Vermes unhappy with effort of some players in SKC loss

Sporting Kansas City’s loss to the Houston Dynamo in the U.S. Open Cup Wednesday evening was not pretty. Manager Peter Vermes was clearly not happy with the effort of some of his players after the match.

Starting with general comments on the game, Vermes told The Blue Testament and other Kansas City reporters, “I thought that there were some players that gave everything they had. There were other players that didn’t give everything they had. More so, I think a couple guys gave up in the game.”

“It started off very well, we had good organization,” Vermes continued. “We gave away in the first half way too many fouls and corner kicks but we did a decent job until the free kick went in the goal. We just gave up too many free kicks in the first half. We came out in the second half, where we lost our concentration, the ball over the top, from that far away ball shouldn’t be over the top, but that is what happens when you lose your concentration in the game. The third goal is offsides. The fourth goal, lack of effort again on our part in the middle of the park.”

“We gave up chances but we also had quite a few chances in the game. We could have actually scored a lot of goals today. We didn’t. Some of it was we just didn’t hit the target but some of it was if we would have just ran with the guy that had the ball we would have had a tap in a few times and we didn’t. That is part of the issue but in the end I don’t think we had enough on the field unfortunately to get the job done. I say that now, not thinking that going in,” Vermes added. “I thought we could have gotten the result but you’re not going to win a game when you have certain players that just give up or don’t put the effort in like they have to. That’s the result you get.”

What do you do to correct?

“I am not going to correct it on those guys because those guys have shown and the only way it is going to show is they are going to have to change their attitude,” Vermes responded. “We have other players that we will play and guys will be coming back and unfortunately they’re going to find themselves very, very, very, very, very far away from the team and trying to get back in. They’re going to have to do some real proving because it’s not just my evaluation. It’s other players’ (evaluations) as well. Our team, our club is not built on that type of attitude and that won’t be tolerated. It’s pretty simple.”

“I give a lot of credit and applause to the guys that really, really worked their butts off. They know who they are, and they were committed to trying to get the result. They’re doing it game after game, trying, trying, trying.”

How much did not having the bodies play into the formation that you used tonight?

“It’s been the same thing for a few games now,” Vermes replied. “Bodies, people are one thing but at the end of the day, it’s disappointing that certain individuals gave up in the game.”

“That’s not something that happens in this club, not for a long time. Like I said, that won’t be tolerated,” Vermes emphasized.

Vermes never stated which players he was referring to in his comments but they likely know who they are by now.