Crawley Town are looking to continue their winning run when they travel to Notts County on Saturday. Here is Scott Lindsey's thoughts ahead of the match
00:00Scott, thanks for joining us. Another exciting game on the horizon as we travelled to Notts County at the weekend.
00:06What are your thoughts heading into that one?
00:07A good game to play in. I think that we enjoy playing against good teams.
00:12I think it's important that we challenge ourselves against the better teams of the division.
00:17I think it's good for us, for our development as a team as well.
00:21And yes, that's exactly what it's going to be. It's going to be a challenge, you know.
00:26Especially away from home, Notts County is always a tough place to go.
00:31They've had some kind of indifferent results lost to Chillingham at the weekend.
00:38I think it's the first time they hadn't actually managed to score.
00:41So we know they're capable of scoring. They're very strong at the top end of the pitch.
00:45Got lots of respect for the manager, Martin Paterson, who I know really well.
00:50Did my A licence with him many years ago.
00:55So yeah, we think it's going to be a very difficult game.
00:59But like I say, one we're really looking forward to.
01:02Yeah, just owing to the size of the club, you know, the history and everything.
01:05It's always going to be billed as one of the toughest places to go in the league.
01:09And it's one that you need to go to with a lot of confidence.
01:11And fortunately, with the recent results, we will be doing that, won't we?
01:14Yeah, good timing. You always got to go to Notts County with good timing.
01:17And at the moment we're playing really well and obviously winning, which is important.
01:23We go there full of confidence because we do.
01:26And I'm happy with the progression that the team are making.
01:31Even though it was a slow start, we've actually got off and running now.
01:34So we want to continue that.
01:36And Saturday is another opportunity for us to continue that.
01:41Like I say, it's going to be a tough game.
01:45But I back my team.
01:48If we get everything right, I back us to go there and win.
01:51Yeah, we spoke after the first few games about how the lads were hungry to win their first game.
01:55I suppose now it's a different type of hunger to keep the winning streak alive.
01:58And, you know, that must be obviously a nice feeling to have around the training ground.
02:02Yeah, winning mentality is important.
02:04I think it's always the same.
02:06When you're losing games, you never feel you're going to win one.
02:09And then when you're winning games, you never feel like you're ever going to lose one.
02:12So we feel like that at the moment.
02:14Of course, we know football's got a nasty habit of kicking you in the teeth when things are going really well.
02:18We've just got to continue to work really hard and prepare properly.
02:23Do everything that we normally do.
02:25Work extremely hard on the training ground, which we have done.
02:28And attack this game like it's another cup final for us.
02:32Because they all are. They're all tough games.
02:35And like I say, I feel really confident in my team at the moment.
02:41And I think if we get everything right on the day that we're capable of winning,
02:47against anybody, let alone Notts County.
02:50So, yeah, so listen, I think it's a really good game for us.
02:55I think that they're a good side.
02:57And I'm looking forward to it.
02:59I'm looking forward to watching my team play against a good side.
03:02Yeah, and the squad have handled the last few weeks really well.
03:04There's been a lot of sort of chopping and changing with the line-up,
03:07which has been forced, obviously, with injuries and suspensions.
03:09So, again, while we often say it's a nice problem for a manager to have,
03:13with some players coming back from suspension and injury and everything like that,
03:17is there going to be any sort of selection headache from yourself?
03:19Or does it sort of right itself with the way we've been playing?
03:21I think probably from the outside looking in, people would think that it's an headache,
03:27but it's not. It's actually really easy to me.
03:30I think it's really clear what the team should look like.
03:32And I think that it's really clear what the bench should look like.
03:35So, headache, no.
03:37A lot of professionals at the club that, you know, would think that they should be in the team
03:45and think that they should be in the squad.
03:47And they probably have a case because of doing really well the other night,
03:52for argument's sake, and training well.
03:55But at the moment, I don't think there's a call for major changes
04:00because we're winning and playing well.
04:02So, I think it's really clear and easy.
04:05Yeah, on that note, any of the players that have been injured
04:08would like you to return at the weekend?
04:10Yeah, so Gav missed Tuesday night through a little ankle injury.
04:14He wasn't available.
04:16So, we had to kind of monitor that this week.
04:21But he's now back available, trained today.
04:23He'll be back in contention to be in the squad.
04:26Perfect.
04:27Brilliant.
04:28Just on the injuries, I saw Jay Williams and I think Danny Cashman were both here on Tuesday night.
04:33Can you give us just an update on them in terms of time?
04:36Yeah, so Jay Williams is probably going to be, I would think, around mid-November in terms of playing.
04:44I think we did earmark the Gillingham away game.
04:47I'm not sure on the date of that, maybe the 15th of November, something like that.
04:51So, we earmarked that one.
04:53Obviously, that can change during his rehab, depending on how well it's going.
04:58Knowing Jay will be ready for next week.
05:00So, he's working extremely hard.
05:03Danny Cashman has a different kind of injury where it's a fascial kind of injury which he still has a feeling in there.
05:13With fascial injuries you can play on, but the feeling's so bad that he feels that he can't kick a ball and he can't break into a sprint.
05:20So, it's again, kind of an ongoing process.
05:24I can't give you a definite date on that one.
05:27But, yeah, it's kind of a frustrating one for him.
05:30Yeah.
05:31On Saturday, obviously, with the Cheltenham, when you said about how they sat off and they didn't do a high press or anything and your defender and keeper had more time on the ball.
05:41I'm assuming you're not expecting that this weekend.
