Gareth Ainsworth wants his team to give everything for the cause as Gillingham host Walsall at the MEMS Priestfield Stadium in the opening game of the Sky Bet League Two season on Saturday.
The Gills boss has called for his side to be organised throughout to make life difficult for their opposition. He is also expecting improvements following last week's defeat to Luton in the Carabao Cup, admitting that they conceded goals too easily.
With preparations for the opening fixture nearly complete, Ainsworth gave insight into how they have been analysing Walsall, with a new manager in Lee Grant and many new acquisitions. However, Ainsworth reiterated the need for the team to focus on themselves more than anything.
The 53-year-old discussed the players that could potentially return and be involved on Saturday, and provided an update on how the search for Sam Gale's replacement is going.
What he expects to see from his side this Saturday...
I want them to still be going at 95, 96 minutes, first of all. I don't want anyone giving up ever in this team. Until that final whistle goes, you run out of energy, and you crawl off that pitch. That's really important to me, but I want to see a typical team that I would put my name to and that I would have played in, and that I would have played like.
That's what I want. That is everything: you give everything, and you don't give up. You keep running, you keep working hard, you have quality in the right areas, you finish things off, you defend with your lives, you're organised at set pieces, when you switch off and when the ball goes dead, you come alive. All of these things and all of these little cliches, we have to do.
We were too easy to beat last year, and we were too easy to beat the year before. We were definitely too easy to score against last week. I don't want to see that. I want to see us be tough, and if the ball comes maybe near our goal, I want it to be some super skill or something. Not because we made mistakes. We have got to be organised, and we have got to be better than the opposition this year.
How to prepare for the opposition in the opening stages of the season...
We have to go with what he [Lee Grant] has got. In this day and age, everyone gets all sorts of footage from everywhere. It's readily available, so we can look at a couple of pre-season games and obviously the Bristol City game.
As the season progresses, you find more and more about teams. What I'll say is, I want it to be about us. I want to be talking about us a lot and what we have done and what we can be better at with ourselves, rather than worrying about the opposition too much. They are going to have strengths, but I think that we are one of the biggest turnarounds in League Two squad wise this season. Hopefully, that will pay dividends.
On the potential for players to return to the squad...
We have been waiting patiently. Not just for those two [Liam Gordon and Ollie Wright], but Garath [McCleary], Armani [Little] and Cameron Antwi, who has been out for such a long time. They are all back and all on the grass, so I'm looking forward to having a real good squad to select from.
I'm positive about Ollie. Whether we risk him or not will be a late decision, but I'm very positive. Ollie is back on the grass now with us, which is where he belongs. He's a cracking goalkeeper.
On finding a replacement for Sam Gale...
It probably will go to the end of the window. It usually does in League Two. Sam has done brilliantly, and the reports have been good at what he has done at Barnsley. I'm really pleased that he is kicking on now, but we have to find the next Sam Gale, or is there a Sam Gale in the building and we have to find elsewhere to plug a gap? That's what we will do. I am really pleased for Galey.
Gareth's exclusive interview with Gills TV can be seen here.
