Crawley Town face Huddersfield Town on Saturday in League One. We caught up with Reds boss Rob Elliot to discuss the game, injury updates, Wycombe in the EFL Trophy and January transfer window
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00:00Rob, thank you for joining us. Another exciting game to look forward to this weekend as we
00:04welcome Huddersfield to the Broadfield Stadium. Can I get your thoughts ahead of that game?
00:08Yes, it's going to be finishing off a tough week with probably the toughest game. Obviously,
00:13Huddersfield are excellent, really well organised, really powerful and play good football as
00:20well. So, yes, we know it's going to be a difficult test for us, but this is exactly
00:25what we want. We want to be playing against teams like Huddersfield. We want to be testing
00:28ourselves against the best and the biggest teams in the league. I think the confidence
00:32we take in the last few games, the last four games, etc., we need to take that forward
00:37and keep improving on what we're working on. We had a good review today and the concepts
00:42are starting to get in with the lads. I thought we finished the game so well on Tuesday. We
00:47said that that might be the case sometimes. If you've got that much control in your possession-based
00:50team, it takes time to break teams down. Obviously, we'd like to affect the goal a lot more in
00:54the first half and be cleaner, but as long as we see that improvement, we keep getting
00:59better. I just want us to attack the game on Saturday.
01:01Yes, and I suppose we'll take a little confidence from the home game against Lincoln. Going
01:07into a game like this for the last time, one of the promotion chases came here and we absolutely
01:11tore them apart and won 3-0. So, there's plenty of confidence to take from our last few outings,
01:15isn't there?
01:16Yes, definitely. I think the reflection at Northampton is that we weren't as good as
01:20we could be, but it was ultimately two poor set-pieces that let us down and some that
01:25we've improved on. Some of the players have taken huge responsibility in understanding
01:31that 40% of the goals we conceded have come from set-plays. So, I think that we're ranked
01:36sixth or seventh in the league for conceding goals from open play. So, it's probably saying
01:42to the lads that we are good defensively and we're solid, but there are areas we need to
01:47improve on and we're highlighting them and we're trying to work on them. That's all credit
01:50to the players because they've really bought into it. Still, things need to clean up, but
01:55that's football. There's always going to be grey areas. We've just got to try and minimise
01:59them grey areas and it's going to be a really good opportunity for us to do it against a
02:03very good team on Saturday.
02:05Yes, football is often quite hard to break down from an outside point of view because
02:10people are always going to be angry that perhaps we weren't scoring goals, but we have to take
02:14a lot of confidence from not conceding goals either. That is such a big part of football,
02:17always keeping clean sheets. So, lots to be proud about there from Tuesday as well
02:21because we defended set pieces, as you say, brilliantly then and also open play as well.
02:25Yes, definitely. I think it's a strange dynamic. You concentrate on one thing in football and
02:30something else slips and vice versa. Initially, we felt that getting the team's goal-scoring
02:35opportunities and getting more goals was one of the first things to identify, which I feel
02:39like we have done. Obviously, we're disappointed not to score on Tuesday, but I feel like the
02:43goals and the opportunities are more forthcoming. But on the other side of it, being down the
02:48bottom of the table, let's be honest, we want to keep the goal ball out of the net more
02:50and it's something we've got more solid at. Obviously, like you said, a link in the set
02:55pieces were the things that we needed to make sure we smoothed out. Maidenhead was probably
02:59just an individual area from our best player on the pitch, Enjoy, which is fine by me because
03:04he was trying to do the right things on a difficult surface and I thought his reaction
03:08was brilliant and he was exceptional again on Tuesday. So, it's trying to get that nice
03:13balance between keeping him out at one end and really forcing the ball into the final
03:17third in the other end. So, look, it's not going to be clean, it's not going to be perfect
03:22every time, but as long as we see them consistencies, we feel like we are threatening the goal more
03:27and we feel like we're getting a bit more solid, then we'll take them little wins and
03:30we'll just keep improving on them.
