The manager ahead of the Coventry game
United manager Greg Abbott spoke to us about the trip to Coventry at the weekend.
He said: “The week ahead is big on terms of the stature of the clubs we are coming up against. Going to venues like the Ricoh and drawing teams like Spurs in the cup is what the game is all about.
“The Coventry game has been made even more interesting because they have a new manager in and every player will want to impress him. He will be assessing them in everything they do and the game against us is their first opportunity to show him what they can do in a competitive environment.
“We have to deal with that and make sure we ignore anything surrounding the game other than football. Coventry are a league one side, like any other, and we know we have the players to cause problems if we get out there and do things properly.
“Joe [Garner] has settled really well this week but you would expect that. This is a club he knows well and he just wants to be playing football. We saw on Tuesday night that he is the kind of player who will give defenders plenty to think about and he will only get better with the more pitch time he gets.
“We’ve also got Kallum [Higginbotham] in and he is just looking forward to getting on with it. He is very versatile and he’s one we think will add a lot to the squad.
“We’ve created more competition for places and the signings have given everyone a lift. Hopefully we’ll see us get into the game at a good tempo as we try to do what we need to do to come away with a positive result.
“This is a good one for the fans because it will be a new one for most of them. It’s a nice stadium and it’ll be an experience they enjoy. Obviously it’s my home-town club and I’m looking forward to going there, but for 90 minutes there will be no sentiment at all.
“We want to make sure we turn a good start to the season into a very good one and the only way to do that is by producing the performances which will take us up in the table to where we all want to be.”
