Stuart Gray voiced his anger after Wednesday’s 4-0 flop at Fulham on Saturday.
Gray was left frustrated by poor defending at one end and a lack of a killer touch at the other and, looking ahead to the Boxing Day home game with Blackpool, said: “I’ve told the players it’t time to stand up and be counted.”
Reflecting on the side again failing to score and hardly troubling the home keeper, Gray said: “You’ve got to have a real hunger and desire to get in between the posts to score.”
And turning his attentions to the defending, the head coach added: “We can’t give the opposition free, cheap shots at goal by giving away stupid free kicks like we did today.”
Gray continued: “We can’t become a charity team and give goals away. We are not getting beaten by good play. We are gifting goals and I’ve told the players it’s got to stop.
“We’ve got to get back to where we were before and be difficult to beat.”
Glenn Loovens was substituted 20 minutes from time because of a hamstring injury while Kieran Lee and Joe Mattock were withdrawn at half-time for tactical reasons as Wednesday chased the game at 2-0 down.