Richie Wellens accepts criticism but says there must be understanding of 'where Doncaster Rovers are at'

Though frustrated at discussing injuries once again, the Rovers boss pointed to the absence of key players as a major factor in the inconsistency of results so far this season.

And in an impassioned defence after facing a fresh wave of criticism following Saturday’s drubbing at Charlton Athletic, he warned there will be further ‘bumps in the road’ until he is much closer to being able to name his strongest XI.

“We can’t be so reactive,” he said. “Every time we lose a game there’s talk of this and that. We have to understand where we’re at.

“I think our performances in the last five weeks, taking away Charlton, have been positive so what we can’t do is being reactive all the time.

“We have not been anywhere near being able to pick our best team. Not once this season have we picked our best team. We haven’t probably even had 70 per cent of our best team.

“I know it sounds like we’re going over old ground and I’m sick to the back teeth of saying it but we need to get our best players on the pitch and once we do that we might start seeing a consistent run of results.

“Until we get our best players back it is going to be difficult for us to compete consistently. We might get good performances but I’ve said all along there are going to be massive bumps in the road because of the personnel we’ve got.

“Tommy Rowe, Ben Close, Jon Taylor, Fejiri Okenabirhie, Cameron John - they would all arguably start every week for us. So that’s 50 per cent of our outfield players not available to us.

“We need to consistently get our best players on the pitch.

“West Ham are fourth in the Premier League because they pick the same team every week.

“We need that continuity and we’ve not got that at the moment.

“And we need to improve. I need to improve, so do the players. The first person I will criticise is myself.

“I’ll take criticism as long as my players try to do their very best in terms of supporters with their effort but also with us in using the information we have given them. Football is all about listening to the information and carrying it out.

“That was the biggest disappointment at Charlton.”

While bitterly disappointed at his side’s failure to compete at Charlton, Wellens says such an outing was always going to be difficult given the inexperience in his squad.

“We go away to Charlton who were one place higher than us but we have to know where we are,” he said.

“We have players on the pitch that are earning a few hundred pounds per week. That’s where we’re at.

“We’re trying to give them an opportunity in football and they’re at the very start and on a few hundred pounds a week. The bench is littered with those players - lads who are not ready to play week in, week out.

“We’re up against Charlton who have got Jayden Stockley who was at Preston, Conor Washington who played for QPR, Charlie Kirk, who is a really good League One player and can’t even get in their squad, Diallang Jaiyesimi who I worked with at Swindon and they bought for half a million and he’s coming off the bench.

“You have to see where we are.”

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