 Brought to you by DIS, keeping companies connected with cloud-based solutions. Come on, City! Connor, good to chat with you again. I'll start with Harrogate on Saturday. It somewhat felt like Groundhog Day in terms of missed opportunity. Would you agree? Yeah, obviously not nice. We felt we should have won the game, so to come away with nothing was a real disappointment. What did you make of the performance? I think we were okay in parts. I thought the energy was good and I thought we could see their frustrations from the side that they were on because we were winning all the duels and the 1v1s, etc. Ultimately, we've just not managed to score when it mattered and obviously not done well enough to defend counterattacks. I know you've broken down the game since. Can you pinpoint at all what it is about the side performances at the moment that isn't quite matching what it has done previously under yourself and Mark? I think there's different factors, but again, we've conceded early goals. You're chasing from quite early on and we've probably not quite looked to ourselves when we are chasing recently because we go a little bit too direct and we feel like we have to score straight away. We're looking to improve our stats. How do you look to rectify that? Is that a psychological thing? Is it something you can try and speak to the players about in terms of how they respond to going behind early? I think it's a bit above. When you start the game, I thought we started really well actually. I thought maybe one of the best ones we started in. But again, when you start so well and you press so high, maybe runners from midfield cause you problems and if they're not marked, it makes centre halfs come into areas that they don't want to be in and looking at the goal that happened and we got punished. And again, from when we went to go down, we've shown at Stevenage that we can get back and obviously we got back into the game at Harrogate, but I felt that we were only the team going to score and it was really unfortunate to lose. Yeah, I was going to say to you, how frustrating is that when you did look like the more likely of the two to get that second when you got the equaliser? Yeah, it's, you know, you're desperate for that next goal and you're causing them loads of problems with your threats. But again, if you're not organised behind the ball because we didn't have an extra man in there, when the nine drops in to receive it, it can't be followed because if he's followed, then it's 1v1 at the back. So it's just a kind of little, little bit that caused your problems, but you know, we wanted to go win the game. How did you assess your performance when you changed the system in the second half? Yeah, I think it had a positive effect on the game. I don't think they could quite cope with our attacking threats, but I also thought that we looked quite, we looked quite, it made me nervous from the sideline on the transitions because they had a few chances where they just broke from a matter of seconds. So it was quite nice to see the, you know, bodies in the box, et cetera, and putting them on the back foot, but it was quite nervous to watch when they won the ball back. You talk about those nerves. How much of a concern is it then that you have that defensive vulnerability about you when you play in a 4-4-2? Yeah, and it's just the shape that you play against in the 4-4-2. You know, it's a game of man-to-man, really. It's a game where if you lose your duel, you're under-loaded and things can quickly happen and it's probably mistakes and things like that. Determining the game, rather than being more structured and disciplined and organised, we were maybe a little bit more open and expansive. Is it those nerves that is stopping you from going with a 4-4-2 from the off, would you say? I wouldn't say it was nerves. I'd say it was nervous moments, as in, you know, when teams attack you in ways where they get in plays turning, on the after, who were unopposed, then it's not a good sign, defensively, because, you know, that's the times that make you nervous. It's not the overall nervousness from the system. But again, we have to look, we have to reflect, you know, and you've got to also look at the players that you've got at the club and whether they shoot a 4-4-2 and yes, they might shoot it in attacking ways, but they might not shoot it in defensive ways and these are the decisions that we have to make. I don't want to labour this point. I realise it's a big talking point after Saturday. But is it a case, Conor, then, of you not trusting the players that you have in your squad right now to play in that system, that formation? No, we trust the players. We trust in their abilities. But what we feel is that, you know, every team is different, you know, every team has different strengths and weaknesses and, you know, the players have done so well in the 4-2-3-1 or the 4-3-3 and we've probably had moments in a 4-4-2, but look quite vulnerable. So I think it's more of the opportunity to work on things like that and that's the most important thing. Is it shaping your summer recruitment drive? I think we're identifying players that we feel are going to make the squad stronger rather than thinking about what system we're going to play. I think we like to be flexible and not really long-term just be one, but given the opportunity to be on the training field and to have a good pre-season will allow us to do that. I'm sure you're aware that there's been a lot of talk about the formation amongst the fans after Saturday as managers. How do you assess all that talk amongst the supporters? Again, I think everybody's entitled to their opinion and that's right and it's always been that way. I think we've created a lot of chances in the last few games more than we've ever created before. So I think we are becoming more attacking, but for some reason we don't seem to be scoring the chances when we should and potentially looking a