MANAGER: Flexibility in shape and formation

“The recruitment we’ve done means we have players who give us flexibility in our shape and formation,” he said. “I make decisions purely based on what I think is going to win us games or, with substitutions, to keep us in games. 

“As we saw on Monday, that can cause a few grumbles, but if I start making decisions based on what other people who pay their good money to watch are thinking or saying then there’s no point in me being there. 

“Luke Joyce is a consummate professional. He is striving to improve on a daily basis and he brings an air of maturity and a willingness to work and learn to the job. He does everything right and it’s always disappointing when the home fans don’t get behind a player. 

“The player starts to second guess the simple things and I know it affected me when it happened during my career.”

On a debut for new signing Louis Pedro, he said: “Pedro has a big bag of tricks. What people don’t see is how much it takes out of you coming on as a substitute. He has good ball mastery and he can get away from players. 

“I know our supporters want somebody to give them that excitement and buzz. My job now is to introduce him as quickly as I can, but always with the team fully in mind. He’s nowhere near match fit but he can create things, he can control the ball without having to look at it and he can score goals. You could see how eager he was to produce from the moment he got on the pitch.”

“As I said, we created the chances and we took them against Bristol Rovers,” he commented. “I’ll be happy if we go to Portsmouth and have one shot that takes a deflection and goes in. If we win by one goal after that we’ll take it. We’re due some scruffy goals, so why not in the next game?”