Crawley Town travel to Crewe Alexandra on Saturday in League Two. We caught up with Reds boss Scott Lindsey about the game, his side being 'too nice' and what happened with signing a striker on Deadline Day.
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00:00 Scott, thank you for joining us. Another exciting test to come this weekend as we travel to
00:07 Crewe. Can I get your thoughts ahead of that game?
00:10 Well we certainly can't play like we did in the last game against Crewe because it would
00:14 be a cricket score. We're really focused. We had a good debrief session on the early
00:21 part of the week and a really honest session. Players spoke out and we've cleared a few
00:29 things up which is good. So yeah, it's been a positive week again, which it normally is.
00:35 But it's all about the performance. We've got 18 games left, we've got 54 points to
00:42 play for and we feel as a group that we've got to attack every single game like it's
00:47 a cup final in order for us to get anywhere near where we want to get. So let's hope that
00:55 we take that into the game and we really attack the game like I think we're more than capable
01:01 of doing.
01:02 We spoke after the game on Saturday and we said that it was perhaps more of a mental
01:05 thing than an actual football thing on Saturday. Is the reaction from the players giving you
01:10 a lot of clarity over the weekend and are you happy with how they've responded?
01:14 Yeah, I'm happy with the response but time will tell obviously after the game on Saturday
01:19 we'll see where we are. But I think that there was tactical things that wasn't quite right
01:24 in the game. We were very negative within our play. We showed a lot of clips where potentially
01:30 we could pass forward and we don't. We turn it down and go back. We play off Corrie far
01:36 too much for me. As much as we want to be a football possession-based team, we also
01:42 want to be aggressive and play through the opposition and play through the pitch quicker
01:48 with more aggression and to try and create goal scoring opportunities. Where we find
01:54 ourselves is getting in that final third or over the halfway line and we're too reluctant
02:02 to pass forward. We chop back round and go back, back, back and Corrie ends up back with
02:06 the ball again and for me that's too negative. There is times when that's good play. Certainly
02:11 if you're winning a game with five minutes to go it's good play because you're resting
02:14 with the ball but when you're chasing a deficit it's not good play. I think that we got that
02:21 wrong and I felt that defensively we were poor in moments of the game. Like I said,
02:27 the players have been really honest about that. Let's hope we see a big improvement
02:32 Saturday.
02:33 You've already mentioned our last game against Crewe. That obviously at the time was a bit
02:37 of a shock. It was one of our bigger defeats of the season. Crewe since then have really
02:41 gone from strength to strength. They're out there battling for the automatic places with
02:45 some really big teams which a lot of people haven't really put them to do at the start
02:49 of the season. So I suppose it's more just a case of we know what we can expect from
02:52 them and it's just going to be an equally as hard game as it was the first time around.
02:55 For sure. Lee Bell has done an unbelievable job there. I agree. I think that probably
03:01 a lot of people would have felt that they would be nowhere near where they are and I
03:05 think they've done an unbelievable job. They've got some good players' minds and they've
03:11 got a good way of playing. They play with passes from deep. They have really good rotations
03:19 on the side of the pitch, certain roll-outs that we're aware of. Of course they've got
03:25 some really good attacking players as well but they've done brilliant. He's done a
03:32 great job and fair play to them. Let's hope that we can upset the apple cart a little
03:37 bit on Saturday. It would have been a little bit too early perhaps to assess the two new
03:41 signings with a lot of match prep. After the deadline day on Thursday, you've had almost
03:47 a full week now to have a look at Mustapha and Jeremy. Obviously Jeremy arriving from
03:51 the United States this week. How have those two been in training? They've both settled
03:55 in really well. We've trained every day and the training sessions that we've put on,
04:03 we've been able to run our eye over both of them. They both look like good players in
04:09 their own right. Jeremy's an exciting player who's very comfortable with the ball. An athlete
04:15 as well, he can run, he can cover the pitch but can also play in different positions at
04:21 the top of the pitch. He can play in the number 10 positions, right and left. He can play
04:26 in the wide areas as well. He likes playing off the left and cutting in with his right
04:31 foot. He can play on the right and taking players down the outside. He's a real good
04:36 footballer and a good engine as well. Mustapha is a centre-half defender who's very comfortable
04:45 in possession. Again, a good athlete, he can run and aggressive when defending as well
04:52 which is probably something that we've needed. I'm really pleased with the two that we've
04:56 brought in. Scott, when you've done your analysis on
05:00 Kroo this week, did you look back at the game here or have you looked more recently at what
05:06 Kroo have done? No, I've concentrated on their past two games
05:12 really because personnel has changed slightly. I looked at the last two games and they were
05:24 very good in both games. Like I say, they have real clear rotations, roll-outs and people
05:32 moving into different positions which the players are really prepped on. They're a good
05:39 side, they've got some good players, they've got a centre-half who can hit unbelievable
05:44 diagonal balls from one side of the pitch to the other. If he's in more of a central
05:49 position he can actually ping the ball both sides of the pitch on a sixpence. A very,
05:56 very good player. They've got some good midfield players and some real attacking threats as
06:01 well. We have to be at our very best. We're looking forward to the game. We've spoke
06:08 as a group and we look at the fact that we've got 18 games left now which is 54 points to
06:14 play for. Our destiny is in our hands we feel. All we can do is do our best in every game
06:25 and almost play every game like a cup final. This one's the most important one because
06:29 it's the next one. I know it's a cliché but it is the next one so that's the only one
06:32 we're focused on. We're going to try and attack the game and be aggressive with the way we
06:41 play. We've spoke about certain things today and yesterday and early part of the week about
06:47 how we can improve on where we've been poor. I've seen an improvement already in attitudes
06:56 to do the hard yards on the training ground and let's hope we see that on Saturday.
