‘We need to address this asap’ - Doncaster Rovers players to be hauled into Sunday training by ‘hurt’ Grant McCann after ‘shocking’ Morecambe display

The defeat was Rovers’ heaviest of their 2023-24 League Two season so far, as a double from Michael Mellon and goals from Eli King, Jacob Bedeau and David Tutonda secured an impressive triumph for the Shrimps.

And McCann revealed his players will be reporting into the club tomorrow for a ‘debrief’.

He said: “It’s a difficult one at the minute to talk about after the game. I’d like to watch it back. The players will watch it back. They will be in tomorrow. We need to go into this week and a busy period with us getting that game out of the way asap by watching it back. That’s not acceptable.

“The boys would usually have the Sunday off but we need to address this asap. We can beat anybody in this division but we can get absolutely battered by anyone in this division and you’ve seen that today. I am really disappointed with that.

“I didn’t speak to them, I just said ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’ We will debrief it tomorrow. I’d rather sit and watch it and debrief it properly. We will present it to the players tomorrow. The stats don’t lie, it’s black and white, players pulling out of challenges, it’s not acceptable in any of my football teams.

“We do it every game, win, lose or draw. The process will be the same. The only thing is it will be sped up and we can then start Monday afresh.”

Summing up the performance, McCann said:

“We got what we deserved. We were poor. As bad as we have been. The worst we have been. We lost too many duals, we didn’t start the game well and we let them in too easy and they’re 1-0 up. We were nowhere near it today and rightly, and deservedly, booed off the pitch. It was a shocking day for everybody.

“They were better in every department. There is no doubt about that. We didn’t have enough aggression about us, enough bite about us. We didn’t run enough. These are things I can’t comprehend and something that I can’t have in my team. That will change moving forward.

“Today’s game was nowhere near the standards we set. To win football games you need to be able to work, run, fight and win duals. We lost every single dual.”

Rovers had a glorious opportunity to equalise through Mo Faal midway through the first half but the striker, on loan from West Brom, had a shot blocked before firing the rebound wide.

“We had a really good chance to equalise and we didn’t take it,” McCann said. “The chance for Mo where he should score and he should score the rebound. We didn’t take it and from there on it was one-way traffic.

“We prepped the boys all week and showed them clips of them breaking in transition, being quick and strong.”

He added: “It’s a poor, poor day for us and I understand the fans’ frustration. I’m sure the players don’t mean to put on a performance like that. I feel really hurt and disappointed at the minute. I’m sure the fans do as well. I completely get that.

“Conceding that many goals at home is embarrassing. It’s embarrassing for everyone. We need to be more solid and more strong. I’m not going to sit here and sugarcoat it any other way.

“We were poor from start to finish. We got what we deserved. Morecambe played really well. We didn’t get started all game.”