Managers Post Ross County

21/02/09: "We know that it is not good enough, they know its not good enough and it is up to me as the Manager to change things.

MATCH PICTURES
The sixth home defeat of the season was yet another sore result for Manager Jim McIntyre to take:

"For me there are not enough people taking on board what we are trying to say to them in terms of playing at home. They need to show more character than that and show a lot more steel. At the end of the day shapes don't matter - you have got to want to help your team mate to go for the ball, today we didn't have that.

"We have lost six games at home, that is embarrassing and I have told the players that.  After going away and playing as well as you do away from home, you have got to show a bit more about you and show that you can handle playing here."

Reacting to the suggestion that some kind of mental block appears when Dunfermline play at East End Park, the Manager agreed that was a good point.

"Obviously it is. At the end of the day the team have hit the bar twice but when you go and equalise after not playing well in the first half your attitude should be your sign to 'let's go' and we never did that. Not enough people took it on themselves to help their teammate when they needed it. That is all over the park, defending, attacking or whatever the options be.

"We know that it is not good enough, they know its not good enough and it is up to me as the Manager to change things. Do I need to pick a different team to play at home?

"We played 4-3-3 last week in both games and created an unbelievable amount of chances. We never created a lot today. Ok we hit the bar but one was a set piece and one was a cross. Other than that there wasn't too much going on.

"People just need to take a look at themselves and say 'am I doing enough at home'?. I know the answer, they are not. Systems don't matter if you are not doing enough then you are going to have problems. We cannot have six, seven or eight players off the mark".

The Pars away record is so superior to their home one that Macca returned to the possibility of a mental block affecting his players:-.

"If you are not strong enough to play here then that is no good to me. They have got to be mentally stronger. We're in this job, there are times when things are hard but we have to come through the other side. They need to keep believing in what we are trying to tell them,

"I go back to our previous away games. You believe away from home, so what's the problem with doing that out there. It must come from within."

Jim McIntyre now believes, and Derek Adams confirms it in his comments below that visiting Managers use the Fifers home record as motivation for their teams.

"I know what my team talk would be if I was an opposing Manager, the longer it goes the harder it is for our players. They have got to develop better mental strength that's for sure.

"I am absolutely gutted because the fans come out here and they want to be entertained and I want to entertain them, the players want to entertain them. It is not as if they don't want to, nobody is deliberately playing badly but they have got to do more at home, it's as simple as that especially when they can turn it on away from home."

Jim McIntyre repeated his viewpoint that St Johnstone's results are not the main concern.

"We need to concern ourselves with putting wins together, week in week out especially at home, then we will see if that takes us anywhere. If you lose six games at home, very rarely do you win the league, but we are still in there, but we cannot keep saying the same thing every week because you are going to run out of games. They have got to grasp that."

Ross County Manager, Derek Adams described his 2 - 1 victory at East End Park as a massive win and he was pleased to point out that the victory takes the Dingwall team to within three points of the Pars.

He singled out praise for 42 year old Craig Brewster who started his first game since 2007.

"He is unbelievable for someone of his age. He is quality, he took the ball in, he ran the channels and gave a fantastic performance and that's a credit to him. Young players at our club can only learn from him. I said to them that I hope you are all running about like that when you are 42. He has been magnificent since he joined and it's great for him to score a goal at his old club and be on the winning side.

Referring to the poor home record that the Pars have, Adams said:

"We knew that, I worked on shapes all week. We defended in our own half for periods but we knew that we would get them on the counter attack. That was to pay dividends in the end.

I watched them last Saturday against Partick Thistle and I watched them on Tuesday away at Airdrie but I just thought at home, with the fans getting on their back that that could help as well.

We are just trying to get as many points as possible. We are on 32 points now with 13 games to go, so we just need our form going from week to week. We are only a young squad and have only just come up from the Second Division so it is testimony to the players and staff that we have got to where we are just now but we have got to keep progressing.

Derek laughed off the insulting suggestion that he was older than Craig Brewster. "I am only 33 but he is a better player than me. I am going to keep my boots off!"