Following the disappointment of the weekend defeat at stadium:mk manager John Sheridan spoke once more about the need for the squad to place more demands on itself as the team looks to get back to picking up points and climbing the table.
“We know it’s one of the big things we lack,” he said. “That’s not me trying to be clever or to dig the players out. I’m trying to be polite with them to get it into them that they don’t demand enough from each other.
“It’s about looking after each other and about people pushing and demanding from each other to stop things from happening. That’s something we need to do better. We see players were in acres of space for goals we’ve conceded and things like that need to be anticipated and spotted.”
“When I played I never shut up, and the players next to me were the same,” he explained. “That’s all part of what makes a winning team and what makes teams become successful. We haven’t got it enough at the moment.
“We don’t demand, and it’s difficult to get players to do it if it doesn’t come naturally. It’s not a criticism of the lads, it’s just something we can do to make things better.
“Look at some of the goals scored against us. We have good players in this team, so why can’t we be the side that’s scoring these goals and winning games? The margins are fine, but it’s up to us to close them up.
“We need to demand from each other that we want to win, we want to score, we want to go home happy and we want our win bonus, and things like that. Too many times we allow the opportunities that are there to pass us by.”
“I’ve said before, you do look at absolutely everything when you aren’t winning games,” he concluded. “I’m the manager, I pick the players and I always look at myself and what I’ve done.
“I seem to be saying the same things every game and it’s not me looking to hide things. We’ve more than been in every game and we could have had at least seven or eight more points.
“Our problem continues to be that we don’t take our chances, so we need to demand better from each other every time we go on the pitch.”
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