Brad Mckay has rejected any notion Caley Thistle players are not taking their “terrible” position seriously.
After a season chasing the promotion play-offs, the Caley Jags find themselves in trouble at the wrong end of the table after a troubling run of one win in 12.
They currently occupy the relegation play-off spot, on the back of the 1-0 defeat to Morton, with six points separating them from basement side Alloa Athletic.
Their games in hand have also evaporated, leaving Caley Thistle with a huge challenge to resurrect their season.
But Mckay is quick to quash any assertions the players are taking the predicament lightly.
“If anybody thinks we don’t care or we’re tossing it off, that’s nonsense,” he said. “We’ve had fallouts after games and demanded from each other ‘why is this happening?’. I’ve been here before in my career where people have tossed it off – it’s never been a case at this club for me.
“It’s different for us because there’s no dressing room – we can’t have conversations with each other. It only really happens after a game. It happened after the Queen of the South game up here. They had one or two shots and beat us 1-0. We’re sitting after the game, asking each other questions and demanding from each other.
“It’s not a relegation battle but it’s a fight to get back in a decent position in the league. But I don’t know if that’s the case for us anymore. It’s been a mad season for everybody – a couple of results can propel you up the league and a couple of bad results can put you in a terrible position.
“Unfortunately for us right now, we’re in a terrible position.”
🗣️ Interim Manager Neil McCann gives his thoughts following yesterday's game against Morton pic.twitter.com/OHlcoMvoNJ
— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) March 10, 2021
Mckay hinted at a degree of complacency creeping into Caley Thistle’s game, after seeing how many points they had to play for in the play-off race.
“I think with the games in hand, we’ve been guilty of tallying up points we haven’t got,” he added. “You don’t get anything for free – you don’t get handed points. Points have slipped away from us and all of a sudden you’ve got one game left, before you’ve caught up with all your games, and you’re sitting second bottom of the league.
“Make no mistake about it, we’re in a bit of bother at the minute. The sooner we start rallying the better because you’ve seen it all before. I’ve been in football a long time and people say teams are too good to get relegated. Sometimes it’s not about the squad, it’s about the run you’re on.
“If it’s not good come the important part of the season, then it’s trouble time.”
Mckay came to Caley Thistle in 2016 on the back of leaving St Johnstone, when they struggled and plummeted towards the second tier.
He sees some similarities with the run they are on now but also some marked differences from that catastrophic campaign.
“It’s the same in certain ways and different in others,” added Mckay. “You can go and get beat 1-0 when you’ve had nothing to do at the back, sitting in the dressing room wondering how you’ve got beat by a team that’s had no chances.
“That happened a couple times in the Premiership but it wasn’t like we were dominating games. It was end-to-end stuff when I signed here, it was absolute madness the way we played. It was like basketball, with the two full-backs high and we were exposed at the back.
“It’s not like that. It feels like we dominate games at the moment, teams come and sit in against us and we don’t have the answers to break them down. As soon as you concede, that’s them having something to hold on to.