Esteghlal head coach Pitso Mosimane did not mince his words as he ripped into his players following a disappointing defeat in his first match in charge of the Iranian outfit.
Mosimane was aware of the challenge he was walking into when he took over at the seventh-placed Esteghlal a few weeks ago, as first reported by the Siya crew.
But the 60-year-old, by his own admission had no idea of the severity of the situation, which was exposed to him in his first match in charge.
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Esteghlal suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to lowly Kheybar, much to the disappointment of Mosimane who ripped into his players for their lacklustre performance.
"What can you say after a defeat like this as a coach? One thing I know is that my team doesn't have a spirit. I've never seen a team so low!" Mosimane said after the match.
"Maybe we are still thinking about the big name [of the club] but the big name doesn't match the performance. We have to congratulate the opponents who were fighting very hard. They had hunger. I told my players that there were two coaches before me who left and I'm the third one. Is there going to be a fourth one again?
"They must look at themselves in the mirror and be honest to themselves. No one is going to help us. We need to help ourselves. So I'm very disappointed with what I see.
"I don't want to make excuses because I only had two training sessions but that has nothing to do with the tactics - it's a low spirit! I don't know what the players of Esteghlal want maybe they must tell us if they want to change the coaches every day? I'm very disappointed," he said.
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