Robbie Savage has admitted Forest Green Rovers’ confidence is “low” after a 2-0 defeat at AFC Fylde – and says his players must “pick themselves up and go again” against Altrincham on Monday.
Coventry City loanee Harvey Broad netted a quickfire second-half double as Fylde beat a lackluste Rovers side.
Savage insisted his side had been the better team in the first half and created enough opportunities to take control of the game.
“First half, look, we didn’t want to concede early, which we didn’t, and we had chances,” said Savage.
“They had one shot, parried, and then missed a rebound, but the biggest problem tonight was we got in, what, four or five times into good areas, and it was a wrong ball across the box, nobody in to tap it in like they did in the second half.
“Hitting the first man, wrong choice, people not making runs.
“But we had three or four chances, and the game plan worked perfectly. Three or four chances, and they had one.
“And then second half, again, one ball over the top, ball across, defenders not doing their jobs, tapping, and the same for the second.
“So, again, disappointing, yeah, of course.
“Four games, two wins, two defeats. Altrincham now is a huge game. We need to get our confidence back.
“But, yeah, we didn’t see that coming at half-time. We were thinking about winning the game. And then just people don’t do their jobs.
“I know we’re getting first loans, and I know we’re getting people from, you know, giving people opportunities, but we have to be better.
“We have to be better defensively. Take accountability. Look at yourself.
“I look at myself tonight. Don’t you worry about that. Always do.
“But it can’t happen. Can’t happen, two goals like that.
“Yeah, the second was a great ball, to be fair, to the kid. But you can’t be a man short six yards out. People do their jobs.”
Savage felt Rovers should have been awarded a penalty after falling behind, although he stressed that the decision could not be used as an excuse.
“I think it was a response. I think it should have been a penalty on Macca (Kyle McAllister),” he said.
“And I never moan for those. You know that.
“It was a penalty. I don’t know how they’ve not seen that, the officials.
“That’s no excuse, though. But it was.
“And then Jayden (Clarke) hit the side netting with a great opportunity.
“So, again, yeah, they’ve won the game. They’re good football inside, but they didn’t play through us.
“But then the two goals.”
The defeat was made worse by injuries to James Berry and debutant Freddie Sass.
Savage believes Berry, who was forced off shortly after the start of the second half, could be facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
“James Berry pulled his hamstring. So that could be six to eight weeks.
“So, yeah. But, again, we’ve got to dust ourselves down, go in Sunday, work, look at it, and then drive to beat Altrincham.”
Berry had impressed Savage before his injury.
“Because James was lively. He looked really lively, James, tonight,” he said. “And I was delighted with him in the first half.
“But, again, yeah, we’ve lost a bit of confidence, I think. Let’s be totally honest.
“You know, but we’ve got to get him going again Sunday, recover tomorrow, and with a big game now at home against Altrincham.”
Sass made his debut and lasted 75 minutes before cramp forced him off. Savage was pleased overall with his performance but admitted he needed to do better for the opening goal.
“Yeah, fine, fine,” he said. “Got to do better for the goal. You know, the winger went towards the ball, spun in behind, ball over the top, first-time cross, unmarked at the back post.
Savage also acknowledged the frustration of the travelling supporters, who made the long journey to Boreham Wood.
“Again, fans were disappointed at the end, which I understand. Again, but the majority were great, but I understand the disappointment. It took them five and a half, six hours to get here. Long journey.”
The Rovers boss is also frustrated that his side have failed to score in their last two games despite having plenty of attacking options.
“You know, but we’ve not scored again. And we’ve got so much attacking options.
“Where in the space of two games, we’ve won two coming from behind with good play.
“So, the last two games, well, first half we should have scored. Second half, not really.
“But they didn’t look like scoring either, really, until two balls in behind us, two goals.”
Savage believes the fact Rovers had kept a clean sheet for more than an hour should have given his players confidence, but once again individual errors proved costly.
“Individuals have to do their jobs. There’s got to be communication.
“And again, you can see the work we’ve done in the week, in the first half. It was compact. It was good.
“They couldn’t play through us, couldn’t play over us.
“But then, that’s what happens again.
“And it’s, you know, we have to take responsibility, because I will, no doubt about that.
“You know, we’re going to watch the game back now.
“But credit them.
“You know, if we don’t start performing, then it’s going to be a long season.”
Savage was adamant that the issue was not one of attitude, praising the work ethic of his squad while insisting players must take responsibility when they cross the white line.
“No, the attitude’s great. They’re a great bunch. Their work ethic’s unbelievable.
“You know, inevitably, if individuals don’t do their jobs, that’s a huge problem.
“And I keep myself in that, by the way.
“You know, but my staff, you know, we give all the details. The detail’s good.
“You know, all my staff, myself, Jan (Klukowski), Josh (Bowen), Jonathan (Gould), we all give the technical detail they need.
“But again, in the game, when you cross that white line, you have to do it.”
Savage believes AFC Fylde deserve credit for their attacking work, but felt the goals from Rovers’ perspective were far too easy to concede.
“We’ve seen. It’s first half, I think we were the better side. Second half, there wasn’t much in it, but they’ve scored two good goals from their perspective.
“Because I always hear people saying from, you know, one perspective, you know, we could have done things a lot better.
“Of course, we could have, but from their point of view, they’ve probably worked on spinning behind, ball across the box, somebody getting the back post.
“So from their perspective, it’s a good goal, but from ours, it’s so easy.”
Despite the defeat, Savage felt some players came out with credit: “I thought Tate Campbell played well at times tonight. I thought he was good an Kyle Kelly, when he came on, was good. Macca always worked hard – he cares, but, you know, we just don’t seem to, we lost confidence in four games, but it’s up to us as a group to get it back and get it back quickly.”
Savage insisted there are still positives to take from the squad, despite admitting the players were devastated by the defeat.
“Yeah, it’s a great group. Great bunch of lads who care, but you know, they’re devastated in there. They’re devastated, really.
“You can see at the end, devastated.
“But they’ve got to pick themselves up. We have to pick ourselves up and go against Altrincham, who got their first win of the season. They’re going to come with confidence and confidence is low. It’s low, but we need to pick them up, pick ourselves up and go again Monday. That’s all you can do.
Savage admitted he would have preferred more time to work with his squad following the defeat, but believes the players must analyse their performances and respond quickly.
“I know the players watch the games back.
“And the easiest thing to do is go home and think, ‘Do you know what? It wasn’t my night.’
“But, you know, I’ve had 13, I think 13 players knocking on my door to ask me, you know, why aren’t they in the team? Why aren’t they in the team?
“So when you get an opportunity, you have to show us and the fans why you should be in the team.”
For Savage, Monday’s fixture now represents an immediate opportunity for Rovers to put the disappointment behind them and restore confidence.
The message from the Forest Green manager is clear: take responsibility, learn from the mistakes and respond.
“We have to be better.
“We have to be better defensively.
“Take accountability.
“Look at yourself.
“I look at myself tonight. Don’t you worry about that. Always do.
“But it can’t happen.
“Can’t happen two goals like that.
“We need to get our confidence back.
“We need a team to go and beat Altrincham.”
