Touchline conduct, injury blow and learning from mistakes - Cheltenham Town boss Michael Flynn ahead of Chesterfield away

Cheltenham Town manager Michael Flynn
-Credit: (Image: Nizaam Jones/CTFC)


You have put some good halves together, so is it now a case of turning those halves into 90 minutes?

We got to the hour mark, I thought, last weekend, with a good performance and then we came off it. It was frustrating because we should have been out of sight, especially when we got the goal early in the second half. If we'd have taken a few chances that we should have in the first half, the game would have been done.

What's the key to seeing a game out?

Being switched on subs who come on as well, need to know their roles and responsibilities and the amount of analysis, walk throughs and information we give them, they should. The gap for their second goal, there were four players way ahead of the ball and you can't do that away from home in the 86th minute. They need to sprint, be back in and go to a 5-4-1, making it difficult for them to break us down. When you look at Grimsby and Salford, we should be on two more points, but we are not. The irony of it is, we'd have been exactly the same as Chesterfield, with two wins, two draws, two losses. The quicker we learn from those mistakes, there is a lot of scope to improve.

You have been on the right end of a couple of late goals and the wrong end as well, but there seem to be a lot of late goals around the leagues in general this season

I still don't think the league has settled down, anyway. A few have had good starts, a few have had bad starts, but the league has not settled down. Look at Chesterfield now and it's a bit of a David v Goliath in terms of budgets and what they have compared to ours, but they have injuries to key players. I know Paul (Cook) and they haven't been firing on all cylinders consistently. Hopefully they are not on Saturday because it's a very, very tough place to go.

So is it perhaps a good time to go there?

It's only a good time to go there if we get a result and bring something back on the coach with us, otherwise it's going to be another frustrating afternoon and we have to keep going, believing, working together and they have worked extremely hard this week. The players have been brilliant in terms of application and attitude. It's now about the nitty gritty of game management.

What does a Paul Cook side look like and play like?

Attractive, look to play through the lines. They are usually a 4-2-3-1, with lots of rotations and pace and he's always had good players and good squads, that he's managed at some fantastic football clubs. It's going to be tough.

Ryan Haynes came off last week. What's the diagnosis with him?

It's not looking good. Ryan looks like he'll be out for four to six months, so that's not ideal. Again, something completely innocuous, but that seems to be the cards we are being dealt at the moment. He's done the lateral ligament in his knee, so it'll probably need an operation, which will happen next week.

Devastating for him as well as you and the club

Yes. I'd like to thank the board for allowing us to bring in Lewis (Shipley), which was important. With JT (Jordan Thomas) out injured, Freddy Willcox is almost back, but not quite, if we didn't have Shipley, we'd have really been struggling in that position. It goes to show the importance of having a squad where they can compete all over the pitch and thankfully now, we have Lewis in so we can play a natural left-sider there as well.

You are purposefully being a bit quieter on the touchlines and being more thoughtful. What is the thinking behind that?

I am always trying to improve. Whether that be, going for a run and trying to beat my time, or trying to win at cards. Whatever I do, I will always try to improve. I have been a manager now for a long time and there are certain aspects that I feel, on reflection, that I can do better. That was one of them. I've been doing a lot of reading and I think only six per cent of what you shout on the sidelines gets through. If you think about that, when that's the case, you can stand up for 90 minutes and only six or seven per cent is getting through the players. You are better off making more decisions that are clearly thought through, rather than irrational. They are a lot more rational and if I do get up and shout, it means it's something really important and hopefully they take it on. We have Aaron (Downes), who loves to go up and down, that's his eagerness of how he is and that's fine. Where I want to be is looking at the bigger picture and improving. If I improve, it's only going to be helpful to the team because it can hopefully improve them as well. It helps Aaron improve, being there as well and Ash (Vincent) adds some more authority because it's a team, not the Michael Flynn show. We are all striving for the same goal, which is to be successful on a football pitch. The players' attitude and workrate has been really good and it's something I can't fault, but there are things we need to improve on and we will. We all need to improve and I am one of them as well.

So if you are out there, you are out there for a reason

Pep (Guardiola) and (Mikel) Arteta are up, constantly and they have the best players in the world. But that's how they want to do it. We have a young team, a group that are new to the Football League, in the main, so I don't think it's beneficial for me to be up non-stop, talking them through, or shouting at every decision, or move they make. They have to learn and I think this is a quicker way for them to learn, while they are on the pitch, making those snap decisions. Ethon (Archer), for example, is learning quickly, taking onboard what we ask and he did it very well on Saturday. His stats were through the roof and I was really impressed, but he has to do that again now. The ones who want to improve and put the work in to improve will. I don't just go home after training or after a game and completely switch off, I am thinking, what set play are we going to do, what team am I going to pick, how can we expose Chesterfield on Saturday, how can we stop them exposing us. It doesn't stop and just because I am not shouting as much, doesn't mean I am not working harder than ever. I won't be up much this week because I've done my back in!

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READ MORE: Failing to capitalise on first half display, forced into subs and preparing for tough run - Cheltenham Town boss Michael Flynn after Salford City defeat