Doncaster Rovers v Cheltenham Town: Richie Wellens demands action rather than words

A GOOD talker who always offers thoughtful and interesting views on football, Richie Wellens is streetwise enough to appreciate that the time for talking is over.

His struggling Doncaster Rovers side are in the midst of what is likely to be a season-defining run of games – even though it is still comfortably in autumn – and only victories will do.

Back-to-back home games against Cheltenham and Cambridge are next up followed by trips to two sides currently in the bottom four in Charlton and Crewe.

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Keepmoat appointments against Fleetwood and Lincoln follow, with four of the club’s next six league matches being on home soil. Good games if you win them – or most of them.

Under pressure: Richie Wellens manager of Doncaster Rovers. Picture: Getty ImagesUnder pressure: Richie Wellens manager of Doncaster Rovers. Picture: Getty Images
Under pressure: Richie Wellens manager of Doncaster Rovers. Picture: Getty Images

As much as Wellens is revered by Rovers supporters for his playing role in probably the greatest era in the club’s history – certainly their modern-day one – his ability to retain their faith as a manager will depend on events in the coming days and weeks.

Wellens said: “In football, it is a results-based business. We all know that and I know that more than anybody.

“We have two home games now and we need to pick up points.

“Patience always wears thin at any club in the world when you are not winning. We need to stick together and we know in football that things can turn very quickly.”

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Availability issues is stymieing Wellens’ ability to change formation, although the 41-year-old believes that his side’s issues are fundamentally simple in truth with his views chiming with those of Burnley counterpart Sean Dyche when speaking in a recent television interview.

Asked what needs to change in order for his Clarets side’s fortunes to change, Dyche cut to the chase and simply said: ‘Put the ball in that end and stop it going in that end,’ pointing in two directions for added effect.

Wellens would undoubtedly concur from his own perspective, with his Rovers side currently not winning enough battles in their own area in a defensive sense and not being ruthlessness enough at the other end.

A meagre total of just six goals this season tells its own story in that regard, while they have failed to score in seven of their 12 league games in 2021-22.

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In every game in which they have gone behind in this campaign, Rovers have gone onto lose it and you have to go back to last November for the last time that they trailed in a league game and went onto win, a 3-2 success over Blackpool at the Keepmoat Stadium.

“Football is two things. When you have not got the ball, you keep it out of your own net and when you have got the ball, you try and score,” Wellens continued.

“At the moment, little things are going against us and set-plays are a problem. We are allowing people to get across us from corners which is a cardinal sin.

“We say to the markers that you cannot let people get across you because if the ball goes over your head, Tom Anderson, who is free on the six-yard box, can help you out. He cannot help you out if you let people get across you.

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“And we need to start taking chances, that is the top and bottom of it.

“The performance levels in the last three games against MK Dons, Wycombe and Gillingham were really positive. But with the areas we are getting in, we need to have more belief in the final third.

“The other night, we did not look a team struggling and devoid of confidence. At times, we looked fluent, but we have to take chances when they come along.

“It does not matter who you are, if you score goals at the right times, you can take the game away from people. At the moment, we are not taking chances when they come along.”

Rovers’ issues are simple, but very stark all the same and their opponents are alive to that fact. Something must change.

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