|
|
|
On The Spot2nd March 2000 |
|
Will Jones tackles Roy McFarland - weekly! |
|
|
Every week Roy McFarland gives an exclusive weekly interview to U's Net and answers a selection of questions from you, the supporters. We do our best to ask every question but inevitably if they have already been asked or there are a lot of questions we have to pick the best or most topical questions. Please don't give up! Following another disappointing home defeat, this time by Millwall, Roy McFarland looks back on that game and discusses it in some depth. He also looks forward to the weekend's game at Brentford and responds to the questions you want answered as U's Net reporter Will Jones once again puts him … "On The Spot". |
|
|
Q. Looking back at the Millwall game Roy, what aspect
of the team performance pleased you, and what ones do you feel ultimately
cost us the points?
I think poor defending cost us the game. We didn't close the ball down quickly enough and that was apparent in the first goal when Scott Eustace got on the wrong side of the centre forward who was able to cross the ball. Shaun Marshall has then made a mistake, and has put his hands up for that, and they scored. With the second goal Jason Kavanagh certainly didn't close the ball down, and allowed the player to cross the ball and they scored again. We had a very poor spell where defensively we were playing too deep and more than anything else weren't making things hard for them by closing them down and engaging ourselves. In that sense we made it easy for them, as we conceded two goals. We then had to chase the game. Up until the point we conceded the first goal I felt we had been pressuring them, and their goalkeeper was being put under all sorts of pressure from the forwards and our fans. We had corners, throw ins and our general play was forcing pressure. As soon as they scored we seemed to deflate a bit. We certainly didn't play as well in the second half as we had been at spells in the first. Our football was very narrow, we failed to get the ball wide, John Hansen and Tom Youngs drifted out of the game and our football disappeared a bit. We didn't play enough, but got a break in terms of the penalty. John missed it, and if that had gone in we would have had a great opportunity for getting something out of the game. Without doubt, shortly afterwards there was a blatant second penalty that the referee had a very good view of but failed to award. Their goalkeeper pulled Marc Joseph down to the ground, and when you look at it on the video it is even more clear cut. It is very obvious in the video that not only it was a penalty, but that the referee had a very clear view. That was very disappointing, but there are no excuses. It was our second home game in a week that we failed to score in. If we continue in that vein, it will be very hard for us. Q. It might not be a case of going back to square one, but the individual errors in defence and general lack of organisation that we seemed to have addressed so well over the last few months are coming back. That must be very worrying for you indeed? It is only worrying in the sense that we had a poor spell in the first half. I think overall we defended quite well, and coped reasonably well. In the second half we haven't played very well but we have looked comfortable. That was helpful. When you have lost at home and are in the state and position we are at the moment you grab any kind of crumb of help you can. The other side of it though is that there is another game gone, another game less to play. If you look back several weeks we were 7 points adrift, so we have chipped away and got it down to 4 points. We can't let is stay at that, we have to keep going and get ourselves in a position where if we can put a run together we will get out of trouble. The narrower we can make that gap, the better chance we have got. I have no major injury concerns. Marc Joseph got the hamstring injury when a player ran into him, which was a bit strange, but he played for 75 minutes, in a sense, with the injury. Jason's injury is more of a problem than Marc's but we have 48 hours to see how they progress. Q. I know you don't like to give too much away concerning selection, but you stated after the Bury game that John Taylor would not start against Millwall, but he did. Do you see him keeping his place in the side against Brentford? With John I thought he and Trevor worked quite well at Bury, and that was very good. I thought up until Millwall scored on Saturday the two were working well again. We had Millwall under pressure, and conceding a goal knocked the players. They caused Millwall quite a few problems.
YOUR questions to Roy
Q. Andy from Whittlesford asks: Who is in line to take the spot kicks now Martin has gone and which other members of the squad will step forward if required, or will it be like West Ham with players tussling to take them? Usually Paul Wanless wants to take them and whenever Michael Kyd is in the side he wants to take them. I always think the person who is the most confident and positive should take the penalty. Obviously John has taken lots of them, and scored most of them. The best example of that was at Rochdale last season on the night we got promoted. Martin Butler felt that he had missed two or three very good chances and asked John to take the penalty as he was fresh. I thought that was very professional from Martin Butler to let John take it, and he stuck it away. You have got to want to take a penalty and be positive, and there are a lot of players that wouldn't want to go near it. We won't have players fighting or scrapping over it, we will discuss it in the dressing room before the game. We had readjusted the training. After the Notts County game I felt I was going to keep the same team, whatever. That is where I made the mistake, and I didn't look at the players as closely as I should have done. After the Bury game we altered the training accordingly and looked at all the players and they still looked fresh. I thought we started off very well against Millwall, and they were really on the rack and we were playing good football. We conceded goals though, and came in at half time 2-0 down despite playing quite well. I think in Shaun's case he has grown up quite a bit, and I think I made the point the other week that I felt with Shaun and Martin both in the side their inexperience meant I needed to change it. I changed it, and brought Marc Joseph back at Bury and gave Martin a rest. It worked for us. On Saturday, keeping the same team defensively, it didn't work for an expensive spell in the game. The reason Jimmy is playing in the reserves is that I need to have a look at him for the future. Whether Ise stays or goes, I need to look at other keepers in match practice. All three goalkeepers train during the week, and they have all been training very well. Which way I go with the goalkeepers at the club at the moment … we will have to wait and see .
After the Blackpool game I felt we were a little bit gung ho, and they had quite a few experienced players who dictated the game. I think we were caught over-attacking and over-committing. I felt during the home game against Millwall we would be a little bit more patient and solid. I think throughout the 90 minutes we possibly were, and created enough chances to score. Lapses in defence happen, and they were elementary defensive mistakes that were very costly. Zema Abbey is a young lad who has shone in the reserves of late and has trained very well. That is the reason why we have involved him, it's as simple as that . In the reserves the reason why he has played there is to give him the experience of playing there. Usually when you play in midfield it's a case of receiving, playing and getting beyond the ball. In a sense he would be working more and getting used to a position he isn't used to, understudying the basics and the things he needs to do when he is up front. I put him on against Millwall on that side, as he had done very well in the reserves. I thought he might get us a goal. We, and myself, have struggled to fill the centre half spot. I felt we needed a centre half of a little bit more experience and quality that we have at present. I have failed to do that, and that has been costly for us this season. We have found it quite tough in that area. I think we have the same chance of staying up as anybody in the bottom eight. I do mean the bottom eight. I don't think anybody is putting any kind of run together, and in that sense it gives everybody a chance to get out of trouble. If we do put a run together it will be a big help to us.
If you would like to have your question asked next week, please follow this link and complete the form. Whenever possible the answers will be available every Thursday night. As ever, we would like to thank Graham Eales for the opportunity to put these questions to Roy McFarland, and the manager for his co-operation. If you have any comments about this regular feature, either for Will or myself or for Roy or Graham, please use this e-mail address: feedback@cambridgeunited.com
|
|
Like
every game, we will be very positive and have a go. Mr Noades said early
season that he felt we were a little bit like Wimbledon, which surprised
me to say the last.
Many of the comments from Mr Noades surprise me. I know that Mr Noades
wanted to sign one of my players earlier in the season, and he had the
temerity to tell me what he thought he was worth. We will wait to see
what Trevor Benjamin is worth in the long run, and lets hope on Saturday
Trevor can score a hat-trick to let him know how much he is worth. It
is a big game for us, and it will have an edge to it, as I hope every
game for the rest of the season will do.
