Leeds coach Evans was taking tip out of Alex Ferguson's book after Brighton rout - Lorimer

Lorimer, writing in the Yorkshire Evening Post, said Evans’ actions were not unusual in the circumstances.

He said: “A lot was made of the fact that no-one from the club spoke to the press afterwards, but it’s not that uncommon for people to keep their counsel on a night like that. You used to see it with Alex Ferguson and other managers in the Premier League.

“I’m sure Steve Evans would have been very tempted to speak his mind, but when emotions are running high, it’s easy to say the wrong thing, say something you don’t mean or say something you later regret. Before you know it, you can find yourself going over the top and losing control.”

Lorimer, who admitted there was “no way of excusing” Leeds’ performance on Monday, said criticism of the players needed to be “limited and constructive”.

He said: “They deserved some stick for the way they performed and the way they defended but, at the same time, we’ve still got 13 games to go. We still have to pick ourselves up again and it doesn’t help to destroy people on the back of one shocking night.”

Lorimer added: “We need big changes to the squad in the summer. If we’re going to compete in the Championship, we have to build a much stronger group of players and, quite honestly, that’s going to take a lot of money. Otherwise we’ll be out of the running again next season.

“But this isn’t the time to be arguing about that. It’s a time for getting points on the board and for making sure that we’re well away from the bottom three and not in the mix when we get down to the last few games.”