I think Wilder is doing two things. Clough or Adkins didn't earn the right to say what he said as strongly as he said it. First thing he was doing was to empathise with the fans (he has the right to do this as he's one of us) secondly it was about as strong a warning as can be dished out that shit effort and lacklustre performance really piss him off. The players already here prior to January already knew this but have had a massive re-establishment of that and the new lads are under no illusion that it is not acceptable. I know he said he doesn't care but he cares deeply.
Some things are bothering me about the performance, why were so many players so shit? People are singling out Leonard but JOC hardly ever got up the pitch apart from set pieces, Bash was ineffective, Fleck's decision making was the worst I've seen from him this season, Evans seemed to think that all players were on the same team and passed to the nearest one, Baldock seemed to be trying impossible passes even though a simple pass inside was available Stevens was just very poor. So why were they all so bad? Why would the whole team play so poorly? Was it just the team selection? Considering JOC and Stevens, Bash and Baldock have played together for most games this season why were they not remotely in sync? It is very perplexing I don't know why it was so bad when they can string stuff together against Leicester and Leeds. They can't all be badly motivated at the same time, surely.