little bit more vulnerable because we're trying to put bodies in the box and I spoke about it last week, we've probably upped our crosses by about 40% compared to the start when we took over and maybe also the shots on goal has gone up dramatically since we took over. I think the biggest thing is finding ways to win. Can you understand the frustration at all? Yeah, of course. People want to win games. We have that frustration as well because we want to win the games but ultimately with mistakes and poor decision-making no matter what formation you play, opposition can capitalise and that's for both teams and that's just in the world of football really. I don't expect you to give too much away but how would you look to go about then the way that you set up the way you approach tomorrow night's game against Tram here? I think first of all you've got to respect where they are in the league and they've had such a good season and a real surge from when we took over, they were winning a lot of games etc. So we feel it's going to be a real hard game where we're going to have to be at our best. You know, they're a team that keeps possession well so we're going to have to be at our best on the day. In the 20 or so minutes we saw of Ollie Crankshaw on Saturday and the performance that he put in, the injection of pace that he gave you has he cemented himself a starting spot maybe? Listen, Ollie did well and he impacted the game and that's all we can ask of players coming off the bench is that they make an impact so Ollie's done his self no harm. How do you get the most out of Charles Vernon corner? It feels like we haven't got the most out of him in recent times. I think you all see it the way he glides with the ball. He's a real talented player. I think we've just got to keep working with Charles and keep hammering home how we want him to play and ultimately he's got to go out there and perform and we've got to get to know him as well as we can to know what makes him tick. Five games to go, four points between yourselves and the playoffs. Does Tram maybe come and must win? Yeah, you could say so. I think nobody wants to win at the minute it seems which is quite strange but again there's a lot of strange results that are happening, fortunate for us were yes, we're less games to the end of the season but we're no further points away after the past two results so again we just want to win every game. I asked Mark a similar question and I wonder whether this is consistent across the league given some of the results you've seen recently but is the pressure of the playoffs getting to the sides and the teams involved in those games? I wouldn't say so, I think everybody wants to win games everybody wants to get into the playoffs everybody wants to perform but ultimately at this moment in time it just doesn't seem to be quite falling for us but again that happens to teams in the league and we're just looking to bounce back really. Team news wise are you able to welcome anyone back? Just Callum, Callum Cook so it'll be nice to have him involved again. That's a big boost for you is it not? Yeah he's done really well for us as Callum so in the way that we play and the way that he retains the ball he's certainly an important player. Again to be consistent with how you bring players back into the fold is it fair of me to expect that he's probably going to start on the bench as opposed to come straight back into the starting eleven or is he in a condition that you can start in from the off? I think the safest way is to build him up especially the first game so we'll manage him and make sure that when he comes on he's able to deal with the intensity and the tempo. Any of the fresh concerns after Saturday? Not from Saturday, no. I wanted to ask you about probably the obvious point today I think we've all seen it and I think anyone who follows football whether you're a fan or a coach or a player or even someone in the media as well is probably feeling a bit concerned about what the future of the game may be after the news of the European Super League as for someone who's been involved in the game since you at Neyaj to Grasshopper as I've been told by some of my colleagues who I work with as well Connor what's your take on it? It's a difficult one I think from where we are I've really got no opinion on it because it doesn't really change the position that we're in at all it doesn't affect us however there's been a lot of frustrated people in the world of football and probably Gary Neville summed it up In terms of the drop-on effect though that it could have I guess that's the fear that it could affect Bradford City in the long term if the plans were to go through I mean it feels like it takes the game away from the fans Yeah and I think there's a lot of people come out and said about coming away from the fans and the fans are everything about football and it would be unfair to go into a different league and it's hard to say I probably don't know enough about it I've not really spent time getting to know the ins and outs but all I would say is it doesn't seem good for the normal people supporting their clubs Final point I often think in times like this it's lost or forgotten but how much does it mean to be someone involved in the game professionally whether you're a player or indeed a manager like yourself Yeah it's obviously it's an honour for every person and I'm sure I can speak for everybody at this club regarding the position that we're in we've worked hard and everybody's worked hard to get where they are to do the hours to make sure they're at a level where they can compete and be good enough but again we're lucky to do something we love and trust me it hurts us as much as the fans we've got a real affiliation with the club and we want what's best I think from when we first took over to now if you looked at it it would be delighted with the amount of points we've taken and probably think you know how we've done