Lyttle demands passion from players
SLIGO Rovers manager Ger Lyttle wants to see more desire, work-rate and passion from his players as Rovers face into a crucial run of fixtures.
Sitting third bottom of the table yesterday (Monday) before facing Bray Wanderers, Rovers form has not looked a whole lot different to that of last season.
Friday night’s defeat to Waterford was a bitter pill to swallow for the manager, particularly considering it was the third defeat at home.
“IT’S frustrating. It was like a slow painful death when I saw the goal going in. I really thought there was only going to be one winner once we got the goal,” he told The Sligo Champion.
“I thought we were looking as if we were going to take the three points. It wasn’t that they were brilliant in the first-half, I just thought we were awful. We can’t afford to start games the way we did tonight. I’m a little deflated in terms of not getting the points. It’s obviously three losses at home, which I don’t take too kindly too. We’ve got to stay positive and be patient. We have good players, I have no doubt in that. Hopefully it will just click for us.” FOLLOWING an extremely poor first-half, Rovers looked the better side after the restart, and certainly looked the most likely to win the game.
“I can’t keep repeating myself, there was a few harsh words spoken at half-time and it’s obviously taken that to get a reaction. And it was a good reaction from the boys, but the first-half and the second-half was night and day. It wasn’t even a wee bit better, it was a lot better.”
Lyttle added: “It just shows you how poor we were in the first half. We were standing off players, there was no intensity, there was nobody putting a tackle in. It felt like a pre-season friendly. In the second-half then we played with a bit of desire, tempo and passion. We looked the better team, their manager said they’ve stolen the game. It’s easy to say that. I’m gutted. I take it bad, I take it bad for the fans, hopefully we get a turn of fortune.”
Striker Adam Morgan has been on the receiving end of much criticism from fans since arriving, but Lyttle agrees that his record of three goals in four games is hard to argue with, given that the Liverpudlian was brought to Sligo to score goals.
“I know sometimes Adam isn’t as pleasing on the eye as your typical centre forward. He’s a goalscorer and that’s what he does. He seems to be in the right place at the right time. We would all like a little bit more in his overall play but he’s a finisher and if he gets a sniff around the box he’ll get on the end of it and poke it in.”
It’s not just Morgan, however, that Lyttle is demanding to see more from.
“We need more from everyone. We need more heart, more work-rate, more desire. I keep using the word passion because I shouldn’t have to use that. As soon as you put that jersey on it should be there, we haven’t got that real ‘I’m not losing that game feeling’ and that’s what we have to get to.
“We need a win and we need to find that winning habit. That’s what winning is, it’s a habit. It’s a cliché, so is losing. We’ve lost three games, the Cork game was disappointing in terms of mistakes we made, we didn’t really make mistakes tonight. For the second goal we were short on tackles. The lad’s hit a good strike and scored. We’ve got to keep digging away. I truly believe that we will get better and win games.”
With a busy schedule of fixtures coming up, he knows there’s no time for licking wounds.
Lyttle is still adamant that things will come good for Rovers yet, and he firmly believes the squad is in a better place than that of last season.
“There’s no time for feeling sorry for ourselves. I won’t allow it. We’ve got to get back at it and take some confidence from the second-half and show that same desire and commitment. I believe we have good players, I believe we’re in a better place than we were last year in terms of the squad and it will come. I have no doubt in that whatsoever.
“Every game we target three points. We targeted it tonight. Let’s remember that Waterford are tipped for big things this season, they’ve spent a lot of money. They’re a big club in terms of their budget and what they have. It’s early doors yet. We’ll keep on to the players in terms of what it means to put that jersey on for Sligo Rovers.”