United manager Greg Abbott on the Capital One Cup victory
United manager Greg Abbott spoke to us at the post-match press conference following the 1-0 victory over Accrington Stanley in round one of the Capital One Cup.
He said: “We saw some nice stuff out there and we played some good football, but we also have some work to do.
“We’ve just told the lads we’ll struggle if we play like that next week but overall we’re happy. Some of the football was pleasing to watch and there are definite positives to take from it.
“We got our clean sheet, which is always important but, like I say, there’s some food for thought as well.
“In the conditions it becomes one of those days where the important thing is to get the result and get through and we did that. We’ve also had some new signings and three of our young players make their debuts so it’s all coming together for us.
“I don’t think we got anywhere near the heights of some of the stuff we did in pre-season in this game. The tempo was much slower, but the heat played a part in that, and I thought we held our shape well. It was the fluency in passing which was missing at times but, credit to Accrington as well, they came here to make it very hard for us.
“I’m learning a lot about all of my players all the time. It’s a big learning curve for the younger players because it isn’t about development any more, it’s about results. If they’re in the team it’s because they have earned the right. They’ll be there on merit. Brad [Potts] was picked today on merit, because he has worked extremely hard.
“I don’t think Accrington looked like scoring but we didn’t create as many chances as we have been. We surrendered possession too much and it became a real slog of a game at times.
“I’ve looked at the squad in the dressing room and I’m really happy with what we’ve got, but I think there’s room for a little bit more in terms of depth. We’ve made the signings of the more experienced players and we’ve blooded three of our young lads, so it’s the blend we need somewhere in the middle now. We’re working away at that but things aren’t on the boil as much as we’d like them to be. We have to wait for other things to happen at other clubs, to some extent, and then maybe we can make our moves. We know where we want to strengthen though and we’ll keep going until we get the type of player we need.
“We’ll have another tough week on the training ground now and we’ll get ourselves ready for a completely different kind of test at Stevenage. It’s a good one to look forward to and we’ll see where we are because they are a big, physical side who will come at us. It’s definitely one we’ll have to be fully prepared for.”
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