Paul Dickov accepts there can be no excuses for his Oldham side's late-season tumble down the League One table.
The Latics are without a win in seven matches and their status in the third tier was only mathematically secured by last weekend's 1-1 home draw with Preston.
Although Dickov believes his team have at times performed better than results suggest, he insists the league table does not lie.
"Saying performances have been better than results is me breaking the game down afterwards, watching it and looking at everything to do with it," said the former Manchester City striker. "I can't say we should be in a higher position at the moment because we've not picked up the results.
"We've switched off at stupid times in games. When you look at the table - it's not as if we're five games in - you are where you deserve to be. We are sitting where we are because at important times in games we've switched off and when we've created chances we've not taken them.
"It's pretty black and white and we have to get better at that. I have to look at myself and how I change that."
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