Manager Neil Harris has given his thoughts on the defeat at the weekend to Bolton Wanderers and the return of Paul Robinson to The Den last night.
Beginning with the trip to the Macron Stadium last Saturday, Millwall were pretty comfortably beaten two nil on the day and a very frustrated Harris didn’t really pull his punches once again when it came to the two moments of poor defending that gave them the victory.
Speaking to the official site in his post game press conference, Harris said too many players didn’t do the basics of the game and ultimately we ended up punished for that.
‘Both goals were avoidable. Some of my players didn’t do the basics today for some periods of the game and we got punished. When you play against good teams you have to match them in key areas in and around the penalty boxes. If you don’t then it’s going to cost you dearly.’
He went on to say.
‘I am disappointed for our players. We didn`t do the basics well enough as we have done in previous games. We didn`t get into enough good positions with quality and I thought we lacked a little bit of belief in our play until the last 15 minutes or so when we played on the front foot.’
As for last night’s action, Harris was delighted with the performance the side put in, and he was of course pleased with the clean sheet – but a three point return would’ve made him happier and he knows we had the chances to make that happen.
‘We put 20 crosses into the box, which is the second highest after Bristol Rovers, in our last home game. My gripe at Bolton at the weekend, in a game with very few chances, was that we gifted them two goals, and if anything we should have kept a clean sheet. I was delighted with the clean sheet against Wimbledon, but it’s a game that, on reflection, we should have won. I thought we got into really good areas but I thought we also lacked a little bit of quality at times.’
Harris went on to say.
‘We had 13 efforts on goal, eight on target. We should have been more dangerous than we were. Fred Onyedinma probably had the best chance with the knockdown towards the end. We could have gambled a little bit more and got more bodies into the box, considering we put so many crosses in. What we didn’t do was use the ball as well as we did against Bristol Rovers. Having said that little moan about the players, I thought they really stood up strong against a battling, aggressive Wimbledon side. I’m delighted with the clean sheet.’
With former skipper Paul Robinson returning in the game and playing his first game at The Den since his departure, Harris went on to say that he was delighted with the welcome he received.
‘He was brilliant, wasn’t he? He made a block on the goal-line and headed one from underneath the bar. That’s just him. That’s just his quality. He will be delighted with a clean sheet and a point back at The Den.’
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