Paul Sturrock

Liverpool's win not surprising

2009-03-19T03:40:00.000-07:00

I WASN’T entirely surprised by Liverpool winning so handsomely at Manchester United after beating Real Madrid.
Beating United 4-1 at Old Trafford at the weekend when just a few days earlier they had beaten Real 4-0 at Anfield are great results.
In fact, I would like the Liverpool style of play to be a model for Argyle, as I will explain.
Firstly, I think what people have to appreciate is that Liverpool are a very strong, method team.
They are very well organised and difficult to break down, and work very hard when the other side has got the ball.
And, of course, they have got quality players, both going forward and in defence.
Now, a lot of times this season, that hasn’t worked for them – those two facets together – attacking and defending.
Liverpool have either been very strong defensively, scored and nicked a 1-0 win, or that’s failed and they’ve ended up losing the game.
Now Liverpool are beginning to switch on and are becoming a very dangerous team. I believe they have probably left it too late to win the Premier League title.
But I do think they are proving to everybody that they’re very hard to break down and at the same time will come and hurt you with the players that they have.
So, it’s very much how I would like Plymouth to finish up: very solid, very well organised and dangerous, having players who can score goals for you.
But what you want and what you can achieve is another thing altogether.
At this minute in time, we’re very naive as a team and that was what disappointed me last Saturday away to Norwich.
We’d sent out a team who were well organised and solid but needing to score the first goal.
But, instead of taking the offensive to Norwich, we sat back trying to hold on to what we had.
That’s a dangerous concoction and we ended up losing 1-0.
And I think that Liverpool, when they were blending this team together, had the same problem. They would defend in droves and then forget to attack.
We forgot to be offensive as well as defensive on Saturday and paid dearly. So, it’s something we’re going to have to get in our psyche.
It’s something that our players must be appreciative of and made aware of – that we’ve got to go forward and get that first goal.
Because any time we’ve scored first, we’ve won the match.
Another factor at Norwich was that there was 25,000 people turning up to watch – 24,000 were the home fans as I think we brought about 1,000 of the Green Army to cheer us on.
But having that level of support definitely gave Norwich an edge – an advantage.
With that sort of backing, the Norwich players had an air of confidence about them and I warned our team about the storm that would be coming their way at the start of each half.
But what was most frustrating for me and the coaches was that we work so hard with the players on set-pieces, that it’s absolutely gut-wrenching when you lose to a goal from that scenario.
Unfortunately, we aren’t punishing sides when we find ourselves with a set-piece situation in the opposition penalty area.
That’s a problem, trying to convince players that they can score goals.
In my first stint as manager of Argyle, our big centre back Graham Coughlan came to Home Park with no goals for in his column.
And he became one of the top goalscorers.
So, we’re going to have to work even harder on that part of our game – it would be nice to think we could score a few goals from set-pieces.

* MANY congratulations to Steve Coppell who celebrated his 1,000th match as a manager on Tuesday night, which is a fantastic achievement.
Steve took his Reading team to Doncaster Rovers and came away with a 1-0 win and that keeps them right in the mix for a return to the Premier League.
As a person, Steve is a top man, as a professional he is a top manager, which he has proved by going on to achieve his 1,000th game in charge.
He approaches the game very positively and his teams play in that spirit.
Steve brings in the right sort of players for the system he wants to achieve.
And he’s been successful, having had a taste of the Premiership with Reading and kept them up.
I like him as a person and would love to think he’d be one of the managers getting promoted at the end of the season.
Steve has also got the qualities which I think would make him a good England manager.
So, again, well done to Steve for reaching that landmark – he deserves all the praise that has and will come his way.
* MARTIN O’NEILL is another very successful British manager who is being tipped to take over from Fabio Capello as national coach when the Italian decides he’s had enough.
And it’s easy to see why Martin is such a strong candidate, as he’s had consistent success at all his clubs.
He started at Wycombe and did a good job there, before moving to Leicester where he was also successful.
Martin then did a fantastic job up at Celtic and is doing the same at Aston Villa, who are having a really memorable season.
Having said that, though, the problem now for Martin is: how do you judge what makes a season successful?
At the end of the day, a team like Aston Villa should be winning trophies, but it’s so hard now.
That’s because the top four of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool have run away with the finances and therefore the pedigree of player they bring in.
It’s very difficult to break into that scenario, although the expectations remain high with the supporters.
I think if Aston Villa don’t win a trophy in the next 18 months, then they never will, as they’ve got a really good squad of players now.
Therefore, I believe that Martin will give it say, around one or two years before he thinks that international football would give him the opportunity to win something.
Martin must have been disappointed with the reaction of the Villa fans when Gabriel Agbonlahor’s substitution was cheered by the fans during Sunday’s home defeat to Tottenham.
I had Agbonlahor under my wing four years ago when I was the manager at Sheffield Wednesday.
At that time, he was still naive, he wasn’t the player he is now, but he did have one ingredient that did make up for all these problems – pace.
The player has thrived on that attribute and grown in confidence.
However, he’s still a youngster and he’s going through a wee rough spell at the moment.
And through his demeanour, he might give the impression of a lack of caring.
But that’s just the way he is, and I think that’s where the Villa supporters have gotten that impression. However, knowing the boy, I can assure everyone that’s further from the fact.

