|
"I'm not the type of person who kids himself or someone who sits there bemoaning my luck and thinking the world is against me. I'm realistic and I know where our deficiencies lie. We're not posing as much of a threat to opposing teams as we ought to and we're not putting teams under as much pressure with goalmouth action.
"Jo Kuffour and Lee Bradbury can't create all their own chances. We need to supply them with a steady service. If you only get one cross a game, you might score one goal in ten games. But if you get ten crosses a game, you might get a goal a game.
"We're killing ourselves by conceding sloppy goals and need to get that instinct back where attackers take a chance. At the moment, we're not looking like we're going to score goals that we're not entitled to score. Sometimes, you need people to take a chance.
"If you wait until something has happened and then try to get there, you will always be second and that's evident with us. That little bit of initiative and predators' instinct is lacking and it's frustrating. I'm trying my best and if I could make some room to bring somebody in, I would. I'd like to give us a bit more pace if I could.
"I like high-energy players and like to play a high-tempo game. I let 14 players go in the summer and gave a number their league debuts at the start of the season. It's a learning curve for the coaching staff as much as it is for the players when you make so many changes."
"Some will work, some won't hit it off straight away and some will need a bit of time. It doesn't help when you get hit with colossal injuries. That's not an excuse, it's a fact. But we need to learn and we need to learn fast. We're not feeling sorry for ourselves, but you need to highlight where you're going wrong and people need to step up to the plate and take responsibility.
"It gets to the stage when it doesn't matter how it happens but you just want to get a win under you belt, especially at home. We just need to dig in, show a great deal of resolve, take our chances and make things happen.
"I will stick with Asmir (Begovic) in goal. I think he has been excellent for us. I wouldn't do that to him (drop him) on the back of one mistake. There was a communication error, he realised that and held up his hand. The important thing with youngsters in these situations is that they learn from them.
"If they do then that's fine but if they don't and it happens again then that's when you've got a problem and that's when he will have a problem. He's pulled off some wonderful saves for us and was excellent the week before that and the week before that and you give him the benefit of the doubt.
"You don't need knee-jerk reactions in these situations although you can't continue to have anybody making mistake after mistake. Eventually, you need to do something about it and I know that Mossy is itching to get back when the opportunity arises for him."