Graham Kavanagh ahead of the Gills game
United manager Graham Kavanagh spoke to us today about the long weekend trip to Gillingham.
“Gillingham will be a tough team to play against,”he said. “They've got a new manager and I think they're playing a different style of football now.
“We're really looking forward to it because it gives us a great opportunity to bounce back from the weekend. They didn't win either but it will take a while for them to get used to what they are now being asked to do.
“They look to get the ball down and play into midfield and I'm sure they'll have worked hard all week on that. Our mindset will have to be right going into the game to make sure we get a result.”
“From our point of view, we think we should be able to go down there and get a result,” he added. “That puts a little bit of pressure on the players but they need to be able to respond to that.
"We know it will be a tough game but we've seen in previous weeks that when a home side comes out and plays we are capable of catching them on the counter. Their fans will be expecting them to take the game to us so we can hopefully capitalise on that.”
"The mindset has to be the same for every game, whether the team we're playing are at the bottom or the top of the table,” he told us. “We have to respect every team we play because we all know we can beat each other.
“The league will probably take shape after Christmas but at the moment the nature of it is that there are no easy games. That's why I keep saying to the players that what they give today won't be good enough tomorrow. The lads need to listen to that because if they do really want to improve then they need to buy into that.”
And on the distance to be covered this weekend, he said: "Everywhere we go is a long journey.
“I would never look to that as an excuse because we all know about these games at the start of the season. We've looked after the group this week so I won't tolerate that as an excuse. It’s something we have to do and get used to, so we go there looking to put on a performance.”
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