It’s down to the players: Danny
MACCLESFIELD Town caretaker manager Danny Whitaker has slammed his side and was left furious following their 4-1 defeat at home to Bury on Saturday.
Whitaker has been in joint caretaker charge of the club alongside Neil Howarth after Mark Yates was sacked last month, but he was far from pleased with what his team produced.
“We knew, going into it, that it was going to be a tough game, even more so with it being a derby game,” he told the club’s official website.
“We knew there was going to be a big crowd here and we had to be at it from the off. We started alright, but then the goals, that we gave away were shambolic. It wasn’t good enough.
“They haven’t had to work hard for any goal. You’ve got to go out there and want to work hard and want to stop the opposition from scoring. We gifted them four goals.
“We were just absolutely devastated. You get back into it at 2-1 and you think ‘shut up shop’ and then we can get into halftime and regroup.
“We go and give that third away and it just crushes you because then you’ve got to go out, in the second-half, knowing you’ve got to be faultless and be at it to get back in the game.
“We actually did. We had half a chance. Scott Wilson’s chance flashed across the goal, if that goes in, it’s game on, anything can happen.
“The way it’s going with us at the minute, it goes blazing over and it stays at 3-1 and we don’t get back in it.
“It’s down to them in there. We’ve told them that they have to have that desire and that fire in their belly to stop the opposition.
“You might not be the best player in the world, but you can still do the ugly side of the game and do it to the best of your capabilities.
“You don’t have to be a good player to do that. We’ve told them in there that you won’t be a professional footballer for long, so don’t make it one season at League Two level because you probably won’t come back.”
Up next for Macclesfield is their FA Cup first round match at Maidstone United, and Whitaker expects another difficult game.
“It’s another game of football really, but it’ll be a tough test. Many of them know that it’s not easy going to places like that,” he said.
“We had to go there last season and put a shift in. If the players aren’t up to it, they’ll get found out. It’s all on them going down there and trying to keep that shirt.”