03:32I suppose the confidence is going to be a big part because, as you say, Huddersfield
03:38play some great football, but do you think sometimes these games can often be the ones
03:42that are not necessarily easier to win, but there's probably more pressure on Huddersfield
03:46than there is on us in many elements, so do the lads thrive on that, do you think?
03:50I think what this group do is they thrive on testing themselves against the best teams,
03:53especially when it comes to the footballing side of the game, so in terms of the possession
03:58in and out of possession. I think the lessons we've got to learn is that we are a very good
04:02footballing team, but we need to make sure to really threaten teams, we threaten the
04:07goal and to make sure that we defend as well as we possibly can when they have the ball
04:12or in transitions or set pieces because teams at this level are ruthless, which we've found
04:17out physically and technically, and obviously with decisions in terms of you get punished
04:23a lot more for one switch off and that's what happens every time you go up a level. You
04:27go up another level to the Championship, it's even more, and the Premier League obviously
04:30is the epitome of it, so no, it's just a good test for our character and it's something
04:37that, again, all I want going forward is us to attack the game as a group, be positive,
04:40be aggressive, and when we do have moments where the ball turns over, we get back and
04:46we work hard together to win it back, and if we do give it away, we go and chase it.
04:53We press and we get after the ball as soon as we possibly can because we want to be positive
04:57in everything we do, whether it's after a mistake or after a good play, we keep being positive.
05:03I've lost my ability to speak there, haven't I?
05:06Yes, just going on the pressure thing, because I was speaking to someone from Huddersfield
05:09this week who said, for the first season in ages, they're expected to win every game
05:13they play. How do you try and take advantage of that? Is that something you can use with
05:18your players in the pre-match meetings and that?
05:21I think, yes and no. Huddersfield will obviously be on their own journey and it's a strange
05:27thing because you get relegated, you lose every week, you're expected to win every week
05:30and it's a culture that you maybe haven't had. You get promoted, you've won every week
05:34or you've won consistently well and then you go into a division where it's probably harder
05:37to win every week and you have to deal with that. So, both of us probably have had to
05:41deal with different mentalities and different concepts, which is something it takes time
05:45to adjust to, it takes fans time to adjust to, it takes clubs and everyone. But no, I
05:50think that the biggest thing for me is getting promoted for these reasons. Clubs like Huddersfield
05:56come into the broadfield, come into us and we want to go and implement and show people
06:00what we're about, what this club represents and who we are as people and players and the
06:05culture that we've got. So, that's what I'm looking forward to as a player, is testing
06:08themselves in that environment as best they can. I think that's all the message will be
06:13is go and show why, even though we might have been two leagues apart last year, we're in
06:19the same league now and we need to go and show why we deserve to be in this level, competing
06:22with teams like Huddersfield.
06:24Yes, and how much of a part can the fans play on Saturday as well?
06:27Yes, massive. Like you said, after the Lincoln game, it was huge getting the fans behind
06:33us and obviously getting the goals and it pushed us on to get the win late on, especially
06:36when you come under pressure against a very good Lincoln team. So, it's going to be massive
06:40and I thought the reception from the fans in Travelling Tuesday was brilliant. Like
06:43I said, I got a little bit carried away, which I don't always do, but it was great to see
06:48that the fans were right behind us, they were encouraging the lads all the way through,
06:51singing at the end when the players were walking off because ultimately there was only one
06:54team that were going to win the game at the end of the game and I think they showed that
06:57the players just got better and better and gave everything they could to, one, keep the
07:01clean sheet, which I think they did brilliantly well, but two, push to win the game and the
07:04mentality was, and it didn't quite happen, but I think if we maintain that momentum and
07:08maintain that mindset, then we'll definitely get there.
07:10Yes, you don't seem to have had much luck with injury since you've arrived. I've listed
07:15a few players, Josh, Junior, Jay, Jojo, Dion, Eddie. Can you give us any updates on any
07:21of those? Are any of them likely to be back Saturday?
