00:00 Can you give us your thoughts on the trophy?
00:09 "Really pleased with the result, wanted to win tonight. I think it's important that we
00:13 have that winning mentality throughout the group. Disappointed with the goals we conceded,
00:20 thought we were a bit soft in the first half. We spoke about that at half-time and wanted
00:27 to show more aggression in 1v1 situations. I thought that certainly the first goal, he
00:33 seemed to pick the ball up from a turnover on the half way line and run almost to the
00:39 edge of our box before slipping a pass in. It's kind of an easy goal for me. I feel that
00:44 we're a little bit soft at times. But some really good play, some good goals. But like
00:53 I said, I just wanted to show a little bit more desire, one will and determination to
00:59 stop goals going in the other end. I thought we were soft in two moments and probably a
01:03 few more as well."
01:04 "Absolutely positive to take the Super 3 to the next round. But also some important
01:08 minutes for some players. We spoke with Notts County after the FA Cup game, Adam Campbell
01:13 coming on and getting a brief period. Addy as well, they both started tonight so it must
01:17 be pleasing to see them out on the pitch."
01:18 "Of course, exactly right. They've not played a lot of football. Certainly Addy hasn't
01:22 as he rarely. I know Adam's played a lot more. So pleasing for them to get some much
01:27 needed minutes. I thought Addy did brilliantly. Kind of in a different position to what he's
01:33 used to. He usually plays more centrally as a 10 but he played that wider berth and I
01:38 thought he did it extremely well. Adam had a quiet night but was easing his way back
01:43 in, which is obviously acceptable. But pleased to get him back in."
01:49 "Jack Rowles will obviously take a lot of the plaudits tonight. Can I get your reflection
01:52 on his performance? I saw you sort of embraced him at the end there. Obviously he hasn't
01:55 been able to get a lot of minutes this season so far so it must be pleasing for him to get
01:58 on the pitch for United and score a couple."
02:00 "Yeah, I'm really pleased for Jack. I've been wanting to see that kind of performance
02:06 from him and to obviously finish his performance with two good goals as well. Probably could
02:13 have added to that as well. I thought he was very good. Now it gives me something to think
02:19 about for Saturday for sure. I'm really, really pleased for Jack."
02:22 "It feels like a while since you've had that now. It doesn't matter what competition we're
02:28 in, we're always living to win games aren't we?"
02:31 "For sure. I think we've got a certain way of playing that I'm proud of and we're all
02:36 proud of. A lot of work has gone into that kind of style of football but I believe that
02:43 we've become a little bit soft and I'm not accepting that anymore. We need to become
02:52 a little more aggressive to win a game of football. You saw the two goals tonight for
02:58 me were soft. The second one is a second phase of a corner. We don't get up to the ball
03:06 quick enough. He has lots of time to clip the ball in. The ball's in the air for a long,
03:11 long time. No one really takes responsibility and goes and sticks their head on it. He plays
03:17 in between two central defenders so, so easily. I think me and Carl Larriman could have scored
03:25 against us tonight, certainly in those two moments and that's not acceptable for me."
03:29 "We talk a lot about the style of play. How pleasing is it to know that a lot of the players
03:34 who haven't necessarily played a lot in the league have been picking it up as well from
03:37 the training ground? I can imagine it's not easy for some of those players who haven't
03:40 been playing to get used to that style."
03:43 "I'm really, really pleased with a lot of it tonight. I don't want to come across too
03:48 harsh on the boys tonight because I think there's lots of it that I'm really pleased
03:52 with. The fact that they've taken on board how we are and how we play and how the first
03:59 team play, I'm really, really pleased with lots of it tonight. But like I say, there's
04:04 moments in the game where we're just soft and we've got to stop. We've got to stop conceding
04:10 goals like we are. It's almost like we have to score three goals minimum to win a game
04:13 and that's not what we want to be. We want to come away winning games and having clean
04:21 sheets and at the moment we're a little bit too nice."
04:25 How frustrating is it to wait two weeks to know your opponent?
04:33 "Is it really two weeks? I didn't know that if I'm honest with you. Yeah, that's frustrating
04:37 but pleased to obviously go through. I think it's important that we keep winning. For me,
04:44 the biggest thing is to try and win as many games as we can and we want to go as far as
04:48 we can in this competition. It's brilliant because we're developing players here so you
04:54 can only develop these players if there's games for them to play in. So it's great that
04:58 we go through. Also developing staff as well. I've got a young analyst, Jack, who delivers
05:06 the meetings in these games. Obviously I deliver the meetings when it comes to the league fixtures
05:11 but in these games it's a brilliant experience for him to be able to put the meetings together
05:17 and to deliver to the boys before the kick-off. So we're developing not just the players but
05:22 the staff as well and I want to continue that because it's great for his progression as
05:28 an analyst. It's good for the players' progression as footballers as well. So I've long made
05:34 this continue, this cup run."
05:36 Travis Johnson moved back into defence. Was that a tactical switch from a 5-4 or have
05:42 you been sensitive more about that?
05:44 "No, we've never played. Basically what we do is we didn't switch from one half to the
05:52 next. We always play the same system every game. We play a back three always and Travis
05:59 Johnson tonight played in midfield all night but what he does is when we haven't got the
06:03 ball he drops in and we make a back four. So we always build with a back three and we
06:07 defend with a back four."
06:09 Were there substitutions at half-time planned?
06:11 "Yes, always planned. Didn't want Will playing more than 45 minutes and Adam Campbell. Obviously
06:18 he played a number of minutes on Saturday and the plan was for him to get 45 in again
06:25 tonight."
06:26 Lots of competition between the sticks and goal. How much of a good thing is that for
06:31 you with the dice starting tonight?
06:33 "Yes, perfect for me. That's what we want. We don't want a number one and a number two.
06:39 That's not how it works. They're both number ones for me and they're both going to fight
06:42 for the same shirt and that's kind of what I want. I thought Luka did fantastically
06:47 well on Saturday and Corey done great again tonight. So that's exactly what I want is
06:53 two good players fighting for one shirt."
06:56 Perfect. Cool. Thank you John. Thank you.
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