Coventry City manager Mark Robins has said that it so bad, so poor as the Sky Blues went down to a 1-0 defeat at Shrewsbury Town.
City never looked liked scoring throughout and Birthday Boy Mark Robins told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire after the defeat which drops City to fourteenth and now eight games without a win: “We were so bad; so poor.
“I have just said in the dressing room that I am asking some young kids to do a man’s job and sometimes when things aren’t going right we fall short.
“But what I don’t want us to do is fall off the edge of a cliff. We have to make sure we put the wood in the door and make sure we do the things that get us a result at the level.
“I can’t talk about chances created and chances missed – I can’t do it because we are losing games – and then conceding goals from rubbish set plays.
“It’s a good ball in but we have to defend it properly. “And then when we have got the ball we have to be better than that.
“I tried to simplify things for them and we have ended up losing. We couldn’t get a foothold in the game in the first half and then we made adjustments.
Sky Sports Highlights = https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/11589566/shrewsbury-1-0-coventry
“The second half it was a lot better because we passed the ball. I say it was a lot better. It was a lot better than the first half but it still wasn’t at the level that we need to be at.
“We have got to get together and stick together and make sure that we come back strong on Boxing Day because eight games without a win can’t happen.
“From winning five on the bounce to this – there’s something wrong and we have got to stop that sequence.
“So we have to work and get it going in the right direction again because it’s just not acceptable. He added: “I want to lose my temper. I really want to lose my temper but it’s very difficult to do it in this day and age when you have got young players who are looking around and not experienced this, because this is an experience to learn from, and they have to learn from it really quickly.
If we are in a situation where a team is out fighting you, there’s something wrong.
“If you have a situation where a team is getting a foothold in the game and better than you then you have got to work it out and get a foothold back in the game. But the things we have done this week on the training ground has looked good.
“But what we can’t afford to do is become training ground players and not be able to transfer it, which is what I said in the dressing room.
“While we have gone a goal down, before that we never looked like we were going to score.
“We were hanging on at times in the first half which isn’t us. It looks like a lack of confidence and fear.
“I can put up with mistakes but I can’t put up with fear because you can’t do anything and can’t win anything from that paralysing point of view, so that have got to free themselves up.
“I haven’t gone radio with them in the dressing room. The hair-dryer has stayed firmly in its box but we are not happy with that. They can’t be happy with that and the way they are at the minute because it’s not right.
“If you’re lacking confidence it’s a big problem. But it’s a case of understanding and knowing what it is that gets you success and being a successful side. And that is miles away from what we’re showing at the moment."