We won’t go down Mpenza road again

2009-03-05T07:12:00.000-08:00

WITHOUT wishing to sound alarmist, I believe players, clubs, agents and football itself outside of the Premier League is in for a rude awakening.
The credit crunch is going to bite hard in the Championship over the next few months and not all the clubs in it are going to survive unscathed.
For example, we’re never going down the Emile Mpenza route again. It’s a case of once bitten, twice shy I’m afraid.
That’s no reflection on Emile as a person or a player.
It’s just a series of unfortunate and persistent injuries that have made his stay with us an expensive failure.
It’s such a shame both for Argyle and the fans it has worked out this way, as Emile is a really talented player.
We’d done all the necessary homework on Emile.
I’d watched him when I was with Sheffield Wednesday and he was elsewhere, and again when he was at Manchester City.
I’d spoken to Stuart Pearce at City and he praised Emile’s input while at the club, which backed up my view of a multi-capped Belgium striker.
We had no reason to think his one-year contract would be anything other than a benefit to us.
The fans, unfortunately, have only seen glimpses of what he can offer us – against Cardiff City, for example.
I’m using Emile’s case as a warning for the future: we’re not going to go there again.
The Championship, as we know, is a very competitive league but ultimately, a money-driven division.
Only the bigger outfits, even in the Premier League, with either sugar daddies in charge or with a massive fan-base can afford the incredible salaries that are being paid to players.
It’s what I would call an economic league. Depending on how well off you are financially determines where you’re going to end up.
If you’re well off, you’ve got a much better chance of going to the top flight and playing the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.
If not, you have to try and stay afloat and be competitive at the same time.
Clubs like Argyle cannot afford to compete with sides who have come down to the Championship from the Premier League with parachute payments to soften the blow.
You look at the situation the likes of Charlton and Southampton have got into, having gambled on signing big players to get back into the big time.
They’ve saddled themselves with big salaries to pay and debts to match.
We can’t afford to, and neither should any other club who don’t have parachute payments to help them.
I’m a great believer in using those parachute payments to pay off the big earners at your club and learning to live within your means.

I’VE really enjoyed watching the local football in and around Plymouth and rediscovering old haunts from a few years ago.
What first got me out and about again was to watch my two younger sons, Kirk and Arran, play for their respective teams.
Kirk plays for one of Plymouth Parkway’s teams and Arran is with SB Frankfort.
And I’m enjoying watching the boys develop as players, just like I did with their elder brother, Blair, a few years ago.
Dave Leonard is doing really well with Parkway and I know the club has great ambitions to progress.
And it’s nice to see another local club prospering, Truro City, who have gone top of their league and I wish them all success in the future.
Truro have high hopes of reaching the Conference within the next few seasons which would be great for the area – and for clubs like Plymouth Argyle.
I know the Southern League Division One South and West, where Truro are at the moment, is a way off the Blue Square Conference Premier, where our other local team, Torquay United are at present.
But it would benefit Plymouth, if the likes of Truro, Tiverton and maybe another what I would call, really local, side were to get up there.
The reason it would profit Plymouth, is that we would have a good reasonably-distanced club to send some of our young, promising players.
Recently, Ashley Barnes returned from Eastbourne Borough in the Conference Premier and has come back a much-improved player.
Anyone who’s seen him play up front in our last two games at Wolves and against Watford in midweek will testify to that.
But Eastbourne’s a long way off from us and it’s not so easy to monitor his progress, or any other youngsters we send out.
And having other clubs on the fringe of the Football League would be good for the region, too.

