Gary Johnson spoke to the media ahead of his side hosting North London’s Barnet at the LCI Rail stadium and despite it being a busy week for him and his family he still had the time to talk about Cheltenham.
Barnet are currently sitting at the bottom of League Two, five points off 23rd place Forest Green Rovers, but Johnson is certainly wary of their threat, especially having recently appointed Graham Westley.
Johnson said:
“I think what normally happens when a new manager comes in is he changes a lot and sometimes it gives the lads a new lease of life.
“Graham’s tactics will be very different to Mark McGee’s and different to the manager before that. The boys have to get used to it.
“There are different ways that they disrupt/interrupt the game especially when we’re at home so we’ve got to try and keep the flow going, try and get a goal up as early as we can, that sort of stuff.”
With the suspension appeals for Taylor Moore and Danny Wright rejected, they will not be available for a couple of games. Will they need to dip into the transfer market again to find a couple more players to fill the gaps?
“We’ve only got six days to go.
“There’s not a lot more you can do because we’ve got our five loans. Our results have been indifferent but our two strikers have a goal each.
“One of them won the game for us, or helped us win the game at Colchester, haven’t seen his since. It’s still in the balance. If something does crop up, it’s a permanent.”
Johnson also claimed that it’s difficult to do deals in January and has pointed to the fact that even the biggest deals involving some of the biggest players are difficult and can take time in this month.
“There’s not many clubs doing that at the moment.
“Every day for three weeks the Sanchez deal was talked about because there was hardly anything else to talk about.”
One player that may return is Will Boyle. He suffered a fractured cheek bone against Stevenage on New Year’s day but recently made a return in the reserves against Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday.
When asked about Boyle, Johnson confirmed:
“He’s one that’s available for selection.”
Midfielder Carl Winchester is having an exceptional season so far for the Robins, bagging four goals in addition to five assists. Winchester, who signed from Oldham last January, is out of contract at the end of the season, but Johnson in keen to extend it.
“Of course you want to keep your consistent players that are definitely at this level.
“He knows we want him here; any negotiation stays in-house of course.
“At this stage you have to talk a little bit and hope that someone’s not looking in.
“At the moment he’s giving us everything.”
Even if Winchester is lured away by a bigger club, his current manager is very proud of what he’s achieved so far this season, as a player and more recently, as a captain.
“I thought he captained the team very well in a very difficult game for a captain.
“If the camera was on him, not only did he have a good game physically but he played a very very good captains part where he was breaking things up, talking to the lads.
“It was a good captain’s part he played on the day, captain’s performance. I think he was proud of that accolade.”