Keith Hill was once again left cursing individual errors as his side went down to a 3-2 defeat at Sheffield United.
Injury-hit Rochdale cancelled out Che Adams’ brace twice through Peter Vincenti and Lewis Allesandra, only for Neil Collins to win it for the hosts.
They have now 11 goals conceded in four games and Hill knows the defensive lapses must stop if Dale are to maintain their good start.
“There’s a little bit of anxiety and there are too many mistakes out on the pitch,” he said.
“Whether it’s a passing mistake, a re-gain mistake or a positional mistake, that’s what happening at this moment in time.
“Nothing has changed with respect to our preparation – we’re still working on things in training, we have to reset, we have to re-find ourselves as players.
“It comes down to individual responsibility and when you’re dealing with players that we’ve got, then we have to allow them to make mistakes, and at the minute they’re coming thick and fast.”
The defeat sees Dale slip out of the play-off places to ninth, three points off their latest conquerors Sheffield United, who sit sixth.
Hill insisted there were positives to take from the game and called on the whole team to shore up the defence.
“It’s tragic to come here and score two goals and not get anything from the game,” he said.
“We score two goals at Bramall Lane and, to be fair, we played OK and we played well in patches, but we didn’t defend well from the front, in midfield or in defence.
“I’ve got sympathy sometimes for defenders. A goal starts somewhere and especially for the first and second goals our offensive players didn’t help our back players.
“We can’t be to charitable like we have been in recent weeks, and it’s up to the players to find themselves.”
Dale will be hoping to shore up the defence by the time they take on local rivals Bury at Gigg Lane next Saturday.
Image courtesy of Rochdale, via Youtube, with thanks
