Crawley Town boss on how his side can be more aggressive

Crawley dominated possession in both games, resulting in a lot more passes than their opposition. But on both occasions the opposition had more shots on target.

But maybe most telling of all, Scott Lindsey used the same phrase about is team in the post match press conference. He criticised them for being ‘too nice’ on both occasions and wanted his side to be more aggressive.

In the build up to this weekend’s trip to Crewe, we asked Lindsey to go into that deeper and what aspects of the game he wanted them to be more aggressive in.

“I think we can be more aggressive in in both halves of the pitch,” he said.

“I think we play really good football, but we get to a point where we get into the top third and we don't tread on them. I use that expression to the players quite a lot. We need to tread on them. When we get them in there and we've gotten where we want them, we need to now be aggressive within our actions, whether it's a run off the ball or a slide pass or a shot or across, we've got to go for it a little bit.

“I think that we tend to turn down opportunities to tread on them, we come back round and almost make it really easy for the opposition. From a defensive point of view, I feel that the opposition has had too much space. I think Corey [Addai] has made more saves than any other keeper in the division, which tells a story that the opposition is getting in too many times.”

But Lindsey thinks it’s not just the defenders who can be more aggressive. “I honestly believe that it's a transition where the ball turns over the top of the pitch and we're so open and spread because of our expansive football that we don't run back into our slots quick enough.

“So it's a mentality thing. I feel that we've got to have a real aggression about us when we press, which I think we do. I think we press the team really well. But once the ball is gone South, we now need to run south, not just be a team that runs north and wants to make runs forward.

“I've got a little saying in training where when we've got the ball certain players run. When the opposition have the ball everybody runs. That's what we've got to do better.”

Lindsey also revealed he and his squad had ‘honest’ meetings following the Morecambe defeat to talk about recent results and performances.

He said: “We're really focused. We had a good debrief session in the early part of the week, and a really honest session. Players spoke out, and we've cleared a few things up, which is good.

“It's been a positive week again, which it normally is. But it's all about the performance.

"We've got 18 games left, we've got 54 points to play for and we feel as a group that we've got to attack every single game, like it's a cup final in order for us to get anywhere near where we want to get.”