No he doesent have to lay the boots in at all , he can say he was disappointed in the effort as a whole and say we need to get betterOk, seriously, what would you want him to say to the media and the public? Should he lay the boots in and say that they were pathetic? Should he start singling out players by name?
As a manager of people you back your team in 100% against the outside world but internally you have the hard discussions. Especially when you have young and inexperienced members.