Bulgaria coach Ilian Iliev took over responsibility for the heavy defeat by Northern Ireland with 0:5 in the League of Nations, reported BNT.
He said the players' mistakes were his mistakes too. He also believes that the last two matches - with Luxembourg and Belarus in mid-November will be decisive for his future as coach of the country's representative team.
"The emphasis before the game was that we had to respond to the home team's aggression, but we didn't and you saw what happened. We as coaches have not been able to convince them. The atmosphere that is being created here and if we are not at the level of the hosts suggested that this would follow, it happened. It's my fault we didn't make it.
"Everything that happened until today was erased by this loss - that we went nine games without defeat. No, it's not a landing, it's like......I don't know, I'm having a hard time finding the word. The loss is hard and because of moments when the home team had no idea how things would turn out for them. And we facilitate them. And in this atmosphere, the first two goals were light and decisive. The entire fault lies with the coaching staff for not activating the players so that they know what awaits them. Any team that concedes easy goals here can end up with such a loss.
"I don't want to leave the team. We have to react to the whole team. I am most to blame for what happened. The next two matches will be the most decisive for what will happen to me for my future as a national coach", Iliev also told the Bulgarian media in Belfast.