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Micky Mellon has spoken, ahead of Saturday’s fixture against Sutton United at Prenton Park.
Mellon spoke about New Years’ Day’s defeat at Crewe Alexandra, targets for his team and the January Transfer Window.
The Rovers boss started with a reflection of his side’s New Year’s Day defeat at the Mornflake Stadium against Crewe Alexandra.
“Up until half time, we were on top. You have to take chances which come your way when you’re on top and we weren’t able to do that. We conceded a good goal, a good strike, but we could have done better before the strike. In the second half, we made some wrong decisions, and didn’t work the way which we did in the first half.
“You’ve got to make good choices and not force things, and not get frustrated, but that’s difficult to do. We were so much on top, and I can imagine why we were so frustrated, but even in the second half, we had chances to bring it level and win the game.
“We want to win every game that we play in. We’ve trained well this morning, and we’ve worked on what is the most important thing in football – putting the ball in the back of the net. We are creating chances however we understand that the be-all-and-end-all is winning games of football.
“People always talk about pressure, but I think that it’s frustration. You work with players all the time and you understand when they’re doing what they want to do and doing well, but when we’re not getting that goal, you feel frustrated. And then, when the supporters have come on New Year’s Day and you haven’t won, that’s frustrating. I don’t think I feel it more than anybody else, I think I feel it the same as everybody else, we are all united in wanting Tranmere to do well.
“My job is trying to help the lads win games of football. They are an exceptionally good group of lads. They want to work hard for each other, and you can see that and see them flourishing.”
Mellon spoke about targets and about how no specific targets were set at this stage – however performances and getting results are what proves success for his side.
“Absolutely. We never really set any targets apart from finding performances which will score us goals and keep us clean sheets, so we’ll continue to try and find that. We need to take those chances and try and win games of football, and if we concentrate on doing that, and do that well enough, consistently, then we can see the future – but now, we concentrate on the performance.
“I do understand, as a football fan myself, about people getting frustrated and disappointed, if you’re not winning games of football. My job as the manager is to help this club win games.”
It’s a week in to the January Transfer Window and there has already been the departure of Neill Byrne and Dynel Simeu being recalled from his loan spell at the club.
“We need to move players out before we can bring players in, which is understandable and is the way which business works. We will look at the talent we could bring in and if they’re available. Until that happens, we will keep working with the group that we have, and we will see how January unfolds.”
Sutton United visit the Wirral Peninsula with four wins from the last five games, meaning they are just above Tranmere in the table. Their good spell will meet Tranmere’s good recent performances on Saturday afternoon.
“We’ve had a good little spell ourselves – two results over the last three games, so we’ll look forward to a tough game at home against Sutton. We have played away a lot recently, so it’s always nice to be back at Prenton Park.”
Barring the suspension of Paul Lewis, Mellon said that there were no other major injuries which would exclude players from the fixture, excluding those who are ruled out due to longer-term injuries. Illness may be the key factor to the squad selection, however those ill will be assessed on Saturday morning.
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