05:43And does that suit you better when teams press you more?
05:46I think we don't know what to expect with Notts County.
05:51Sometimes they've pressed and sometimes they've not had loads of numbers up the pitch.
06:01Does it suit us more?
06:02I'm giving my secrets away.
06:03I think it suits us more if the team do come after us, personally.
06:06I think there's an opportunity for us to play round or through the press.
06:11One pass can take out four or five players and then we're at them.
06:15Yeah.
06:16I think when a team bank in a little bit more, it becomes a little bit more of a slow build and can become frustrating.
06:23And it almost feels as if we've run out of ideas at times where that isn't the case.
06:28I think it's just that we're waiting for the right moment to thread the right pass or there has to be a little bit more patience come when a team do sit in and bank in.
06:40Either way, I'm not bothered, if the truth be known.
06:45But we do like it when a team come after us.
06:48I think it really tests us when a team come after us.
06:50I quite like that.
06:51Yeah.
06:52And after Saturday's game, I think the club put out a social media post about the stats from the game and it showed the 58% possession and XG was 2.17 or something like that.
07:01Is there a particular stat that you look at first when you come off a pitch to sort of give an indication of how the team performed or is it all the stats together?
07:09Yeah, I think pass completion is a big one for me.
07:13I want it over 80% to 85% pass completion.
07:17I'm not talking about possession.
07:19My possession stat is a possession stat, but you can have, I don't know, 500 passes for argument's sake, but if you've only completed 66% possession, you've not actually owned the ball as well.
07:31So, pass completion is important and XG. I think XG is always a go-to for me. I think it's a rough reflection of have you made them work? Have you made the defence work? Have you made the goalkeeper work for the opposition?
07:46I know sometimes that can not always paint a true picture. I can give you one example of that. When Kahim Dixon went through against Chesterfield in the 1v1.
08:01It was arguably our biggest chance in the whole game and probably the biggest chance that we've missed in the whole season. It never goes down as an XG chance because he doesn't actually shoot.
08:12Right. So, it doesn't register as XG. So, sometimes it can be clouded with, you know, things like that. And I think that even Maka's chance, again, another guilt-edged chance in that same game that we talk about where Cabby plays the ball across and it almost looks like an open goal.
08:35I think that, to be kind to Maka, the keeper does get a touch on it. So, when he thinks the ball's coming in front of him, it actually goes behind him.
08:44Again, it doesn't register as XG.
08:46Because he didn't shoot.
08:47Because he didn't shoot.
08:48So, there's two chances I've just mentioned in two different games there that are arguably our biggest chances of the whole season have not registered as XG.
08:57But it does give you a rough reflection of what have we had chances. I do like to look at touches in the opposition box as well.
09:06You know, it's another reflection of, you know, have we held possession in the high end of the pitch?
09:12And have we, you know, have we made sure that we've asked questions of their defensive line again by touches in the box?
09:18If we're around 30 and the opposition around 10, then it looks like a bit more of a one-sided game to me, you know?
09:24Yeah, definitely. Finish with quite a big question.
09:27Good question, though.
09:29You mentioned a couple, you met on Tuesday and you mentioned it just a minute ago about how you did your A licence 15, 16 years ago.
09:35Football's changed quite a lot in that time.
09:37How have you changed as a coach, as a manager and even as a person in that time, do you think?
09:43Quite a big one for you.
09:44Yeah, this is a big one. As a person, I'm a lot calmer for sure. I think that players will probably not say that.
09:53I'm a lot calmer than I was. You know, I think that sometimes you have to understand that you, as much as you want, you can't kick every ball for them out there.
10:06And sometimes football, no matter how well you prepare your team to play against an opposition and you want it to look in a certain way,
10:16sometimes football doesn't allow that. Not through anything you've done wrong as a manager or a coach or the players have done wrong,
10:23but it's just the state of the game might be different, it might look different, it might feel different.
10:28The referee might have made a couple of decisions that have swayed the start of a game. Now we can't get a foothold in it.
10:33I understand that there's so many variables that can happen in a game that change the course of a game and the course of a result.
10:42And what I do on the training pitch is only a real small part of it. And there's so many things that can happen that can change that.
10:50And I'm not in control, basically, is what I'm trying to say. So, you know, you can only control the controllables.
10:55And basically what I suppose what I'm trying to say is make sure that I coach my team as best as I can to make sure that that bit is ticked off.
11:04And then it's over to the football gods a little bit, you know, I think that's probably what I've learned over my experience of doing this job.
11:13What was it? What was the...
11:16It was just how have you changed as a coach?
11:18Yeah, from a coaching point of view, I think you evolve as you go. I think I've always wanted to have all the ball all the time.
11:26I think that there's certain things, me and my analyst Connor was talking today, actually,
11:31and he asked me a similar question about how do you evolve your style of play.
11:36I think there's always tweaks all the time. You know, you look at certain aspects of the game and you think,
11:43right, you know, I was convinced that a certain action works every time and having kind of reviewed it, it doesn't.
11:52So then, therefore, we don't have to do it every time. We probably have to do something different.
11:57So you're always watching and reflecting on the team. I think the team more than reflect on myself, obviously, as well.
12:06But the team and looking at, you know, actions that we can look real smooth playing through the pitch.
12:12You're always learning, you know, you never stop learning in football.
12:16And, yeah, I think that my style of play has never really changed, but I've kind of evolved it with, yeah,
12:25with certain little bits and pieces inside it, if that makes sense.
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