Does '几个运动员应该尽到自己的努力了，' have a critical tone in this sentence? 谈谈的是‘2008年的现代五项世界锦标赛。

这次比赛成绩不是很好，整个冬训主要是以基本功的训练为主，所以关于实战训练方面，冬训抓得不是太多。在这次比赛当中，几个运动员应该尽到自己的努力了，但是有个别项目，个别人出现了问题。

Does the phrase below have a critical tone?

几个运动员应该尽到自己的努力了，
I suppose / guess some （几个） of our participants must have tried their best,
“几个运动员应该尽到自己的努力了” here is to add an reason/excuse before saying the bad result (但是有个别项目，个别人出现了问题。). 

I think the author feel sorry to say the bad result, so he put an positive thing and praise our 运动员 first before addressing the bad result. 

In English, there is a phrase “not to rain on your parade”. I think they are the same kind of idea.