Waterford manager Marc Bircham said his first couple of weeks in charge had been the "most surreal" he'd encountered and stressed that the club needed to source experienced players to stay in the Premier Division.
Bircham's side still sit bottom of the table after their 3-0 loss to Bohemians at Dalymount Park, the third successive loss of his short reign in charge.
The visitors started reasonably brightly but conceded two goals in the space of three minutes shortly before the break, and Bircham said afterwards he took the opportunity to utter a few "home truths" in the dressing at half-time.
"It was the same with the Finn Harps game, we were dominant, we should have been one or two goals up and then they scored two goals in a minute. All that is is mentality," Bircham told RTÉ Sport after the match.
"It's the first time since I've been in - I've been in 10 or 12 days - that I've been really disappointed in them (the players).
"Because it was just mentality and body language. Their body language went straight away. I said to my staff, this could go 2-0 before half-time.
Waterford manager Marc Bircham says he doled out some 'home truths' at half-time, spoke about the surreal situation he's faced since arriving at the club and stressed that the club needs experienced players
— Soccer Republic (@SoccRepublic) May 29, 2021
Bohs manager Keith Long, meanwhile, is content with Bohs recent form pic.twitter.com/vEiK2uNmVJ
"I told them a few home truths at half-time. It's the first time I've actually shown my teeth to them. And they came out a different team in the second half.
"Their attitude is great. It's a young squad, they want to work, they want to listen. It's the mentality though, we've got to change it. We're bottom of the league for a reason. They're good players. But for one reason or another, they've been dragged down. And I've got to try and break that."
The season now takes a two-week break until 11 June, Waterford taking on Dundalk in Oriel Park on their return.
Bircham welcomes the chance to take stock and is adamant that Waterford need to strengthen their squad.
"This break couldn't have come at a better time for us. We'll give them tomorrow off and that's probably the last day they'll have off until we have the game on the 11th.
"It's a great chance for us now to get the fitness we desperately need, to get the tactics into them.
"I don't want to be too harsh on them but this team has got to represent me. For that little 10 or 15 minute period, that's everything I'm not. When it gets harder the tough get going. I need to get them into a mentality where they're going to grit their teeth and dig in.
"We've not had a draw all season. We can win ugly, we can't draw ugly. Normally, with a bit of pressure, they crumble. We've got to change that.
"We've got some good players in the team. We've got to bring in some good players. My idea was that my season was going to start after this break. We've had 13 players (available) for three games really. In the end you get what you deserve and we definitely got what we deserved today.
"We need players. We need players to help the good players we have here. And we need some experience. We've got a young team. And yes, youngsters can be good and win stuff. But we need some experience, for when it does get a bit hard, we can absorb it and go again.
"We need players to get out of this situation. We will do and we will get better."
In an extensive post-match interview, the Waterford boss also expounded on the Covid-19 related headaches he's encountered since arriving in the south-east.
"I don't like to make excuses. It's been so hard with the Covid situation and the players not coming back. We managed to have players on the bench this time but they've only come in yesterday.
An impressively commanding performance from Bohs who swept past Waterford at Dalymount https://t.co/hw4Qj7j5z8 #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/RxFmImTdlK
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) May 29, 2021
"I've been at QPR a long time and you know what kind of situation that was like there! This has been the most surreal situation I've been in. I've been to training and there's been 10 players there. Just before training, there's been three players taken off and then they can't come back to training before the Covid tests come back. But it's the government Covid tests so that could take 48 hours.
"We've had games where we thought players were starting but we couldn't name the team because we were waiting for Covid tests to come back and they've only come in half an hour before the meeting.
"It's been chaotic. I've been really proud how the lads have dealt with it - until that 10 or 15 minute period there (before half-time).
"They've got to stop feeling sorry for themselves. As I said, it's a new season. You can judge us after that."
