Wrexham v Crawley Town preview with Scott Lindsey

SussexWorld

Crawley Town boss Scott Lindsey looks ahead to the League One trip to leaders Wrexham on Saturday. He looks at executing their game plan, loan deals, injury updates and being favourite for the MK Don s job

Transcript

00:00Scott, thank you for joining us. Building on the positive result against Stockport,

00:04we travelled to Wrexham this weekend. Can I get your thoughts ahead of that game?

00:07Yes, obviously another tough game. We played Stockport last week, which was second in the

00:13division and now we play Wrexham, who are top, so it doesn't get any easier. They're

00:20obviously a good side and they've done unbelievable really throughout the seasons and certainly

00:28with Leighton, they're a really strong side. So we know it's going to be a tough game,

00:31but we're in a good place ourselves we feel. We're playing well, certainly in the last

00:37game and we've got a lot of work into the players this week in terms of how we want

00:42to attack this game. I feel that the training sessions have gone really well, but of course

00:49it's putting it into practice on the Saturday, so I'm hoping that we have that and we have

00:54a real aggression about us, how we play, and I think if we do everything right, we'll be fine.

01:01Yes, as you said after the game, we went toe-to-toe with one of the better sides in the division

01:05and as you've already said, we'll be doing that again this weekend. So there's plenty

01:08of positives to build on from Saturday, isn't there? Again, we face some really tough opposition.

01:12Yes, for sure, and I think the message from me is to build on what we did last week. Again,

01:17we played against a good side and for me we dominated the game and potentially had

01:24more clear-cut chances than probably Stockport did. I think our xG was slightly higher in

01:32the game, so when we dominate the ball and have a higher xG, it's always a positive even.

01:39Though we ended up not getting the result we wanted, obviously the draw is a good draw

01:43against a good side, but this is a different game against a different opposition. They have

01:49a certain way of playing. They don't mind you having the ball, but they find a way of winning

01:56a lot of games. But we've got to make sure that we nullify that and we've got to make sure that

02:01we make their keeper do some work. Yes, football is often about fine margins. Do we read anything

02:06in at all to the fact that they played Tuesday night and we've had a week off? I suppose if

02:09anything, it's given you a chance to watch them more closely than their last game. Yes,

02:13it was Monday night actually. I watched the game, actually enjoyed the game. I thought

02:18two really good sides. Actually, Wrexham set off really well in the game and then Birmingham got

02:24real control of the game later on. But it was a good game, two really good sides. I enjoyed it.

02:30I think I finished watching it around half past 11 at night because I would have been stopping it,

02:35pausing it, taking notes and sending the notes through to my analyst. So yes, it took me a long

02:41time to watch that game, but I actually enjoyed it. It was a good game. Does it make much difference?

02:46No, because it was Monday. No, I think not. I think by the time they get back and recover from

02:53that, their preparation would have been probably very similar to ours. So no, it won't make a

02:57lot of difference, I wouldn't have thought. We saw some very encouraging performances

03:01from some players that started on the bench at the weekend. Is there any chance that we might

03:06see them start? Without giving too much away, will you be looking to freshen things up?

03:10I think there's always a chance when the players come on and do well. I think there's always a

03:14chance that you have to give these players opportunity. So yes, I think there is. I think

03:22there is a chance that we could maybe see a difference, certainly in one position if not two.

03:29Yes, and we've obviously had an extra week. Are we any closer to seeing some of the players

03:33who are sidelined or do you think there's still a few weeks there?

03:35Yes, I think Dion's probably a little way off still. We kind of hope that he's getting

03:41somewhere close and he seems to go backwards a little bit. So we're still a number of days,

03:47if not maybe weeks, away from him being fully fit. Gav Hoularan is getting closer by the day,

03:54trained fully today. Maybe too soon to include him in the squad, we'll have to think about that

04:00over the next 24 hours. But yes, Gav's getting really close now. Apart from that, we're not

04:05far off full compliment. Obviously Rolls is suspended, so he will be missing for the game

04:11as well. But we're not too far away now. From what you've seen from Wrexham

04:17this week and this season, have they changed much from last year?

04:21No, very similar actually. Very similar. They're just good. Listen, they're very powerful.

04:26They have a real know-how how to win games. They're happy for you to have the ball. I think

04:32two games we played them last year we had 68% possession in both games and lost both.

