Former Huddersfield Town favourite Kieran O’Regan says the current team need structure and urgency straight away to avoid further heartache when Blackburn Rovers and Brighton visit the John Smith’s inside the next week.
The Republic of Ireland midfielder, now a respected pundit on BBC Radio Leeds, reckons Town paid heavily for a woeful second-half performance as they went out of the Capital One Cup 2-1 at home to Notts County.
He says manager Chris Powell needs to bring the team together for the upcoming games, especially after the opening-day defeat at Hull City in the league was followed by the home reversal to a Liam Noble double, the second an audacious lob from 35 yards out.
“We got what we deserved on that second-half performance – Town didn’t deserve to go through,” said O’Regan, who made 199 Town appearances between 1988 and 1993.
“Notts County went out for the second period with a better tempo, passed it and forced us back.
“And it was a wonderful finish for the second goal, Joe Murphy wasn’t to blame at all because it was just wonderful vision from Liam Noble to do what he did.
“From our point of view, there was no urgency among the players and they have to look at themselves.”
O’Regan felt that by the end, County looked the better organised team, even though they were down to 10 men following the sending-off of Gill Swerts.
“You have to get it forward and forget the fancy football,” added O’Regan.
“You’ve got a targetman (Ishmael Miller) so get people running off him and look for the flicks.
“Notts County fully deserved to go through on their second-half performance, their players were committed and looked as if they knew what they were about.
“Our defence play on their own, the midfield do their own thing and the strikers play off the cuff.
“Notts County showed some structure and they’ve got one or two players with a bit of flair who caused us problems, but in that second half our performance was awful.”