Fergie will be the only winner

2009-01-15T16:23:00.000-08:00

TRUST me, there’s only going to be one winner in the battle of wits between Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Liverpool’s Rafael Benitez.
I believe that Benitez was unwise to take on Sir Alex so publicly at a press conference last week.
Benitez reading from a prepared script ahead of the Man U-Chelsea game claimed Ferguson acted above the law, when it comes to putting pressure on referees.
Unfortunately for Benitez, Sir Alex is a legend at mind games and I think he’s caught him hook, line and sinker.
He’s dealing with a man who has lived in the Premier League scenario for a long, long time and knows exactly what he’s doing.
And it always seems to be at this time of year, this stage of the season, that Sir Alex has a wee dabble.
It’s been nice to watch from afar.
If the figures are right and that Manchester City have offered £91million to AC Milan for Kaka, that is truly frightening.
Nobody in their right minds would turn down that type of money, but whether Kaka will see that as a good move or not remains to be seen.
It also sounds like Man City are putting all their eggs into one basket.
And if I were Kaka, I’d be expecting the club to be bringing in six or seven players of the same ilk.
* ALTHOUGH I’m not the biggest fan of tennis, as a Scot I’ve been following the progress of my fellow countryman Andy Murray.
I note also that Roger Federer said he has been surprised at being installed as joint favourite with Murray to win next week’s Australian Open.
Murray has in great form lately, having beaten both Federer and Rafael Nadal at the Dubai Open.
I know that Nadal beat him last year at Wimbledon, but my own belief is that Federer is practically unbeatable on grass.
Federer is absolutely superb and in a class of his own as a grass-court player.
But on all other surfaces, I don’t think Federer is so invincible and although he’s won on them, he’s definitely beatable.
Murray (pictured above), for his part, looks a good player on the synthetic stuff, but he hasn’t as yet won a Grand Slam title.
And to be great, as Federer and Nadal are, Murray has to win one of the biggies.
But like I said, he’s Scottish so I’m going to give Murray the benefit of the doubt and hope he does well.
But I have to say there are more important sports on TV for me – like the NFL or American Football, that’s the sport I follow most and enjoy watching.
I got into the sport a while back when it was being shown on Channel 4 and Washington Redskins were the team to beat.
They’re my favourite team but they haven’t done anything for a long time.
The problem this year, though, is that nearly all the favourites have been knocked out.
So, I’ve been very surprised by the teams that have made an impact in the championship.
But that’s what so different about that game: the roster can change from year to year and all of a sudden you can become a successful team with one or two added players. And it’s so tactical, that’s why gridiron is so fascinating.
However, the matches take a long time and I’ve never actually watched a live game, although I’ve had the opportunity in the past. But because of the time scale of gridiron, I’ve had to let it go past me.
* I’M NOT surprised that David Beckham has chosen to go out on loan to AC Milan.
I think the American move was just too big for him not to get involved in for financial reasons.
But for his career, I thought joining Major League Soccer side Los Angeles Galaxy was a backward step.
Beckham’s only one cap behind Bobby Moore’s England record total of 108 and I think he’ll probably be allowed to claim that outfield record.
I think it was a wise decision by Beckham to return to play in league football in Europe – particularly if he feels he still has what it takes and the fitness to match, as I think he’d just deteriorate in the MLS, with all the commercial and media stuff that goes with the package.
I was delighted to see that Beckham played the whole game bar a couple of minutes at the weekend in AC Milan’s 2-2 draw with Roma.
But it’s whether he can cope with the rigours of playing what I feel is the toughest league in world football – Serie A.
* I WAS very pleased with our under-18s’ 3-2 win over Millwall in the FA Youth Cup on Tuesday night.
I didn’t think it was a great game and I thought the lads looked a little ring rusty.
But that’s easily explained as we haven’t played many competitive matches since the last round against Fulham.
In fact, it was all of six weeks since they defeated Fulham 2-1 in the third round.
That night, the lads were at the top of their game.
And, to be fair on Tuesday night against Millwall, they battled hard and worked hard and they scored some good goals.
So the lads deserved their success and we’ve now got Tottenham at home, which will be another hard game in itself.
A lot will depend though on whether the under-18s can reach the level of performance they attained against Fulham.
And also if we can avoid picking up any injuries – that could be the key to the outcome of the match.
While we’ve got this squad of players at under-18 level, after them, though, we’d have to rely on younger players.
While it’s pleasing for me as a manager to watch the lads come to the show in matches like Tuesdays – the problem is there’s one hell of a step between Championship and youth level.
That’s why I put a lot of players out on loan to develop them.
For example, Ashley Barnes is at Eastbourne at the minute, and Yala Bolasie is at Rushden & Diamonds where he’s also doing well.
Likewise, the boy Damien McCrory was outstanding while at Port Vale, so their development is much better for being out and being competitive.
The problem is one of priorities, as firstly, I’ve got to get games for the first-team squad players.
So, the boys who are trying to develop their game are left in limbo-land.
Which means I’m going to be much more stringent in my selection process of players to be called up now to full-blown pros.
So, I’m going to try very, very hard to get to as many youth-team matches as I can from now until the end of the season.
By attempting to be at as many of their games as possible, the young players will be given every opportunity to impress.
But they will need to be at a very high standard, as with the credit crunch being what it is, many clubs are struggling to finance loans this year.
Which again means it’s very difficult to balance everything: keeping first-team players in action and developing youngsters.
Therefore, the players who want to be called up are going to have to show me a high, high standard.

