Hill tells Dale to deal with danger
THE Crown Oil Arena stages its first game of the 2017/18 campaign this afternoon when Rochdale entertain Scunthorpe United.
Dale followed up their opening day defeat at Portsmouth with a 1-0 win at Mansfield in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.
Boss Keith Hill is looking for a repeat performance today – and insisted the performance at Pompey had been on the money up to the point of Keith Keane’s dismissal.
“It would be nice to follow the result at Mansfield up with a win against Scunthorpe, but you just never know, that’s football. If we play somewhere between what we did at Portsmouth for 20 minutes before Keano was sent off – when we had 62.8 per cent possession – and how we played on Tuesday, I’ll be pleased.
“Obviously it is about points but we were in a sticky situation after seven games last season and we ended up with a magnificent haul of points when you consider that.
“I am happy with the processes the players and the staff are going through.
“We do end up, when we lose games, trying to work out and solve too many problems on the training pitch when there is probably very little to sort out – the players have got to sort it out and when they do, we are a very good side.”
And Hill was pleased the onfield management and willingness to take responsibility from his players in the midweek cup win, something he’s looking to encourage in his players.
“We’re living in a modern world where we try to take away all types of danger from everything, so we are trying to do everything for the players.
“I said to them, listen, I’m preparing you for the danger and you’ve got to deal with that danger.
“My little boy goes to school and he can’t play conkers, he can’t ride his bike or play football in the playground or take a yo-yo in – we are taking away the concept of dealing with danger from our children and they are basically saying ‘mum and dad, will you do it for me?’
“And the players are basically saying ‘will you play the game for me?’
“Jose Mourinho talked about it last season with Luke Shaw. He said Luke Shaw has the physicality but he is using my brain to play the game. So I said to
‘It’s about self discipline, it’s about growing up’
the players ‘you’re a back four, so deal with the opposition. Wherever you want to hold the line, you hold the line, but you need to take responsibility for it.’
“And I thought they were excellent.”
Hill made four changes for the Mansfield game from the side which had kicked off the season at Portsmouth – though in the case of Keane it was enforced through suspension.
“There is a temptation to make changes with so many games in a short space of time, but when I look at the squad I have got, with Keith Keane, Harrison McGahey, Joe Bunney and Brendan Moore to come back, I’m relatively pleased with the players we’ve got.
“It’s a shallow squad but I am looking at that continuity. The players believe in themselves, we’ve reflected on the games of last season and we haven’t got the nut cracked yet but we know what let us down and it was sendings off and goals conceded after the 87th minute mark.
“If we sort that out we’d have the same points ratio as Sheffield United last season, so it’s about self discipline, it’s about growing up and managing those dangers as players instead of me doing it for them.”