As befits an honest man Gary Simpson pulled no punches in his assessment of Saturday's defeat to Accrington Stanley.

The Silkmen had what can only be described as an off day, going down 3-0 in easily their worst performance of the season to date.

"There's no point trying to come up with any excuses," explained Gary. "Saturday's performance was just not acceptable. The one thing you've always been able to guarantee about a Macclesfield team is that we'll always put a shift in."

"Very rarely can you say the opponents worked harder. But I'd challenge any of the lads to say that didn't happen on Saturday."

Can you put your finger on why it was the case?

I can't if I am honest as it came as a complete shock. It's certainly the first time I can remember it happening since I've been involved at the club. We've had bad results before but very rarely have we had a bad result coupled with a bad performance. We just seemed leaden footed.

Yet ironically we got off to good start?

We did and after fifteen minutes or so I was optimistic we'd go on and win the game. But we gave away a sloppy goal and never recovered from that.

Is it a confidence issue?

I am sure that played its part. We're a young and inexperienced team and in the three games so far I think there's an argument we've deserved more from each of them. It was a blow to concede so late on at Stevenage. We could have easily taken Leicester to extra time and I also thought we'd done enough to get a point against Shrewsbury.

So it might have been a case of thinking 'here we go again' when the first went in. But that still doesn't excuse what happened.

What was said after the game and today at training?

The one thing I learnt more than anything from the Gaffer was to try and be more levelled headed. As a player and even as his assistant I used to be over the moon when we won but conversely very down when we lost. The Big Man was more on an even keel and that's why there's been no ranting and raving.

Don't get me wrong. Several home truths were spoken in the dressing room and again at training today.

Did you get the reaction you were looking for?

They're an honest bunch of lads and training was very lively today. But the ultimate test will come on Saturday when we take on Chesterfield.

Can you understand the reaction of some of the fans?

Look I said on Saturday that we deserved some stick and we have to take that on the chin. We let ourselves down and also the fans that had travelled up there to support us. So they are thoroughly entitled to express their displeasure. What I do struggle with is when it gets personal. Some of the things aimed at both myself and the players on the day went a bit too far if you ask me and those dishing it out have to ask themselves what it is likely to achieve.

But again I fully understand the frustrations as we just weren't good enough on the day and that is not acceptable.

Will you be looking to make changes to the team / formation on Saturday?

I've challenged the players for a reaction in training and that will determine what side I send out there. Formation wise we started with a 4-2-1-3 on Saturday with Hammy playing in the whole behind a front three.

I felt that should have been good enough but with that formation you need to win the midfield battle and we just didn't do that. I reverted to a 4-4-2 in the second half, which I know a lot of fans have been asking for, with Emile and Tyrone upfront. But we hardly got a kick. So it will be down to what formation I think we will us the most ball.

I want this team to play football but at the same time we have to start winning games. We've changed the style of play this season, opting for more of a passing game. That's how I want to play. I don't want to go back to a more direct style. But ultimately it comes down to winning and at the moment that is the one thing we are missing.