07:23No, no I don't. I think we are as we were. That is what it is. I think stepping up to
07:30levels, people putting their bodies on the line, knocks, injuries. Jojo took a really
07:34heavy collision, so we need to do the right thing, especially when it comes to head injuries
07:37and concussion protocols. We have to respect that anyway, so Jojo will be out until after
07:42Saturday. But yes, look, that's the nature of the beast sometimes. Things tend to go
07:49against you more, or when you are down the bottom and things go against you, you tend
07:52to feel it more and obviously we'd rather have all those players available. But I genuinely
07:58believe in this squad and this squad of players have performed brilliantly over the last five
08:02or six days, seven days. It's another opportunity for them to do the same. I think the big thing
08:06for me was the squad input in terms of everyone played their part. It wasn't just the case
08:13of one stand-up player. There were some exceptional performances like Max Anderson and Bradley.
08:18I think it was the squad that drove us on second half. The lads who come on, Pan, Rushy,
08:23Addy, were absolutely exceptional. Tolo, when he comes on with his physicality, he was really
08:27unwell but still come on and never complained. Hopefully we'll have as fresh a squad as possible
08:33because it's a bit cold and flu around. We'll give it our best go on Saturday and try and
08:37make the fans proud.
08:38Yes, and then on Tuesday you've got Wickham in the EFL Trophy. With what's going on with
08:43the squad with injuries and that, is it a game you could do without?
08:46Am I allowed to say yes? Yes. Listen, I've not been in the Football League as a coach
08:53long enough but as a player I didn't like them games, I'll be honest. I just felt that
08:58there's 46 games plus, you're nearly playing 50 games a season and then you have these
09:02competitions which are probably geared towards under-21s players more than it is geared towards
09:06our players. But it does give opportunities for players to play games and I do think it's
09:11worthwhile but the scheduling is obviously tough when it's Saturday Tuesday and it tops
09:17off another one before any of the national break when you have any national players away.
09:21So even that doesn't help but it's not a criticism, it is what it is. We'll just have
09:26to use it as an opportunity to get players minutes, whether we can get Ty some minutes
09:30which will be good. We need to monitor his finish, he's out for 9-10 months without being
09:35on grass so we need to make sure if he does come back and he does get minutes on Tuesday
09:38that's acceptable for him and any players that do need a top-up. So we'll use it as
09:41best we can and we'll always look to win it though, once the game starts you want to win
09:46it. Obviously you have to have one mind on Bristol Rovers as well. Still a chaotic 10
09:55days to go before we get at least a normal week to week.
09:58Obviously January is coming around quite quick, have you already started planning any kind
10:03of players you want to bring in and is there anywhere in particular you think you need
10:07to strengthen?
10:08I think that January window is always an interesting one because it's more the one that's less
10:13likely to have things done. It's more done last minute to be brutally honest because
10:17the season is ongoing and situations change. You have to do your due diligence and you
10:23always have to be aware of the sort of things you want to implement. If we can because of
10:28the injuries, if we can strengthen then we will but it needs to be the right people and
10:32it needs to be people that will influence the group and the right characters especially.
10:36This is a really good group, a really young group who are working hard for each other
10:40and buying into the journey. It's been tough but they're still plugging away and they're
10:45still working hard and doing everything they can and putting their bodies on the line.
10:48So anyone who comes in has to meet that minimum requirement and obviously if we can find players
10:54who can come in and help us and give us more of a chance we will but we won't do it just
10:58for the sake of it, it needs to be people that will come in and help us. That was one
11:01of the reasons Ty came in, we identified him and he is a very, very talented lad and if
11:08we can get him fit then he's going to be a big help to us so I think we'll just assess
11:12as we get closer to the window and then take it from there.
11:15Brilliant, thanks Rob.
11:16No worries.