Slightly later out for your interview today, what’s been happening and have you been having a longer chat with the players?
Don’t worry about what’s been said in the changing rooms after the game. I am more concerned with our defending as a team because that is nowhere near the required level for professional football.
Angry? You have watched it. I am absolutely fuming. We have worked on stopping crosses, dealing with balls in the box and we’ve been doing it for weeks now because we’ve seen a common trend. We have conceded 10 goals now from crosses into the box and you shouldn’t concede that throughout the season and we’ve done it after 11 games. I have just told them that if they can’t do it, I’ll have to wait and make sure we get people in who can do it.
Can you put your finger on what it is they are not doing?
They are not getting close enough.
Now three games in four you have conceded a goal in the first two minutes of the second half. What is your explanation for that?
Let’s rewind. I thought we were the better team at first, the way we started. As soon as the first goal went in, which Swindon didn’t have to do anything about, heads dropped and a few players went into their shells. Second goal, again, they didn’t have to do anything about it, a ball into the box, players switched off and he gets a free attempt at the back post to put them 2-0 up. At that point, you are scratching your head and you want to see some fight. Players went into their shells. There is a lot of negativity around from last season as well and we’ve been brought in to try and stop that and it’s tough. It is tough. I know what I do is not what was shown for those goals today. It was easy, way too easy and even when they got the third, we tried our best to give them a fourth. After that, I said to them, one thing was they didn’t throw it in, but that is a given and it should never happen. It’s a derby, a full house here and it has to hurt them a lot more than what I think it does. How many of them just get into their car, go home and not look themselves in the mirror and thought ‘I could have done better today’ – I don’t think that’s just us by the way, it’s a society thing now where people don’t look in the mirror and take accountability for their poor performances or mistakes. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life and I’ve owned up to every single one of them. I am not perfect, but I’ll tell you what, I wouldn’t let anybody have a free header or a tap-in, or get the better of me without giving it a fight. I thought Joel McGregor for them, their right wing-back, who is 18 years of age, scores the winner and I think he must have won about 15 headers today. That’s an 18-year-old with fire in his belly and he is going to have a bright future. The gauntlet now to our lads is how many of you want to kick on, or do you want to watch your careers pass you by?
Are you questioning your players’ desire?
Not desire, but how much it hurts them. You can see they were running around and trying, but it’s that final…sometimes you can put it down to in-game knowledge, it’s just too easy to score against us and it can’t be. It can’t be. 10 goals now from crosses and it’s not good enough.
In-game knowledge, but there are players in the team who have played a lot of Football League games
Yes and a lot of players who, I have to be careful what I say, who are falling below the standard that I require for this football club.
You made three changes at half-time so it must have been pretty demoralising to concede so early in the second half
Yes, it’s not good enough. We were absolutely in cruise control at Barrow last week and they didn’t look like scoring. We switch off and at that point we gave the home team the impetus. Today, we give a Swindon team who are struggling a 3-0 advantage away from home. It wasn’t good enough.
You have looked in the mirror in your career as you said and you will be tonight. What will you be thinking you can do differently?
You have to keep working with them, trying to improve them. The unfortunate thing is that they are learning on my watch and the club’s watch. For those who don’t take it on board and do it quickly, I don’t think they’ll have a career long in the game anymore.
But there is not a lot you can do at the moment, is there?
No, but this season was always going to be difficult. Forget about coming down from League One. League Two is a very difficult league, the wages and squad quality have gone through the roof, up and up and up. We have signed 19 players, taken a lot of players without experience. But when you lose the likes of Harry Pell, Ryan Haynes, Arkell (Jude-Boyd), who I know is one of those, he is somebody who can really kick on. Those three are big, big misses for us. Long-term injuries to key players makes it that little bit harder.
Did you think it was going to be this tough?
Yes. I am not one to shy away from a fight. I believe I can do what I need to do here. You need time, more than one transfer window and you have to stick together. People might say I am blaming the players and I am not. I am just giving them an awakening that it takes a lot more to have a sustained professional career than what they are showing at the moment.
Were all three half-time changes tactical and is Scot Bennett’s foot okay?
Scot was fine and I don’t think he did much wrong today at all. He wasn’t at fault for the goals, it was just being 2-0 down at home, against a team I thought we could get at and score against, so it was just getting more attacking players on the field.
And they did make a positive impact, unfortunately after the third went in
The third goal, straight after half-time, is not good enough. Let’s be honest. The second goal: I have a player not even looking at the players he’s supposed to be marking. I am not going to name names and make it individual, but he’s not even looking at the player, who blocks Ryan Bowman, who was marking the one who scored. It is academy football. Where results don’t matter. They have to liven up quickly.
Jordan Thomas back from injury and he does offer something different doesn’t he?
He does, but I thought he could have done a little bit better in certain areas today and get a few more crosses in. He is coming back from injury. He is one who can create a lot. We had nothing to lose so we might as well go on the front foot and not be worrying about defending too much because we are not very good at it. We are going to have to fight fire with fire and be on the front foot, so people like Jordan come into play to be starters.
Arkell Jude-Boyd another one who would offer that, if he was fit
He is a big miss. And we brought Ethon Archer in to work with him and have time with him to progress him and hopefully sell him on in 18 months’ time. We are having to use him at the minute as one of our key attacking players because that’s where we’re at. Eight months again, I think he was playing Sunday league football. Let’s not get carried away and ignore that’s what we are having to deal with at the minute. George Miller has come in, coming back needing games after a lengthy injury and today he looked a lot sharper, not just because he got his goal. He got stuck in a bit more, backed in, made it more difficult for the opposition defenders to have clean headers, so again, he will need games. It’s a balancing act without getting them injured.
How is Matty Taylor, after his hamstring setback?
He trained on Friday and it didn’t feel too comfortable. Matty wasn’t available. He went off and I am not saying he’s done his hamstring again, he just didn’t feel 100 per cent comfortable so we couldn’t take a risk, especially with his hamstring history.
