MARK Cooper thinks the work his players have been doing on training ground to improve their attacking movement is beginning to pay dividends.
When Raphael Branco forced Stephen Bywater into a mistake for the late equaliser against Gillingham on Tuesday night it came on the end of a long passing move, that showed great patience so deep into the game.
After last Saturday’s defeat to Crawley, Cooper had his players in on Sunday to get them moving the ball with more purpose in the final third and they have continued to do that this week.
As Swindon prepare to take on Crewe tomorrow the fans will be expecting the home side to pick up the win and the manager wants his side to continue to show the dominance they demonstrated in their four previous games.
“We’re going to do more (work) today. We maybe need to be a little bit quicker around the final third, maybe get a few more balls into the danger area.” Cooper said at his pre-match press conference yesterday.
“When you have that much possession you can see the other team dropping back and dropping back, starting to get tired, that what’s happened at the end and that’s why we got the goal (against Gillingham),”
“The fans will be expecting us to win, of course we’re at home and people will expect us to win.
“It’s alright saying we’re at home and we’re playing a team that’s just been beaten at home, you’ve actually got to go and do it.
“You’ve got to perform properly collectively and as individuals, with and without the ball. If you do that and it’s your day you have a chance of winning the game.
“It’s two teams that are both young and energetic and want to play football, so we’re hoping it’s an open and entertaining game.”
Individual errors rather than defensive flaws have cost the Robins most so far this season. That comes with their more adventurous style of play but Cooper is fully aware those mistakes cannot become a habit.
“We’re at our most vulnerable, it seems to me, when we have the ball and the ball turns over, we lose it and we’re in transition. That’s when we become vulnerable, so that’s what we’re working on.
“I think it’s concentration that when we’re attacking that we are switched on that if the ball does turn over that we know it might be a big long ball over the top that we might have to deal with better than we have done.”
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