Wellens singles out poor individual performances as Swindon lose ground on the playoffs

RICHIE WELLENS refused to make excuses for his Swindon Town players as he watched his side suffer a disappointing home defeat against relegation contenders Crawley Town yesterday. Total Sport Swindon’s Ryan Walker got the thoughts of the manager following the match.

After an away victory over Tranmere Rovers last weekend saw Swindon narrow the gap to the playoffs to just six points, yesterday’s loss ensured Swindon slipped further down the League Two standings into 12th position. 

And when asked for an appraisal on the performance of his side following the game, Wellens highlighted how a host of mistakes made Swindon their own worst enemy.

“It just goes to show where we are at this moment in time,” said Wellens.

“I think first half hour, closing down and being aggressive we were very good.

“But when the ball turned over we were really poor. There were so many bad decisions, so many misplaced passes, we worked all week on switching the play getting our fullbacks out and making two v ones out wide,” he added.

“Today we very rarely switched play and when we did the pass was behind the fullback allowing them [Crawley] the extra time to get across.

“When it did get out to the fullbacks are wingers were in a straight line and the fullback would end up running into the winger.

“Tranmere played the same system last week and we did it really well but for some reason, the players choose to do their own thing at times.

“We’ll be in Monday and working again because we play a different team next in Forest Green,” he said.

Having lost three games on the bounce and without an away win since September prior to yesterdays victory, Crawley arrived at the County Ground low on confidence and on a poor run of form.

But despite being favourites heading into the game, Wellens detailed how a rigid defensive structure from the away side combined with a lack of quality in the centre of the pitch caused Swindon problems.

“It hurts more that a team has come here played 5-4-1, defended and booted the ball up the pitch,” stated Wellens.

“It just go’s to show where we are and getting defeats when we weren’t really in danger. 

“We should be making so many more chances than that. Did their keeper make many saves? A penalty at the end but that’s about it.

“I lacked a midfield player who could put his foot on the ball and dictate play for us,” he added. 

“You get these days sometimes where every pass is just out of reach from the next player and you make mistake after mistake. 

“We’ve got little deficiencies in our set-up at the moment. They scored right before half-time when we should’ve been really switched on,” said Wellens.

And when questioned on why his Swindon Town side failed to increase the intensity as Crawley sat deep, Wellens admitted how failure to keep possession put Swindon on the back foot. 

“When you keep giving the ball away that’s what it is [lack of intensity],” said Wellens.

“I don’t want to have a go at them too much because they’ve been really good recently and this performance has come out of the blue but there’s no hiding.

“It was really really poor. So many opportunities to play one touch, we don’t and instead we take three allowing them [Crawley] to close down and that gives them belief. 

“We took far too many touches and there were far too many poor decisions,” he added.

A collection of disappointing individual performances contributed to Swindon’s downfall against Crawley, but the removal of playmaker Michael Doughty early on in the second half was a bold move by the manager.

However, Wellens stated that despite being a big name player, Doughty must improve if he wants to stay in the squad.

“I play him as a number ten and therefore I don’t want him going into crowded areas, I want him to play off the back of people and I want him to be on the half-turn all the time,” said Wellens.

“He spent sixty minutes on the pitch and I can’t remember one pass that he completed. 

“From a number ten, he should be getting on the ball and causing the opposition problems.

“I want to play Doughts [Doughty], I think he is a very talented player but if he’s not being creative then you’re asking a question of your manager,” he said.

“I thought we improved in the last twenty minutes but Doughts needs to up his game as do two or three more.

“He’s a player that I like and a player that I want to pick but there has to be a certain performance level reached to warrant being on the pitch,” added Wellens.

Recent victories saw fans of the Wiltshire club dreaming of promotion back to League One, but yesterdays defeat put a spanner in the works of Swindon’s playoff hopes. 

But the Robins manager stated that he is focused on the present and hasn’t even spared a thought for promotion.

“I’ve said all along that the playoffs aren’t in my mind,” said Wellens.

“I want to be able to put players into the team that I trust and get an infrastructure.

“Playoffs are not in my mind until I feel really comfortable with what we have got.

“We are trying to build something where we know what to expect when we come to a game. 

“We need a framework to work from and today we’ve lost to a team that hasn’t come here to play,” he added.