Another Lee Clark blast ... this time at Rotherham United players who don't leave their comfort zone
“THERE has to come a time where the responsibility is on your shoulders as the player.”
Lee Clark was talking about injuries, absentees and men who either can't start a game or last for a full one.
The Rotherham United boss has been hit by a multitude of issues since his appointment last month for a nine-match League One run-in that is doomed to end in relegation - possibly as early as tonight at Wigan Athletic.
He stopped shy of saying he felt let down by some members of the squad he inherited and took some of the blame himself for a record of three defeats and a draw since his March 18 arrival.
“I don't like to be that person - when you talk about players in that way, people think that you're hiding from what you've done,” he said. “I obviously haven't done things right in the four games.”
But he did paint a stark picture of some men, in his view, maybe not going to their limits to be the best version of themselves.
“The injury list, people hiding behind the medical department or the sports-science department, no, no, no, no,” he said after Saturday’s 3-1 derby mauling at the hands of Barnsley. ”You're a footballer, you know what's required, you know if you're at your sharpest, you know if you're at your deadliest.
“You have to do what it takes. That might mean you stay behind, do extra and all these different types of things.
“From the Premier League down, look at what football is about now - the basis is athleticism, dynamism, fitness, high outputs. Then, obviously, the higher you go, the technical level is better, but those other things are what it's all about.
“You look at even Premier League footballers, they've got that. They're smashing 14k, 15k a game in midfield, their sprint levels are off the charts. And they do it every game. They do it Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday.”
The 53-year-old, who graced the top flight with Newcastle United and Fulham during his playing days, is set to take a depleted group to Wigan - where a defeat would confirm the drop and a draw would make it all but mathematically certain - after another batch of injuries in the last few days.
All season, the Millers have been blighted by a casualty count that more often than not has been running into double figures.
“I've come in and there are restrictions on players,” Clark said. “‘He can play only 20 minutes.’ ‘He can play only 30 minutes.’ ‘He can play only an hour.’ How can you try to get any continuity in your club working in that way?
“As a manager, you want a consistent basis where you're picking the same team as much as you can because you're getting positive results and also because you're not getting injuries. This is League One. It's like, wow.
“Responsibility - when you're a footballer, the responsibility is yours. It's not your coach, it's not your fitness coach, it's not your physio, it's not your doctor, it's not your sports scientist, it's you.
“If I'm not feeling fit and I can't hit the outputs I want, if I can't get to my 12k, 13k, 14k, I need to do something about it, I need to go and do some fitness work.
“If I'm not feeling sharp in my head and my feet, I need to go and do some sharpening work. If my passing's off, I need to get a bag of balls and get somebody to do my passing with. If my shooting's off, whatever, I go and sort it.”
The boss is calling on his squad to bounce back from the abject display against the Tykes at the Brick Community Stadium this evening and stave off the inevitable slide into League Two for a little longer.
“Go again,” he said. “I'm ready to go, I hope the players are. I'm ready to get involved, to pick a team, try to get the players all up for it and give our fans something to be proud of and be happy with - which is a win.
“We're letting them down. They don't deserve it.”