Latics Listen | Charlie Mulgrew.
Defender delighted with his time at Latics so far.
"It's a massive team effort from the set pieces." - Charlie Mulgrew.

Speaking on the latest episode of our podcast, Latics Listen, defender Charlie Mulgrew chats about his set piece expertise, settling in at Latics from Blackburn Rovers and Friday's trip to Fulham...

Here's an excerpt from the interview, or you can listen above.

"We've had a couple of good results in the last few games, but we have to keep building on the little run we've started to put together.

"At first it was about getting to know the lads and getting to know how the manager works. It's good to have worked my way into the team now, but most importantly we've started to pick up results. If I can help that along the way then I'm delighted, but it's a squad game and everyone has to be ready to play their part.

"I'm happy that I'm playing at the moment, so it's all about helping the team to get results.

"I spoke to the manager at the time of signing and he was really keen to get me in here. I'm happy to be here, he's a good manager and someone who has the whole team and the club working towards what he wants to achieve.

"We've got a great bunch of lads, the staff have been excellent and everyone about the club has been very welcoming to me. It makes you want to do even better for the club when people treat you like that, so I'm delighted to be here, very thankful to have the opportunity and keen to help drive the club forwards.

"There are a lot of factors to scoring from set pieces, it's not just me and Chey. We've got people making important runs and occupying dangerous areas, but Chey does really well to get on the end of them and score the goals. I'm happy to put the ball in for him, but it's a team effort, from the players who earn the corners and free kicks, to those who make dummy runs or try to cause a nuisance."

On clean sheets, Mulgrew continued:

"We've had a couple of clean sheets recently which is the most important job for us as defenders and anything else in terms of goals is a bonus for us two.

"We defend as a team and we attack as a team, so the clean sheets are a big effort from the midfielders and strikers as well.

"We're going to need everyone throughout the course of the season and Marshy has been class, so we're thankful to have him making saves like the one against Charlton and for his general presence behind us."

On the prospect of the Fulham game on Friday, the defender added:

"These are tough games and they're exactly the reason why you want to play at this level. You play against teams like Fulham who've got quality all over the pitch, it's going to be difficult, but it's a challenge for us and one that we want to put in a good performance against and do our best at both ends of the pitch.

"There's a lot of excitement around a game like Friday's, they're all pressure games and we're looking to pick up points against a team full of quality.

"It's going to be very difficult, but we believe we can get something from the game. It's one of the bigger games of the season because they were in the Premier League last season. It doesn't take a lot of motivation for a game like this and we're excited for kick off, but ultimately we have to get something out of the game by working together."

Charlie Mulgrew | Fulham preview, set piece deliveries and settling in