Buckley will review system after poor showing against St. Pats
SLIGO ROVERS S. PATRICK’S ATH 0 2
SLIGO Rovers boss Liam Buckley says he will sit down and review the system he has been playing so far this season, after Rovers picked up another defeat on Friday night.
Buckley opted for 3-5-2 throughout pre-season and stuck with it for both games this season.
But, he feels it may need to be looked at, as so far it hasn’t really worked for the Bit O’Red.
Speaking after Friday night’s defeat against his former club, Buckley admits his players didn’t look at ease with the system.
“We huffed and puffed. We didn’t do enough. We didn’t look particularly comfortable with the shape that we have so we’ll have to overview the whole thing again.
“I’ll be straight, the reason I was going with 3-5-2 was because we had so many defenders in the group. When you take four out in Lewis, Regan, John Mahon and Danny Kane, we’re light in numbers for that.
“We’ll review the whole thing. I need the lads to be comfortable in how we’re trying to play and we’re just not playing anywhere near well enough.
“I’ll review that with John (Russell), we may make some changes because we need to pick up points quickly.”
Defender Alex Cooper will be a welcome addition to the group, as Rovers’ injury woes continue.
He is confident that his side have more to give.
“There’s enough ability in the group. The new lad we have in, Alex Cooper, and there’s another one I’m looking to get in next week, it will certainly add to the whole thing and will give us a bigger and better opportunity to see where we can go forward.”
He doesn’t want his players feeling sorry for themselves, however.
“There’s no sympathy in this game. We’ve got to quickly get ourselves going so that we can pick up points. Although they scored a worldie, for 25 minutes there was nothing in the game. I thought we were marginally better with it. They scored a worldie from a mistake from us, it took the wind out of our sails. We didn’t do anything in relation to what we’re trying to do in training. We’ll look at the whole group going forward.”
Buckley felt as though there were no positives to take from Friday’s defeat. He wants his side to start showing their ability soon, before they fall too far behind.
“Not really (any positives). It’s a defeat. We need to work harder, we just didn’t play well enough. It’s frustrating from my end of it when I look at it, there is quite a lot of ability in the group. We’re just not seeing it from a collective point of view. We’ll review it and try and get better over the next week or two.
“It won’t be the first or the last time we go behind this season. We have to grow into it and understand that we’ve got to compete every week if we’re going to do anything. What’s the point in doing this business unless you’re going to try and win and give your 100%.
“There’s definitely more in this group. We have to find it quickly. Matches will skip past us quickly. I will be looking to be a stamp on something, where we can just move forward. We changed it around a bit last year and we may have to do that again.”
With two games played, his side are yet to score a goal. Only Rovers and Cork are goalless from the first two games played. The addition of Ryan De Vries will help Rovers’ goalscoring concerns.
“It is a concern. You’re going to get chances and you’re going to score goals, (to do that) you have to play a certain way, whatever way that’s going to be. Looking at us tonight and looking at us last week, we just didn’t do enough in both games.”
He issued an update on injuries, confirming that Lewis Banks will be missing for a number of weeks.
“Lewis will be out for a few weeks. It’s unfortunate, we just didn’t see that coming. We didn’t see John Mahon’s one coming. Danny Kane had a procedure so he will be out for a few weeks. Regan obviously dislocated his shoulder. They’re not excuses. The team we put out tonight I do expect them to do better. We have to find a way of getting the best out of them.”
Johnny Dunleavy came off the field before the end of the game limping, with Buckley hopeful that it was nothing more than a cramp.
Rovers travelled to Dublin last night to take on Keith Long’s Bohemian, before they are back at The Showgrounds this Saturday where they host Waterford.