Colm Cooper says the Donegal's players "let themselves down" following their heavy 0-21 to 0-9 defeat to Roscommon in Division 1 of the Allianz Football League.
The victory at Dr. Hyde Park enabled the Rossies to maintain their top-flight status for the first time in seven seasons, but the manner in which Donegal performed had alarm bells going off.
It marked another setback for Donegal after a week of upheaval which saw the resignation of manager Paddy Carr at a time when the county is in the midst of a crisis with the underage academy.
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Aidan O'Rourke and Paddy Bradley took the reins for the 12-point defeat at Dr Hyde Park, but speaking on The Sunday Game, former Kerry star Cooper put the blame for the defeat solely on the shoulders of the players.
"It’s been a real soap opera the last week in Donegal between academies, and managers leaving and players meetings and everything," said Cooper
"I thought today that the Donegal players would galvanise themselves, ‘us versus the world’ type attitude, but no, they rolled over. Very, very disappointing.
"Whether you want to blame Paddy Carr or blame whoever you want, they players have to take a bit of accountability here as well and they didn’t put up any fight today. It’s really disappointing.
"The whole of Donegal seems to be in disarray and it’s very disappointing to see because they’re a proud county, they bring a lot to Gaelic Games but it’s a real mess up there.
"They need to get people in behind closed doors and get things sorted. They’re a proud county but it was a really disappointing performance by the players and they let themselves down."
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