RUFC - Moore on Bradford and Injuries

Rotherham United Manager, Ronnie Moore is a bit surprised with all the doom and gloom around the place.

Speaking to MillersWorld before tomorrow's encounter with Bradford City, Moore said, 'The thing that annoys me is that people get doom and gloom all over the place. We get beaten three-nil in the FA Cup and we didn`t perform but you know, we are third in the league - we aren`t third from bottom fighting for our lives.

'If it had been me, after Tuesday, I`d have wanted to play a game on Wednesday - hopefully the players were thinking I didn`t play well on Tuesday the sooner the game comes the better. The players were down the other night and we`ve had a chat and it`s done, its history. We have to look forward now and the most important thing for this club is concentrating being in the top three of this division, I mean we were never going to win the FA Cup. The league is our priority.

'For confidence we need a clean sheet. We`ve conceded eight goals in four games but the defenders have worked hard to put that right. We`ve got to be able to defend and we have to make the right decisions in our final third.

'There`s going to be a good crowd at Bradford with a good atmosphere and it`s a game we are looking forward to. We`ll take a few there and let`s go and show them how we can play and what it`s all about. If we go there with the right attitude and defend well then we`ll win the game.

'It`s important that we keep clean sheets then we`ve got enough there to go on and win the game. Pablo Mills knows the reasons he`s not been in the side and he`s worked hard to put that right and hasn`t been and complained to me. But Pabs will play tomorrow, there`s no doubt about that in fact there`ll be a couple of changes tomorrow and it certainly won`t be the same side that turned out on Tuesday.'

Moore went on to speak about his team, 'Really you want an outstanding eleven with five or six others that can come into the side. At the moment we`ve got twenty-three players, and you take Alfie (Adam Le Fondre) out of that and the 'keeper and the two lads at the back and then everybody else is a much of a muchness really. It`s great having attacking full-backs but we haven`t got any defensive minded full-backs which could be a problem.'

Asked if he'd thought about putting Kevin Ellison up front Moore said he hadn't, 'There`s competition there for strikers but I haven`t thought of putting Kevin Ellison up there although I know he could play there. He gets on the back post well. Popey (Tom Pope) needs a goal. He`s worked hard and made four or five goals for Alfie but as a centre-forward you have to be greedy and you have to want to score. He`s coming back Monday and Tuesday afternoons for extra training and we will get there with him we hope sooner rather than later.'

On the injury front, Moore said, 'Andy Liddell will probably be a month away with his Achilles. It will probably be a fortnight before he can start to jog on it and maybe another fortnight before he can join in training.

Tongey's (Dale Tonge) training on Monday, Warney (Paul Warne) the week after so we`re getting there with the injuries.'

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