'Seriously talented' - New Crawley Town manager waxes lyrical about Reds players after first training sessions

The 38-year-old held his first training sessions following his appointment on Tuesday. He said one of the reasons the job was ‘too good an opportunity to turn down’ was because of the talent at his disposal at the Broadfield Stadium.

And after his first few sessions, he called the players ‘seriously talented’ and he can’t wait to take them to the next level.

Elliot’s first game in charge is away at Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday and he is going to have a tough choice picking his first starting XI after what he has seen.

"There are some seriously talented individuals,” he told us in his first press conference as Reds boss. “Overall what I thought was really pleasing, and tough, for me is that the levels of the squad are really high and their consistency, so it's tough to try to make team selections. One, it's hard to make a team selection, but two, it's a positive because if we get injuries or if you want to freshen it up with players needing to come in, the levels won't drop too much.

“That was really pleasing and I think also just the way they are as a group.

"They were really receptive to us and I'm huge on buy-in because if we ask them to do XYZ, if they buy into it then they'll get all the love, and they'll get all the opportunity and all the time from us. I think they really liked that and they really brought into it and that's going to have to continue, and not just the first few days.”

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Crawley have had a clear identity over the past two seasons with them dominating posesssion, but in recent weeks we have seen a lack goals which means they have been winless ins even games.

Elliot knows it will take time to stamp his identity on the team, but believes people will notice a few changes, which the players have been taking on board. Elliott said: “I think the big thing which probably pleased me the most was how receptive the players were for the little differences of detail that we're going to add. They obviously worked with Scott for a long time and they had a way of playing which I enjoyed watching and there's a few adaptations and evolutions from that that we need to put our stamp on. The lads have taken it really well, and it’s been a good few days.

"We always want to concentrate on our strengths and us as a team and back our players in every scenario. Obviously today we sort of went through Wycombe, and looked at their strengths and weaknesses to a certain degree, but when we think we can hurt them. They are a very good team but again we want to make sure that we're slowly transitioning in the lads into any sort of differences that you might see. I would not expect him to happen straight away. It takes time, but so far they have been really receptive and the sessions will be good.

"I think the strength in this group over the last couple of years is that they have backed themselves in every area of every game to dominate and step on and we want that to continue.”

After Wycombe, Reds host AFC Wimbledon in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday before Shrewsbury Town come to town on Saturday October, October 12.