Crawley Town boss Rob Elliot following thrilling 4-3 defeat to AFC Wimbledon
Crawley Town boss Rob Elliot spoke to the press following the Reds' thrilling 4-3 defeat to AFC Wimbledon in the EFL Trophy. Crawley brought it back from 3-0 down to 3-3 before Joe Pigott hit a last minute winner for the visitors.
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00:00Rob, thank you for joining us. Ultimately, defeat here at the Broadfield Stadium, a bit
00:06positive to take from that one, was there?
00:08Yeah, a lot of positives to take. Obviously, there's clear things we need to fix as well,
00:13but probably over the last two games we've got to get a good idea of the squad and the
00:17team and see different players. I think scoring three goals, coming back from three-nil down,
00:22shows a lot of character and I think that's something this group has. I think, obviously,
00:27we're a young group who's inexperienced at this level and I think we just need to get
00:31our feet and understand that if we keep doing the right things, we stay consistent, then
00:35we've clearly got a lot of attacking ability and a lot of options. So, yeah, always positives
00:41to take and you have to look at them because this is a process. This isn't a come in and
00:45try and win games anyway or how. If that was the case, then I don't think I'd be sitting
00:51For me, it's about developing the players, but also finding out how we're going to get
00:58the best out of them so that we can start implementing changes as quickly as we can
01:03and getting leaner. Obviously, I want to see that free-throw attack in football as well.
01:08If we have to score six to win a game, we'll score six and then we'll figure out from there.
01:12Yeah, it seemed like there was just a little period early in the second half that we let
01:16ourselves down a tad because before that we probably should have been two or three clear
01:19at half-time. Would you agree with that?
01:21Yeah, I think so. I thought we started the first half really well. What was good to see
01:25was us getting into the area. We were controlling the ball, but not just controlling the ball,
01:28but it was really affecting the back line. Rush, who I thought was excellent all night,
01:32probably a standout player in terms of his energy and his pace and trying to affect the
01:37goal, which we know he can. But I thought the midfield gave us control. Gav was excellent
01:42in his first game in terms of breaking lines. But then, yeah, the goal comes in terms of
01:48not against the run of play, but the goal comes from an area, balls into the box, etc.
01:52We just need to get a bit leaner in our understanding of how we negate that. But then obviously
02:00a poor start to the second half. I think that's why you have to stay consistent in football
02:05because if you don't stay consistent then you lose the whole process of what you're
02:10trying to do. It was an unbelievable reaction and I thought there was only one team that
02:14could win it. But unfortunately, again, maybe a bit of naivety, a bit of tiredness from
02:18some players who haven't had minutes in terms of trying to go for the fourth, when in reality
02:21when you've come back to 3-3, you're in an emotional charge where you want to go on and
02:25have that fairytale ending. And obviously it stung us a little bit tonight. But like
02:29I said to the boys in there, you've got two options. You can sulk and feel sorry for yourselves.
02:33You can come in Thursday ready to work, ready to understand that we can be really effective.
02:37And we just need to learn and get better. A lot of these players, like I said before,
02:41it's their first experience at this level. Quite a new squad, quite a young squad, quite
02:44a new team and they will get better. We've just got to keep working at it.
02:48We spoke on Saturday that it would just be good to get scoring again. That's probably
02:52going to give the lads a lot of confidence, as you mentioned there, especially for the
02:55likes of Rush who have been out without a goal for a while. It's going to give the lads
02:58confidence, isn't it, as we build into the weekend?
03:01Yes, definitely. There's loads of goals in this team. You look at the players we've got
03:04in there, like Rushie, Swanee, Tola was excellent tonight considering it was one of his first
03:08games and obviously we'd like to have played him longer, but we've got to be careful of
03:11a few players who are building up minutes. But no, it's good to see that we do have lots
03:15of goals in the team. Obviously, when you can bring Darce Jr on, Swanee, for example,
03:19we were able to impact that. Brad had to come off Charlie who, if he's just getting checked
03:24over, make sure he's not too bad. But I think it's got to give the lads confidence and understanding
03:29that they can really, really punish teams. And the more they get consistent with doing
03:32that, there's a few triggers we're trying to get into them, which we will. They'll get
03:36it. It's only been a week and it's a big turnaround from the previous manager who's
03:40been here for two years. It's just a few little tweaks that we believe in. It's genuinely
03:47exciting. It's going to be hard work. Everyone's written us off already and it's going to be
03:50hard work and it's not going to be the fairy tale in every game. But if anything it's worth
03:54having, it comes with hard work, it comes with sacrifice and it comes with belief. So
03:59as long as them players show me that, then we'll be absolutely fine.