New arrivals

2008-11-14T02:37:00.000-08:00

I’M DELIGHTED to say that we’ve just added more members to our squad last week– well two of our players have anyway.
So I'd like to send my congratulations to Simon Walton and Krisztian Timar, who have become dads for the first time and, of course, their wives.
Having your first kid is a big moment in any father’s life and it brings back a lot of memories for me.
Because I was playing football at the time, I wasn’t able to be at the births at two of my kids.Which, I suppose, is all part of life and being a professional footballer.
In this day and age, it’s much more preferred for the father to be at the birth.
Whereas, in my time, it was probably the last place that any of us future dads wanted to be.But for our next two children, I managed to be there.Seriously, though, I’m very pleased for the players and really anybody who is either having, or has just had a kid – it’s a great feeling.

I CAN certainly sympathise with those of you who have been suffering from this ‘flu bug that has doing the rounds lately.
I had a really bad dose of it recently with coughs, the lot, and only came in for four days last week.I came in on the Thursday to see everyone and to do the Press call.
But I was off again on the Friday and I was a bag of washing on Saturday.I was feeling so rough that I actually thought about missing our home match with Charlton Athletic.
Which is something of a last resort for me, as I never want to be absent when my team is playing, if I can possibly help it.
But in the end, I came in very late and did the team talk, but made sure I kept my distance from the players in case they caught it.
And after that I went straight to the dug out for the match, but I just felt lifeless.So, that meant my input from the dug out during the game was cut down as well.
The weather didn’t help me either as it was lashing down with rain and I felt cold and shivery all the time.
Funnily, enough, though, afterwards I felt a lot better, I suppose it’s a case of what doesn’t kill you, cures you.But I certainly don’t want another dose like this one again in a hurry.

WE’VE had several of our young players receive their international call-ups recently, which as the manager of the club is something I’m really pleased about. So, too, should the lads themselves – Liam Head, Damien McCrory, Joe Mason, Brian McCaul and Ryan Brett – as I think it is important.
Joe is a striker and is one of our second-year apprentices, who has been playing with the Republic of Ireland under-18s in France.Winger Damien, who is on loan at Port Vale, has been playing with the Republic of Ireland’s under-19s, and Ryan, one of our young defenders, has also been called-up to the squad.
Brian is a midfielder and has been with the Northern Ireland under-19s squad, and Liam with the England under-17s.
So, very well done to all those lads. The youth set-up here at Home Park has been a problem for me to get an input into. That’s because I’ve had so much to do with the first team.
It’s been hard work, as we’ve had to bed in a lot of footballers.Some players have struggled, while some have adapted to what we’re trying to achieve at this football club.
And we’re still trying to work and work on it, but the weather over the weekend scuppered our plans at the early part of the week.
I’d set aside a day on Monday to work on an individual basis with the players.
But then it rained so hard I had to give it up, so that was a chance washed out.
I AM a big fan of live music and love going to watch and listen to singers and musicians whenever I get the opportunity.
From my point of view, there’s nothing better than going to see a band – it’s a great way of winding down. As a matter of fact, I'm planning to hold a gig in my garden very, very soon.
And so I have already sounded out a couple of local bands that I’ve seen lately and who have impressed me – a lot.
One band in particular I really like is Mad Dog McRea, who I saw at the club barbecue.
There were only two of them for that gig but they were fantastic.
And he has promised to come back with the rest of his band and play a gig at my place.We’ve got a big area that they could use – so I hope that idea comes off.
I saw another band recently down at a pub in Stonehouse watching another really good live act, who are called the Jam Band.
I thought they were great. Another plan I’ve got in mind with a couple of my friends is to have a drink in every pub in Plymouth. Not all on the same night, you understand!
I’ve got this map of Plymouth – which is laid out a bit like the underground map in London – but which shows the pubs. So, that’s a project we’ve got planned, although we’ve not decided on an area yet.
But we’ll have one drink, tick that pub off and then we’ll go on to the next one on the list.

