Abbott ahead of the Doncaster game
United manager Greg Abbott spoke to us ahead of the visit of Doncaster on Tuesday night.He said: "The Orient game has been and gone and what we have to do is look for a response tonight.
"We have to get the crowd back on our side because they think we aren’t good enough at the moment. They can only go by what they see and we just haven’t produced enough for them to make them think otherwise.
“We’ll learn a lot about these players because you always do find things out when you are in situations of adversity. They need to get out there and get us a win. This isn’t a time for excuses with injuries or missing players, or things like that. We need the players who pull the shirt on to do the job for us.
"It could be that some of the players have let their performance levels drop so much that it’s become scary for themselves. What we’re saying is that this is the group we’ve got, and we have to work within that to put this right.
“I’ve stuck by them even when we’ve been continually criticised for not keeping clean sheets, but after the Orient game I could probably make four changes across the back four and there wouldn’t be much of an argument. The whole group knows they have to be better.
“Defending comes down to every player on the pitch because a mistake in the opposition half could end up costing us. We have to start doing things properly in all areas or we’re going to make life very difficult.
“We have to keep believing in the things we've been doing which have brought us to where we are now. Over the four years we’ve been in some serious situations and we’ve got out of them ... but I think this one is as serious as it gets. We’ve had a fantastic four years where we have seen improvement across the board but, at the moment, it’s proving to be very difficult. Maybe we have to do some fiddling with the group because the players are nowhere near the levels I think they can reach.
“I accept that this business is all about results and that you always come under scrutiny if you aren’t picking up points regularly. I’ve been in the game since I was 14 so I know how it goes.
"I think we’re now in a situation where the whole city needs to come together. The fans were absolutely brilliant in the second half on Saturday. They really did their bit and it’s just so disappointing that we didn’t repay them with the performance they deserved. We also know that we have to give them something to shout about right from the start.
"We need them to stick with us and help us to get that win and then we can kick on from there. We need three points at home desperately at the moment because we have no argument to say we’re heading the right way without it."
