Manager Keith Hill bemoaned his side’s lack of goals, following Dale’s 2-0 win over Grimsby Town in Round One of the Carabao Cup.
Speaking after the game, Hill commented: “The performance was ok. You’ve got to score more goals – we’ve got to be ruthless.
“If we’re ruthless on Saturday against Peterborough United then we don’t end up losing the game 4-1, it could have been 4-4. Maybe I’m just a little bit disappointed from Saturday, but there are certain things you need to have in a staple diet with respect to being a successful team, and I think we’re a bit fluffy at times.
“I’m happy with Ollie Rathbone getting two goals but I want my strikers to score. You want your strikers to put themselves in scoring positions more often, and they’ve got to be more ruthless in front of goal, because if we’re going to play the way we’re playing, then we’re going to concede one or two goals.
“We should be scoring more with the opportunities that we’re creating. There’s no point thinking that there’s another opportunity going to come. We had a genuine 21 shots at goal against Peterborough on Saturday and five on target, and those on target were pretty wimpish.
“I want the players to have shots - you won’t score goals unless you take shots. We’ve got to be more clinical and that’s it in a nutshell.”
On the competition itself, Hill added: “It’s a good competition if you can go deep into it or you draw big clubs. I think the Carabao Cup could be special.
“This is where dreams start, and you have to win the games for them to materialise. It would have been difficult to sit there and see Grimsby in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup because we would have said ‘if only we had won that night’. This is where it starts, so let’s see who we get in the next round.”
Watch the full interview on iFollow.