Manager Keith Curle gave us an update on the injury situation at his Thursday morning press conference with high praise for defender Tom Parkes top of his list of discussion points.
“The fact that he was available to play on Tuesday night is testament to the type of person he is. A lot of players would have looked at the bruising and swelling he had on his ankle and ruled themselves out,” he said. “There was a lot of discomfort there for him but he spoke to our medical department, carried out the actions they told him to do and he was then able to tell me he was ready to give 100% for the Fleetwood game.
“He’d basically decided that he wanted to show how much he wants to play for this club. That became the only thing he was thinking about. He’s shown us already that he’s on board with what we’re trying to achieve.
“I think the other factor was that he knows he’s had to earn the right to get into the starting eleven. He doesn’t want to throw that away lightly and we saw from his performance on Tuesday that he brings a lot to the team.”
And on the other players in the treatment room, he said: “Jason Kennedy and Kelvin Etuhu are field-based training now. Samir Nabi has settled very well and we’re hoping that his rehab will be field-based by the beginning part of next week.
“Don’t be surprised if there isn’t involvement for one or two of them for next week’s game, depending on how they are once they start to step things up another level. If they’re all coming through as we hope they will it could be that’ll we’ll organise a bounce game for them in the middle of next week.
“We’ll see how they go before we finalise that because the last thing we want is to do things with them too early. If our medical department are happy and if we’re happy it’s something we’ll definitely look at.”
“John O’Sullivan will be around 11 to 14 weeks, from what we’re being told, because of the nature of the injury,” he said. “He needs an operation but I know he’ll be working hard as soon as that’s settled itself down because he’s desperate to do well with us.
“It’s unfortunate but he’s in good hands and he’ll have good support as he goes through the process of rehabilitation.”
“The only concern from Tuesday night was that we had to play 120 minutes,” he told us. “Having said that, the players showed that the pre-season package had prepared them for it and we were still pushing forward come the final whistle.
“We didn’t have to change our formation or shape because of fatigue at any point and mentally we were also strong. The making of this football club is how we deal with disappointments.
The performance on Tuesday came with the right result, but the most important thing for me was the fact that the attitude was right ...
“Our first disappointment this season was that we were on the end of the wrong score line last weekend, but there were positives within that. The performance on Tuesday came with the right result, but the most important thing for me was the fact that the attitude was right. That’s what brought us the victory.”
And with O’Sullivan sidelined for an extended period we wondered if the Carlisle boss was still in the hunt for more new faces to add to the mix.
“The club is trying everything in its power to make money available and we should have more clarity on where we’re at with the latest situation at the beginning of next week,” he said. “Everyone knows that Brad Potts has made a move but I don’t think Blackpool are duty bound to tell us what the detail of the transfer is.
“We have to wait for the Football League to tell us what our involvement and financial gain from the deal is. From there the stakeholders will let me know what we can do, because I know there are areas within the club which need money to operate as well.
“Once I know what I’m operating with my job is then to spend it as quickly as I can on quality players who will help to push us forward. We know that anything we do has to have value for the football club.
“I’m not going to pay over the odds for players who I don’t think will do that. I don’t want the changing room full of sub-standard players who won’t be able to represent the team at first team level.
“Obviously there’s the loan option but sometimes parent clubs want to send their players out with guarantees that they’ll play. That’s something I won’t and can’t adhere to. Any player who is in my team has to have earned the shirt.
“If we do a loan deal it’s always with that being made clear to the parent club. They may see it as important for their player to get pitch time, but it’s my job to have the best players in the eleven who will do us the job we need them to do.”
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