I want club like it was before

2008-09-25T10:21:00.000-07:00

I’VE not had the chance to get out and about socially as much I would have liked to, since I returned to Plymouth.
For a start, I’ve had no holiday this year and the reason is very simple – all my available time has been concentrated on this football club, Plymouth Argyle.
As you will have noticed, I have been busy restructuring the team and spent the summer spending a lot of time bringing new signings in.
Before that, when I came back to Home Park in late 2007, I did my best to try and chase the dream of going for a play-off place and to change personnel at the same time.
Also, there had been things happening at the club which weren’t being done in what I would call the Paul Sturrock way.
But I’m slowly getting to grips with that, because there are a lot of decisions, a lot of things I would like to change again.
I want to get this club back to running the way it was when I was here before.
I like to be hands-on and be aware of what’s going on in pretty much every department – and I like to make sure I do everything slowly and meticulously.
Having said that, there are certain things I want to get my teeth into as quickly as possible.
But there are other departments and other areas that need my attention, like the training ground at this football club.
There are things in the pipeline on this issue that I can’t really talk about at the moment – but for a start I’d like to have a water supply to our training ground.
It’s also quite important we have a training area fenced off.
At this minute in time we have half of Plymouth play on our pitches on Saturday and Sunday.
That’s not a perfect situation.
Quite rightly, I’ve been caught up with what’s happening with the first team, because obviously we’ve been struggling since the start of the season.
It hasn’t helped that staff-wise we are well over budget and that’s something no football club can sustain.
Plymouth’s geography doesn’t help, because no-one comes to see your players and as a result putting people out on loan is very difficult.
While I’ve not had much free-time on my hands this year, the hard work behind the scenes is starting to pay dividends.
It’s nice to see some of the new players we’ve brought in start to blossom.
And when the likes of Gary Sawyer and Dave McNamee come back, we’ll have some real competition for certain places – so the side should have an even better edge.

* I HAVE a lot of time for players like our young left-sided midfielder Craig Noone and their work-ethic and appreciation of the chance they’ve been given.
Before he signed for us in the summer, Noone was working as a roofer from seven o’clock in the morning – every morning.
Consequently, every day as a professional footballer for Craig is like Butlins holiday camp for him – he still thinks he’s on holiday.
I wish I could bring in another six or seven players like him, because they know what they don’t want to go back to.
But there is another reason why I can relate to Noone, because like him I didn’t come through the youth system.
When I started playing at Dundee United, it was as a 16 or 17-year-old playing against men in the reserves – which is what he has done.
There are those who say he’s a bit small physically and weak, and everything else.
But I tell you what, he’s very wiry and no lighter than the boy Wes Hoolihan who played well against us for Norwich City a couple of Saturdays back.
Given the time, I think Noone will blossom, hopefully, like Kevin Hodges and Martin Phillips did in their careers and for this football club.
Although they were probably a bit stockier, they were both in the same mould as Noone.
Funnily enough, I was sitting next to Hodgie at Tuesday’s reserve match against Yeovil and he was of the same opinion.
So was Buster Phillips, who has been helping us out with training and was down with us last Thursday.
I hope nobody is put off by Noone’s size, because that has never stopped anybody.

