He stressed that many key players are missing, which has disrupted consistency and limited options.
Despite the setbacks, he praised the squad’s effort and resilience, insisting they are giving their all under difficult circumstances.
He stated after the 2-1 loss to Villa and FA Cup exit: “I don't know whether they do or not. I was saying in there, take a back four of Vicario, Dragusin, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie, Maddison, Johnson, Solanke, Odobert, Werner...take them out of any team... How did Liverpool go today? And they just did that for one game. Do that for two-and-a-half months. Any team.
“Do that for two-and-a-half months in multiple competitions. I don't care about me. People will judge me. But you can't judge this group of players on what's happened. They've given everything, the performance.
“Like I said, two 18-year-olds, a 19-year-old, a 17-year-old, a 21-year-old goalkeeper starting against one of the best teams in the country at home. They've had a week off, they didn't play Thursday night against Liverpool. We did. Same group of players. Not a change. You can't measure this group of players on that and their performance where they're at. It's too easy for people to be critical of them. I just have huge admiration and respect for them. We kind of knew this game was going to be the finishing line because we knew what was coming ahead in terms of midweeks off and getting some players back. But they tried their hardest and that's all you can ask.”