Pre-season positives for Town boss Rosler

His anniversary weekend might not have ended with the scoreline or second-half performance he would have wished for but Fleetwood Town boss Uwe Rosler was happy overall with his first pre-season.
Town lost 5-1 to Preston North End in their final pre-season outingTown lost 5-1 to Preston North End in their final pre-season outing
Town lost 5-1 to Preston North End in their final pre-season outing

Almost a year to the day since Rosler took over from Steven Pressley Town shipped four goals in the second half as they lost 5-1 to Preston North End on Friday.

It has been Rosler’s first pre-season at the club as he only took his first training session on August 2, just days after he was unveiled following last year’s final pre-season defeat to Wigan at Highbury.

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Though the final week of pre-season saw a much changed side lose 3-1 at Tranmere Rovers before the loss to North End, there have been plenty of positives.

Home victories over Queen of the South and Bolton Wanderers were sandwiched either side of an Austrian adventure that saw them lose 2-1 to Karslruher and beat FK Jablonec 2-1.

Rosler admits that, although there are lessons to take from Friday’s defeat, it might be a blessing in disguise ahead of Saturday’s opener against Rotherham United.

He said: “We need to learn that we have to stand up when things are not going our way against teams who have a very good day and play very good football and sometimes have better players than us.

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“We are not going away from what has worked for us and under no circumstances we are changing our DNA and reverting into a team that is reacting rather than being front-footed.

“It is important that the players we have, with the energy that we have, we always try to be front-footed and be brave with the ball and without the ball – and on Friday we lost that in the second half.

“The first half reflected us in general, second half obviously not. But for me the good thing is that we got that result on Friday and the good thing is, after the second half, everyone will be really motivated in training.

“That helps with quality in training, intensity in training and preparing the right way for Rotherham.”

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Ahead of the big kick-off Town are launching a Former Players Association.

Former players have been invited to drop into the club’s Thornton training ground, Poolfoot Farm, on the first Thursday of each month between 10am-12pm for tea, coffee, a bacon sandwich and a chat about times past.

The first meeting will take place this Thursday.

A club spokesman said: “It’s a great opportunity to catch up with old team-mates, to enjoy the facilities at Poolfoot and to watch the first team train.

“All ex-players are welcome young, old and even older, just turn up on the day.”

For any further information on the Former Players Association, please contact [email protected]