Tranmere Rovers’ interim manager Nigel Adkins has called for his team to carry out the basics after a 2-0 defeat away at Crewe Alexandra, via the club’s official website.
The League Two outfit went into this season with aspirations to build on a top half finish last term, after being regular promotion contenders in division across the past three years. However, after nine defeats in their first 13, they currently sit in a lowly 21st place.
Since relegation from League One by the points-per-game system in 2020, Rovers have slowly regressed down the table in League Two – finishing seventh, ninth and twelfth in their last three seasons.
This weekend’s 2-0 defeat against a high-flying Crewe Alexandra side was met with frustration from both the fans and interim manager Nigel Adkins, who joined as a technical director last summer but took over as interim boss following Ian Dawes dismissal last month.
The former Southampton coach has managed six league games for Rovers, returning seven points from an available eighteen. Saturday’s defeat poised the 58-year-old to emphasise the importance of getting the basics right, saying after the game:
“We didn’t start very well, give Crewe Alexandra a lot of credit. I didn’t realise how windy it was. We’ve started games really well and for me, we’ve started poorly. We couldn’t get out of our half.
“They’ve hemmed us back in, they won too many knockdowns and one-on-one duels and then they had an opportunity to go and pass it.
“I’m really disappointed with the first goal that we conceded. Seven yards out, right in the middle of the goal, we should be able to defend that and we haven’t done.
“We were up against it first half. I’ve challenged the players at half time, ‘Come on, we’ve got to be better than that, do all the basics that I talk about, the basics done well and that resilience.”
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