by Martin Shaw » Tue Nov 22, 2022 8:41 pm
there's been no write-up of the Clough interview, so I've done a write-up for the Stagsnet News archive.
Nigel Clough told iFollow Stags, Mon 21 Nov 2022:
on the defeat at Harrogate:
"Our defending was unbelievably poor for the three goals."
"I don't think we've got the balance right so far this season, between playing and stopping the opposition playing.
"I think with the ball we're very good, but we need a little more emphasis on stopping the opposition.
"What was lacking on Saturday was an ability to make contact with the opposition.
"We had no Hewitt available to start the game, he pulled out of training on Wednesday and he couldn't do anything at all on Friday. So it would have been a huge risk to start him.
"Harbottle, who is probably our quickest defender, is out.
"And our most combative player on the staff is Ollie Clarke who was missing as well.
"But that's no excuse for the players coming in not doing it.
"And we still have enough out there to compete better than we did on Saturday defensively.
"Lewis Page looked a little bit rusty for 30 minutes on Saturday, he hasn't played since March. But he didn't do much wrong. And the quality we've seen in training, he's going to be a good addition for us."
"We've got three cup games coming up and we can do some good work in terms of re-building confidence.
"We get the chance to go and play at Hillsborough. I know the Stags played there in 2014, but it will still be a wonderful experience for the players and supporters.
"And we've got a couple of big Sheffield Wednesday fans in the camp, George Maris and David Waldie our fitness lad.
"I think the opposite to that, whatever the opposite is, is Stephen Quinn, who spent quite a lot of years at Sheffield United.
"Stephen McLaughlin and Riley Harbottle are the main doubts. McLaughlin might do a bit of training this week. But the main thing is we get him right for the next 5 months. If all goes well, they might feature against Everton.
"We're hoping Ollie Clarke's knock on his knee will be ok."
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"Four points clear as Lincoln are McCaffreyised", CHAD headline, April 1975