Football Tisdale rues ‘sluggish’ display from his Rovers players
PAUL Tisdale believes his Bristol Rovers players should have been “more ballsy” after they were beaten 2-0 by MK Dons on Boxing Day.
The Gas went behind to a screamer from Ben Gladwin in first-half stoppage time at Stadium MK, before a poor kick from goalkeeper Jordi van Stappershoef was punished by Scott Fraser just after the hour-mark.
Rovers were sluggish after the Covid-19 outbreak in the squad forced them to self-isolate and not train for 10 days before Christmas, and they suffered from absences of key players Anssi Jaakkola, Josh Grant, Erhun Oztumer and Zain Westbrooke.
The latter missed out after contracting the virus, while Jaakkola and Grant are nursing injuries.
But manager Paul Tisdale made no excuses at full-time: he believes his team should have offered much more.
“It (the absences) didn’t help, but we didn’t discuss that or worry about it,” Tisdale told the Bristol Post.
“We just tried to put players on the pitch and give them a bit of a brief.
“If we’re going to talk about midfield, because we had players who were missing there, Ed Upson stood up and I felt he had a good game. He really tried hard and was on the front foot.
“The players behind them have to give them a chance and push up. There’s nothing worse than being a midfield player, especially one coming into the side like Cam Hargreaves, to be caught between two stalls of going forward or back.
“The players behind have to take responsibility for those midfield players, and then you push up the side and the whole team should be playing five to 10 yards further up the pitch.
We sat off, and I’m not sure that’s us. I’m not sure that is the type of team we should try to be
“It’s easy to talk about midfield because there were changes in there, but as a team we should have been more ballsy.”
The defeat dropped Rovers to 20th in League One, a point clear of the relegation zone with two games in hand.
Tisdale was particularly frustrated with Rovers’ first-half performance, which mustered just 29 per cent of the ball and zero shots.
The manager was asked if he put Rovers’ performance down to rustiness through a lack of training, but he believes they should have showed greater intent on and off the ball.
“I would probably use the word sluggish more than rusty, but I know what you’re driving at and I have the same opinion of it,” he said.
“I’m disappointed by the fact we didn’t impose ourselves on the game in the first half. We let it happen. We weren’t too respectful of the opposition, but we wanted to play clever and I’m not sure that’s us.
“We’ve got to be a lot more brave with our positions and quicker to the ball. We never wanted to sit off them, there was never any discussion in the first half to be that team and we were that team.
“We sat off, and I’m not sure that’s us. I’m not sure that is the type of team we should try to be.
“We can make tactical, technical and selection decisions, but ultimately the players have to go and