By RICHARD WILLIAMS
27 December 2007
ROCK-BOTTOM
Wrexham must stop feeling sorry for themselves, manager Brian Little insisted
today.
On the back of yet another defeat –
2-0 at home to Rochdale – new boss Little admits that the January transfer
window will give him and the club fresh impetus as they head into 2008 fighting
for their Football League lives.
"I have learnt an awful lot in the last few weeks when we have had some awful
results but all I can say is that we will try and get it right," said Little.
"We have got a lot of work to do. I think when you are at the bottom of the
table when something goes wrong then you are in danger of it being a hard day's
work. Today was an example of that. I think that we were beaten by a better
team, I think that was a certainty.
"We knew going into the game that they were a good side so we tried to pick a
team which was adventurous, to try and get at them, and try to win a game of
football, but they were better than us.
"Was it a poor performance? Well there were things that I would like to be
better, basic defending was poor, giving free kicks away was poor, we could have
scored two or three goals in the first half ourselves but found ourselves 1-0
down. There are certain things that were right, but if you are not going to
defend then you have got no chance.
"The disappointment is that people who are reasonably well thought of are
struggling at the moment, across the back we have got a young left back (Neil
Taylor) in and you can't blame him. He has tried his guts out, he might have
made the odd little mistake but he has had a go.
"In the centre of defence we were poor, we tried a different combination in the
second half to try and get back into the game which allowed me to push a big
defender up front, but what I am trying at the moment isn't working."
Rochdale's big man up front – ex-Wrexham favourite Lee McEvilly – rubbed salt in
the wounds as he scored 'Dale's second.
But according to Little the win was just what Keith Hill's side deserved: "I
think that we were obviously beaten by a better team. If you look at their
record, they are arguably one of the best footballing sides in the division and
they showed that today," he said.
"We need to be stronger, more resilient and braver, there is a big dark cloud
hanging around this place. Everyone is feeling sorry for themselves and I hope I
get the chance to sort it out. It is coming to January and I have got the chance
to bring people in to help sort it out.
"Just after their second goal, we have had two or three opportunities to score,
the ball is bouncing around their goal line and people in their team are diving
all over the place and doing everything that they can to stop the ball going in
the net.
"They have one cross in the second half which we half cleared and five seconds
later it is in the back of the net that is the difference between being where
they are and where we are.
"I thought that there were periods today, especially when we were in our own
half, where we were lacking in real belief or desire.
"They have all worked their socks off but there are certain things missing which
will make it difficult for us to get out of trouble.
"We have another game here very soon and people have to show me what they have
got. I can't fault them for effort but there are a lot of other things missing
on top of that at the moment.
"All the cracks that are there now, I don't need people to point them out to me
and we will try to fix it now.
"It is a massive thing to go out of the Football League and this club genuinely
doesn't deserve it, so we will try hard to make sure that it doesn't happen."