THERE have been a number of sobering displays in the last couple of years but last week’s 4-0 defeat at Fleetwood felt a little bit worse, and a little bit more serious. Explanations for the defeat are in short supply. How much of it was down to inexperience?

We are only four games into the season so players should be fresh. They performed well at Peterborough where we were largely the better side. It made Fleetwood a bitter pill to swallow and our relegation-style performance raised questions.

Fleetwood won the psychological battle, hands down. The management talk about the importance of enthusiasm, but it was absent and you cannot tell someone to be enthusiastic.

Basic covering, tracking and defending were lacking, and the big question is ‘why?’ George Elokobi made his second debut for us as a second half substitute at Fleetwood, two days short of 10 years after his first debut.

George can see that he has a big job on his hands. Hopefully, he welcomes the challenge to lead from the back, pull the players together, and maybe even represent them.

George is a strong man who des-erves respect and will fight his corner. We need a bit of that out there, players who take control, make their own decisions, do their own organising, and play their own game. We need responsibility and ownership out where the bullets are flying as the training pitch is never real life.

Togetherness and collective responsibility were required but from the moment the players’ bus rolled into Fleetwood, until it departed back south there was little sign of it on and off the pitch. One can only imagine what the atmosphere was like all the way down the M6 on the longest journey home.

The blame culture raised its head. If Tony Humes was trying to deflect criticism by saying that “players failed to follow instructions”, then it didn’t even begin to convince anyone. No matter how true, it was not the full story. Since when did players need instructions on the absolute basics?

We were out-manoeuvred and by-passed too many times in midfield, where Gilbey, Edwards and Moncur came up short.

Fleetwood didn’t have to be brilliant to get their goals, after the superb opening strike. Down the flanks and in our own penalty box we left gaps, mocking claims that we had become more compact in recent weeks.

We had a fair share of possession in most areas, but that is no cause for satisfaction because it counted for nothing. Fleetwood’s ability to find an extra man was shocking. We gave them the sort of freedom in areas that will usually produce goals at League One level.

I rarely watch Premier League games, but I did watch Arsenal versus Liverpool on Monday night, and if you need to understand the mentality of a top central defender when the game is coming at you, look no further than Martin Skrtel.

He has the mindset. My instinct is that Elokobi and Kent would be our best central defensive pairing at the moment, but it is so easy to be bold in a newspaper column, far harder to take it onto the pitch.

The Fleetwood scoreline is the only statistic that matters, and it says that we were thrashed. To make it worse they are not some fallen giants but the self-styled Cod Army.

Fleetwood are a tidy side that Graham Alexander has pulled together, based on old-fashioned values like hard work and honesty. Frankly, they taught us a lesson, and must have been surprised at the ease with which they humbled us.

And so to slightly lighter matters. There are 42 games to go, virtually the whole season. The transfer window will remains open and few would argue that we all need a couple of players to strengthen and restore confidence.

Identifying loan targets is the easy part. It’s after that that the hard work starts, and of course no one is interested in hearing about the near misses.

Signing David Fox, Bongani Khumalo and Jacob Murphy last season swung the battle decisively in our favour. Without them we would have gone down.

We all hoped that we could survive this year without needing the cavalry, because you can’t always rely on the cavalry to turn up. Fans just don’t want to have to stomach another joyless relegation struggle.

If it happens, it happens, and we will back the team, but the prospect of another last-ditch survival bid is too familiar and fresh in mind. We know that our luck will run out at some stage.

So, a very worrying week comes to an end. We face Scunthorpe tomorrow who, just like Oldham in our previous home game, will be experienced and organised, and will show just exactly the qualities that are needed to go into an away game and give yourself a chance by giving nothing away. Enough said!