Danny Schofield says the whole Rovers side must take responsibility for mistakes as they look to return to winning form.
Individual errors have proven costly for Rovers in recent weeks but Schofield - speaking to the media ahead of Saturday’s clash with Crewe Alexandra - insists that pointing the finger of blame does no good in the bid to get back on track.
On looking for improvement this weekend:
“It’s the performance that will produce the results so every aspect of what the demands of a football game are, we need to be better. We need to eradicate mistakes - that goes without saying. How we do that is by continually working in being focused and well-prepared as possible going into games.
“And we stick to our principles in attack and defence. We need to be more clinical in all aspects of the game, in both boxes which is ultimately where games are decided.”
On backing goalkeeper Jonathan Mitchell:
“You’ve got to believe in your players. Mistakes are part and parcel of the game. There was a lot of honesty spoken after the game last week and a lot of emotion in the dressing room. Mitch put his hand up and said he made two big mistakes.
“Collectively we have to take responsibility and not pile it all on the player that makes the individual error. Knowing his character and the way he is, he’ll come back stronger for that.”
On players stepping up in the wake of injuries:
“There are opportunities for other players to come on and perform, whether that’s in a position that’s not particularly where they’ve played before or whether we call on the other players that we have at the club in those positions. It’s a decision I have to make over the next few days.”
On facing criticism:
“I understand my role is one where you get criticised if results and performances are not there. That’s something I have to accept and deal with. I think I can sleep easily at night because I know how relentless I am with my work, how relentlessly I push the players, how hard my staff work to try to achieve what we want to achieve at Doncaster Rovers.
“There’s constantly internal discussions about the vision of this club and I feel really well supported in terms of me being the head coach to drive this. The consistency of performances and results haven’t been what I’ve wanted but I truly believe myself and the staff are the people to take this club forward. I see some fantastic things going off internally and I know the product is the game on the Saturday - that’s the thing on show. We need to continue working as we’re doing.
“Do we need to be better? Yes. We can all be better every single day. Do the players need to be better? Absolutely. We keep pushing them and looking at areas we can improve with recruitment.
“I genuinely feel with the processes in place that we can go somewhere with this football club.”