Chesterfield boss reveals content of discussions with out of sorts players

The talking will stop today at 3pm when the Spireites host Dover in a game Martin Allen’s men will be desperate to win.

They’ve lost their last six games, all of them by the margin of a solitary goal.

Allen says players have held their hands up for mistakes and performances that have cost the club their momentum, after three straight wins at the start of the season.

“I’ve had a lot of players come to see me and a lot of players say they’ve let me down, which is nice you could say,” he said.

“But I don’t feel they’ve let me down, they have to play for themselves, their families, the football club.

“Their job is to play for the football club.

“It’s great being a footballer, everyone’s dream is to be a footballer, but it’s a horrible job if you don’t win.

“They have had disappointment.”

The manager said this week that his players needed his help, that it wasn’t a case of hitting them with a big stick and demanding improvement.

But there have had to be some challening discussions over responsibility.

“When you look at the goal the other night we conceded, punched out, free header from the edge of the box, that player should have been man marked from the corner,” he said.

“The bloke headed it back into our box and from that second phase it’s very difficult to defend it, but he should have been marked.

“We’ve done that in training twice a week, every week.

“When he’s not marked, that upsets me and I don’t like that.

“If I hadn’t done that training session, organised that and put that on, I’m to blame.

“If I have and I tell you where you’ve got to stand, who you’ve got to mark, stop that ball coming in our box, then that person has got a problem.

“We’ve had some of them conversations as well.”