Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy has insisted that there is not a "blame game" developing inside the dressing room amid the club's poor run of form.
The Tractor Boys are down to 18th in the Championship after a run of two wins in 10 league games, McCarthy's worst run since taking over at Portman Road four years ago.
The seasoned manager revealed that he thinks "screaming and shouting" at his players would be 'unhelpful' and instead is attempting to pinpoint specific reasons for on-the-pitch failures.
"I don't mind players doing that, but I wonder what players you think would be having a go at each other?" McCarthy said in an interview with the Ipswich Star. "That kind of stuff, 'come on we need to improve', is a real generic comment that means nothing unless there is any substance to it or any more thought behind that. How do we need to improve?
"So no, there wasn't players shouting at each other. It's me that does the speaking generally. Sometimes there are a few that speak out, but I'm not into finger pointing. That's nonsense because they've all made mistakes at some stage, me included.
"I've been in teams when it starts going wrong and can see how that blame game develops. I've been in teams where that does happen, but I wouldn't have that happen here. There's none of that going on. Screaming and shouting at people, whether that's players doing it to players or me doing it, is not helpful. The only time I do it is when someone has not tried or somebody has done something completely different to what I've been asking them to do. It's only then that I might take a few stripes off someone."
Ipswich next welcome Ian Holloway's Queens Park Rangers to Portman Road this afternoon.