Manager Paul Cook gave his thoughts on the upcoming fixture away at Oldham on Saturday afternoon.
Cook opened the interview by reflecting on the business that the Spireites have completed over the summer and how the new faces have settled in. “We feel we have had a good transfer window,” he said. “We had the tough situation of injuries to our flair players within the squad at the start of the season, but we are obviously delighted with how the transfer window has gone.
“With five games in, we have seen the good, the bad and the ugly of us. With new players and new systems, it is difficult to adjust and get everyone up to speed, and not all players are fully match-fit after joining so it will take time to bed them in.”
Looking ahead to the weekend, Cook spoke about the man in the opposing dugout, saying: “I love Micky [Mellon], he is a proper football guy with as good of a CV as just about anyone. I think he has done brilliant work at Oldham. I look at Oldham as a club and they are growing, they are doing things right and I think they will do even better than they did last year.
“We are under no illusions about how difficult the game will be tomorrow; therefore, we have to prepare for that and be ready for them.”
Cook went on to speak about the squad’s form and results from the opening fixtures, highlighting that time is key as he looks ahead across the busy season. “We see managers lose their job and we are only five games in. For any club to look at that and decide that they need a fresh start is really difficult to see. We need to give our lads time, focus on the next game and we need to look forward rather than backwards.”
“I think 80 points will get anyone promoted. The coaching quality is higher, the analytics is better, the additional margins to gain are becoming smaller and smaller therefore every point counts in this division and they may not come straight away.
“You look at Barnet last week and they had a few big chances to kill the game. It could quite easily have meant we walked away without a point. I do feel like we should have beat Gillingham, and we almost got a point at Rotherham, and it shows how marginal the results can be.”
Cook closed the interview with a reflection on the Spireites’ result last weekend. “Football is about winning; it is all about the result at five o’clock. How you get there is a preferred choice. For us we were disappointed with the goals that we conceded last week, and I am sure Barnet would say the same about the goals we scored.
“When I watched Oldham’s game at Tranmere last week, with the greatest respect I don’t think they deserved to lose the game, but the score says they lost 2-0, but we are looking forward to the game tomorrow and we will be ready.”
Watch the full interview on YouTube here.
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