“We are not helping the manager out and we haven’t been good enough. We have to grow up fast, take it on the chin, regroup, and got to get a result on Saturday, no two ways about it.”
Exeter City club captain Pierce Sweeney fronted up and volunteered to take responsibility after the Grecians suffered a sixth successive defeat on Tuesday night. City were beaten 2-0 at Derby County in a sub-par performance where they failed to have a single shot on target.
The loss saw City drop down to 18 th in the League One table and are now just five points outside the drop zone. While previous performances had been relatively encouraging, there was little for City fans to cheer at Pride Park.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing put the Rams ahead on the half hour as they finally converted one of the many chances they fashioned. The second half was more of the same and Conor Washington sealed the victory ten minutes from time.
“Coming into it I was pretty confident that regardless off the result Saturday, the way we played Saturday, and I’m not too sure what the manager said, but I didn’t see us in the first half hour, first 45 minutes, too far off the pace.
“We showed their players too much respect and for us as a club, we can’t afford to do that. They are in League One, we can compete against big clubs. We will have to regroup, and hit Saturday with everything we have
Asked what was going wrong to lead to six defeats in a row, the Irishman said: “I think too many soft goals are being conceded, not just the defenders, as when we concede it is everyone’s fault. Individually we have not been good enough and not good enough as a team.
“We have set high standards and we haven’t had a lot of luck lately with balls in the box falling and lose a bit of confidence, but it is a tough situation, this is not one I have been in in my career so far, and not many have either.
“We have to stick together and believe in what we are doing, and we do, but we are just not clicking as we did. A lot of football to be played and have to give everything we have and make it difficult and a similar performance and keep the ball out of the net
