Ross County manager Jim McIntyre has demanded an improvement in discipline from his players to stamp out a rash of bookings and costly red cards.
Stung by midfielder Tim Chow’s pivotal sending-off away to Aberdeen on Saturday in the 4-0 defeat, McIntyre has told his players they must learn to adapt to changes to the way the game is refereed while showing greater concentration.
Chow’s dismissal was County’s third of the campaign, following fellow midfielder Ian McShane’s red card away to Hearts on September 24 and Jay McEveley’s early bath at home to Motherwell on September 10.
According to football statistics website Footstats, the Dingwall team has committed the highest number of fouls of any Scottish Premiership team this season with an average of more than 14 a match.
Preparing for tomorrow’s crucial match against Partick Thistle in Glasgow, the manager said: “There is a learning curve for us. Players cannot go to ground. We’ve got to take that on board because even what you’d class as a good tackle 10 years ago is now a red card.
“The game has changed and we need to change with it and learn. Players need to stay on their feet. If they do go to ground studs cannot be showing.
“Those are the habits we need to get into when we’re against the ball. It’s that simple. It comes down to concentration. If concentration is good, players don’t make those rash decisions. All over the pitch our concentration levels have got to be better.”
McIntyre is confident his players will adapt and quickly.
He added: “I’ve got a great group of players and they know what they need to do. They know they’ve been giving themselves an uphill task in certain games because of their decision-making. It’s about putting that into practice.
“The players take the information and try to apply it. We’re not robots. People make mistakes, it is human nature. But it is about how we react to those mistakes. Every other week in the league there are red cards and we can’t blame the referees.
“As players and managers, we’ve got to look at ourselves and that’s certainly what we’ve done.”