* ASIDE from my commitments at Home Park – my other home, my new house, has been taking all my spare time, too.
Particularly the garden, which is an acre in size and which I have done an awful lot of work in.
Hopefully, the garden will help me improve my golf.
In fact, I christened my golf hole one evening earlier this week.
All the features are not in place yet.
For example, the tee has not been fixed totally, but we cut the grass down to 15mm on the green. And the bunker doesn’t have sand yet, but we decided to give it a go anyway.
Maybe I should have waited as I hit car-ports and worse still, I hit the roof and stable of my neighbour, who is a farmer.
For the record, it’s 55 yards from tee to green, so I’m obviously hitting the ball too hard.
I did find a bit of time to watch the Ryder Cup, but not the final day – but then I think Europe lost the tournament on the first day in any case.
There was a certain inevitability about the result anyway – everybody knew the US would win and I think Europe knew that as well.
I know Nick Faldo will carry the can, but whoever was the captain this time would have had a problem.
* A LOT has been made over the goal Reading were awarded in their match at Watford last Saturday.
Maybe the Reading players should have been more sporting and mentioned the fact the ball hadn’t gone in to the referee at the time.
But I also think Reading manager Steve Coppell has made a nice gesture by offering to play the game again.
Perhaps, a gesture like Yeovil made in a League Cup game against us after they mistakenly scored when genuinely and sportingly passing the ball back to our goalkeeper, would have been appropriate.
Like at Vicarage Road, there was nothing the referee could do but award a goal.
But, on that occasion in 2004, Yeovil boss Gary Johnson and his team put the matter right by gifting us an equaliser from the kick-off.
However, with reference to the Watford-Reading game, I think the referee and linesman honestly felt it was a goal.
But these things happen and I’m sure in the days when only one camera covered a football match, this kind of thing happened a lot.

‘It will be difficult for us to compete with big spenders’

2008-08-09T03:10:00.000-07:00

If money talks, and it usually does in football in this day and age, it’s going to be a difficult season for Plymouth Argyle.

There are six clubs in the Championship with ‘parachute payments’ from the Premier League.

There are three rich clubs coming up from League One.

You can also add Ipswich, Queens Park Rangers and one or two others clubs, such as Barnsley, whose rich owners have decided to have a right go.

People sometimes forget we are in the bottom six when it comes to crowds but we are now paying two-and-a-half times the wages compared to our first year in the Championship.

That means the last two years we have made a loss, and that has got to be repaid.

When you add that to what I have spent in the transfer market, it soon makes a big cut into the money that has come in from player sales – and a lot of that is in staged payments.

There was a recent report by Deloitte and Touche where we came out top as far as financially-sound football clubs were concerned.

The board of directors are committed to not putting the club into serious debt, but the importance of being in this league has to be taken into consideration as well.

Another factor for us this season is the backbone of the old guard has gone.

If you look at the team photo from this time last year and compare it to now, it would scare the living daylights out of you how many players we have got left.

There has been a lot of transition at this football club and I think in the last two pre-season games (the 1-0 defeats away to Yeovil Town and at home to Dundee United) that has been clear for all to see.

The players were trying to find their feet and learn all about Plymouth Argyle and what the manager wants.

There is no way we are the finished article yet, but I hope before the transfer window shuts at the end of August we can bring some more players in.

Then we can settle ourselves down and, by the end of September or the middle of October, we will get a true reflection of how the season is going to unfold.

We have improved our league position for each of the last seven years, which has been a fantastic achievement.

But sooner or later, dare I say this, that has to stop.

I would like to be competitive in this league but I don’t want to predict a position, because you are just putting a gun to your head.

I have read some people are tipping us for relegation this season.

At this juncture, watching how we have performed in the last two pre-season games and with the lack of players we have, it’s very easy for people to surmise that.

We have got to change that perspective, and the only way we can do that is by winning football games and bringing fresh players to this football club.

That’s what we will work on in the next two or three weeks.

Looking at the players I have brought in this summer, I think they have all done well in the pre-season games.

But you are going to make mistakes in the transfer market.

People have pointed the finger at me, and I have pointed the finger at certain players who have come to this football club and not performed to the standards I want them to achieve here.

It’s up to them now to achieve it, or move on. That’s something I have made sure they understand.

But there are opportunities because of the lack of bodies at this minute in time, for some to really grab the nettle. That’s what I’m expecting over the next two or three games.