Midfielder says Blues were just not good enough at Bury
And Holmes knows that the Blues have to be much better if they want to stop their winless run.
But he was thrown on after the break as Pompey suffered their biggest league defeat of the campaign.
Ricky Holmes watched the first half at Bury from the relative comfort of the visiting team dug-out.
The midfielder said: “If you’re taking on one of the best teams in the league and don’t turn up then you’re going to get slaughtered. That’s exactly what happened.
“Nobody on our team was good enough – not those who started or the ones who came on.
“We can’t keep letting that happen because it’s not fair on anyone, especially the fans who pay good money to watch us.
“If we keep playing like that then they’ll stop coming and we can’t allow that to happen because we know how passionate they are.
“Luckily we’ve got another game on Tuesday night and we need to turn up and do what we know we’re capable of.
“Confidence is massive in football, but the gaffer’s man-management is one of his best attributes and I’m sure he’ll pick us up.
“If we can find a cutting edge then I’m sure we’ll cave sides open like we were doing earlier in the season.
Holmes admitted that several players in Pompey’s squad are playing for their futures as well as points.
“We need to get back to basics and remember that we were five games unbeaten before this.” He said: “We owe ourselves a better performance – we’re on short-term contracts and need to start playing well or we’ll find ourselves out of a job.”