Bristol City forward Andi Weimann believes Nigel Pearson has every right to say what he did in the wake of the Robins 3-1 defeat at Swansea City, indicating strong words were also said by players in the dressing room of the Swansea.com Stadium.
Weimann claimed his 15th goal of the season in south Wales only for City to then surrender a winning position through some questionable decisions at the back, which Pearson branded, "apologies for defending".
In a furious four-minute press conference, Pearson blasted the attitude and hunger of certain individuals - without naming them - in his squad, which is likely to have a bearing on his selection for Saturday's visit of Middlesbrough.
Weimann is among the longest-serving and most experienced players at the club and although he was talking in a general sense - as players are reluctant to break the Omerta of a dressing room - by extension it's clear tempers were frayed at Swansea, with the frustration and anger of the manager and supporters mirrored.
"The manager had every right to say what he did. We all know we've been conceding goals too softly, it's not a secret - everyone knows that. We've conceded too many goals, it's as simple as that," Weimann said.
"After a game, it's not just a manager, it's players who will say what they think. It's an emotional game, football. We don't want to lose, so there might be me saying something, or Tomas (Kalas) or Dan (Bentley). Whether it's me, whether it's Alex Scott, emotions are running high.
"Somebody might say, 'why did you miss that chance?' Or I might say, 'why didn't you tackle him?', it just comes out, it's very emotional. Someone might come in and throw a boot on the floor. We all want to win, we don't want to lose games.
"I can't comment on the manager because he obviously has his views but sometimes as a player, it's better not to speak too much because the emotions are running very high, you maybe say stuff you don't actually mean but when we come in the next day we will watch the clips on a Monday morning, that's when we will talk through it all in a better way.
"If you see our changing room after a loss, we definitely care. But, on the flipside, how long do you think about that loss and try and move onto the next game, rather than ranting and raving about it."
A thorough and difficult Monday video session followed, with each goal conceded repeatedly replayed in gory detail for the squad to consume, analyse and then try and put right.
Weimann, who quipped it was very much a "long" session at the High Performance Centre, admits City need to defend better as a unit, and it's not simply the responsibility of the men at the back to keep the ball out of the net.
The Austrian is known for his relentless work, on and off the ball, and willingness to press from the front, a key weapon Pearson and his predecessors at Ashton Gate have utilised.
So much so that Pearson labelled the 30-year-old, who is also enjoying his best-ever goalscoring season, "the type of player that every manager wants - his appetite for work really is incredible".
A small glimpse of the selflessness is revealed when he talks about the collective responsibility and flipping the narrative slightly of how goals are created, giving credit to the defence.
"We've spoken about it so hopefully we can put it right on Saturday," he added. "At the moment, we're confident that we will score goals, everyone feels good going forward but, at the same time, the whole team needs to defend; it's not just the strikers scoring the goals and the defenders defending.
"It starts from our two strikers and all the way back. So we try to work on being in a better shape, be closer and not give the opposition team too many spaces.
"We're had a meeting on a Monday were we saw the clips, went through it, talked about what we could do better. Maybe, (because) we're playing attacking so that is taking away from defending a little bit.
"Of course, we are trying - the strikers, the forwards - to be in a better shape to help the defenders out. They start attacks, so they help us out when we score goals, so we try and help them when the opposition has the ball.
"We've been on the training pitch, working as hard as we can so hopefully it will click and we can stop conceding so many goals."
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