MATT Taylor wants his Solihull Moors side to be braver on the ball following a 1-0 home defeat against promotion-chasing Oldham Athletic.
Taylor has failed to win any of his first three matches as Moors boss as Billy Waters scored the game’s only goal in first-half injury time at Damson Park.
Despite the defeat, Taylor remains confident Moors will turn their form around and has challenged his players to be braver when in possession of the ball in the final third.
Taylor said: “I don’t think the result justifies the performance level from our players, football games are decided by moments and we made an error that we need to eradicate from our game.
“We played backwards a little bit too much but our work rate and structure were really good, we should have a penalty, we don’t get given one, but we need to be a bit more clinical.
“We’re starting to get ideas across, the players worked much harder than the previous two games I’ve been in charge for, there’s lots of positives.
“I’m acutely aware that we’ve got to win football games, if we perform like that and we’re a little bit better in terms of our quality in the final third, we’ll win a lot more games this season.
“We’ve got too many people in the treatment room, we’ve got to get them out [on the pitch]. We’ve got too many people who aren’t contributing to what we see on the pitch, it needs to change.
“I’m going to demand a lot from these players without the ball and with the ball I want them to be a little bit braver, I don’t want to stand and watch my team take the easy option.
“If we were slightly braver in areas of the pitch where we could hurt the opposition and we took the more difficult option, it’s my job to push them.
“I want our players to have a mindset that every game we go into we can win. That will be no different whoever we play, whether at the top of the league or bottom of the league.”
Moors loanee Fletcher Holman twice went close in the first half as he shot straight at Oldham stopper Mathew Hudson before then firing a shot narrowly over the crossbar.
However, the visitors broke the deadlock moments before the break when Waters lashed a shot past Laurie Walker after the Moors goalkeeper cleared the ball to an Oldham player deep inside the Solihull half.
The home side searched for an equaliser after the break and almost drew level when Alex Whitmore headed a corner towards the top right corner only for Hudson to make a fine save diving to his left.
Solihull are next in action against Barnet on Saturday, February 15 with kick-off at 3pm at The Hive.