04:38So they're happy for you to have the ball. They block it up quite well. There's times when they

04:44press as well. There's times when they really press hard and fast. They did it Monday night

04:50against Birmingham and I thought the times that they pressed they looked like they could steal.

04:54So we've got to make sure that we're really focused on the way we build our play.

05:01But they block up well as well. But certainly when they get the ball they can really hurt you

05:05really quickly as well. They send the ball forward and they get bodies forward. They like crosses,

05:11put balls in the box and of course they've got at the moment two forwards who are a real handful.

05:16Well actually three forwards who are really handful. One's kind of coming off the bench at

05:20the moment. So we know it's going to be a really tough game but I have confidence in my players.

05:28We've worked really hard this week. We've put a game plan together. If we execute that game plan

05:34almost perfectly then we have a chance to get something from that game.

05:38Do you have to prepare differently for a team that lets you have the ball? I know you like to

05:42have the ball but is it like a slightly different game plan than usual? No we always look at what

05:47the opposition do. We play how we play anyway. The detail we go into is about what they do and how

05:54they do it. We have to work out what's best for us. They're two strong players at the top of the

06:01pitch so we've got to be mindful of that. They do make passes at the back so they do want to try and

06:08they're not direct as people would probably think. They do make passes. They've got some really good

06:13players at the back and they will make passes. You've got George Dobson in the middle of midfield

06:19as a pivot. He'll get on the ball. You've got players like O'Connell who's a middle centre

06:23back who's a really good footballer. So they will make passes. So we've got to make sure that we

06:27a try and stop that but also make sure that we're mindful of their attacking prowess at the top of

06:33the pitch as well and be mindful of that as well. And of course in the middle we have to make sure

06:38that we're doing our job as well. Yeah, when you watched that Birmingham game, Wrexham, obviously

06:42you had Jay Stansfield. I think he cost something like 15 million. Is it another reality check of

06:47what you're competing against this year? Yeah I suppose so. They're two massive clubs aren't they?

06:51I mean you look at Birmingham, they're a championship club and the way they played

06:56there was championship level. They were fantastic in the game and they've got some

07:01really good players and some very, very good players. As have Wrexham

07:07but I feel I've got good players as well. So whoever it is we take on and we're never

07:12going to go anywhere and try and get a draw or pack the bus or what we're like. We'll go

07:18and play our way and try and play our way really well. If we play our way really well no matter who

07:23we play against, they'll fancy us and that's the way we've got to attack all these games.

07:27Yeah, we've seen a couple of players go out on loan this week, Anthony and Jasper. How important

07:32is that for the player and for the club and how do you monitor their progress at those clubs?

07:36Yeah, really good question. Both of them have done fantastically well in training and throughout

07:41pre-season. I think they're both really good lads and they've worked extremely hard.

07:47If anyone was to come and watch Jasper in training, he's unbelievable. You literally

07:51cannot score against him. He's so good in the goal. He needs to go out and play so it's

07:57important for him, for his development. It's the same with Anthony. He's come in, he's done really,

08:02really well but we feel to develop him further he needs to go and play football. Is his football

08:08going to be limited with the first team? Possibly. So we have to be fair to manage

08:15him properly in terms of his development and I think that he will be better for that.

08:20How do we manage that? Well, we watch his clips back, we'll sit down with him,

08:26we'll make sure that he comes in, both of them come in training with us still. Maidstone are

08:32kind of like a hybrid training schedule so that means that we can still see Anthony coming in

08:38and being with us and being around us. We still keep his gym programme going and of course we

08:44want to look at the analysts looking at clips and see if we can get his games back where we can sit

08:49down and go through his clips with him and talk about how we see his performance. Of course it's

08:54always different when you go to another club because they play different and I know Anthony

08:59played as a double pivot which he's not played that for us which is good for his learning as

09:03well but obviously they play probably a lot different from what we do but it's good for

09:08his development. Excellent and we've seen Mike Williamson leave MK Dunst for Carvile today.

09:13Your name is straight there at the top of the betting odds. I know you can't control that

09:17but I just wondered what your thoughts on that are and it's a good job for someone isn't it MK Dunst?

09:21My thoughts are that my full focus is here you know whilst you're getting linked to

09:30jobs I think that proves that you're doing something right so it's kind of always a

09:36positive in many ways but my full focus is here until I'm told otherwise but yeah I agree I think

09:42it is a really good job for somebody but yeah listen until I'm told otherwise my focus is on

09:48this this football club. Thanks Scott.

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