|
" We weren't good at all today, it is one that you look at and you wonder how you defend your team. We are all together, I stand at the head of it, but I have just said to the players that ultimately I will take responsibility. I always will do, I won't hide behind anything but they have got to hold their hands up and stand and take responsibility as well for their performances.
" The decision making that we made and the way that we have set out to play the game, what we talked about all week and for the first 20 minutes of the game we didn't do any of that. Then we are on the back-foot and they score their goal which was an absolutely shambolic goal from start to finish. We never ever looked like doing anything in the game, there was no spark, there was no energy and that is really disappointing.
" Maybe we had Cleveland (Taylor's) one that hit the underside of the bar and should go in, we think it is a goal. I said to the players that if had that had gone in and at half-time we had come in at 1-1 then I still would have been very displeased with what I had seen. You can look for excuses, you can hide behind things, I am not going to do that, today's performance was a poor one and not one that I want and not one that we expected.
" We have to pick the bones out of that and I am handing it over to the players and I said to them to tell me why did we go out and do this or why did we do that, or why did we concede the goal like we did in the first few minutes, why? Sometimes they have to answer questions like I do with you when I come up here. I won't hide behind that though, we are just very disappointed, very angry and upset and disappointed with that performance.
" Today does alter my mind on the squad a little bit but that is the same squad that beat Leeds and the same squad that beat MK Dons. Like I said, I didn't get carried away with it then and I am not going to get carried away with it now. If we perform like that though then we do need more players but you don't see them (the performances) coming. "
" They are very difficult to explain, it is a very difficult job and to a man near enough the players didn't perform like they can do. Then if that is the case you are going to get beaten in games and you need a whole new squad, but we don't because we were terrific against Leeds and MK Dons and people like that.
" So the problems aren't as big as what they always seem at the present, but they have to be dealt with and we have to get better performances to give our fans some encouragement and some optimism. Because they will be going away now thinking that we are a poor outfit, a poor team and that things are going from bad to worse, but I have got to do something about that.
" If I was a supporter today then I would be grumbling, I am grumbling as a manager so I expect them to do the same. The league, maybe looking at the 18th position, maybe if we get a result on Tuesday night then there is one point dividing about six or seven teams I think. So it is maybe a couple of wins away from looking better than what it does. It looks average on paper at the minute, it doesn't look very good at all but we have to deal with it.
" I am not too worried about the league table at the minute, I am worried about that performance and where it takes us is only going to be one way and that is backwards. We want to go forwards but it is maybe two steps forward and one back let's hope rather than one step forward and two back. We have got to rectify that though and we have got to do something about it, it was disappointing today and we are angry and upset. We care about it is much as the spectators do and that is just not good enough for us fullstop.
" Players argue and it shows they care but I say that it shows you care by improving performances. It is easy to shout and argue in the dressing-room, it is easy to stand and throw insults at each other. I say that you offer your arguments on the pitch, offer your excuses on the pitch because that is where it matters. "
" You can't win or lose games in the dressing-room after the game and that is what we have done. I told them that can't really offer any excuses because they didn't offer any in the 90 minutes that they have just had to prove that they are better than they think they are or say they are. So that is something we can deal with.
" I have got money to spend in the transfer window but you think that your squad is OK, then you look at that and you think that is not OK. You win on Tuesday night against Hereford 3-0 or 4-0 then is it OK again. Your decisions can't change day to day or game to game, you can't be panicked into thinking that you have got to do this or you have got to do that.
" We have brought Lewis (Neal) in, Lewis is a good player, he would look like he would be involved on Tuesday night. We have got to have a look at him and how he does and get a bit more balance and address that and see what happens. Like I said though, I didn't get carried away after MK Dons, people said that we didn't need a player after MK Dons and Leeds and that the squad was terrific.
" Now they are saying that we do but that is spectator-fare for you, but you have to deal with that. I am not going to panic too much but we will have a little look at it over the weekend. Jeff (Smith) is not great, he is going to have to see a specialist on Monday or Tuesday to find out the seriousness of that. We are hoping that it is not as bad as it might be but we are in the hands of the specialists there.
" We will decide later on if we will make the players look at the video of today, I had a look at it after the Tranmere game and I shall look at today's on my own and make my own observations. I have seen most of it though and I don't think that I will be wrong when I see it again, but I shall have a good look at it and we will go from there. "