Simon Grayson has been reflecting on his side's 4-1 defeat against Accrington Stanley on Tuesday evening.

The upset came in the Papa John's Trophy, albeit the Cod Army have still progressed through the group stage.

Grayson's message was clear as he told Fleetwood Weekly News: "It’s worrying for the players and from my perspective as well. I want players to be running through brick walls and running around, winning challenges, winning headers and second balls."

He blamed the performance on a lack of work rate and minimal attention to the fundamentals.

Grayson continued: “We’ve got some good footballers but we have to do the other side as well - the ugly side of the game, the basics."

He compared his team's performance to the Manchester derby at the weekend: "Manchester City ran all over Manchester United at the weekend and they’ve got some of the best footballers in the world.''

Town will be able to avenge themselves, their Sky Bet League One clash with Stanley has been pushed forward to December 4th.

This time, the fixture takes place at the Crown Ground.

All in all, to sum up his sides' display, Grayson accepted: "If you don’t do the basics, then you aren’t going to get a chance to play your football.

"There will be a lot of work done on the training ground before we play again, that’s for certain."

The verdict

In a nutshell, Fleetwood played a weaker team when compared to Accrington Stanley's lineup.

However, Grayson believes his players need to rebuild themselves as they move into the next third of the season.

The Cod Army are now six games without a win in all competitions, therefore, a 4-1 defeat may be a fair reflection on a recent basis.