We spoke to Mike Williamson, ahead of our trip to Port Vale.
Mike began by reflecting on the weekend defeat to Chesterfield:
“I'd say the disappointment of the result was obviously evident after the game. Lads were flat as you can expect.
“We didn't control as much as we wanted and I think that's the reality of where we are. It's always going to be a work in progress.
“The boys respond unbelievably well in training every time we have a setback. They've been brilliant in that respect but ultimately we haven't been good enough in the games in trying to control and dominate the metrics.
“But the disappointing thing for me was we talk about the scoreboard as being noise because we can't directly control that with penalties and opposition and transition and things like that, but we can control how we prepare and how we approach games. I think you look at it and on the face of it you look at the the data and the stats, which I know is frustrating after you lose to hear those words, but they were better than the Crewe and the Doncaster performances.
“The reality is we had a lot of positivity, positive press after those games because we almost beat Crewe and we held Doncaster, but Chesterfield are a very good team and they're going to be up there pushing with some very good players. When you look at the chances created and the possession, we actually came out marginally on top.”
Now, with hindsight, we asked Mike if he felt that his side would've done anything differently. He said:
“That's for me to look at in terms of positional play. We looked at the dynamics and ingredients we needed to beat them. Overall I think in games like that it's going to be heavily transitional based because I don't think any team is going to allow the other team to control it fully.
“In terms of the nature of playing against Chesterfield I know the manager's not going to allow us to put a foot on the ball and roll it round and vice versa. We want to be on the front foot so I wanted to get as much pace in the team as possible, and as much energy as we possibly can. There are certain things we look and reflect back on and that's the things that we've focused on today and in training this week.”
Speaking on the team selection from Saturday, Mike explained:
“Ultimately we want to be resilient and incredibly tough to beat, the more men you keep behind the ball and the more conservative you are in your approach, the better chance you've got. Ultimately, where we want to get to is we want to be so fit and so strong if teams step on we go round and over in transition and we’re relentless in that respect, but then when we have the ball we try and control it.
“There's certain personnel we possibly think we can play, where you know what you're going to get; six/seven out of ten, solid, won't lose the ball but also possibly won't give you that excitement or that threat in the other side of the game.
“So yeah, we put an offensive team out because we wanted to win the game and again it's disappointing because the metric that we didn't win was the scoreboard which is the biggest side of it, but the others actually didn't reflect too bad.”
Next up, United face second placed Port Vale, Mike spoke on what he expected:
“Another game that's going to be high energy and obviously the experience they've got, the recruitment they did in the summer after coming down I think was was really good and they're a team that I think we can hurt in transition again, so we've got obviously deal with the physical threat.
“They’ve got Stockley up front and the willing runners they've got in their eights, they play a similar formation and style where they want to build from the back but they've got a good platform going forward so I expect it to be open for us. We want to quieten the crowd as much as we possibly can and take our chances when we get them, but we've we've got to be more diligent in our individual 1v1 defending, I think that's the main thing.”
Mike then spoke on Darren Moore, the Port Vale manager:
“Well, he's from Torquay in terms of the connection there but not somebody I'm close with, but he's somebody that's worked at the very highest level and he's obviously had his plaudits this season. He's got a lot of experience, he sets up a team to be very disciplined and similar to Chesterfield I think he won't accept anything that's less than 100% application.
“We're looking forward to it. We know it's going to be a challenge but our focus is on how we can improve from last week.”
With over 600 tickets sold already, Mike spoke on his admiration for the fans, saying:
“They're just a credit to the football club. The fans probably couldn't have endured a worse calendar 12 months, their last couple of seasons has been tough and I fully expect and understand the frustration and the disappointment.
"All I can say is it's very much echoed in this side as well, we haven't been good enough but what I can guarantee is we'll work our absolute socks off and those boys are giving everything they possibly can every single day to improve, and you will see a full-blooded performance regardless of the outcome, but it's fantastic to see the support.”
On to injuries, Mike gave us some updates after Saturday, he said:
“It’s not good news on Dylan [McGeouch] or Vels [Josh Vela]. Josh came off with a calf problem so both are relatively significant and they're going to be a period of time out, we're looking at eight to ten weeks I think for both.
“Kadeem has been involved in training. In terms of his availability for the weekend we're yet to see, we're hopeful that he's available. I'm not too sure it'll be from the start but again we'll wait and see.
“We have picked up a couple of knocks elsewhere. Dom [Sadi] took a whack and Biggo [Harrison Biggins] is still a little bit fatigued in certain specific areas we've just got to be careful with, but we're hopeful that they come through.”
A young Blues side lost heavily to Morecambe in the Central League Cup on Tuesday. We asked Mike why he had decided not to involve any senior players, he responded:
“At the time when we came off the pitch on Saturday we knew we had four issues with the lads, and then that transpired to be six or seven that didn't train yesterday. Today we've had a couple of the academy lads training with us to make the numbers up.
“Also the 4G pitch is not ideal and we're coming into an incredibly busy Christmas period. It’s brutal for the young lads but another unbelievable lesson in that respect, I know that Morecambe put a really strong team out for various reasons, but for us it was just about making sure that we get as much in-house work as we possibly can, contact time with the boys, but ultimately you'll see the the changes in the squad at the weekend which is why we have to be careful.”
Mike finished by talking about the importance of the fans, staff and players all sticking together through a busy period. He said:
“We need every single soul, we certainly do. We're in a tough position, but I've got zero doubt speaking to the ownership yesterday that the football club is in really good hands. The desire that they've got to to move this football club in the right direction which has been backed up by their their actions and time will tell but I've got every every conviction and every faith that we will certainly get out of the position we're in. It's going to take everyone and it'll really take a coming together and that's what we're here to do.”
