Gareth Ainsworth has challenged his squad to deliver on his expectations ahead of the trip to Shrewsbury Town this Saturday.
The Gillingham manager has called upon his players to be able to execute the right passes and to possess the ability to make the correct decisions in games, admitting that they have not been good enough in those moments in recent fixtures.
Ainsworth travels to his former club this weekend and outlined some of Shrewsbury's strengths, which include the heart of their defence. He is also hoping to see his team create more opportunities in front of goal, acknowledging that they have not been as consistent in that area of their game over the last few fixtures.
The 53-year-old provided updates on some of the long-term injuries at the Football Club, including Eli King, who is expected to miss the rest of the season following surgery on his ACL.
His challenge to the squad...
I want them to prove to me that they are good enough to do what I am asking at times. Some of the balls that I want played- can we do it? Can we get up to that level? Never ever would I question their attitude, their commitment or willingness to do it. They try and do everything, but you have to be able to execute the right pass, the right shot and the right moment- seeing the right pass and making the right decision on the ball. That is what I am saying. We have got to be good enough in those moments, and I want them to raise their levels in those moments. That is what I am asking.
On Saturday's fixture at Shrewsbury, and the need to create more opportunities at goal...
Gavin Cowan is a good manager. He has got used to league football. They have some good players and are solid. They have three very good centre halves at the heart of their defence, who will eat a lot up, and they transition very well. We have to win some of the battles.
We are very clinical, and very high on converting chances. When we get chances, we convert them. I want us to get more and more chances. I want to try and produce a team that creates more and more chances than the few that we are creating. It has been too few in the last few games. They have been good chances, and we have a man in form there with Ronan [Hale]. We need to create more chances, many more chances than we have been doing. I aim to do that.
On the long-term absentees...
I say that we have four long-term, but two of them will be back around Christmas time. That is Liam Gordon and Zech Obiero. They are both going to come back before schedule, which is great. Liam Gordon especially, who is my captain.
The two season absentees are going to be Kadeem Harris and Eli King, both with ACL injuries. Kadeem doing his first, and Eli doing his second. He has had to have surgery, so we didn't want to break it before time. He had loads of tests in the hope that we might not have to go down the surgical route, but Eli has had surgery on a second ACL operation.
