Friendships will be put aside for 90 minutes tomorrow when Carlisle United go head-to-head with Swindon Town at Brunton Park.
Swindon’s head coach Ben Garner and United boss Keith Millen are friends since when they were on the coaching staff at Crystal Palace.
Although Garner, 41, never played professionally he was mentored by Jose Mourinho when he completed his UEFA Pro licence in 2014. He had been injured at a very young age.
Since then he’s been first team coach at Palace, assistant head coach coach to Tony Pulis at West Brom; assistant head coach to Steve Coppell at Indian Super League club ATK and 11 months as manager of Bristol Rovers.
This is his first season in charge at Swindon who ended a five-game winless run last weekend with a convincing 3-0 victory over Scunthorpe.
That kept them in touch with the play-off places and they have done it playing possession-based football. They currently boast the division’s best possession stats.
Millen has been talking to the club’s website about Garner and the way his side play.
“I know Ben Garner really well. We worked together at Crystal Palace and he’s a friend of mine. He has set the team up and he’s got some good footballers in there
“It’s going to be completely different from Saturday agaianst Colchester who are a different type of team to Swindon, in terms of how they play and where they are in the league.
“I felt it was quite a nervy game last Saturday where both teams realised the importance of it. The conditions were dreadful, and that might be the same here on Saturday.
“Swindon are a lot more possession-based, so that’s a different problem we’ve got to solve. I look at all of that and who we’ve got fit, then try and pick a team to do well.”
“I was pleased with the mindset at Colchester. I wasn’t particularly pleased with the way we played, but I felt we fought hard and battled well.
“We’re going to have to do that from now until the end of the season. Hopefully the confidence comes back after last weekend so we can be a little bit better on the ball.
“I was desperate for us to try and get a clean sheet again to try and get that mentality back, but in general the team defended ok. The two goals were in and around the box from the second phase, which is unusual for us, so we were disappointed with those, but at least they didn’t come from us being opened up in general play.
“When I watch Swindon’s games, they’re a possession side whether they’re at home or away, They changed their shape and formation last week, on the back of maybe having a few injuries, and they’d had that run of games without a win.
“It’s not rocket science, you look at the stats and they do keep it well. It doesn’t worry me, just hopefully they’re not very effective with their passing.
“Then when we do get our chances with the ball, we’ve got to be effective, which we were last Saturday. Can we take that goal threat into the game, but also be aware sometimes we might have to be a bit patient, and keep our discipline.”
