'Too much change' has set Wycombe back - Dodds

Mike Dodds was appointed Wycombe boss in February

Wycombe Wanderers coach Mike Dodds has promised a "black and white" approach to turn their form around after a dismal start to the season.

The Chairboys have not won any of their six games in League One, leaving them 22nd in the table with just two points.

And they lost 2-1 at home to League Two Colchester United in the Vertu Trophy on Tuesday after conceding a 90th-minute goal.

"I wanted some individuals to make my life difficult and what they've done is actually make my life a lot easier," Dodds told BBC Three Counties Radio.

"I'm at a point now where it's really black and white for me - you perform you stay in the team, you don't perform you're out of the team.

"That message has been sort of rammed down their throats in two different ways, in a team meeting and on the grass.

"It shouldn't really get to that point but unfortunately I've sat here for the last six or seven games and talked around how we want to look, and I've been comfortable saying that.

"But after the last two games, I'm not comfortable - the last two games haven't represented how I want the team to look."

When former Sunderland coach Dodds took over in February, following predecessor Matt Bloomfield's move to Luton Town, Wycombe were second in the table, five points clear of Wrexham.

But they ended last season in fifth and then lost on penalties to Leyton Orient in the play-offs after their two-legged semi-final ended 2-2 on aggregate.

Following last weekend's defeat by Stevenage, Dodds was quoted as saying: "There isn't a plan B here - we just need to make plan A better."

Asked on Friday to explain that comment, he put much of the blame for their problems on the turnover of players and staff in the past few months.

"Right now, what the club doesn't need is a change. It doesn't need to scrap everything and go 'right, let's panic'. What it needs is a period of stability," said Dodds.

"If you look at our staffing levels now they are Championship level and this is a Premier League facility. There has been cataclysmic change. The point I was trying to make was what we need to do is stick to a plan for a period of time because there's been too much change."

He continued: "The answer now isn't to change again - that's only going to set us back even more. This is the direction we are going in, even the next person after me, which I hope is in a very long time [in the future]. That person will fit the model of the direction we are going in."

Wycombe are at home to Mansfield Town on Saturday before travelling to bottom-of-the-table Peterborough United a week later.

And Dodds is now looking for players to step up and put in performances that will enable him to achieve more continuity of selection.

"The reason the team keeps chopping and changing is because we need the new signings or players that have been here previously to leave a marker and go 'I'm the man'. At the moment there's too much inconsistency," said Dodds.

"I go back to the statement 'we're sticking to plan A', and there's no business in the world - whether it's football, whether it's accountancy, banking - where you have that turnover of employees and everything is hunky dory. It doesn't happen.

"I'm not naive - we have to win games of football, but the bit that gives me a level of comfort is we're working really hard, the dressing room is really tight and I know we've got some really strong processes.

"Over time, when things start to settle, and all these staff and players perform, things will look a lot rosier. At the moment I have to go through this pain."