Head coach Matt Taylor met with the media ahead of our Carabao Cup first-round clash at Leeds.
Town head to Elland Road tomorrow having secured victory over Cheltenham on the opening day of the League One season.
Speaking ahead of the cup tie, Matt discussed new rules implemented to increase ball-in-play time - with the new regulations seeing the majority of games last over 100 minutes last weekend.
The head coach was also quizzed on a number of other topics.
They included Travis Hernes - who signed his first professional contract with the club yesterday as well as the fitness of striker Dan Udoh, who made his first league start since recovering from an ACL injury in the win over Cheltenham.
ON HOW EVERYONE IS FOLLOWING THE WIN OVER CHELTENHAM:
“Everyone is okay. There are some sore bodies, which is what you would expect when players are being asked to play over 100 minutes of football.
“But they are all okay, they reported back on Monday without any issues. I’ve been really pleased with them in terms of their application towards training.
“It’s been a happy place to be as you can imagine after we got a positive result on Saturday.”
ON NEW RULES THAT ARE LEADING TO AN INCREASE IN ADDED TIME:
“It’s a strange one. From speaking to other managers and coaches at the weekend we are all in the same position – we have to do something to make sure that the players can cope.
“There is a big shift. I think even the coaches and the managers in the Premier League are talking about it.
“What it’s going to do to the game I don’t know. Hopefully it doesn’t devalue the product because the players are tired and we start picking up injuries.
“We have to now adapt, these are the rules and we have to make sure we play within them, but we will do everything we possibly can to make sure the players are ready for each and every game.”
ON WHETHER THE NEW RULES WILL BENEFIT TEAMS WITH BIGGER SQUADS AND BUDGETS:
“It could do. But what I think’s important for us is that we don’t use it as an excuse for anything.
“There will be other clubs that are in a similar situation to us – clubs that don’t have the biggest squads or have some injuries.
“But I’m always a big believer that (a playing missing) is a chance for someone else, someone else gets an opportunity.
“One thing I do know is the players who haven’t been in the squad are working extremely hard to make sure they are.
“It will just open up doors for other players. Would I have liked it when I was playing? No. It’s almost like there is a stopwatch and everything gets added on.
“It’s also the case now where if a player goes off injured – regardless of the injury, regardless of fault – he has to stay off for 30 seconds.
“It’s going to cause some chaos. I know that much. I'm sure there will be lots of coaches up and down the country tonight, tomorrow and at the weekend that will be disappointed because their team has conceded a goal in the 104th minute.
"But we all know the rules, we are all on the same level playing field and we have got to do what we can with it.”
ON JORDAN SHIPLEY COMING OFF AT THE WEEKEND:
“Jordan is fine – it was more of a dead leg.
“Jordan will be fine. We haven’t picked up any injuries from Saturday going into Wednesday.”
ON TRAVIS HERNES SIGNING HIS FIRST PRO DEAL WITH THE CLUB:
“I think it was important Travis got on (against Cheltenham) and made his debut.
“He has had a sample of what it is like and he wants more. It was great for him and the football club that he has signed a new long-term contract.
“That tells you what we think of him as a group of staff. Now it’s up to Travis to really do the hard work.
“We had his mum in yesterday and I think from a parent's point of view you want to hear that your child is polite, courteous, respectful and honest and he is all of those things.
“As a person, he epitomises the type of player want to bring through our academy. He is a good person, a good guy and is eager to learn.
“As a player, he has got excellent ball-receiving skills, he is physical, he can deal with the requirements of modern-day football so we’re really excited to continue to work with him.
“Travis is at the beginning of his journey and while he’ll think it’s been difficult to get to this point, I can guarantee him having done it myself that he has only done the easy part, the difficult part is establishing himself as a key member of our squad.”
ON DAN UDOH MAKING HIS FIRST LEAGUE START:
“Dan is good. I think it’s the case with any injury of that magnitude that we make sure we manage him.
“I know that he still speaks to the physios quite a bit, it’s imperative that we keep Dan on the pitch – and whatever we have to do with all of our players we must do that.
“Dan has not only come through his first 90 minutes, he’s come through 100 plus minutes. I think psychologically that will be big for him.
“We’re really excited to see where he can go this season because I expect him to be a big part of what we are doing and to be scoring goals.”
ON CARL WINCHESTER PLAYING RIGHT WING-BACK:
“Carl is a player that I was desperate for Micky (director of football Micky Moore) to be brought back to the football club because of his versatility.
“If you look at when Sunderland got promoted out of this league, he played right-back all season.
“He played the middle of midfield here for the majority of last season. He is adaptable, he can play anywhere.
“What I really like about Carl is if we asked him to play in goal I think he would. That tells you about the person he is – he is desperate to help his team out.
“He is also eager to learn. We are trying to teach the players and give them some new tactics, thoughts and theories on how we want the game to be played and how we are going to play out of possession.
“Carl has taken everything on board. We have just come out of a meeting and was probably the most vocal. If you think at his age, I think that’s really important for the younger players.
“Carl is a really good footballer and if we asked him to play left wing-back I think he would do a really good job.”
ON LEEDS:
“It’s a great game for the football club. I think we have got the opportunity to have a look at a few players we haven’t seen so far.
“I’m really excited about it. I read online we have sold over 1,000 tickets which I think is really, really, good.
“It’s a Wednesday night, it costs money, it’s a lot of time, some of them might have to have half a day at work and they won’t be back until late.
‘So for the supporters to travel and watch us is really appreciated.
“It helps that we won on Saturday, and we are using this fixture as an opportunity to build momentum.
“I’m expecting us to go there and give a really good account of ourselves. We are going to play the way we want to play this season both with and without the ball.
“It’s going to be a tough game, they have got some fantastic players. I watched them on Sunday and at times they were devastating in and around the final third.
“But if we are really serious about this year, we have to make sure we compete, that we compete well and we give everything.
“We understand we are underdogs, I’ve got no issue with that. We understand in moments we will suffer because we won’t have the ball.
‘But actually, there is a character that I’m looking forward to seeing in our players. I want to see when we haven’t got the ball how much they are willing to do for each other.
“It’s a good game, one I’m excited about. I only ever played there once as a player which is a long time ago now. It will be nice to go back.”
ON PLAYING A LEEDS SIDE WHO ARE EXPECTED TO SEE A LOT OF THE BALL:
“The way we play will alter slightly but it doesn’t change wholly because if it does then we come away from our principles – both with and without the ball. We can’t do that.
“There is no way that I’m willing to do that and as a group of staff we won’t do that. I think if you do you send the wrong message to the players.
“I’m expecting us to go and perform. What that performance looks like will be different to what you saw on Saturday.
“But then we go to Stevenage on Saturday and that will be different again.
"That is where football is so unique. Each game is different, no game is the same. It’s different challenges for our players.
“They are probably going to have to deal with a lot of rotations, they will have to deal with some really skillful footballers.
“But I think we have got that in our locker. And what a challenge, right? We’re going to Leeds, I think they’ll be a decent crowd there, a big atmosphere at a great stadium. Let’s go and try and win the game.”