such a good job but again we feel the frustrations of the past few results and performances even though we've had enough chances to score in the last two but what we'll do is work even harder to make sure that the next thing that happens is we're going to bounce back and we're going to go right to the end and we're never going to give up and we'll leave no stone unturned Go on tomorrow night Conor Cheers Hi Conor On that point it's a strange one isn't it because when you came in most fans would have bitten your hands off for a chance to be where you are on the league now you haven't had such a good run it becomes a disappointment that you can't push on that bit further Yeah, that's the kind of thing that happens when you start going up the league and you start seeing the playoffs in front of you you feel that's right for us and we're good enough that's what people are thinking and we echo that because we want to get as high as we can but unfortunately in teams you hit dips of form and we've hit one at the wrong time but there's opportunities for us to climb back up And what's the emotion like when you come off the pitch and you see the other scores and you realise that the gap is still four points is there a thank goodness for that we haven't stepped any further behind or we really had a chance to close that gap today I think different people look at it in different ways it just seems like it's surreal how nobody's pulled away if we'd have won the last two games look where we'd have been but I think we can't look at the past we've got to perform in the next five games and it's as simple as that if we're out there at the end of it absolutely fantastic but our performances have to improve and we have to be harder to beat Just finally for me Harry Pritchard, how's he progressing with his injury? Yeah, Harry's doing well he's obviously had his operation and now he's back doing his rehab at the club so it's been great to have him back around I'm fairly confident that he'll be back for next season Yeah, you know, the surgeons have said he'll be fine OK, thanks very much, good luck tomorrow Cheers Icona You were saying about Calum being back in the fold he's been such an integral part of this team and you look at the number 10 and the different role players you've tried in that role since it sort of suits him so much and when he's not there, you notice a difference, haven't you? Yeah, I think you have to tweak things for different players who are playing that formation especially in that 10 role there's different things from different players and the way Calum plays is different to Clayton he's different to Verne's, he's different to Evans but again, we look forward to welcoming back I was going to say, I mean, it would be a very timely boost because you've certainly missed him because he was in such good form, wasn't he? So, you know, so great in chances and basically making the team tick Yeah, he's a creative player and that's the best way to describe Calum and the numbers and figures he was getting towards well, just before he got injured it was really promising he was, you know, two assists here, three assists here you know, he was getting goals, etc so, you know, we were just pleased with his performances to sort of losing was not great but again, it's a squad game and we've got to be able to still perform Were you worried you might have lost him for the rest of the season or were you always confident that he'd be back before the end? Yeah, I think we always knew that he'd be back all going well from the medics team so, you know, it's great that we have him back Again, it's probably one of those where you're desperate to get a player who's informed back but you've got to balance it against rushing him back so it's that dilemma again, isn't it? Yeah, he's like saying it can be because the worst thing to happen now for Calum would be is we put him in too early and he ends up having a reoccurrence or a different injury so that's not what we need we've got five games where we need a squad fully fit And as you were saying to Jamie earlier obviously about the people saying why aren't they going for it and all this sort of thing but when you look at the stats, as you say the amount of chances you had in the last couple of games it hardly suggests the team who was sort of holding back, was it? I don't feel personally that we were I think, again, the evidence is there with the crosses the amount of crosses, the shots and how many recoveries we had in the oppositions last third and things like that it just shows that we were pressing we were whipping balls and where we had the opportunity we were trying to land on second so I would say that we were pushing full backs on etc. and we were having full runs so we were going for it so, you know, but we've again we've got to assess that and it's, you know, times to do that and times not to do that opposition dependent but again, you know, we're trying to score more goals we're trying to affect the game more positive ways And in terms of the players I mean, how do you sort of sense the mood? Do you still think there's a... I know players will say we can still do it but do you still sense there's that belief in the group after the couple of setbacks that, you know, they've still got the capabilities because they're going to have to go on a run now, aren't they? I do, I do believe the they feel that they can do it and we can do it and certainly there's a possibility and until we can't possibly do it we'll give our best As you say, I mean, playing a team like Tremi we're up there with you you know, it's, you know, it's another you've got to be on your own game again, haven't you? Yeah, and that's what it is you've got to go out and perform individually, collectively and you can't leave yourself open to silly early goals and etc. we've got to make a real hard game of it Brought to you by DIS keeping companies connected with cloud-based solutions Come on, City!