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Stay positive
Reporter: MATTHEW CHAMBERS
Date online: 12 March 2013
ATHLETIC won’t veer from the path that has brought success to the caretaker management team, promised Tony Philliskirk.
Athletic need to reverse the run of three losses to have a chance of moving out of the relegation places in npower League One.
“It is really important we keep the players calm and relaxed,” said Philliskirk, who won his first three League One matches against MK Dons, Stevenage and Portsmouth before losing to Sheffield United and Tranmere.
“You would have to be silly not to realise the magnitude of the situation we are in.
“The players were so disappointed again to not get anything out of the Tranmere game after conceding another poor goal.
“They are feeling a bit aggrieved about decisions but we are saying to the players that they have to stay positive.
“We are not playing badly. We faced the best team in the division, Sheffield United, and a team that is now fourth, Tranmere. There has been nothing between us and them.
“We major on the positives there. It is important we are not seen to be panicking. We continue in the same way we were when we got those three wins. Our ethos doesn’t change.”
The postponement of tonight’s game against Tranmere gives Matt Smith more time to recover from the knee injury that would have put him out of contention — the tall striker is facing a scan on the joint — but James Wesolowski has shaken off the six-stitches head wound from the weekend.
Meanwhile, two Athletic players are walking a suspension tightrope.
Wesolowski is two cautions away from a two-game ban, while midfield partner and 12-goal top scorer Jose Baxter is is only one away from suspension.
Comments
He is indeed skay....before long the boys will have lost (again) but still have played "ever so well"!
Forget poor decisions,hard luck stories etc..etc..at this stage of the season we are where we are. Focus on leadership (on and off the pitch and surely our major failing of the season)discipline,goals,tactics,fitness and belief..deal with it!!
Skay: What do you want TP to say? "There's no chance, just might as well give up!"
We have just lost narrowly to 2 of the top 6 teams in the division, we also have 2 really tough games coming up against Bournmouth and Swindon but after that we have a decent set of fixtures. We are in a tough situation and with ony half of the vocal support we gave at Everton I am sure it will spur the team on.
Let's get behind TP he is doing his utmost to run the club in this interim period.
Skay.......TP is right. We played really well against Sheff UTD and were really unlucky against Tranmere. Both those teams are in the top four and prior to those two games we won three on the bounce. I can't understand what your problem is mate, TP is doing really well as the interim manager. I love your optimism too....Here's to staying in league one mate........
Instead of keeping the players calm and relaxed, how about getting them fired up and playing as if their lives depended on the result.
Again shocking refereeing! It really does make you wonder whether some of our games have been fixed by officials. It is known that big time gangs put large some of money on the out comes of the lower league teams and that is because they have paid off the officials FA need to pull there finger out and have these officials properly investigated, football is big business and should be treated a such by the FA! instead they make backward progress to manage the leagues year in year out!
well said alf, looks like it is all mates together again,we need to get a new manager in asap.5 players stood round max power and said go on see if you can score and you know the result. nothing as changed
Yes we have had many poor decisions from the refs, but we need points not hard luck stories. We need fighting spirit and bodies on the line wheter we are playing Liverpool or Hartlepool.
Have Your Say
" We continue in the same way" and "There's nothing between us and them" says Philliskirk.
Oh Dear!...he's beginning to sound like Dickov, which doesn't bode well for the remaining games,and makes the players think they are better than they are!....Division 4 here we come!
By skay @ 12/03/2013 14:45:25