group for a couple of days to reset, refresh, let
05:07the lads get away for a couple of days and just have that mindset, and then come back
05:12in in a day and a half and ready to go, and then ready for a long trip and recover whilst
05:17we prep. I'm really proud of the lads, especially the last three games. I'm proud of the group
05:21and proud of how they react to things. I thought, yet again, just the support at the end of
05:28the game being clapped off, and I think everyone could see that it wasn't the cleanest, it
05:33wasn't our best performance by a mile, but I think it showed the grit and determination
05:37and the fact that everyone's playing for the badge, playing for the club, and wanting to
05:41give ourselves the best opportunity possible.
05:50It must be quite tough because he hasn't played a lot of football at all in the last year,
05:54I believe. How much does it take to come on and play like he did tonight?
05:58I don't know how to say this, he's an animal really. Physically and mentally he's a monster.
06:03He came in, he wanted to play within the first day, so we had to calm him down a little bit.
06:08I think it's going to take him a while to get the concepts and stuff, because that's
06:12something that we've developed over a few months and years. He's obviously coming in,
06:16but he's took it on straight away. He's an international, he's a top footballer, so he's
06:19intelligent. He's shown some real technical ability. I think he's added to our repertoire
06:23in terms of the longer passing, and I think the more he settles, the better he'll be.
06:27What I like about Liam is I think he can add to us in an attacking sense. Obviously with
06:31Brad being missing at the moment, he's probably dropped back into the number four role to
06:35help us out, which is obviously probably the toughest one to play. But I thought he did
06:39exceptionally well, and I thought physically he'd give us a bit of a bite in the tackle
06:42and the running. He's an absolute ally, as I said before, he's a monster in terms of
06:47how he's running. So I'm really pleased with him. He's a really level-headed lad, he's
06:50really firm. He's here to keep the club up, he's here to do well, and he's here to help
06:59us. I love the buy-in from him straight away, and I think he's improved the squad. Hopefully
07:05we'll see him keep improving us and keep getting better.
07:07And Kamari Lloyd played out on the wing this time. What do you think his best position
07:13is, because we've seen him in the centre of midfield and on the wing now?
07:17Yeah, I think Kami affects the game anywhere. I thought he was good wide. I don't think
07:21we got him the service that we probably wanted to, and I like the idea of him wide coming
07:24inside. Swanee's been exceptional out there, to be honest with you, but obviously he's
07:28struggling with a couple of things. He's only limited, unfortunately, similar with June.
07:32So we're just having to balance numbers and squads and players. But I like Kami in the
07:39middle of the pitch. When he comes into the middle of the pitch, I think things happen.
07:44It just sort of always comes to personnel, really. Kami's so adaptable, he's both-footed,
07:47he's energetic, he's young, he's exciting. So he's someone that you want in areas where
07:53he can affect the game, where we feel that he can affect the game. We did feel in the
07:57wide areas he'd affect it. We probably weren't at our best today, let's be honest with you.
08:01We struggled today. We struggled in possession, but I still think that we showed enough to
08:08be at our worst and still get a point and continue a run and be unbeaten. I think ultimately
08:15there's a lot of things we could've all done better, myself definitely included, but there's
08:22a lot of things the lads did well. I think they ground it out when we got it wrong. Tactically
08:25if I got anything wrong, they smoothed it out by running and working hard. I'm really
08:30pleased and proud of them for that.
08:31And finally, you just referred to earlier about what's happening with the goalscoring.
08:35Is there a magnet in the top corner at the moment?
08:38I don't know. I think to be honest with you, we've had such bad luck. I say bad luck, but
08:43we've had so many poor decisions and opportunities hitting the post, getting blocked. I think
08:50over the course since we've been here, the Reading game for example, you go back there
08:53and how we only scored one goal was scary. So I think we're probably getting the rewards
08:57for consistency. It's nice to see such brilliant goals and it's nice the lads have the confidence
09:03to attack it in that way. I'm pleased for Charlie because he's everything you want in
09:10a footballer and a person, considering where he's come from to where he's been and the
09:14amount of games he's had to play. Charlie, every week we think he's going to break down
09:18and we're going to have to take him out, but he just keeps going and keeps going and keeps
09:20going. We have to put him against their best players every time, but he still does it regardless
09:25of outcome. So I'm really pleased for him. He deserved that moment. Hopefully we can
09:30keep scoring the goals and attaining them.