Curle warns Town's 'weak characters' to stop 'sulking' and start delivering after collapsing against Oxford United

Keith Curle has warned some of his players they risk their careers as professional footballers unless they stop 'sulking' and improve their performance levels following Tuesday's 4-0 defeat at Oxford United.

Curle took a depleted squad to the Kassam Stadium due to injuries and suspensions, which opened the door to several fringe players. However, they failed to impress and might now to be made to wait for another opportunity.

"No, not at all," said Curle when asked if his list of absentees was a mitigating factor for Town's limp display. "That gives opportunities for other players to come in. Whenever I name the team or the squad, there's lots of unhappy faces when they're not involved.

"There are too many weak characters that are having an effect and too many sulking faces when they're not in the starting XI. They've got to understand, the team that goes out has been picked and selected to go and win a game of football so it's not about the other players on that day.

"Keep your disappointment to yourself or bring your disappointment to me and don't let it have an impact on the changing room. On Tuesday, as soon as the first goal went in, we melted and that can't happen."

And should those players not heed their warning, they could find themselves out of the club and perhaps out of professional football altogether.

"There's a lot of sulking faces but then when they get an opportunity, they don't deliver," Curle added. "You can huff and puff all you want and you can show sad faces and you can drop your bottom lip but when you get an opportunity, you fight for it.

"You fight for this football club, you fight for the opportunity to keep calling yourself a professional footballer because based on some of those performances on Tuesday, they won't be called professional footballers for very long. That wasn't me and that's not what I want from my team."