Werribee City coach Nino Ragusa has delivered a stinging assessment of his squad, believing that they cannot cope at this level without some more reinforcements in the transfer window.
Speaking after his side’s 2-0 loss to Oakleigh Cannons, Ragusa was fed up with the team’s inability to grab the big moments, and believed his side should have taken something out of that match.
“The players that I’ve got here, I’ve given them the opportunity like I said I promised them, the players that got promoted, we’ve got young players but sometimes like they say you wrap them in cotton wool for only so long,” Ragusa said.
“They’ll learn the realities during the transfer window. That’s what the game’s about.
“The scoreboard doesn’t reflect the game. After half time, we’re 1-0 down we came out and within ten minutes we got a penalty. If the game goes to 1-1 they’re panicking.
“Unfortunately the players out there unfortunately are still too inexperienced and too young to handle the pressures out there.”
Ragusa was also unhappy with the way his team defended in the game, in particularly with the opening goal.
“The first one is just poor defending. You got any footage of the game I’ll show you the most poor defending that could be at this level. It’s not even acceptable in First Division or Second Division,” he said.
“They got the ball out wide, first defender’s three metres away from him and then it’s just bang, bang, bang. There’s no defensive line. It’s a diamond, it’s not a line and we pointed it out at halftime.
“Defensively we haven’t been too bad lately.
“We’re not leaking too many goals really. We kept a clean sheet at Dandenong, we only lost one-nil at South to a dubious offside but that’s not the problem, we’re still not scoring, even when we have penalties gifted to us.
“The penalty would’ve changed everything.
“The only reason they get the second goal is because we’re completely opened up pushing for the result.”
In the end Ragusa only needed a few words to sum up his thoughts about the squad.
“Get new players,” he said.
“The transfer window is my lifeline and they know it.”