Lee Bowyer was pleased with his young side following a 2-2 Checkatrade Trophy draw at home to AFC Wimbledon.
The caretaker boss spoke to the press after the game and below are the key talking points. His full interview is available on Valley Pass.
On Mark Marshall...
"For me that’s what I want to see and sometimes I see it, sometimes I don’t. He wasn’t in the squad at the weekend and that would have hurt him and he couldn’t do no more than what he’s done tonight and given that performance. That’s what I want from him, it’s not personal from him or anybody. If you’re not performing then you are not involved because you’ve got the young lads, George (Lapslie), Albie (Morgan), Taylor (Maloney) knocking on the door and if they are doing better than you, you won’t be involved. I don’t care how old you are, how experienced you are, if you are not performing. That’s not just Marsh, that’s everybody, that goes across the board, that goes across the board and they all know it, all the players know it. I’m over the moon for Marsh and Naby Sarr as well, I thought he was excellent tonight. He got dropped for no reason at all really. He’d done nothing wrong. When you go to Southend, it’s a physical game and we needed (Jason Pearce), he’s our leader, he’s our captain. Naby took it well and he put in a performance like that. Him and Marsh were excellent but I thought they all did well."
On his thoughts on the game…
"The most important thing there for me is no injuries. Igor got important minutes under his belt, Ben Reeves, 60 minutes without picking anything up – that’s his first minutes since the second day of pre-season. I think it was good for Jed (Steer), to see what Jed can do. Obviously I’ve watched him on clips but I’ve not seen him live – that’s the first time I’ve seen him live, so I’ve liked what I’ve seen there.
"To see the way they’ve played and moved the ball, because we had a very young side compared to theirs. They were all confident to get it from back to front, they played it well and moved the ball quick and switched it and got it and linked up well. For me and Jacko, our job is to improve the players and to see them young players, especially the three midfielders who have been with us since pre-season, it’s massive to see how much they’ve improved as players.
"It’s rewarding for us, ok, we’ve not won tonight but to see those three go up against the two they were playing against and dominate possession really, I think they were a credit to themselves. All the players did well but for us as coaches, to see the young lads improving the way they are is a big achievement."
On his young team improving…
"Everything we do every day is passing, moving the ball quickly so it (the players improving) doesn’t surprise me. When you’re playing against experienced players and you’ve got these little kids popping it around, it’s good for me to see. They’re taking it on board, even from the first half to the second half I said to two of them, George and Taylor, “just alter your body position when you receive it” because our out ball was to switch. You’d get it from Marsh (right wing back), then it’s out to Reevsey (left wing back). That was our out ball all the time, they were coming a little bit square on in the first half, so I said “just drop that little five yards, so you can see Reevsey before you receive it and then you hit that”. They’ve done it and taken it on board and got it out there a lot quicker in the second half. They want to listen and they want to learn and that can only be good for the football club."
On Patrick Bauer...
"Patrick Bauer was violently sick at half time (against Southend on Saturday) and then got dizzy and then couldn’t carry on. Once he came out at half time he didn’t look himself. He half lay on the floor and we knew had to get him off. He trained today and was excellent, Monday, yesterday we sent him home."
On Tariqe Fosu not being able to play but it not counting towards his three game suspension following a sending off on Saturday...
"In an ideal world I would rather it counted as a game but if it doesn’t count as a game then surely he can play. Or if he can’t play it’s got to be a game. It’s got to be one or the other surely. It can’t work two different ways. Apparently if you get sent off tonight then you can play in the league game on Saturday, so how does that work?"
On if he is a fan of the Checkatrade…
"I’ve just got valuable minutes for some of the players. If you’d have asked me a few weeks ago then we were down to bare bones I don’t know who would have played tonight. That’s not the case anymore and we’ve got players coming back and they’re getting valuable minutes so today, yeah I’m a fan of the competition."
Bowyer's full interview is available on Valley Pass.