Rochdale are in league action at the Crown Oil Arena on Wednesday night, hosting fellow relegation battlers MK Dons.
The Dons sit 22nd in League One, five points ahead of Dale, having played four more games than Keith Hill’s side.
Speaking ahead of the match, the Gaffer commented: “When the fixture list came out and we had no points, we weren’t focusing in on this game, but because of the position we’re both in, there’s a big focus on it.
“What we can’t do is bring the threat of pressure that can derail any individual player and the team – we’ve got to try and take away any apprehension from the players.
“We know where we are because we haven’t got enough points. I think the Chairman summed it up superbly well on Sunday during an interview when he said that we get beaten because the opposition, quite simply, have scored more goals than us. Within that, we’ve played some marvellous stuff, even in last week’s game at Bristol Rovers. We took the lead in that game but again individual errors have cost us, and that seems to be the theme, so it’s up to the players.
“The players have to accept responsibility individual in the decision making in our league competition, because in the FA Cup our individual decision making has been very good.
“We’re bottom of the league and the only way you can really go is to fight upwards and onwards, and there should be no pressure. If we lose the game on Wednesday, we can’t go any further down the league – if we win the game, we can start building and going up the league, and that’s my philosophy.
“I’ve got to try and be as neutral as I possibly can be and take away all the stresses from the players, deliver a game plan and trust the players. If I start getting stressed too much, then it’ll bring negativity to everybody. We can’t bring that to a group of players, who, for me, are superb. Yes, they’ve got things wrong this season, but as the Human League said ‘we’re only human’ and we’re born to make mistakes.
Watch the full 17 minute interview on iFollow.