‘They were dominant because we were allowing them to be’ - Crawley Town boss reflects on defeat to Salford City

Following a 2-1 defeat to table-topping Salford, the Reds boss deliberated on how his side’s first 60 minutes – in which they went 2-0 down – were different to their efforts in ehe last 30 minutes, in which he believed his side showed bravery when faced with a two-goal deficit and pulled a goal back.

The defeat left the Reds five points adrift at the bottom of the table with the boss under increasing pressure ahead of two home games this week, against Shrewsbury Town and Tranmere Rovers.

The first half showed why the Ammies are in top spot with an abundance of quality and confidence in their passages of play and movement.

Crawley lacked those qualities during the first 45 and when Kazim-Richards was asked whether it was Salford’s plethora of quality which made the Reds look poor or whether his side’s inferiority was of their own doing, he said he didn’t think it was ‘a lack of quality or too much quality from them’ adding: “I just think it was the moments, the moments that we allowed them to have.

“You say that they were quite dominant, they were dominant because we were allowing them to be dominant. There was times where they weren’t even pressing us and we were just circulating the ball rather than break the lines and go forward.

"Understanding what was presented to us, I think that’s a better way to put it rather than lack of quality or more quality.

“I think if you were to change the situation with both teams, it would be the same – you’re coming into a team where you’ve got one win all season and two draws, or you’re in a team where it’s eight wins.

"It’s quite logical in terms of how you might start or feel during the game. I don’t think it’s a lack of quality or more quality, it's the situation you’re in, and we should have recognised on the pitch we were being allowed to have the ball a lot and we didn’t take advantage of that.”

Kazim-Richards was critical of his side not playing forward enough and when asked whether that was down to his side being scared to making mistakes he said: “I do think it’s sometimes being scared to make mistakes, not wanting to make a mistake and then ending up making a mistake.

"That’s what happens in football a lot because then you keep the ball in the area that we don’t really want the ball in and then it’s normal you’re going to – because they start creeping up the pitch and then you start making mistakes and errors.”

He stressed that he wanted the ‘mistakes to be higher up the pitch’, adding: “I’ve played the game, it doesn't matter who you are, everyone is going to make a mistake while you’re playing football.

"It’s understanding that there are levels of mistakes. Do you want to make a mistake in our final third or do you want to make a mistake in their final third and then be able to capitalise and counter press and be able to go on and affect the game?”

The Reds are wallowimg at the bottom of the League Two table after the opening nine games. They find themselves on a seven-game winless run in the league and the Crawley manager spoke about how, just like you can get addicted to winning, you can get addicted to losing.

When asked how you can help break that run, other than the obvious solution of winning a game of football, he said, “You can make them realise, look, we played top of the league. Okay, you’ve lost 2-1, but the last 30 minutes you wouldn’t have known that it was 2-1.

“I’m talking about maybe the debrief and showing them the 30 minutes, they’ve had the bravery, they’ve had the mentality, what’s going to be is going to be- let’s just go out and play.

"So you can change that, it’s not only just about getting the result, it’s about understanding the situations and understanding the good bits, the bits that you can take away, the positive bits, should I say, from the game and put it as a collective, and now sit down and make the players recognise that.”