07:02 On Saturday, the Morecambe game, you said you were too nice. I looked back at your post-match
07:07 after the Crewe game and you said exactly the same thing. You said you were too nice.
07:11 I did a little bit of homework and looked at the stats between the two games and they
07:14 were almost not far from being identical in terms of possession. You dominated possession
07:19 etc. What is it about the play that's too nice? Can you just go into that a little bit
07:25 more? Is it the attacking threat or is it challenges?
07:29 I think both. I think we can be more aggressive in both halves of the pitch. I think we play
07:36 really good football but we get to a point where we get into the top third and we don't
07:43 tread on them. I use that expression to the players quite a lot. We need to tread on them
07:48 when we get them in there and we've got them where we want them. We need to now be aggressive
07:52 within our actions whether it's a run off the ball or a slide pass or a shot or a cross.
07:57 We've got to go for it a little bit and I think we tend to turn down opportunities to
08:03 tread on them. We come back round and almost make it really easy for the opposition. From
08:11 a defensive point of view I feel that the opposition has had too much space to hurl.
08:20 I think Corey's made more saves than any other keeper in the division which tells a story.
08:26 It tells a story that the opposition get in too many times. I don't necessarily think
08:31 that it's just the defenders. I honestly believe that it's a transition where the ball turns
08:37 over at the top of the pitch and we're so open and spread because of our expansive football
08:42 that we don't run back into our slots quick enough. It's a mentality thing where I feel
08:48 that we've got to have a real aggression about us when we press, which I think we do. I think
08:52 we press the team really well but once the ball's gone south we now need to run south
08:57 and not just be a team that runs north and wants to make runs forward because we've got
09:04 the ball. We've got to run really hard when we haven't got it. I've got a little saying
09:07 in training where when we've got the ball certain players run. When the opposition have
09:14 the ball everybody runs and that's what we've got to do better.
09:18 You mentioned Corey there. How impressed have you been? There was a time when Luca was the
09:22 league starting goalkeeper. Corey got his place back. How impressed have you been with
09:27 him?
09:28 He's saved us really. It could have been a lot more damage to our goals against for sure.
09:36 He's saved us in a lot of moments but that's what he's paid for. That is what he's paid
09:42 for. I think he's done incredibly well. I think he can improve. I still think he can
09:50 improve certainly with the ball. I think he's somebody who wants to make passes but I think
09:56 his decision making can be quicker and snappier. I think he's done incredibly well. He can
10:03 pass the ball but he can also smash the ball in behind as well. He's very, very good at
10:07 that. He's got all the attributes to be a very, very good goalkeeper. I think he's done
10:13 excellent. If it wasn't for him we could have probably conceded a lot more than we have.
10:18 Looking at the other end of the pitch last week you said it would be great if you could
10:22 get another someone to back up or see up front. That never materialised in the transfer window.
10:27 How frustrating was that that you couldn't get a deal over the line for him?
10:33 I'm not somebody who will spend time and energy thinking about that. It's gone. I've got a
10:41 really good group of lads now and that's it. There's no energy spent on worrying about
10:48 what could have been. Let's worry about what's going to be. That's the way I am and that's
10:54 the end of the matter.
10:55 Looking at Saturday's game, any squad-wise, any fitness problems?
11:02 Fitness-wise, no. I think everybody's a full compliment. Obviously, Ben Gladwin is a bit
11:10 of a longer term one but everybody's fit.