Glyn Hodges was quick to get the message across to our players about meeting the tough challenge that awaits at Peterborough United on Saturday.
The Dons face a Peterborough side unbeaten at home this season since the opening day, but Glyn has called on the squad to embrace the task in hand.
“We sat down this morning and had a quick meeting with the players,” said Glyn. “Joe is going to speak to them tomorrow. Basically, we want to challenge everybody, the staff, including myself, to get better. No matter how long this process takes, can we put more points on the board and gain a bit of confidence moving forward? That’s the challenge, we don’t know quite the length of time it’s going to be, but we will give it our best and that’s all I can ask.
“You draw on your experiences at all clubs. I’ve been caretaker manager a couple of times, not quite in these circumstances, but you know what’s required. You are stepping in and you have to keep things going. The players demand that, we’ve got to set our stalls out as we know what a hard game it’s going to be at the weekend and the position that we are in. Nothing has changed in that sense and we need results.
“Mark Robinson will step-up. He will come up for the game at the weekend. He’s not been coming with us as he’s been watching the loan players, but he will come along at the weekend. I’ve got him a bit closer to it. At times like this everybody mucks in, everybody helps out as they want the best for the club. That’s the way it should be and I don’t expect anything less.
“I’ll be tweaking things, I’ll be looking at different things that I want to introduce, but whatever system or formation you play it’s about the players. The players will make the formation work. For me, it’s about instilling a bit of confidence, getting them on the ball and playing a bit and enjoying the ball, as opposed to them sometimes getting a bit tense. I’m going to encourage them - and they took it on board very well this morning - to slow down and use the ball a bit better. I want them to show ability on the ball and see where that takes us.
“Peterborough are a good side and they are a real threat. We know exactly how they play, we’ve been working on it today, trying to combat that, but we know exactly how we want to play as well. It’s putting those ideas across and we will do it again tomorrow. On Friday, we will have another session, just nailing those ideas down, and then on Saturday at 3 pm let’s hope we can put them into practice.”
Take a look at Rob Cornell’s full interview with Glyn below.