Wales face San Marino tonight, officially the worst team in Europe according to FIFA rankings, with anything other than victory the only acceptable outcome.
Toshack didn't hold back in his critisism of his "pampered" players
"I am the first to hold up my hands when we have played poorly and analyse what I think I might have done wrong," said Toshack. "But, sorry, some of the things I saw out there in Cyprus were simply not acceptable.
"It's not so much that the players let me down, more that they are letting themselves down and know full well they can do better. Some of them, as I have been saying for a while, have got to start taking responsibility."
Toshack continued, "Sometimes you have to make these players realise just how fortunate they are to be travelling the world for free and playing for their country. Yet it seems as if we come away to a five-star hotel right by the seaside and, if the waves make a bit of a noise, we have to say to one or two, 'Oh, we'll move you to the other side of the hotel then!'
"We've got doctors, kit men, physios, masseurs, lugging skips of kit around for these players, working their socks off as they put the cones out for training. They do every other chore going. I believe some players take these things for granted and, I'm sorry, I cannot accept that.
"The supporters who paid good money to come and watch that debacle in Cyprus had to return home and go back to shift work the next day. The fans who have come out to San Marino are paying big money.
"Sometimes these players don't realise their good fortune. They get the best hotels, go around Europe and the world and don't have to pay a penny.
"Maybe these things accumulated and led to what we saw in Cyprus. But I needed to let one or two of them know my views. I can't, and won't, accept that sort of attitude."
Asked if modern-day players were spoilt, Toshack answered, "If you are looking for a headline, then I'd better be a bit careful in what I say. I just think players need to remember how privileged they are.
"Yet, when I came into the dressing room at half-time in Cyprus, I thought to myself that one or two of them didn't want to go back out for the second half.
"We were leading 1-0, we were 45 minutes away from a good result, chasing third place in the group and with a huge game to come against the Republic of Ireland at the Millennium Stadium.
"Yet it looked to me as if one or two of them were not enjoying themselves. How can that be the case when they are playing for their country?"
Asked if some Welsh players didn't care, Toshack said, "They will say that's rubbish. That they do care. But did it look like it to you? It didn't look like it to me.
"We didn't even compete in the second half, and that is despite the gift of a goal and leading a game we didn't deserve to be winning.
"After 30 years as a manager, I'm fully aware that the manager gets blamed. But these players have got to have a good hard look at themselves and say, 'Hey, we have let ourselves down.'
"People talk about the way we play, but we do that for a reason. I get us playing in a certain way because we are limited and perhaps have to hide one or two deficiencies.
"But I have absolutely no idea why players were going into certain areas of the pitch against Cyprus, because that was against what I have been telling them for two and a half years.
"There is no excuse for not playing with controlled aggression. That doesn't mean you just go around kicking people, because that will win you nothing in international football.
"However, you can still close down space and win tackles, you can still be first to the second bounce of the ball. You can at least show a bit more professional pride.
"If I'm in charge of a team that plays as pitifully as we did in Cyprus, then people will look at me and ask what on earth I am doing.
"That hurts my pride, yet I couldn't argue with what the fans were saying because we were awful.
"I just hope some of the players have those thoughts too... but I'm not sure they do. As such, I let them know what I think of that attitude."
One of the players Toshack held one-to-one clear-the-air talks with was Gabbidon. Asked if the exchange of views would do the trick, he said, "If it was that simple, everybody would do it and Wales would never lose a match again.
"Danny came into a Wales team in 2003 where he was surrounded by the experience of Mark Delaney, Andy Melville, Gary Speed and Paul Jones, with Mark Pembridge sitting just in front.
"Suddenly, Gabbs has got Lewin Nyatanga, Gareth Bale, Craig Morgan and Wayne Hennessey around him.
"As such, he is one of the players I'm talking about who has got to take on more responsibility. As a manager, you cannot walk over the white line yourself.
"You need an extension of yourself out on the field, whereby certain players stand up and resolve situations when things are going wrong.
"We've got young players in our team and I want them being taught the right way by the more experienced ones.
"James Collins didn't travel out with us, because he was having dental work done. James Collins isn't travelling back with us.
"I don't know if it's a coincidence, but I ask if that's synonymous with what happened in Cyprus.
"There wasn't any of the collective thinking and responsibility that I wanted.
"Did I question the attitude of the players? Yes, the supporters who paid good money to come and watch us, and the ones watching back home on TV, deserved better.
"Why is it that we have gone from the high of winning 5-2 in Slovakia to a situation like Saturday night? It's not acceptable and the players know my views.
"None of these players have won anything at club level, you know. I suppose they say what you've not had you never miss. But I want my team to do better, much better."
Asked if he needed to keep things in perspective, Toshack stated, "I want Wales to qualify. If we accept things like the other night, it's never going to happen.
"You don't have to tell me how difficult this job is. Since this qualifying campaign started, we've lost Ryan Giggs, John Hartson, Mark Delaney, Paul Jones, while a central defensive partnership of Collins and Gabbidon appears to have hit a brick wall.
"We don't even have Jason Koumas, our most creative player, out here with us.
"We're going around Europe with a young team, including four who could still be in the U21s. But what do you do? Say, 'Oh it's OK to play like we did in Cyprus.' Or say, 'No, I'm not going to have that?'
"I'm sorry, but when I see something as wrong as it was on Saturday, I can't keep it inside me.
"Those players on Saturday were the ones who did so well against Slovakia and the Czech Republic. There is no excuse for it."