04:02We spoke after the game on Saturday about this game as an exercise as a whole, a chance
04:06for yourself to see more of the squad away from the nitty-gritty of the league. Are you
04:10happy with tonight as an exercise, even if you take away the result, in terms of who
04:14you've been able to see, getting minutes into certain players? Are you content with how
04:17it's gone?
04:18Yeah, I think there's a lot of... Obviously the downside is, unfortunately, is an injury
04:22to Joy. We had to play Flinty and Toves longer than we want to because they're carrying a
04:28few issues. But that's football, that's life. People get issues, they get knocks, but what
04:31they didn't do is they didn't bow out. They stuck at it and they showed that mentality
04:36to carry on. 3-0 down, having a tough night, but I thought they got better as it went on.
04:40Toby, when he moved into the middle, was excellent winning balls. There are going to be mistakes,
04:44there are going to be goals scored against you, but it was the mentality that I was pleased
04:48with tonight. It's frustrating and there's things we need to improve on, but as long
04:52as the lads give me that mentality in terms of trying to play forward, trying to do the
04:55right thing, trying to score goals, then we can work on it. I thought there were a few
04:58individuals that really stood out and it was pleasing to see.
05:02We're obviously back at action here on Saturday against Shrewsbury. Is the action tonight
05:07given you anything to think about in terms of changing from the game at Wickham on Saturday
05:11or is it still too early to tell yet?
05:13I think yes and no. There's a couple of players out there that will definitely be starting
05:16Saturday because of tonight and there's other players that have earned the right to start
05:20because of what they've done previously and also their consistency. We'll assess it on
05:25Saturday and there's going to be a few bumps and bruises from tonight. We need to make
05:27sure Charlie Barker, I'm gutted for him getting an injury, I think he's had a bit of a knock
05:31to his head, so we just need to make sure first and foremost he's OK. But Charlie's
05:35been exceptional since he's come in. I think what people didn't realise is he was throwing
05:38up all night on Friday and had a massive migraine on Saturday and then he comes on and plays
05:41like that. That tells me everything I need to know about Charlie. He might make mistakes
05:44but he's going to be a really important player for us going forward. I think we just need
05:50to make sure that we don't get too carried away, don't get too up, don't get too down.
05:54Great that we scored loads of goals, still could have scored more but the lads need to
05:59understand why they scored their goals. Their wit for the team, running forward, trying
06:03to break lines. Defensively, yes, we shine teams wide but we need to lock up in the box,
06:09we need to defend the box better. But again, it's not criticism, it's things to work on
06:13and that's all we have to do, we have to do the work.
06:17From what you've said, at the moment, are the performances more important than the results
06:21for you? Definitely because, listen, you want to win every game so let's not try and turn
06:25it into a, I don't care about the results. But I think this team have proved and this
06:29squad have proved that the performances will gain results. I don't think we're going to
06:32be a team that's going to sit in a low block of 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 in transition. We're a team
06:37that want to dominate the ball, we want to play good football, we want to get into attacking
06:40areas, we want to give our attacking players the best option to create scores, create as
06:45much carnage as possible with the play they've got and we've got so many players that can
06:48do that. And do you know what, I think for me, my personality and the way I want the
06:52team to be is I couldn't do it any other way. I want to live by the sword, die by the sword.
06:57And if you lose last minute, like we did tonight, but then I'd show them everything going forward
07:03and they'd give everything they could, then I can take that because what we can do is
07:07we can show them, we can work on it and we can work backwards and we can improve little
07:10by little. But I think the big message is we're not going to just fix it in a couple
07:14of days and win Saturday and win every game. We're going to try everything we can to win
07:18Saturday, we're going to try and do it our way and we're going to make sure we stick
07:21to it. And I think what the good thing is with this squad is it gives us multiple options
07:24in terms of if one dynamic's not working, we can at least be a bit fluid and try another one.
