Neestrup: Now our focus is the Cup
F.C. Copenhagen head coach Jacob Neestrup says Sunday's 2-1 defeat to Randers, which leaves the team seventh in the Superliga, means the focus for the spring half of the season is winning the Danish Cup.
The Lions levelled the scores midway through the first half thanks to Mads Emil Madsen, but needed three points to secure a top-six finish and compete in the Championship Round this spring.
Defeat means FCK's final 10 Superliga fixtures of the campaign won't be for the title, but the team leads at the midway point of the Cup semi-final.
Reflecting on the loss, Neestrup said: "Unfortunately it's deserved, because it wasn't a luck that decided the game today, but the fact we've had poor performances in far too many matches.
"We've had matches where we've failed at the most basic things in football, and we ended up putting ourselves in a situation where a poor performance was followed by another and another and another.
“Of course I am sorry on behalf of all Copenhageners, because they deserve to have us play in the Championship Round and at least compete for the title. It is fair enough that F.C. Copenhagen can't win the league every single year, but it is not okay that we have ended up here, where we are now in seventh place after 22 rounds. The club belongs in the Championship Round, but unfortunately the team does not.
“I have a great responsibility for that as head coach, because I have not managed to turn the tide and get us out of the crisis. But the players must also look inward, and there are many layers to this that we must evaluate in the club in order to recreate the solid foundation that has characterised our game for many years. I am not pointing fingers at anyone, and my responsibility is the greatest.
"It's going to be a tough week, and a tough spring, but now it's about winning the Cup. We have a match on Saturday in Viborg, where we can secure the Cup final for the right to play in Europe. If that doesn't work out, we have to go for finishing seventh and then playing in the European Playoff.
"It hurts to look at it, but that's the situation we've put ourselves in."