‘It tells me that one or two aren’t bothered about being here’ – Stoke City boss Mark Robins on fan frustrations after Derby defeat | OneFootball

Mark Robins says Stoke City supporters were right to be angry after his side’s 2-0 defeat at Derby County.

The defeat leaves Stoke ten points outside the play-off spots with just five games of the season remaining.

“If you get criticised and you don’t like it, suck it up, get on with it and make sure it doesn’t happen again. It’s as simple as that,” Robins said on the fans’ reaction after the loss.

“It’s never nice but if you don’t like it, don’t let it happen again. You can work, you can run, you can justify playing for these supporters and you must know what it is by now to play for them and work for them. That’s something that can’t be lost on anybody and can’t creep into the performances we have left.

“Certainly today has to be a stark reminder down the coming years that this was a performance that was unacceptable. I’m talking about playing against a good side – but this was a performance that you can’t repeat.

“I think that the supporters are absolutely right. It’s totally, totally baffling that we go from a performance that was reasonable, home performance to then away from home you just think you’ve got to turn up against a team that is actually going for the play-offs whereas we were just pretending.

“We’ve got to make sure, moving forward, that changes. The supporters were absolutely bang right because they pay their money to come and watch and a lot of people are unhappy. It’s an emotional game.

“People are unhappy if you don’t put in a performance that justifies being part of the football club. That was one of those times.”

Robins even went as far as claiming that some players looked like they “aren’t bothered”.

“Nobody likes to be criticised and when you’re criticised these days it seems to have a real negative impact on ego and responses,” he said. “Suck it up, take it on the chin, understand why they’re doing it, make sure it doesn’t happen ever again, because you’re never going to be in that position again.

“You’re going to fight, you’re going to jump into tackles, you’re going to win those duels, you’re going to win the headers. Even if you get beat you can get beat in a way that you go down fighting. That just wasn’t one of those performances.

“It was a performance that tells me that one or two aren’t bothered about being here.”