Doncaster Rovers: '˜I've got a licence to change things up' - Ferguson

Darren Ferguson says last weekend's dire derby defeat to Sheffield United has given him licence to make several changes at Barnsley tomorrow.
Conor Grant is expected to return to the Rovers midfield tomorrow.Conor Grant is expected to return to the Rovers midfield tomorrow.
Conor Grant is expected to return to the Rovers midfield tomorrow.

Conor Grant has trained all week after recovering from a rib injury and is likely to return in midfield, while James Coppinger, who has been suffering with an ankle complaint, trained yesterday and also comes into contention.

Thorsten Stuckmann, Craig Alcock, Mitchell Lund and Richard Chaplow might come into the manager’s thinking too by virtue of the fact they did not start against the Blades.

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“I don’t think I’ve got a selection headache at all, because the level of performance last weekend in terms of what I expect and what we have shown before was way off,” said Ferguson.

“We’re on a bad run at the moment, there’s no getting away from that. In some of the games I’ve seen some real positives and we’ve not got the right result. Whereas last Saturday there was an edge to us that I didn’t like - which probably gives me the opportunity to change quite a bit on Saturday.”

So the personnel might change this weekend but Ferguson will be sticking firmly to his principles.

“It’s important the players see that we’re very consistent in what we do, whether we’re winning games or losing games,” he said.

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“It’s very important to me as a manager to stay strong and consistent to what I want.

“You just have to keep reminding them that when we get it right, we’re a very good team. We have to get back to being an aggressive team when we haven’t got the ball; all the sort of stuff if I was watching us I would expect, especially in a derby. I fully expect a performance I’m going to be happy with.”