Striker says players have to battle for each other
Lyle Taylor will not be found wanting if there’s a battle to be had on the pitch and he says the Dons must be more “brutal” if they want to mount a play-off charge.
in the table he has a steely determination to drive the Dons forward during 2016.thTaylor (pictured) has struck nine goals in all competitions this season, but with Wimbledon 12
Speaking during a Dons Player interview with Rob Cornell, Taylor said: “We need to be more consistent and stick the knife in when we have teams under pressure. We probably need to be more brutal with each other. We need to demand more from each other, whether that is an arm around the shoulder or a finger in someone’s face. We will all be happy come the end of the season if we are where we want to be. Any arguments or slanging matches would then be forgotten.
“As soon as we step off the pitch we are mates. On the pitch we have to be friends, but dig each other out of certain situations. We are getting to a point now when we are doing that with positive reinforcement as well as negative. I have found myself praising our defenders during games recently and that praise has been very much deserved. We are all responsible for our individual performances within the team and everything else for the team will come good if we do that well.
“I have been told that I need to curb my emotions sometimes, but that’s just me. If there’s a fight to be had I will usually be in the thick of it! I have never been one to avoid trouble and I was pretty much the same at school! I was always in there when something was happening, even if it wasn’t me. That’s not going to change. I’m always in the thick of things and to be honest that’s how I like it. I like to be a part of it and be a cog in the wheel.”
Taylor knows it will be a tough challenge at Cambridge tomorrow, but he believes the Dons will go into it with spirits high after recent performances.
“We are going to have performances when we are not at our maximum, but there will also be performances when we are running all over teams,” added Taylor. “As players, management and fans we have to take both and make sure one outweighs the other. We want to pick up more points than we lose so that we can climb the table. The fans have been brilliant. They were upset after the Stevenage game, but that’s gone now and we will continue to do what we’ve been doing since half-time at Newport.
“We want more of the performances we’ve had since then and the fans will be happy if we can deliver them. Football is not quite as simple as that, but we will make sure we work hard for it to happen. We are playing on Saturday against a team we have already faced this season. We were arguably better than them in that game, but we conceded from a set-piece, which at times has been our undoing. They are a big, physical side and it will be tough. We will have to be at it on Saturday, it’s as simple as that.”
The full eight-minute interview with Lyle Taylor is on Dons Player, along with an in-depth update ahead of Cambridge from Neal Ardley.