Grimsby Town joint boss Rob Scott rounds-up the big issues affecting the Mariners ahead of this afternoon's clash at Stockport County
ON A LACK OF BELIEF…
" The players look frightened to make an error of judgement. That makes you dwell on things, and then you start thinking about things instead of playing off the cuff and being expressive. If we could go around the dressing round and give them that shot of belief and confidence then we'd be happy. I don't know why the confidence has gone – they've just played at Wembley in a final. They're good players. We keep telling them that day-in day-out, but if they don't have that inner belief themselves, there's no point us telling them. When somebody around you loses a bit of form, your form dips and then you struggle to fight back from it. All it takes is for you to hit that bump and you get back up again. Someone has a good game and all of a sudden the player next to you is having a good game and you raise your levels. Then it spreads like wildfire, so that's all we're looking to do. Once it spreads to four or five players within that group the rest will tag on and we'll be all right. But who is going to be the trigger for that? Yes, there's a shortage of confidence. Is it terminal? No. We'll get through it but it takes a lot of guts and determination. When you're playing badly you've got to ride the storm and keep doing the simple things. Do the basics, ride the storm and you come out the other side a better player because you've been through it – and the team comes through it stronger." ON TOWN'S INEXPERIENCE…
" They're still a very young side. You lose a couple of players like Craig Disley and Derek Niven, where there is a bit of nous and experience. We haven't had that in recent weeks and it's no coincidence as to the way the results are going. We can't do anything, other than coaching them, setting up and picking the team. Once the players cross that white line they have to have that stubbornness that they're going to do well. That's all we do as managers – we pick what we feel is the best team at the time. If players don't perform they come out and you pick somebody else. They've had a good run at it where they got to Wembley, and for whatever reason a few weeks before and the two games after we haven't picked up wins. They're a young group of players who have had a steep learning curve. They hit the heights of the league and now we're having a bumpy time of it, but I don't think we're by any means shot to pieces. People just think that you put them on the pitch and expect them to perform week-in week-out, but they are people and things affect them. When they have a bad performance, as a player, I would like to think that they come back fighting, saying it's not going to happen again but unfortunately it has."
ON REMAINING POSITIVE…
" The positive is that it will turn at some point. You can't keep being average and unlucky and poor. There will come a point where you will come out of that trough and you start to hit a peak again. All it takes is one performance and one win – one group of players to have more of a good day than a bad day and you get the win and that carries you on again. It's not over yet – it's not doom and gloom. It's disappointment but we're not packing the sunbed yet and going on our holidays. People are as frustrated as we are. We're all fans because we want to win for Grimsby. But let's stick together – it's easy to do that when things are going well. It's easy to jump on that train and enjoy the ride. When things get a bit bumpy everyone has to hang on and stay together, stay strong and believe we'll be where we want to."
ON THE DRAW WITH BARROW…
" It wasn't the amount of points we wanted on Saturday, so there's no point quibbling about the performance. It wasn't brilliant, although we pretty much dominated but without creating too much. I thought Cleveland (Taylor) epitomised how the game went for us. He had one good run, one good cross, but not enough of the ball in good areas. We kept possession. We had plenty of the ball but not in areas that were going to hurt Barrow.
ON DAYLE SOUTHWELL…
" I thought Dayle was the shining light for us. He's a young lad who has been frustrated with his opportunities. He was excellent up at Gateshead on Tuesday and he was the best player on the pitch on Saturday because he ran around, worked hard, got hold of the ball and did the basics right."
ON LIAM HEARN…
" Liam's not ready. It's not the Liam Hearn show – he's not fit."
ON INJURIES…
" We've no idea who will be fit (for Stockport). We've got a lot of players who are carrying things so we have to monitor it day-by-day and we probably won't know until we get there exactly how everybody is."
ON CHANGING FORMATIONS…
" We were trying to liven things up (against Barrow). It wasn't working with 4-4-2, so we changed it originally by putting Jamie in behind the strikers. That didn't seem to work and at that point they seemed to get a little more possession. So we changed it and went three in there because we wanted those legs in midfield. But, to be honest, none of the formations worked and I don't think that was the formations – it was that the personnel didn't get to grips with anything we wanted them to do."
