Nigel Clough wrong to slam Tomasz Cywka - Gordon Taylor

Cywka joined Derby from Wigan on a two-year deal last summer

Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor says Derby boss Nigel Clough was wrong to openly criticise striker Tomasz Cywka.

Clough branded the 22-year-old "not very bright" for giving the ball away too easily as his side conceded a late equaliser at Portsmouth on Saturday.

Taylor told BBC Radio Derby: "It cannot be appropriate to criticise your team in such a way in public.

"We'll sort things out...otherwise it looks an untenable situation."

Taylor added: "It's a breach of the trust between the players and the manager and the manager and the players, but I would hope that Nigel sees it that way as well.

"Knowing Nigel as I do, he must have been so frustrated as the club have not been doing so well and there was a chance to win the game.

"I think that sometimes that's the problem with speaking after the game before everybody has time to calm down because the game brings up such emotions."

Clough was furious that Polish frontman Cywka surrendered possession in the build up to David Nugent's 90th-minute goal and wasted no time in criticising the player he signed permanently from Wigan Athletic in the summer when he talked to BBC Radio Derby after the game.

"We'd like some players who - in the 89th minute - don't lose the ball 20 yards outside the box which leads to us conceding a goal, which Tomasz Cywka did," Clough said.

"He's an extremely inexperienced and not very bright footballer. He should have chested the ball and hooked it into the corner flag with five minutes to go.

"That's what experienced, good players do in that situation. And despite being told - and he has been with us 10 months - he is still doing things like that. He can go back to Wigan or wherever he came from - I'm not really bothered - until he learns the game.

"It is getting very, very frustrating when you are dealing with people who are doing things like that.

"It's not a physical thing [with Cywka] - it's a mental one but if players don't learn then you move onto the next one."

Cywka released a statement on Derby's club website on Tuesday, insisting he had "no problem" with Clough's comments.

Clough also rounded on defender Dean Leacock and midfielder Paul Green after the 5-2 mauling at the hands of local rivals Nottingham Forest in late December.

"I thought they offered us absolutely nothing," Clough said immediately after the game.