Crawley Town travel to Rotherham on Saturday as they look for three more points towards their League One survival bid. We caught up with new boss Scott Lindsey
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00:00Scott, thank you for joining us after a good win against Bristol on Saturday, we've had a full week of training as we prepared to face Rotherham, can I get your thoughts out of that one?
00:09Yeah, it's been a good week, really enjoyed training this week, we've got some really good sessions under our belt, prepared the team to get on our journey tomorrow, to face a tough team in the shape of Rotherham,
00:25obviously an experienced manager, loads of respect for him, and Paul Rayner is his assistant as well, so always difficult to play against Steve's teams, full of energy, real high pressing team, aggressive,
00:41actually play good football as well, and they kind of mix it up and know when to be direct at times as well, so a real tough game, but one we're really looking forward to.
00:53Yeah, we know you're big on your analysis, is there anything on Saturday's game that you sort of picked up that you were really pleased with after the initial thoughts?
01:00Yeah, most of it is the truth, most of it, I thought we were really good, I thought we controlled the game, even after we scored we had a really good action straight from the kick-off where we made so many passes and cut through them again,
01:17and Cam should have scored a second at the side netting, but yeah, there was lots to be really pleased about, I think that we probably deserved more goals from the game with the chances that we created,
01:29and I thought we looked solid at the back as well, especially late on in the game, it was nice to see that they changed their shape a little bit and pushed their centre-half up as a centre-forward,
01:38and went direct against us and we coped with it, so yeah, really pleased with lots of aspects and facets from the game on Saturday that we can use as a vehicle to move us forward.
01:52Yeah, obviously lots of positives from the game after only a couple of days, or sorry, one day on the training pitch with yourself, what have you noticed with the group in this full week of training?
02:01What I have noticed is that I'm still really confused about why we are where we are in the table, me and my assistant Neil have kind of been scratching our heads about it and we don't understand and we feel as if the group are loads better than the table would suggest,
02:22we feel that they have trained really well, we feel that the atmosphere around the place has been really good, the meetings have been positive, I can only say positive things at this stage, so yeah, I've been really super impressed with the team.
02:40Of course there's a lot of players there that were here when I was here, so I know them anyway, but they've been brilliant, they've trained so well and obviously we've had one game and they've played so well in that game, so I can't put my finger on why they are where they are, but it is what it is, we can't get away from that, we can't change what's gone on, we've just got to try and shape what it looks like moving forward and that's what we're trying to do.
03:06We know that it's going to be a tough ask to get the amount of points we need to stay in the division, we know that, but it's doable and all the time it's doable we'll be going for it.
03:16There was a real good feeling around the Broadfield Stadium on Saturday after the game, has that translated into the dressing room as well?
03:22Yeah definitely, I just think that the whole place just seems really, I really enjoy coming to work, which I did last time I was here and I think that coming into work is, and when you come into work and you enjoy it, you can only rub off on others and others rub off on me,
03:45so when you see the group being really positive and happy and boisterous and loud and cheerful and the way we train is good and everybody is in a good place, listen every footballer wants to play football and even the boys who are not playing at the moment or not in the squad, they're in a good place for me, they look like they're training well, they look like they want to be part of what we're trying to achieve here,
04:09so that sometimes is hard to create when there's certain players not playing or being injured for a while, whatever it may be, it's difficult to keep them upbeat as well, but they've been brilliant, every one of them, so yeah it's a feel good factor everywhere, the fans were in class on Saturday, it was quite emotional before the game and fantastic, really enjoyed that bit at the end with them as well, and yeah it certainly spilled into the dressing room and the boys, like I say, I can't fault the players, I really can't, I think they've been brilliant.
04:37We've had lots of great memories with yourself at the helm, on the road, how much are you looking forward to getting out there on the road representing Crawley again with that fantastic away sport that we're used to?
04:46Yeah, really looking forward to it, we'll set off tomorrow, we're going to train on route, get settled into the hotel and we have meetings at the hotel about set pieces and bits and pieces and then go and attack the game, it's the first time I've been to this stadium actually, I've never been to this stadium so yeah looking forward to that.
05:06And then I think it's always good to test yourself against good teams, I think they're a good team, watching them I think they mix their game up quite well and I think it's always good to put your team in front of them and test ourselves against good teams and good players and it kind of shows where we're at, and if we can churn the performance out like we did on Saturday then I think that we'll be okay.
05:34Yeah and finally the club have launched a Fight For Survival ticket bundle so the last four home matches of the season fans can get behind with a bit of a discount, how good would it be to see this place rocking for the last four games?
05:44Well it was on Saturday wasn't it, I don't know what the gate was on Saturday, was it nearly 5,000? So that's brilliant and I don't know what it's been like here before but certainly Saturday it was rocking and you could feel it, I think the players felt it, I think it helped the team definitely on Saturday, I think it definitely helped the team and yeah come in your numbers and sing for the badge and for the club because we're going to need you, we're going to need everybody of Crawley to come out and watch and support
06:13and to get behind the boys because it's impossible to do it just the 11 players out there, we need to come together as a club like we did last year at Wembley, come together now and really get behind the players and hopefully we get what we need to get.
