Press conference round-up: Wilson on Coventry, that new formation and Ian Evatt
The Spireites manager hosted the press at the Proact today to talk about tomorrow’s game at the Ricoh.
On the agenda was the club’s poor run of form and their lack of goalscoring – but Wilson remained upbeat, insisting things can turn around quickly.
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Hide AdAddressing tomorrow night’s opponents, a side who have grown in confidence in recent games, Wilson said they’ve shown how quickly fortunes can change.
“They’re very similar to Charlton on Saturday, whatever is going on off the pitch seems to be clouding their picture of the football,” he said.
“But the players just need to get on with it and it seems they’ve turned a corner in that respect.
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Hide Ad“I don’t think there’s much to choose between the two clubs. They’ve got some good players who can score goals and create goals.
“We look at them as maybe being like us, they’ve retained their belief and confidence and managed to turn it around.
“We can look at that and say it can be done.
“Coventry are a prime example, they’ve been upward and onward in the last three or four games. They’ve hit a little bit of form and that’s what we’re looking to do.
“I’m still very confident in the squad we’ve got that we can go there and get a result.”
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Hide AdWilson admits to being baffled by his side’s failure to put the ball in the net in league action during the month of October.
But he’s certain the goals will come, and once they do he’s sure Chesterfield will return to winning ways.
At the other end of the pitch, Ian Evatt returned to the starting line-up in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat by Charlton, thanks to Tom Anderson’s suspension.
Wilson was pleased to be able to bring some much needed experience into his side.
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Hide Ad“It was great to bring him back and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands,” said Wilson.
“He was dominant in what he did, his defensive work was excellent and alongside him Sam and Gary formed a very good trio.
“I think with Ian his injuries have been the problem, he’s one who needs to be on the training ground every day and he’ll admit that himself.
“He’s had some solid work in the last couple of the months and he’s been champing at the bit to play, so when it came he took the opportunity really well.”
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Hide AdWilson did, however strongly hint that Anderson would return to the team tomorrow night, perhaps forming part of the five-man defence that featured in Saturday’s changed formation, with Gary Liddle presumably reverting back to a midfield role.
That new formation, a change from the 4-4-2 and 4-4-1-1 Wilson has favoured thus far this season, was made to work by the players in his estimation.
“I thought it worked very, very well,” he said.
“Systems don’t win you games it’s people within the system and they played it out to a tee. Unfortunately we were undone by one cross that went into the box and we didn’t deal with it.
“We’ve got to be flexible, we can’t be seen to be a one-trick pony with the same system all the time. We have to change it around a little bit.
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Hide Ad“We felt with the three at the back, going to Charlton, we felt we could pose them a few problems and we did that very well.
“I thought Connor (Dimaio) and Liam (O’Neil) did very well in there, they dictated the play for long spells. I was really pleased with their displays.
“As a team we worked very hard. I was pleased we could change it round.”
Chesterfield do have one or two knocks that they’ll be assessing tomorrow morning and were due to be back out on the training field this afternoon to work on their preparation for the Sky Blues, the second session of the day for Wilson’s men.