Boss will take a hard stance with retained players
Neal Ardley accused his players of a “weak” display at Accrington Stanley today and said he will not stand for a repeat performance in the future.
The Wimbledon manager took no consolation from his side’s second-half fightback after they threatened to snatch an unlikely point after being 3-0 down early in the second-half.
Speaking to Dons Player, Neal Ardley said: “We work incredibly hard on giving the players statistics to start games better, but it’s a weak mentality. To perform like we did in the last 30 minutes shows everything that was wrong in the first 60 minutes. I am gutted and things have to change. I have to change and I will. The players that are here next season will get told what is expected of them in no uncertain terms during their reviews next week. I will be hard on them and I won’t stand for performances like that again.
“Today was one of the few times this season that in the first 50 minutes we were dishonest. I felt my trust in the players was massively let down. My team talk was all about restoring pride, winning one-to-one battles and giving the fans a performance that they deserved at the end of the season. For the first five minutes we started okay, but then there was a horrendous schoolboy error and you can't legislate for that. The players lost their heads after that.”
Neal added that only substitutes Danny Hylton and Darren Jones deserved any credit for their performances.
“You throw substitutes on hoping they will make a difference and Darren Jones was immense when he came on,” Neal said. “Everything we did not show in the first-half we did in the last 30 minutes. We showed quality and good decision-making. Danny Hylton competed and won headers when he came on. It was basic stuff and just look what it did. Those two players showed the rest of the team up for the dishonesty that we played with in the first 60 minutes.”
Dons Player subscribers can watch the full video interview with Neal Ardley later on.