Paul Heckingbottom says he understands the fans’ frustration over John Lundstram’s team selection, but insists the midfielder does not lack motivation.
Paul Heckingbottom said: “I can understand the fans’ frustrations simply because of the results and the season it’s been, 100 per cent. In terms of effort and commitment, you only have to look at the physical data, the physical outputs that he produces in games to see that he is making the effort and is making the runs. If we are questioning quality, that’s a different matter obviously. I questioned that from us as a team after the game. I felt that was the difference between the teams. A great analogy one of the staff used on the Monday morning, was that it was like a tennis match. End-to-end, backwards and forwards but we made more unforced errors than them. I thought that was a great way to sum it up. I have been in John’s position as a player, leaving on a free as a 24-year-old. It does bring attention but you have to be able to deal with that then. That’s just the way it is. If we had everyone back fit, there would be different options to play then John would be fighting more for his place, of course he would, but in terms of have I seen a lack of effort from John, no not at all. The other way to look at it is you are not going to get a player any more motivated than when he’s playing for his own future and John is right now and he knows that.”
