Players are to blame, not the system - Ricketts
4:50pm Monday 6th February 2012 in Sport By Marc Iles
SAM Ricketts reckons poor individual performances and not a second-half change in system cost Wanderers at least a share of the points at Carrow Road.
The full-back believes his side were well placed to get something from the game after Owen Coyle opted to switch to a two-man strikeforce, sending Kevin Davies on for midfielder Fabrice Muamba.
Just 13 minutes later, Andrew Surman broke the deadlock, but Ricketts refused to blame the tactical switch for the change in fortune.
“I don’t think you can blame the system because as players, if you’re bob on your game, you should go out and win it no matter what,” he said.
“When Davo came on he did well and we looked more like creating something. We started the second half a lot better than we did the first, and I thought we were going to push on and win the game from there.
“We needed to try and keep it a stalemate at one end and try to nick something at the other,”
After beating Everton, Liverpool and Swansea in recent weeks and earning a fine midweek draw against Arsenal, Wanderers were starting to look up and not down the league table.
But they once again find themselves in the relegation zone, hiking up the pressure ahead of Saturday’s home game against Wigan.
“It was disappointing on the back of the run we have been on and the performances we have put in,” Ricketts said. “It probably emphasised how well we have played by how disappointed we are.
“We don’t want to undo everything we have done. We have still got to be positive.
“It was never going to be the case that we were completely out of it before today. Unfortunately Wolves won, which puts us back down in the bottom three, but QPR lost, so we’re only a point away from them.”
Fluctuating fortunes could be par for the course in this survival battle, although the Wales international thinks the Whites have enough quality in reserve to see their way clear of trouble.
“I think it’s going to be chop and change all the way to the end of the season because there are five teams right in there,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple more got dragged in as well because the form of a couple of teams, including ourselves, has been good.
“We know we are better than that. Players are coming back now, and I think that has coincided with the upturn in performances and confidence. This was a setback but we need to dust ourselves down and get back to the level we’ve been at recently.”
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