07:28And we saw Josh Flynn captain the side for the first time. What characteristics has Josh
07:32got that made you pick him as captain tonight?
07:35I think he's just a silent leader. He gives everything for the team. He puts himself out
07:40there. He's an excellent professional and he's really engaged and he wants to learn
07:44and he wants to listen. And I think sometimes what we're going to have to do with Josh is
07:48rein him in a little bit because he wants to do so much that we just need to try and
07:51help him in terms of his positioning and everything else. But when you've got a character like
07:55that with his ability and the desire to want to learn and the desire to want to win, he's
07:59the perfect player to work with as a manager. And there's lots of lads like that. They all
08:05want to learn, they're all young and I think we just need to get the lads understanding
08:08that they can, if they buy into what we're asking, that they can improve both with and
08:14without the ball because at this level you get punished. You can get punished with the
08:18ball, you can get punished without the ball and we need to make sure we get those things
08:21right.
08:22And obviously the goalkeeper situation, I thought Conor did really well tonight. No,
08:27you weren't tempted to come out of retirement, no, for tonight?
08:30Couldn't think of anything worse. I think those days are gone. A couple of years ago
08:34when I used to train a little bit. And then when you see Conor, I thought, Conor's been
08:41someone who's a very good goalkeeper through injuries and whatnot. He's not played loads
08:44of games, but I think you can see from tonight why he's so highly rated. And I think the
08:48big thing for me was that you talk about goalkeeping and saves and everything, which he produced,
08:53but his calmness on the ball, but also he trained with us one day yesterday, he plays
08:56tonight and plays like that. That shows real character and that shows someone who's got
09:00an opportunity to play, who's going to have a good career and going to play more games.
09:04So we're thankful we've managed to get him in and he obviously put on a good show, got
09:09himself, was very sharp and hopefully that helps him ready for Saturday and a bit more
09:12understanding of what we're trying to do as a team.
09:14And with Jasper, we obviously called him back off loan. Is it just a little bit too early
09:18for him to be starting for Quarley Town?
09:21Yeah, it is. And we spoke to Jasper about that. I know he'll be a little bit frustrated
09:24as all young goalkeepers will, but we're going to try and work hard and we'll see if there's
09:27any solutions we can find for that area because we want Jasper out playing. He obviously went
09:31to Whitehawk and we had to recall him. Ideally we can get him out playing games because Jasper
09:36has been fantastic, he's infectious around the place, he's a very good goalkeeper. But
09:40like I said to him, it would be really harsh for us to chuck you in at this level before
09:44you're ready and that could be detrimental. And it's about, again, following the right
09:47paths for him. He needs to go out there, he needs to tick off the levels and work hard
09:51to play the game. So that's something that hopefully we'll be able to fix. Can't guarantee
09:55it because obviously the situation with the injuries that we've had, we've been unfortunate
09:58with Beachy and Brian. But we're trying to assess it and see what we can do.
10:03And you brought Chris Dixon in I believe today as a goalkeeping coach, is that his name?
10:07Yeah.
10:08So you've got that right. What will he bring and is there anyone else you're looking to
10:11bring in to add to the coaching staff?
10:12No, so Hafeez, who was obviously with us pre-season, stepping up to help because obviously he's
10:18got that continuity with the lads and he'll understand what the lads are used to. So obviously
10:22there's going to be a transition from what we're saying to what the lads understand.
10:25And Chris has come in, he's been at Rochdale for four years, I've known about him and he's
10:31someone that got recommended to us. But the big thing I like is Rochdale play similar
10:37to how I like to play and he's signed a lot of goalies that I like and also worked with
10:42goalkeepers, the previous goalkeeper at Gateshead and the reference was good. And when we sat
10:45down and we went through all the stuff he likes to work on and the detail, I think he's
10:48going to be massive for the goalkeepers here, for Jojo and for Jasper and obviously for
10:52Bici and Ryan with their back. We want to help develop everyone and Chris really does
10:59that, he's professional and he wants to learn, he wants to help the lads develop and learn
11:04and I think it really adds to the culture as well.
11:06Brilliant, thanks.