Nathan Jones was frustrated with his side’s performance as they lost 2-0 at AFC Wimbledon in the penultimate game of pre-season.
“I’m really disappointed with lots of stuff,” he said. “It’s not about the result, it’s about the performance really.
“First half we weren’t aggressive enough,” he continued. “We were categorically different the other day where we were really aggressive all over. Today we were a mile off in terms of that.”
Jones also wanted to see more from his team on the ball. “In possession we weren’t fluent enough. We really weren’t fluent enough today and that’s the most disappointing thing,” he said.
“We played in front of them, we didn’t penetrate enough and then when we did we went long at the wrong time.
“It’s a bit of a wake-up call for me in terms of, going forward, what I need to do. So it’s served its purpose in that way, albeit in a disappointing way.”
Nonetheless, with it only being pre-season, Jones was keen to keep some perspective.
“We’re building into a season and that’s what it’s about,” he said. “You can’t get too down and you can’t get too high. We should have beaten Crystal Palace, but you don’t suddenly think we’re the best team in the world. It’s about keeping a nice equilibrium in terms of what we do.
“I was unbeaten at Stoke in pre-season and I lost my job 14 games later!”
With the transfer window closing in just over a month, Jones explained what work he would still like to do on the squad.
“We need to move one or two on and then we need to bring one or two in, in terms of strengthening and finalising the squad,” he said. “I would have liked it to be done by now. Obviously it's not been but look, we keep working right until the end of the window and trying to strengthen the side.
“We’re working with big numbers at the minute, and that’s something we have to change. We have to get to a place where we’ve got a settled squad and we know exactly what we want to do.”
(Photo: Tom West)
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