Coventry City striker Clinton Morrison has apologised to the fans for the teams poor showing in recent games.
The big striker, who is currently engaged in negotiating an extension to his contract with the club, said after the 3-0 defeat at Reading on Saturday, “We have let all the fans down.”
He went on to say, “I feel sorry for them because they pay good money to travel to watch us players who are paid a lot more than them and it is a disgrace the way we played. Everyone could see I lost my head on the pitch but we keep letting ourselves down."
“We’re shooting ourselves in the foot by not starting well and people can see that we are not creating anything ourselves. It is happening too many times. My head is all over the place at the moment and I am getting more and more frustrated probably the most frustrated I have felt in my career. I am so disappointed.”
After watching his side go three nil down inside 40 minutes in another game where Coventry City failed to start playing from the kick off, Morrison reflected, “We can’t put on a poor show like that. We can’t defend like that. It’s poor and I am not just blaming the defenders because it is a collective thing. The first goal started from our throw-in to the box which was cleared and they broke on us, but we have got to be set up better than that."
“You can say the goal was fortunate the way it was deflected in and debate whether it was a penalty or not for the second, but they were the better team in the first half. They battered us and we didn’t even get going or out of our half. Some of the lads thought it was because we played 4-5-1 but it is nothing to do with formations. It is 11 players against 11 and we should be able to cope with any formation the gaffer puts out there and no blame can ever be put on him."
“It is the group of players that he picks that go out there that don’t turn up, and it has been like that since the Cardiff game. We just don’t turn up. We turned up in the second half against Leicester, maybe the second half against Sheffield Wednesday and in other games as well, so it is very frustrating.”
The centre forward went on, “As a striker you want to score goals and I have scored throughout my career. At the moment I haven’t scored for four or five games and it is frustrating because I want to do well and I don’t know if it hurts other people in the team as much as it does me when we are being battered 3-0."
“I know Reading have been doing well recently but we have been doing ever so well and there is no way we should be getting battered 3-0. No chance. So it hurts me a lot. It should hurt everyone but I am not sure, deep down, that it does hurt enough people. Maybe some people bottle it up and show it a different way, but that’s just my character."
“We have to show a bit of pride and bit of passion and kick a few people, you know what I mean, because that is not good enough to go to Reading and play like that. I feel sorry for the manager and it is nothing to do with him. No blame can go on him, 150 per cent. He picks a team that should be good enough but individuals went out there and let him down. ”
The volatile Morrison lost his cool when on loan team mate Freddy Sears was felled by Reading defender Matthew Mills and he got himself involved in the confrontation with Royal's full back Andy Griffin that followed, he explained, “My frustration is spilling out on the pitch but it was a dirty tackle on Freddie and I went over to ask him what he was doing and then the other guy came for me."
" It probably wouldn’t have happened but when my head has gone and I am working hard and getting no chances it does my head in. I shouldn’t have done it but I care and I am just getting mad and frustrated. But it was just handbags.”
With just four games left this season and only pride to play for, Morrison wants his side to finish as high in the league table as possible and not let the season end the same as last year when City failed to win any of their last games.
“I am passionate and I am devastated at the moment because it is not good enough,” he said. “We don’t want it to go like last season when it looked like we were on the beach. We want to finish as high as possible and in the top half of the league. We have got four big games left now against good teams who are fighting for things.
“I remember last season our last home game was against Watford who beat us and going round the ground afterwards with only about a hundred people there because we had had such a disappointing end to the season. I don’t want it to be like that again this year.”