Match reaction from Greg Abbott
United manager Greg Abbott spoke to us after the 3-1 home reverse against Sheffield United on Saturday.
He said: “This is a tough period, there’s no doubt about that.
“I’d completely agree that we’re shooting ourselves in the foot because we’re making stupid mistakes and it is costing us heavily. We’ve spoken about it in the dressing room but the fact of the matter is that we’re not dealing with things properly and we are leaving ourselves open.
“Yet again we’ve let a decent start slide with the goals we’ve conceded. We were in the game and competing then suddenly we have another big mountain to climb. All of the goals we conceded were poor and we have to deal with situations much better than we are.
“We’ve looked at a number of things defensively but it doesn’t matter what formation you play when errors keep coming. We had a long chat in the dressing room after the game and we have asked the back four to be braver and we have questioned the keeper. But it’s also about the way we defend as a team and we have got to improve in every area.
“We are saying the same things, we know that. That’s why we have got to stop giving things away so cheaply. We were better in the second half but we need to find that from the start of every game. Then we can make sure it’s us causing problems. The third goal was a killer for us and again it was a bit of a joke. We haven’t defended our posts and it took the momentum away from the fight back we were trying to build.
“We looked at our team selection with the players available and with how we wanted to play. Matt Robson was in to do a job at left back because we knew Nick Blackman would be a problem with his pace. Things didn’t go as well as we wanted in midfield so we addressed that, and we saw that we were more of a threat ourselves in the second half.
“The disappointment from this will obviously last a while but our job is to come into work on Monday morning and make sure we are all in the right frame of mind to go again. We’ll look at all of the issues we have and we’ll start to work on picking the team we think will go up against Shrewsbury and get us a result.
“We’re starting to get bodies back in and around training now and things are looking better for us. We just need to work through this sticky patch and we know we have the people here to bring us out of the other side. With everybody fit we are a very good squad and we know that will be in a position to kick things on again.
“We are all upset with the amount of goals we’re conceding and confidence obviously takes a hit when things aren’t going your way. We have to show the belief and determination in what we’re doing and there is no doubt that we will get back to the football and results we all want to see.”
United Player subscribers can see a video interview with Greg Abbott now. Click HERE to go to the Player platform. Follow the same link for more information on United Player, and to subscribe.
