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Head coach Luke Williams hoping for consistency in Swindon Town squad
After getting seven points from a possible nine in Swindon's last three games, Luke Williams is hoping his squad can reach the level of consistency needed to avoid the drop to League Two this season.
Thanks to last night's (Tuesday) 3-1 win over Gillingham, Swindon achieved back-to-back wins for the first time in a year and, with relegation-threatened Chesterfield coming up on Saturday, Williams is eyeing up three victories on the bounce.
Seemingly after every win this season, both Williams and playing staff have spoke about the need to "go on a run" but have never quite managed it this campaign until now, as the fight against relegation rumbles on.
When asked by Total Sport what was done differently in the build-up to Gillingham compared to other weeks, Williams responded:
“We try to find a formula that works for as many of the players as possible.
“At the moment it looks like it works for every player and I am trying more and more to play my part and help the players to define their role and what is really expected of them, what is most important for them to do and then, what other bits they need to try to do as best as they possibly can."
He would then go on to stress the importance of loanees Rohan Ince (Brighton) and Charlie Colkett (Chelsea) to Swindon success.
“For Rohan, it’s absolutely fundamental to try to win the second ball, it’s absolutely fundamental for him to try to steal the ball off of people in the middle of the pitch.
“For Charlie, it’s more about making sure that he picks the correct pass and that he is available for people.
“Then, if he can add to his game and try to be as good as he possibly can on the second ball, if Rohan can try to be as clean and tidy on the ball as he can and add that side as well then everybody is pulling in the same direction.
“But first, it’s to try and define everybody’s role in the team as clearly as possible and layer that throughout the weeks.
“If the team performs well then they can stay and I can get more work into them, if they struggle again, somebody else has to come in and we have to start the process over.
“Hopefully we are seeing some level of consistency now.”
Throughout this season there has been confusion on who has been running tactics-related operations with the flip-flopping, from Williams from August to Tim Sherwood's November appointment as the club's director of football, and then back to Williams again, from Sherwood, pre-Oxford home defeat
Swindon have avoided defeat in three of the five matches that Williams has taken charge of since Sherwood relinquished his role but Williams does not think this has anything to do with a difference in coaching ability between him and ex-Tottenham gaffer Sherwood.
“Tim has brought players in that have helped us, first and foremost.
“Without the players, the best coach in the world cannot produce and this is not about the players not being good enough at the beginning of the season, it’s more about not quite having enough players and so many people having to play out of position. It’s very difficult.
“Now we are able to keep more players fit, there are more players that are like-for-like - when one is out, the next one comes in who is a similar player with a similar skill set, so I am able to work more consistently, I think.”
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