"The players put in a shift"

I would bloody think so.

Let's face it, folk are happy we only lost 1-0 and are prepared to praise the manager for yet another defeat.

Perhaps he did as well as he could with the material he had to work with.

The fact that the material was so poor is down to him though.

Appaling Summer transfer window and worse to come in January I think.
It must have been a terrible disapointment to still have McKenna on the books come September.