Coley demands Stanley hunger
JOHN Coleman read the riot act to his Accrington Stanley players following an errorstrewn display against Everton under 23s at the weekend.
The Reds chief was far from impressed with the display against the Toffeemen, questioning his players’ appetite and branding the showing ‘unacceptable’.
The Reds led twice in the game but squandered their advantage twice, drawing the match 3-3.
“I’m very disappointed. There’s a lot of work to be done on the training ground and the players have been told in no uncertain terms that it was unacceptable,” Coleman told the club’s official website.
“It cost them one day off and it would have cost them two days off had they lost the game.
“They have got to realise what we are about. We want to be successful this season and we’re not going to be a success – conceding three goals for a start – but also not showing the appetite that I want to see.”
Having been edged out by Huddersfield Town three days earlier – another game in which they missed several chances – Coleman is demanding improvement.
“I don’t believe you can ever say there is a good time to make mistakes. You can say it’s less damaging because there are no points at stake, but you have got to start winning.
“That’s two games that we should have won and won comfortably and we haven’t done. You can’t keep saying we were unlucky, there has to be a flaw, and we’ve got to address that flaw. That is one of my jobs.
“I wasn’t entertained in any way, shape or form by the performance – I was very disappointed. We controlled the game for 40 minutes, had a couple of chances but nothing much and we didn’t show a hunger to go and close the game out and win it.
“I gave them a rollicking at half time because I felt we were ambling through the first half. We got ourselves back into the lead and then threw another stupid goal away.”