ARGYLE manager Paul Sturrock has apologized to the Green Army after the hugely disappointing 1-0 home defeat to Swansea City.

Luggy described the performance as the worst display, in an offensive capacity, he has seen in his two stints as Chief Pilgrim.

He said: "I came to this game today with a spring in my step after the way the team had trained and what we were looking to achieve.

"I am flummoxed, to say the least, bitterly disappointed, and I can only apologise to the fans. That could be, offensively, the poorest performance I have seen from any time I have been at Argyle in the past.

"We were disjointed. There was a fear, a worry, and a lack of belief when we had the ball, which is a recipe for disaster.

"We want our players to play accurate balls to our strikers. It is fine in practice but getting the players to do that on the pitch is the more difficult aspect."

The performance was a massive contrast to the enthralling opening-day draw with Wolves and Luggy is calling on his team to believe.

He suffered a torrid time in his first spell at the Home Park helm and turned things around - he is now looking to repeat the trick.

He said: "If you look, and everybody should look, at the Wolves performance to the performance today: it is in us. If we believe in ourselves, the kind of performance against Wolves is in the team.

"I came here the last time and turned the team around in the second year after four defeats on the bounce, and we finished up going on a run.

"The Championship is miles ahead of what we were in before, so it is going to be very difficult."

A key factor in achieving that aim will be finding a settled first 11 out of the vast number of new recruits in his squad.

"At this minute, I am struggling to put out my best 11," said Luggy. "I am also struggling to bed down in my mind a certain style of play. That is only normal when you have players you have seen very little.

"Managers will try to mould players to the way they want the game to be played. Sometimes managers will change styles to adapt to the players you are trying to bring into the football club, and that is a decision I have got to make."

Today's game could have been a very different affair had Marcel Seip's headed 'equaliser' early in the second-half not been ruled out.

It was a strange and harsh decision, but Luggy admitted that the better passing team rightly won the match.

He said: "I don't want to talk about it [disallowed goal]. I have got too many other things to think about. I am very hopeful we will get the benefit in other games.

"We were beaten by a team that wanted to pass the ball and a better team on the day. I don't think they are a better side than us but they were able to get the ball down and make passes.

"We were not pressurized by them to the extent that we had to play one-touch passes in certain areas. There was a lack of belief in our psyche. Individually, we are making mistakes.

"I remember Graeme Souness telling me about Liverpool and the 'Thunder Back Four'.

"I believe in that philosophy in the first ten minutes of the game. After that, I want to play from goal to goal. I want my players to play accurate balls to the strikers.

"I am not legislating for one big wallop down that day. If I had Carlos Alberto on the right and another Brazilian on the left, I might distribute balls to my full-backs.

"I watch Premier League games where some teams kick first and play second - they pick up the crumbs.

"A high percentage of teams will kick it out every week. but our problem is that I have got to be settled in my mind, and put an 11 on the pitch who are going to reflect my gospel.

"I know how to win football games but I have one or two players in the dressing room with a certain idea of how the game should be played.

"It is like giving whiskey to the Indians - they have a problem with the football."

The quest for finding new players now takes on even greater importance, with just nine days before the transfer window closes.

"I would like to work very hard and see if we can bring in some experienced players," said Luggy.

"We need course and distance men for the simple reason we have too many novices. If you look at my team, near enough every one has had a lack of Championship hours, for all sorts of reasons.

"Very few of them have had regular Championship performances and I need a couple of men in there."

Tim Herbert