Mark Robinson today spoke passionately about building a powerful bond between our players and supporters to lift the club up the League One table.
Despite the disappointment of Saturday’s last-gasp defeat at Fratton Park, Robbo felt the performance was a real step in the direction as he prepares the squad for important home matches against Crewe and Fleetwood.
“There are things I seen on Saturday that I’m still not happy with,” said Robbo. “The energy was much better, but there were things that cost us coming away with at least a point. We have to address that. Our players are not doing it on purpose, but it was a bit naïve. These are things we are doing seven out of 10 times, but we need to do it 10 out of 10 times. On Saturday it cost us for the second goal and I just want the fans to know that we thrash these things out. I know I come across as very calm, but we thrashed this out with the players and we said that it can’t happen again.
“The energy from the fans was fantastic and we can’t ask for anymore than that. We have to make sure that the points start coming as well.
“We work on elite behaviours in training and the players have to take control. At a packed Fratton Park on Saturday it took me two minutes to get a message onto Nik. This is why they need to take control because you can’t get the messages on quickly enough during a game.”
Speaking about the challenge of facing a Crewe side that boosted their hopes of staying up by defeating Gillingham on Saturday, Robbo said: “Everyone in the building cares, but there may be nerves heading into the game because our points total has dipped– we can’t hide from that. The fans will have their part to play and we will have a massive part to play in keeping them going. There is nothing more powerful than everyone being in it together. That’s all we are asking for. We are not asking them to clap us off if we’ve been poor. If someone doesn’t work I will get to them before the fans do. It is just about us building for the future, and knowing what we are up against.
“The fans probably thought this was the season that we would not be fighting relegation because we had such a fantastic start. The club have aligned everyone in terms of what we want to achieve and now it’s up to us to do it on the pitch and get everyone excited. If we do that the fans will be backing us every inch of the way. The boys were crestfallen that they didn’t come away with at least a point on Saturday, but at the same time they so felt that the fans were with them. That builds over time and it’s always going to be up to us to put in the performances.”
Click on the link below to listen to Rob Cornell's full interview with Robbo, which includes team news ahead of the match versus Crewe.