A full transcript of everything Darrell Clarke said to local media ahead of the Gas’ trip to league leaders Walsall
Bristol Rovers head coach Darrell Clarke looks on at Newport County(Image: James Marsh/Shutterstock)
Bristol Rovers are back on the road this weekend for a top of the table clash with high-flying Walsall who are unbeaten in seven games.
On their own unbeaten run of eight matches, Rovers go into Saturday’s fixture off the back of a dramatic victory against another in-form League Two side in Salford City.
Former Rovers loanee Matt Butcher put the Ammies ahead before Ellis Harrison equalised on the stroke of half time.
The winner was bagged by summer signing Fabrizio Cavegn before a contentious penalty was awarded at the death, throwing the cat amongst the pigeons at the Memorial Stadium.
READ MORE: Darrell Clarke details history with Walsall boss ahead of ‘tough’ test for Bristol RoversREAD MORE: Every word Darrell Clarke said on Salford win, Bristol Rovers’ togetherness, Cavegn and more
Nevertheless, Gas goalkeeper Luke Southwood stepped up and became the hero, saving the spot kick to make sure the three points stayed in Bristol.
A contingent of over 2000 fans in blue and white are set to make their way to the Black Country tomorrow in the hopes of witnessing another thrilling victory early on in the season.
Another week on the training ground, how has it gone this week?
Been a good week. Boys have been at it, been sharp, so all good.
Is it easier to get new things into them when you’re on a bit of a roll and you’re getting those results or is there a different feel around the place?
I come into these and think ‘I’m saying the same things every week’. It’s just consistency with work, consistency with the way we work. If you’re winning, you’re drawing, you’re losing; obviously things are a lot better and people are happier when you’re winning because that’s the environment we want to create. But in general, it’s straight onto the next project, straight onto the next game and consistency in the way we work. It’s been positive. We have to make sure the intensity levels in training are high and we keep pushing the boys. But pretty boring for you guys but no different to what I’ve done for the last 13, 14 seasons if I am honest.
There’s nothing wrong with boring when you’re getting results, is there?
I don’t want to come across as miserable but I think when you are consistent with what you try and do, and I know everybody gets, not carried away with results, but I know everybody gets fixated on results because that’s why we all love the game. And obviously to achieve what we want to achieve you have got to win enough games in a season. We are just pushing, we are looking at different things, working on different things, trying to improve defensively, in possession, in patterns and all those things that go onto obviously a tough test against Walsall.
One of the key things in the summer when you were recruiting and getting your squad together was the mental make up of it, the leaders, all those kinds of things. You have had enough of a block to see how people are reacting to the way you are working with them; are you happy with the blend you have got there?
Well, it is challenging times. We won the game on Saturday with seven, eight players out so it is challenging. It is easy to look at excuses when you do not win and you go ‘well, it’s because I have got seven or eight players out’, but we actually won a game, so why not look at that as well as to say credit to the boys who have come in. They are adapting, they are training well and training hard. It is not the sort of thing I tend to say but if something goes against us, I don’t complain about injuries but let’s have a complaint when we have won a game, hey? It’s nice then, it’s not an excuse then, is it? Credit to the boys that have been training hard, not played as many minutes, not been in the form that they would like to be in. And the response last week was very good but it is a different test we face on Saturday. A tough away day against a team that are doing really well. A manager I know a lot about because I gave him his first coaching role, player coaching role, at Walsall and he will be frustrated that they missed out last season with the positive start but he has got them up there early again this season so it will be a good challenge.
Is it different when you go back to a former club? Is it nicer, how does it feel for you?
I do not think it will be nice. I had a lot of good things about the club when I was there. The people who were in the club: Stefan Gamble, Dan Mole, Leigh Pomlett, they were really good people. It is a fanbase that cares very much about the club. The time I was there was very challenging. The finances were very, very limited. They have got new owners now in place. I know the previous owner took a lot of rent out of the club and there were so many grumblings from that and it was a club where it was always challenging. I think I had an ex-Premier player on about £500 a week there. But the expectation level at the club is very high. Having a really good spell when Dean Smith was manager. But, it is certainly a spell that I enjoyed. I enjoyed working with the people at the club there.
For Walsall to have gone through what they did last year and been in such a great position and miss out, to have had such a good start to this season probably says quite a bit about them…
I am really pleased for Matt. I spoke to him a couple of times around the back end of last season just to give him my support. He is doing a tremendous job there; he is an up and coming coach. It is nice, we did a bit of a LMA masterclass the other day and I think there are now five or six of our previous coaches have gone on to be EFL managers. It is something I am quite proud of to have helped them on that journey and Matt there is doing a cracking job. We will have a beer Saturday but he knows me and he knows how much I want to win. I am looking forward to what should be a really good atmosphere with a lot of Gasheads going up there for support.
It must be a bit strange… it does not seem that long ago that we welcomed you into the club in your first league job and you are now someone who has been round the block a little bit and got that experience…
I never officially retired as well. Didn’t I say that about nine, 10 years ago that I never officially retired from playing? It is mad isn’t it? I am 48 in a couple of months but I love, it is a pressure environment, but I love my job and I love managing this football club. I love what I do. It is challenging but very enjoyable at the same time.
Your teams would never go somewhere scared anyway, but the way you have been playing, you have got to have a good degree of confidence about you as a team…
We are going there to win, make no bones about that. It is our approach every single game. We are very respectful of the opposition, like we said started the season very, very well. Someone said the other day we had the best start for 20 years so we have had a good, solid start, but that is all it is. About 25% of the season is gone so let’s go and try and pick up three points at a tough place to play.
OPINION
Daniel HargravesWalsall have scored quite a few goals in their last couple of games and you changed defensive shape last week, how much of a focus has that been going into Saturday?
We focus on in and out of possession so it is pretty 50/50 on how we do things. Different strengths from Walsall and different weaknesses at Walsall so we concentrate on both aspects of the game.
Walsall also tend to have less of the ball despite getting results, how much have you prepared for that?
It tells you that possession does not win football games, doesn’t it? I think if you look through most of my career journey, I have probably had the least possession and won games. There are a lot of managers like that. There are very much a mixture of teams in the lower leagues that are possession based, more direct, organised, structured. Walsall are a very organised, structured team. Like you say, they do not dominate possession but it is still pretty even. They have got a lot of threats. They have got a lot of consistency with their work but our focus is on us [and] how we can break them down, how we can hurt them and respect when they are attacking.
Luke Southwood last week performed really well and at the other end of the pitch Fabrizio Cavegn, the new signing coming in, it must be a bit of a dream to have two players who you can trust that much at both ends of the pitch…
Yeah, listen, players’ form is obviously important. The more good individual players that are performing well at the weekend, if you can get seven or eight players performing at their best then you have obviously got a great chance at winning a game. So, players like you mentioned there in a decent bit of form but everybody has got to stake that claim to be performing well and making sure they are putting on those match-winning performances which Luke did for us last week. Fabrizio, like you said, has settled in really well.
You spoke last week about togetherness and there is a big Gashead contingent going up this weekend for another early season, top end of the table clash – how important again will that be?
They have always been important, our fanbase that follows in their numbers will get behind it as long as they see the boys having a right good go which I will always demand while I am a manager. I thank them for their support and hopefully we can give them an enjoyable afternoon.
I know you don’t like talking about injuries too much, but Kacper Lopata was a possible return this weekend, can you give anything away there?
Like you said, you have answered your own question.