Honestly, I don't understand what lesson really could be learned in such situations. That does sound like a nice, noble, but still - excuse for not doing their job properly.
They are all grownups whose trade is to play football. What exactly didn't they know before those games or speeches that "enlightened" them? They didn't know that if they aren't focused and working hard then they might fail in getting results they were supposed to get? That doesn't sound plausible to me. I think, this is just a nice story for the media. And they're clearly abusing it.
Nobody says they should complain - they shouldn''t.
I say they shouldn't try so hard to look wise and humble all the time. I don't believe that they honestly think what they say in those situations.
They try sound like calm professionals, but, ironically, don't act like ones on the pitch exactly during those periods when they pretend they are calm professionals after the games in their interviews.
P.S. I don't want it to be narrowed and look like all I write here is about tonight's game. It's not. Tonight's game is merely an episode in a lengthy history I'm referring to.