Nigel Pearson criticised some of his players for going invisible in a hugely disappointing defeat at St Andrew's but admitted he needs to shoulder some responsibility.
The visitors were way off it from the first whistle and fell behind inside two minutes when Auston Trusty scored from a corner. It immediately set the tone for the game and City were lacklustre in their play, lacking the energy and intensity that they have prided their performances on this season.
In a similar trait to last season, set-pieces proved to be City's Achilles heel and they were punished on the stroke of half-time when Trusty reacted quickest when his own header cannoned back off the post. Fellow defender Dion Sanderson put the game beyond doubt with 15 minutes to play when he fired in from close range following a corner from the right.
It was no less than City deserved as their winless streak stretched to five games. But it was the manner of the loss that was most concerning and Pearson was left bitterly disappointed that some of his players hid when the going got tough.
He said after the game: "It’s a very poor performance, too many individuals were way, way off their levels of performance. But what really disappointed me was that there were some players out there who were invisible.
"The substitutions I made at half-time do not reflect necessarily who was off the pace. If you make that assumption, I can tell you know you’re wrong, because some of the players who had to stay on, or we decided to keep out there had their worst game of the season.
"But there’s also an element that I think there are occasions where you have to make them go through it too. I think one or two would’ve been relieved to have come off, so I left them on.
“We didn’t show any positivity with our mindset, the number of passes that we went back to the goalkeeper was just mind blowing and that’s to do with players not wanting to take responsibility and that’s a difficult thing for me to say because it’s my team and ultimately my responsibility so I’m disappointed in that.
"That as a performance is not something that we’ve been about this season. What we’ve shown today we still have a lot to work at in terms of being able to manage situations when players aren’t going to be at their best every game but what they need to do is still be effective and still do a job and today we were a way short of that and that’s ultimately my responsibility.
“I don’t like to see players going through difficult days like that but look I would still prefer players to be visible when they’re having a bad day. What I don’t like is when players try to mask it.
"When we have a bad day, we need to have a bad day together, and we didn’t show that today and that is a real shame because that’s not something that we, as a group, have been about and so I have to take that responsibility. That is my responsibility which is not a nice thing to have to admit.
"But look, we’ll continue to work and hopefully we’ll get a response. But the point is we can ill afford to let games pass us by, if we have any designs on having a successful season, we need to be able to tough it out at times and we didn’t do that collectively.
"There were still players out there who weren’t at their best but kept going and some of those players have really come through some difficult times at the club and some not, so I don’t want to paint an overly picture but it is disappointing today.”
Pearson did highlight Alex Scott as one of the players who could come out with his head held high but says a player of his age should not be responsible for carrying the rest of his team-mates. The manager also handed a league debut to Dylan Kadji after he made an appearance from the bench in the second half.
He added: “When you consider someone like Alex Scott who showed tenacity today and some ability and a lot of reliance. He’s 19. Not every player was way off the pace, but you can’t carry over half the team.
"There were players out there who I’d put it this way, allowed their fear to impact their performance and that’s something that we have to work through with some of them. But I’m also a realist, I know we’ve got players who are making a step-up in terms of where they’ve been playing, and I know that we’ve got quite a few youngsters out there.
"The very fact that I was prepared to put Dylan on there to make his league debut, he made his debut for us in the cup, it’s something that I think it’s not necessarily to do with the age of players, it's whether players have got a good temperament and it’s players like Dylan who have broken into the first-team squad this season and the very fact I can turn to somebody like that and not be too worried illustrates the very fact I’m talking about.
"I’ve already spoken about how Alex Scott was a player who today showed another side to what he is as a player, it's not just his technical ability, he played with a lot of character today as well and I think that’s something that’s certainly worth noting.”
Pearson also admitted he ordered his players to face up to the travelling 2,248 away supporters at the full-time whistle so they couldn't shy away from their performance.
He added: "Ask them? No, I told them and it was important that all the staff went too and they let us know. I think it’s important to at least give your supporters the opportunity to show their displeasure and it should hurt.”
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