Steve Morison wants his Cardiff City players to take more accountability and says he needs to recruit more "people who understand the game" in the transfer window after his side fell to a frustrating 1-0 defeat by Luton Town.
The Bluebirds fielded a young starting XI against the promotion-chasing Hatters, but it was a pretty even contest, all things considered. However, one moment of quality from Harry Cornick was enough to seal the win for the visitors.
And Morison was left bemoaning his side's lack of clinical edge.
READ MORE: The Bluebirds player ratings against Luton as they lack cutting edge
“I hate saying it because it just gets thrown back in your face, but we didn’t deserve to lose the game," Morison said after the match.
“They were clinical in their one moment and we weren’t. I thought we dominated the game from start to finish and we had all the chances. They got the goal, we didn’t. It’s really disappointing.
“We have to be better. It’s difficult because you have one team fighting for the play-offs, one just trying to find our way in transition, trying to play a bit of a different style to what got us safe.
“It was nearly all good today apart from the goal. If we score, it might have knocked the stuffing out of them. They score and they have something to hold on to.”
The inexperience told in the end as Cardiff's half chances tended to fizzle out into nothing. Jordan Hugill and Isaak Davies had two excellent opportunities but neither could finish and get Cardiff on the board.
The Bluebirds had 63 percent of the ball and had 13 shots, three more than their opponents, but struggled to convert those numbers into too many meaningful chances. Morison believes that will only change when he gets the chance to delve into the transfer market this summer.
“We are driving them every day," he added. "We have to drive a hell of a lot more than we should have to, but that’s not going to change until we change the group and we get a more balanced group.
“Unfortunately, the world we are in nowadays, the young players don’t say a word. They just play football. We need more players around them that can drive them and keep pushing it so it doesn’t have to come from the staff every day.
“It was very quiet out there today – I think you could hear us more than you could hear anyone else.
“We are just not stopping giving them information. When it’s noisy, like I have just said to them in there, you need to pick yourself up. We are going to Bramall Lane at the weekend. That’s not going to be so quiet and we won’t be able to talk you through the game so work it out yourselves.
“We need to keep driving them and hopefully once we change the group, we will have to do it that less.”
When asked if he wanted more experience in the squad, he added: "No, just different personnel, different characters. We need a more balanced group. You look at that group, towards the end it's a really young group of men apart from about four of them. It's tough.
"It's something we are looking at with the recruitment side of it and it's something that will massively help us."
It'll be a big summer for Cardiff, but everyone knows that already. Morison has already spoken about wanting a more balanced squad in terms of age, but revealed he also wants more footballing nous through the door.
When asked on what sort of players he wanted to bring in this summer, he said: "Just people who understand the game and know it well and we don't have to keep organising from the side and keep telling them every single thing, because sometimes we can't do that and they have to work it out for themselves.
"It's pressure. It's eagerness, it's just not being calm in the moment. When you haven't done it a million times they just get in that moment and take a breath sometimes and make the right pass or the right finish. We actually do that far too often, we get in the final third and don't actually create. We get into the final third and it's nearly a chance or nearly the right pass. But we will get better, keep driving them, keep giving them the information.
"We will keep putting them out there. That's the one plus point with this stage of the season, we can keep putting them out there and not have to stress about looking over my shoulder at the minute."
Cardiff take on Sheffield United at Bramall Lane next Saturday.
