Manager Keith Hill has told Dale PlayerHD that he has spent this week reflecting on the past, revisiting the club’s identity and looking ahead to the future.
It follows last weekend’s heavy defeat to Barnsley.
“What’s important is that we’ve reflected on the past and we’re focusing on the future, starting with Burton,” said Hill.
“We’ve got a 20 game season now and I’m looking for massive improvements.
“What I’ve done this week is treated it like a 20 game season and I’ve reflected on our job as coaches and the relationship between the players and the coaches. I’ve also revisited what my identity is.
“The identity has got to be reflective of the performances and the performances have got to reflect the staple diets of - we are an energetic side, we’re fit, we’re hungry, we’re dynamic, we never give in, and we’ve got great application and a great attitude.
“I’m using last week as a great opportunity for us to regain what it is we are as a football club. If I’m being honest with you, I’ve treated it as if I’m a new manager coming into the football club. I basically sacked myself after last Saturday then I adopted an attitude of ‘right, I’ve taken over this bunch of players, what do I want from this bunch of players and how do I get the best out of these players for 20 games’.
“I believe they’re very good players and sometimes they can be misdirected by themselves a little bit. I aim to utilise these next 20 games as a real opportunity, as new manager coming into the football club, to make sure we make the most of the last 20 games.
“We have to get rid of the inconsistencies because it would be useless to act too emotionally to last week’s events because two weeks prior when we went to Walsall, it’s the best I’ve felt as manager representing Rochdale Football Club.
“Last weekend was the worst I’ve felt representing Rochdale Football Club. It’s the first time I’ve had six goals plotted against me. The last 20 minutes could be summed up as unexplainable but when I’ve actually analysed it and analysed this season’s work so far, I’ve come up with my own conclusions and what I want to do with the remaining 20 games.
“It’s about being brave, it’s about coming out fighting and it’s about instilling our fundamental work based values and making sure we represent the football club as well as we know we can because there has been too much of a difference between the very best and what we saw on Saturday for 20 minutes which was the very worst.”
The full interview is on Dale PlayerHD.