Wimbledon manager says the tide will turn
Neal Ardley believes that Wimbledon have not become a bad side overnight and everyone has to stick together to turn around their disappointing recent form.
gave away a penalty for the second goal.Rhys Weston, Neal refused to hide behind excuses even though Wimbledon perhaps had good reason to think there was a foul in the build-up before Dons PlayerSpeaking to
“All I can do is turn up and try and keep the positivity intact among the players,” said Neal. “I have to lead them out of this and it needs to come from me. I need to have a good think over the weekend about it. We will sit down with the players when we are back in training next week and we will make sure that we’re all on the same hymn sheet. The only way we are going to get out of this is hard work and me trying to instil confidence in the players.
“We have been trying to get back to basics for a few weeks now, but there is no magic formula. I will take any criticism that comes my way. It’s my team and I am not going to hide behind excuses. I will work my socks off to try and turn it around. We all know what we are trying to achieve. I am still confident that we have a decent team here because you don’t all of a sudden forget how to win games. I believe that the tide will turn; hopefully between us all we will get there.”
Neal added that promotion-chasers Oxford exploited Wimbledon’s weaknesses in ruthless fashion with a better overall quality.
“We let them get a cross in and have a free header for the first goal and then we were chasing the game,” Neal said. “Then I am scratching my head in the second-half thinking how we can change it to get back into the game. That has been a trend for the last seven or eight games and it is not a rarity. Did the boys give everything in the game? I feel we had a good go at it. We tried to be brave by playing 4-4-2 and playing high tempo. We lacked quality in both boxes. They took their chances at one end and they were solid at the other and that is ultimately the tale of the game.”
Dons Player subscribers can watch the full four-minute interview with Neal on our premium site later and we will tomorrow feature the thoughts of Andy Frampton after his return to the side.