A less-than-pleased Danny Searle told the media on Friday night after his team's 1-0 loss to Galway that his players looked "scared" in comparison to the visitors.
A Vincent Borden goal after 20 minutes proved to be the decisive moment of the game, with John Caulfield's Galway heading back West with all three points in tow.
Scared
"You look at the first half, we actually looked 'scared' is the word we used in the staff dressing room," Searle told WLR Sport following the full-time whistle.
"We're talking about playing against a team where you know exactly what you're going to get. You know exactly what they're going to do, you know they're going to play for set pieces, and you know they're going to be very good at turning around possession. We knew. There's no secret about it, they don't pretend to hide it."
The set-piece preparations were wasted on the night when a Ronan Manning corner from the left was met by an unmarked Vincent Borden at the back post and he put the ball in the net.
Shaky Set Pieces
"We said to the lads, 'whatever you do, don't give them something cheap.' Because once they've got something to hold onto - teams have already proved this season - once you've got that something to get your teeth into, it's very difficult to break them down. "
"It's a poor set piece. We've been good from set pieces, in fact most of the night we defended the set pieces quite well, but we allow a runner to the far post. Unchallenged, no challenge, free header."
Aside from the uncertainty of how to deal with Galway over the placed ball, the manager was also frustrated with his team's application around the park, saying there was simply not enough effort on the night.
Effort
"Everything we set up to do this week went out the window in the first five minutes. We wanted to play with an intensity, we wanted to play with tempo, we wanted to play in their half, we wanted to turn them around, we wanted to get our runners in behind and....nothing."
"Listen, I think that they deserved the win tonight. As much as we improved in the second half, we were nowhere near the standards that we expect from the team."
The lack of chances created will also be a serious concern for the manager ahead of next week's drive to Athlone. He had lost his two biggest creators in the transfer window and while Wassim Aouachria opened the campaign with a hattrick against Wexford, the form has not continued into the second and third games.
Chances
The manager was just unhappy with the lack of the chances his team created, but more so the choices his players were making when they did have a go at goal, "considering the attacking players we've got, the problem is we've got players who think that we've got to shoot from 30 or 40 yards," said Searle.
He continued to point out an incident in the first half where "we've got a 2 v 1 down the right side and we took a shot from 40 yards. That becomes self-indulgent and that's more about the player than the team, and that is a concern".
"I think the second half was better, but how many chances did we create? How many opportunities did we get to get ourselves back in the game? It was nowhere near enough - and the keeper made two very good saves to be fair to him - but, two? That's not enough.
Points Not Taken
The long and short of it is that after three games, with nine points on offer, the Blues have four points to show for their efforts. One of those points came from the Longford game where an own goal secured the draw.
They find themselves fifth in the table and now have a week to get ready for Athlone who are fourth with two wins in their opening three games.
Asked if it was a satisfactory return from the first three weeks, Searle was bluntly to the point - "No."
He continued, to say "we've got a points target per round which is still comfortably attainable. That doesn't excuse what we've done because we should be further into that points total than what we are now."
What Happens Next?
"We just have to make our changes," said Searle. "We have to make the little subtle differences that we need to do to make us a lot more effective."
"We know they're capable of doing it because we've seen it. That's the more frustrating thing. If we hadn't laid a glove on anyone all season you'd go 'ok, its just not working', but we've proved that we can play with a tempo and intensity. I don't know whether it's pressure. In my opinion tonight it looked like the game was too big for them"
Athlone
"They're above us and it's going to be a really tough place to go."
"Now we're looking around and it's a bigger game for us than it is for them, and that comes with pressure but we've got to go there and win the match."
