Mike Dodds spoke of his anger at 'the group' for a lack of consistency, and said he was bored while watching the team against Millwall. Welcome to our world, Mike.
ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK
“I’m angry, frustrated and annoyed. I feel like at the moment with the group it’s one step forward and two steps back. I felt in recent weeks our performances have been really professional and we’ve looked like a really solid outfit. But today, we spoke about all the things Millwall will offer in the game which will be set pieces, waiting for that one counter-attack, making the game really stodgy, fouls, and we concede a goal through that one transition, that one moment which we said we had to manage. We let them get too many bodies behind the ball too quickly which is what they wanted, they wanted to sink off and deny us space with bodies behind the ball."
BORING TO WATCH
"So I’m angry because we didn’t create enough chances and I was bored watching us if I’m being completely honest. I’ve just told the group in there that I didn’t enjoy watching the team. As I said, it feels like one step forward two steps back with the group. We’re going to need a reaction in the next seven days because I can’t stand at the side of the pitch and watch that again. I’m sure we’ve got some really loyal supporters who feel the exact same.”
DEVOLPEMENT ISN'T EVERYTHING
“I’ll be honest, I don’t really want to be talking about development when we’ve just lost 1-0 at home to Millwall. I understand why that might be a discussion point but the reality is if these younger players want to develop at this football club or wherever else, they can’t have that level of inconsistency which we’re seeing far too frequently towards the end of this season. That’s something we need to address as coaching staff and make sure the players are really clear on which performances have been positive and which performances are unacceptable. As I said today, I was disappointed with that. I was bored and I felt we were really laboured in possession."
LET THEM BULLY US
"We allowed Millwall to do what Millwall do which really angered me, because we spoke all week about making sure we dealt with that. The set pieces side we dealt with, but didn’t deal with transitions because they scored from one transition and they were waiting for that one moment, that’s the way they set up. And also we allowed them too frequently to get bodies behind the ball and just absorb our pressure. So two of the three things we didn’t achieve, so I’m disappointed.”
EVANS RETURN
“I didn’t really want to be throwing Corry on the pitch. I just felt it was needs must because we had to get more bodies higher up the pitch and it was more of a change the game required. That being said he’s been training with us for a number of weeks now, he’s looking good and when he came on I thought he did exactly what we asked of him. It’s been a long 13-14 months for him, he’s a big character in the dressing room in terms of leadership so we’re going to need him for the last two games.”
NEXT TWO
“I feel all three games including today are games we should do really well in, and the group now have to find the performance next weekend because I’m really angry at the level of inconsistency we’re seeing with the group. So yeah, we’re going to have to be more consistent in the last two games, we have to make sure we give the fans some positivity to go into the summer with, but at the moment it doesn’t quite feel like that.”
