Matt Taylor has called on his Bristol Rovers side to stick to their principles heading into the away match against Rotherham United in Sky Bet League One.
The Pirates travel to the Millers after losing 2-0 to Sky Bet Championship outfit Cardiff City in the first-round of the Carabao Cup.
However, the Gas will be looking to continue their bright start in the league after beating Northampton Town in their opening fixture last Saturday.
Taylor insisted that the trip to Rotherham will be one of their toughest tests and also spoke about the new defence and injury news.
STICKING TO THE SYSTEM
"The games will tell us the truth,” said Taylor. “There’s no bigger test than this weekend and then the following one, but that’s the league this season.”
“There’s not many away games where you go in thinking we’ll be a bit more relaxed going into it, let alone home games. That’s just the level of the league this season, which is why we’re delighted we’re in it and we’re hopefully going to be competitive. That certainly starts this weekend.”
“We’ve still got to look like ourselves, find a way amongst the chaos, a certain style and certain pressures of the game. There’s a challenge of your character and your will but also a massive challenge in terms of can you put your skillset out there."
REFLECTING ON HIS TIME AT ROTHERHAM
“There’s some players still there in a playing capacity,” said the boss.” I know full well what a good group of players they are.”
You get them in the right place physically and mentally, the Championship will always show certain deficiencies at a club like Rotherham because it's such a beast of a league. But in terms of a League One club, there’s no one better.
"The recruitment they’ve done has only strengthened them, so you expect them to be in and around it come the end.
“They’re a new group like ourselves, so it might take a little bit of time to get there, but they’ve got an experienced manager at the helm who knows how to get through every single division.”
THE DEFENCE
“Maybe we prioritised the defence in pre-season because we felt that was such a big weakness last season,” he said. “But also, I think last season, consistency, rhythm and available players in that backline, there was no continuity in that backline at any stage last season, and the team suffered as a consequence.
We’re only a couple of games in, but we just look a little bit more solid as a group defending together, and everyone seems in a good place.
“We’ll put that towards the biggest of tests when we go to Rotherham this weekend, then Stockport.”
“There’s some good signs and a good foundation to build from.”
INJURY NEWS
“No injuries from Tuesday but a bit of fatigue,” said Taylor. “Nothing of real note that I think will rule anyone out going into the weekend.”
“Connor Taylor has had a good bit of game time and is probably in contention to start. Whenever you’re a manager picking the team, you look at players who can go into the game and last the duration of that game, and I think he’s probably ticked that box.
“Jack Hunt is not available this weekend, and I don’t see him featuring next week.”
