Doncaster Rovers: Ferguson considers sacrificing attacking principles

Darren Ferguson watches his team come unstuck at Bradford City, alongside Bantams boss Phil Parkinson.

Rovers face Ferguson’s old club Peterborough United on Saturday desperately needing to halt an alarming slide which has seen them lose eight of their last nine games.

During a run of 12 games in total without a win, sections of Rovers’ support have questioned whether the current players are good enough to cope with the formations employed by Ferguson - predominantly 5-3-2 and a 4-4-2 midfield diamond.

When the Star put those fears to Ferguson, he replied: “The fans have obviously got an opinion and you have to take that on board.

“But again you go back to the fact we got 23 points out of 13 games. It was the same system then.

“Before I came in it was 4-4-1-1 and again they couldn’t score a goal and it was as dull as dishwater.

“I have to maybe sacrifice a few things,” he added.

“Do we go back to that and just become hard to beat? Because even in the system we are playing, for whatever reason, we’re not scoring goals.

“Yet we managed to score about 21 in ten. There’s an argument for both sides.”

Ferguson also insisted that his messages were getting through to the players - and not falling on deaf ears.

“The messages are clear in terms of what I expect the players to do in terms of how we want to play,” said Rovers’ boss.

“It’s something I need to look at this week in terms of, at the moment, can they do it?

“Can they do it in terms of how I want to play?

“It might be a case of sacrificing that or whatever. I do believe they can, but it’s something I’ll look at.”