Ursäkternas man! Mr O´Leary

"We are gifting teams big advantages and we are not good enough to give them those advantages and have to start pulling it back.

"There are a few things that are hard to take, particularly when I know what would put it right, but I can't do anything about it.

"What the whole club needs is two solid centre-halves who can win the ball whenever it comes into our box. That gives everybody a lift - all around the team.

"Manchester City had [Sylvain] Distin who cost £5m, while Kevin Keegan paid £4m for David Sommeil.

"Plus, at the other end, they were a threat from set-plays. Why weren't we a threat from set-plays? Because we haven't got powerful enough centre-halves.

Vad kan det bero på? Leveransen av bollar kanske.

"Does this surprise me? No. It's been like a train coming to hit me in the face."

O'Leary now has to prevent his side coming off the rails altogether, and is demanding his players now "stand up and be counted", otherwise he fears the worst.

"Only time will tell whether we pull away or not," added O'Leary.

"It is easy for me to say yes, but for us to pull away we have to start defending better.

"We have been our own worst enemy so far this season and that has to stop. I am aware of our problems - now doing something about it is the thing.

"We've got to move on and life is going to be hard, particularly if we continue conceding the sort of goals we're conceding at the moment.

"This is where I will see my side's character - big style. We need plenty of character and we've got to stand up and be counted.

"We've got to start showing more hunger and stop giving soft goals away as we have all season. If we don't do that, we could be in trouble."

Agreed.

Sammanfattningsvis så ser jag inget positivt med O´Learys uttalanden. Spelarnas självförtroende bara stiger o stiger...

Antingen, gör en rolle och ta en försvarsplats, eller håll k#ft och gör ditt jobb på Bodymoore Heath. Jag orkar inte höra mera bortförklaringar.