Following their loss to MK Dons, the Newport County manager was not afraid to voice his disapproval of his team.
Graham Coughlan, the manager of Newport County, was harshly critical of his team’s performance during their Saturday 3-0 loss to MK Dons.
Prior to their arrival at Stadium MK, the former Sheffield Wednesday defender had led his team to become the form team in League Two, winning five of their previous six games to put them just a point outside of the play-off spots.
However, the Exiles barely made an impression at MK1, winning 3-0 in the first thirty minutes, and their 512 travelling supporters, ironically, cheered on their first goal with five minutes remaining.
Speaking after the game, Coughlan expressed his extreme disappointment with his team and acknowledged that his players could not afford a repeat performance for the rest of the season.
“It was very painful watching the game, I don’t know how the fans took it,” he stated. “The fact that we had been good but bad today offered no comfort. Our expectations are simple: we want to outwork, outfight, and outrun the opposition. We want consistent performances. That is not how we can allow the opposition to outperform us.
“The superior squad prevailed. I doubt that I will watch it again. It hurt. We refrained from competing. We simply didn’t come out of the traps; they were more skillful with the ball and we were careless. We set a high bar for ourselves to meet.”
“There were just some performances that weren’t good enough,” Coughlan went on. You must improve if you wish to represent me, this club, or yourself. We can’t afford for them to have too much more credit with me, the team, or the supporters, even though they may have some. That was incredibly subpar today.
“We returned the ball after we had it. We didn’t use it efficiently. You will be hurt if you give the ball to good teams. We were returning too frequently, we didn’t work their goalie, and we didn’t gain any territory or good possession. All in all, I had a terrible day at work.”
