Wellens: I take the blame for Colchester defeat

RICHIE WELLENS cut a modest figure following last night’s three-nil home loss against Colchester United admitting that his tactics were to blame for the shock defeat. Total Sport Swindon’s Ryan Walker spoke to the Town manager following the result.

Favourites heading into the game, Swindon Town were brought back down with a bang as a brace from Theo Robinson and a solitary goal from Tom Eastman inflicted just a second defeat of the season for Wellens. 

Speaking after the game, the Swindon team manager took the blame for the result explaining how a poor substitution change allowed Colchester to take the victory.

“For the first half-hour we were very good and started more or less the same as we did against Macclesfield,” said Wellens. 

“Then Baudry went off and the whole dynamic of the team changed.

“That was my fault and I blame myself for that sub.

“I’ll take that on the chin because I probably made the wrong substitution but I’ll learn from that.

“We still had a couple of chances without playing fluently. Anthony Grant was our best player by a mile and the reason he’s played 500 league games is because he didn’t change his game,” he added.

“He kept things exactly the same and we had too many players who went off the cuff and did want they wanted which isn’t what we’ve been about.

“Credit to Colchester though because they’ve won three-nil without actually doing much. 

“The first goal is a carbon copy of the one we conceded in the cup against them with them catching us on the counter-attack.

“I’m disappointed in myself tonight,” he said. 

Having recorded three back-to-back league victories, Swindon had a chance to make it four wins on the bounce for the first time under Wellens last night. 

However, Wellens believes that an accumulation of individual mistakes saw Swindon move away from their regular game-plan, allowing Colchester to play on the counter-attack.

“We should’ve gone one-nil up but maybe you just have your bogey teams sometimes,” said Wellens.

“Maybe they’ve got a bit of a number on us, but I’ll still say that we came off the cuff a bit tonight and did what we want. 

“At set-plays, Ellis Iandolo was marking Eastman and he’s had a free-run and then scored a header. 

“The second goal is a bad mistake. Ellis has been doing great and the last four games he’s played, have you seen him try a sixty-yard cross-field pass like tonight? No,” he added.

“The reason he’s done really well is because he’s played simple, worked hard and been effective by running the opposition the other way and then been dynamic in the final third.

“But when it’s needed to be simple he’s kept it simple. 

“Tonight he tried a diagonal pass in the middle of the pitch when we’re spread. They nick it, play around us and it’s a bad mistake by Luke [McCormick]. 

“Once that goal went in, it was difficult to turn things around. I look at myself more than anyone tonight,” said Wellens.

Speaking after Saturday’s victory against Macclesfield, Wellens warned his players not to become complacent as Swindon push on for promotion this season. However, last night’s defeat led Wellens to believe that perhaps confidence had become complacency.

“Maybe it was [complacency], and I’ve said that has been my biggest worry,” said Wellens.

“What I don’t want is to get in a habit of winning, thinking we’re really good and then losing because that can’t happen.

“In this league, if you come away from what you’re good at then you’ll get beat and that’s happened to us. 

“We deserved exactly what we got,” he said. 

Injury to Mathieu Baudry saw the Frenchman replaced mid-way through the first half. And Wellens revealed after the game that a knock on the defenders heel could cause him to miss the weekends trip to Cambridge, before explaining how Zeki Fryers could now be used at centre-back. 

“He’s got a bang on his heel,” said Wellens. 

“Baudry is a big player for us because he’s experienced. When he’s played we’ve hardly been counter-attacked all season, and tonight when he didn’t play we got countered.

“We need those eyes at the back and that organisation to make sure when the ball comes out we have players in positions.

“Zeki is an option in that position but I wanted a full weeks training with him before bringing him back in. 

“Obviously we would like it if Frenchy is fit but we’ll just have to wait and see,” he said. 

Despite the scoreline showing a one-way result, Swindon had a multitude of chances from set-pieces. And Wellens agreed that his players must do better from wide areas if Swindon are to push on this season.

“Yes [there is a concern from set-pieces],” stated Wellens. 

“When we were really good tonight we got to the byline, got into good crossing areas at least a dozen times and then hit the first man.

“When we’ve been scoring goals on a regular basis the quality from wide areas has been good.

“We’ve got the strikers who can score goals but the delivery needs to be better,” he said.