Phil Brown believes that competition for places is the key to achieving success this season.
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s fixture against Oldham, the Gaffer went through the players that have been giving him selection headaches.
“The ones that came in last week – James Dunne, performed well enough to warrant keeping his place in the team, and the back four and the goalkeeper as well as the goalscorers.
“Elijah Adebayo looks like he’s dangerous, looks a threat to the opposition, Keshi Anderson the same, so does Jermaine McGlashan and I think Soctt Twine is on the verge of starting a very good career.
“That competition for places, aided and abetted by Kaiyne Woolery coming out of the treatment room, is key to any kind of success we’ll have this season.”
Brown also provided an update on injuries ahead of the weekend with Michael Doughty putting his case forward for a return to the squad after a hip injury; however, the mere fact that you could make a case for not including Doughty, Brown says, is testament to the performance last weekend.
“No new concerns – I think where Michael Doughty is concerned, I think he’ll put his case forward this week and be available but I’m still waiting for confirmation from the physio.
“That, in itself suggests, we did something right last weekend – the three goals, the nature of the game and the performance. I know I said I reward defenders and goalkeepers with keeping their shirts for clean sheets, but that applies to the whole team – as a team, we attacked and, as a team, we defended.”
Brown was quizzed on his management philosophy with regards to his player choice and claimed that continuity was key.
“I think the continuity of selection is important to the continuity of performance, if truth be known. If you take the example of the champions last year, that was an example of keeping the same team.
“You make your own luck in this game, the work that we put in on the training ground, the level of consistency with the message to the players as well has to be the same until the end of the season.”
