Crawley Town v Tranmere Rovers: ‘We know exactly where we are’, says Blackwell
Kevin Blackwell aims to get Crawley Town winning again – and he will hope to start with his first game as interim boss, today’s Broadfield Stadium clash with Tranmere Rovers.
With all his focus on this weekend’s game, the former Leeds United and Sheffield United manager has spoken of what he has been instilling into his side over the past two days of training.
Crawley sit rock bottom of League Two and six points adrift of safety but Blackwell alluded to the fact that the quality in the squad does not reflect their league position.
Asked about quality in the squad he said: “Without question there is. I was quite surprised at some of the technical skills here and we have just got to marry that with a little bit more physicality. But we know exactly where we are and there is no hiding away from it.
“We made that point in the meeting that sometimes you have to find out in life where you are. Well, we know exactly where we are right now so we’ve got to respond to that.”
Blackwell emphasised the need, especially in the situation Crawley find themselves in, not to over-complicate matters, which will be music to ears of Reds fans. He said: “I really just want to keep it simple. It’s no good, I can’t walk in the building in one day and give them everything I want to do and they’re playing in two days later.
“So it’s just trying to keep everything basic and simple and like I say there was good banter at the club. If they were low when I came in they certainly picked themselves up and that’s all credit to them so I don’t see despondency here at all.”
With over 20 years of managerial experience, Blackwell knows how to motivate a group of players who find themselves in a difficult position in the table.
He very bluntly stressed the importance of “earning the right and that means rolling up our sleeves and working very hard for the badge on the chest and the fans because they deserve better than they’ve been getting.”
Blackwell outlined that first and foremost he expects effort from his side and that when faced with adversity he doesn’t “want to see a despondency if we go a goal down, we’ve just got to deal with that and move forward.”
His old school, no nonsense attitude was very much evident when he reiterated that the team “know what they’ve got to do. I’ve made it quite clear that there are certain places and certain places that we will play and there’s times we will take no risks.”
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