Marvin Bartley's passionate rant about his Queen of the South players gaming too much has been partially backed by Chris Sutton.

However, the former Celtic star insists the rookie manager cannot use it as an excuse for losing the amount of games they have so far this season.

The Doonhamers sit eighth in League One, just four points ahead of bottom-placed Edinburgh City.

They were thumped 3-1 on their own patch by Kelty Hearts at the weekend, and despite their lofty ambitions at the start of the campaign, things are looking bleak for the Dumfries club.

Bartley publicly criticised his players after their latest loss, picking up on individual errors before divulging a gaming habit culture among the squad. 

The ex-Hibernian and Livingston midfielder revealed that some of his players were playing games consoles for up to seven hours the day before a match. He pointed out that this clearly would have an adverse effect on their preparation and concentration levels.

Sutton understands Bartley's point, but he did throw in a caveat that it's not likely to be the overarching reason for their nine league defeats so far this term.

He told BBC 5 Live Sport's Wednesday Night Club: "I think this is more of an issue for younger kids who dream of playing sport at the highest level, not necessarily for professional players. They can pick and choose what they want to do.

"In fairness to Marvin, I like the point that he is making but I don't know how he can say that is why they are losing games. How can he judge that and how much other teams are gaming?

READ MORE: Could Celtic ban the Green Brigade for good?

"He can't use that as an excuse and he can't really blame that. How does he know how much other teams are gaming, how do we qualify that?

"I just keep this really simple in the way I think of this - there are a lot of young kids who are desperate to become professional in any sport. You want to push yourself, so when you hear kids moan and say I wasn't quite good enough to get there - and they have sat and gamed for hours and hours every week.

"That is a waste. I think there is something in the 10,000-hour rule - you stand a far better chance if you are going to put the practice in."