06:28Just over a week ago a trip to Rotherham might have struck fear into a Crawley Town fan considering what happened before, especially a week before Huddersfield, obviously now in the last week with what's happened there's excitement and probably hope for this sort of kind of trip, how do you manage that expectation, is that a good expectation to manage?
06:45I think that I want the players to have that belief anyway so I think it's important that we never go anywhere with fear, I want the players to go with belief, especially in these last games I want them to believe in themselves so yeah it's nice that the fans feel a little bit of that as well, they feel a little bit of belief and you saw the team that played on Saturday, I thought we were outstanding in the game, I think we're a match for anybody
07:15on the basis of what I've seen already, so yeah it's great to go with that little bit of belief and that's what I want, I want the players to believe in themselves, I don't want them to be too far in front of themselves, of course we need to rein it in a little bit but we also need to go with belief and I think that's important that we have that.
07:32Just after 24 hours I spoke to you last week after your appointment, I asked you if you thought the squad was stronger than it was when you left, you said yes at that point, obviously you've had a bit longer with them now, what is it that you feel is stronger and what areas do you feel the squad is stronger than it was?
07:46What areas? I don't necessarily think there's areas of the pitch that are any stronger than last year, I just think that the group and the way they've trained has been just as good if not probably better in some moments and certainly on Saturday, I mean we were amazing at playing from the back and played through them, I think we got that control from them deep areas really well on Saturday and then kind of played through their press really well and got at their back line efficiently really quickly.
08:13Maybe Saturday might be different because they'll come with a bit more of a press against us so we might have to think about maybe playing a little more direct and down the sides of them when the press does come so we're mindful of that as well.
08:26But I don't want to say that this player is better than that player or anything like that because we obviously had a really good group last year that won promotion and again I think that this group is a good group, I do from the evidence that I've seen so far I'm really pleased with the group that I'm working with, they're so fit, so fit, very similar to the boys last year.
08:50Rick's done an amazing job at keeping them fit and really robust and yeah I'm really impressed with the training sessions that we've done and they've been really aggressive on the press and run really hard on defending down the pitch and the distance that he covered is really interesting actually the distance that he covered on Saturday was very similar to what the team covered last year.
09:15So very similar in terms of the output and of course the tactical stuff has been very similar as well the way we played so I'm not going to kind of marry one team up next to the other but what we'll say is it's very close, two really good teams in my opinion.
09:31And talking of training you're now at Three Bridges, how are you finding those facilities?
09:34Yeah it's a great facility, they're our neighbours aren't they and they've been really helpful and it's a great place to train, the 3G pitch is outstanding there, I don't know if you've been down there but it looks amazing when you drive in and it is amazing when you get on it and the people there are lovely.
09:52So yeah I've enjoyed training there, it's been nice to be based here at the ground, we have meetings here in the mornings and then have our food here and then go down and train and have food back here and that's been brilliant.
10:04So yeah it's worked out really well and like I say I've enjoyed every minute of it up to now.
10:10And I just want to talk about Kamari Doyle again, I know we talked briefly about him after the game on Saturday, he scored four goals and made three assists in the last 11 games and that's the most in the top four tiers for a teenager during that time.
10:21Is it really?
10:22Yeah so I know we touched on him on Saturday but what impresses you most about him and how important will he be in this running?
10:28Well he should be really proud of himself for a start with that kind of record I think is outstanding, he could have scored more right?
10:35Yeah absolutely and you can see his disappointment afterwards couldn't you?
10:38Yeah of course but listen look at the position he got himself in though, he got himself in that position and sometimes it's more than acceptable to fluff your lines on the odd occasion isn't it?
10:49So what's impressed me the most is the fact that I've spoke to him about certain aspects of the game and he's taken it on board really quickly and done it.
10:58You know sometimes you find yourself saying the same things four or five times to a player and they still don't do it you know what I mean, he's done it straight away and done it really well.
11:07And then when he'd done it really well I think he could have done it better so I've then tweaked it a little bit and he's got that as well.
11:13So he takes on information brilliantly and yeah he's kind of like smooth with the ball, he's left footed, right footed, he's both footed in loads of actions, he's really smooth, he understands the game and he runs.
11:28He can run you know, he covers good distance and I've enjoyed working with him so far, I think he's a fantastic kid, really like him and yeah he's got a really bright future in the game for sure.
11:39Yeah and just a quick, any injury updates, Dion is he still going to be missing?
11:43Dion is, yeah Dion's not quite there yet but would probably be in contention for Tuesday night at PUSH.
11:52Okay cool, excellent thanks Scott.