Alex Neil suggested that he would be surprised if the media gathered for the press conference weren't hyping up our upcoming fixture against Oxford as 'the biggest game in probably the history of histories'. It is a crucial fixture against a play-off rival but Neil appears highly focused and determined as ever. Here's what he said...
IMPORTANCE
"We understand the importance of the game they’re all going to be the same until the end of the season. There are naturally a lot of teams in the top area of the league who are going to be playing each other and this is one of those for us. What we need to remember is there are 5 remaining games after this as well. Is it important? Of course it is 100%. This game is an important step for both teams to remain in the top 6."
THE MOOD
"I’d imagine it would be good. I think we’ve lost 1 in 9 games since I’ve come in and to be honest I was flung in to the deep end we’d been in really poor form beforehand, lost three on the bounce conceded 10 goals in 3 games. We had a squad that lacked fitness in certain areas, was overtired in other areas so there was a lot to contend with. But if you look at where we find ourselves 9 games later: 5 clean sheets in 6 we’ve won 4 of those matches, played really well in others and potentially should have won those as well so we find ourselves in a far, far better place now."
FITNESS
"It’s certainly better. Definitely better. The likes of Patrick, Jack Clarke guys like that even Danny Batth who featured at the weekend. The incredible thing is, we talked about it with the players the other day on Tuesday about the importance of being on it every day in training. Every single player in that 20 man squad has played minutes since I’ve been here, which is incredible because sometimes they don’t even get minutes over the whole season never mind 9 games."
PLAYERS COMING BACK
"With everyday and every game that becomes a step close but equally we don’t want to rush them back to quickly. The last time I did with Broady it was for 70 minutes against Charlton and we didn’t see him for 4 or 5 games so hopefully this time we will see more of him in the remaining game. With Alex (Pritchard) again we took him off after 60 minutes to try and protect him and see more of him but well have to see what happens in the remaining matches and how their bodies stand up."
LEAGUE ONE
"The only disparity in League One in particular, in my first time being exposed to it, I’ve never known so many teams to have so many odd games. It gives the club and more importantly the fans a disproportionate idea of where you are in the league."
OXFORD
"Oxford are a good side. They are where they are on merit. They are either the highest scorers in the league or their certainly one of them. We know they’re going to bring a threat and they’re a good team. We went to see them in Morecambe during the week they deserved to win the game, they didn’t and that shows how hard this league can be. Morecambe managed to get the result but the performance merited the three points. We know it’s going to be a tough match for us so we need to go there and play as well as we can."
STEWART
"I think he’s done well. I thin the fact that he’s scored 22 goals this season, he’s now a full international, in terms of getting called up for Scotland which is good for him , for us for everybody really. So, delighted with him. But at the end of the day we’ve still got work to do and we can’t rest on our laurels and we can’t rest on what we’ve done because, ultimately if we are being honest with ourselves, we haven’t done anything yet so we need to make sure with these 6 games we put ourselves in the best position."
PREPARED
"No team scares me. I don’t go into any game thinking ‘this is going to be tough’. I look at them and think they’re a good side we need to give them the respect that they’re due but equally we are a good side, we’ve got good players. I go into each game with confidence that we can get a good result. Focus on the next match as that’s all I can affect at the moment, don’t worry about anything else or what’s happening elsewhere. We need to take care of our own job and basically block out the noise if you like. Naturally, at this stage of the season, the fans should start get excited and there should be a lot of talking points, there should be pressure building but really, I try and make the players immune from that. I don’t focus on anything for myself : I don’t read anything that gets said, I don’t listen to anything that gets said I just look at Oxford, study them know what’s coming and get us prepared as best as I can."
FANS
"It’s certainly different to Hamilton purely because of the magnitude of how many fans there are. But when you don’t listen to 1500 people 3000 people talking or 30,000 or 50,000 people you still don’t here what’s getting said so it doesn’t make any difference. The only difference is when you rock up on game day we’ve got a huge following and I expect that’ll be the same at Oxford and that’ll give myself and the players and everybody confidence and backing. Like I was saying to some of the supporters groups the other day – stick with us, because it’s not going to be all plain sailing . In those most difficult moments, that’s when we need the fans more than any other time. We’ve put ourselves in a good position, it’s in our hands we can go and get the job done and win our games."
DEJA VU?
"I just think that it's probably reduced in time, I went into Norwich on the 9th of January, I think we played 25 matches between the moment I joined to the playoff final. I think if we get to the final in this one I think it would be 18 matches so it's not too dissimilar, obviously the levels are different, the games are reduced which probably makes it more difficult because there's less time to find out about the players and each point is precious at that stage."
TACTICAL RISKS
"What happens is normally when there's a bedding in period and you're finding out about your team, what you can do, what you can't do, what they're more comfortable with, what they're less comfortable with. Naturally it points more at risk then because there's certain things that you need to try that worked with other groups before but I think we navigated through that pretty well and some of the things that needed addressing in the first couple of games I think have been addressed."
IMPROVING
"We've been keeping clean sheets regularly, I think our balance of play, I thought our last performance technically in terms of moving the ball was far better than potentially Crewe and Fleetwood for instance, albeit we scored 5 goals against those two teams but I think if you look at all the different aspects of our play and our game in my opinion they’ve all improved, I think that's reflected in the stats and the data as well so it's not an opinion, a lot of it is based on facts."
MENTAL
"I think a lot of things are heavy if you make it. So if you spend a lot of time procrastinating worrying about what people think and expectation and all that sort of stuff and it can bulk you down and weigh heavy on you. I think if you clear your mind and focus on what's at hand and don't let past situations cloud your judgement or weigh on your shoulders."
NO PRESSURE
"I'll be brutally honest with you, I don't feel any pressure at the moment whatsoever, I'm going into each game with my mind completely clear, understanding the weight of what people are expecting of me and from the team. But for me to do my job properly I've just got to clear my mind of all of that and just focus on what's important, which is winning the next game. I understand obviously the expectancy and the external sort of dynamics to how everything looks but yeah, you can't let that affect you, you've got to be focused on the job and that's the only thing I'm worried about."
CONTRACTS
"There is none of those discussions taking place with any player at the moment, everybody has been spoken to initially when I walked into the building and I’ve told them all whatever your agenda looks like, whatever your dynamics are, park it. Because our sole focus at the moment is to try and finish the season as well as we can, once we get to the end of the season, if we are successful in what were trying to achieve, every single person in the building will be in a better place to either renegotiate a contract, move onto another club if that's what their desire is, potentially stay here if that's what their desire is. All of that will be in a better place if we are successful, if we are not successful then naturally that becomes more difficult so let's park that to one side and focus on the job at hand."
