Neil Harris was unhappy with his teams defending in Saturdays 2-1 defeat at Bolton.
The result leaves Harris’ side a place and a point above the Championship’s bottom three. Millwall have now lost four league games in a row for the first time under Harris’ management.
After a goalless first half Bolton scored twice to seize control of the game. Pawel Olkowski gave the hosts the lead just after half time. The second goal was the one that angered the Millwall manager. “People have jobs to do. And Gary O’Neil, who is not a spring chicken anymore, runs from virtually the edge of his own box to the other end of the pitch and scores. We get three players behind the ball before he gets his shot away. It goes back to what I said. One v one defending, not acceptable.
Asked on what he thought about the game as a whole Harris said “Have you seen the goals back? First-half was very scrappy – probably what I expected in a clash that where we are at the moment. I spoke to the boys at half-time about carrying on doing the nitty gritty stuff, the nasty stuff. Make sure we compete and add some quality. We had a brilliant weeks training, again, the lads give me everything.
But the goals we gave away were poor. I can’t keep saying the same things. It was just really poor one v one defending when the players don’t do enough. And then you’re chasing the game. Disappointed individually, massively. It is a poor result for us today.
Millwall could have claimed a late point at the end. Tom Elliott when close with a late header. “We had a chance said Harris. We put a few of the attacking players to score and then that comes down to the quality in the final-third and that has certainly been missing in recent weeks. We could have made better decisions and added more of a clinical edge.
Millwall did pull a goal back through Lee Gregory with three minutes left, Harris believes that having him back on the scoresheet is a positive. “The positive is that Lee Gregory back on the scoresheet, which is a plus for us – it will give him some confidence. But as I have said, it’s a disappointing result and one that I didn’t expect today.
The Millwall boss was also asked about his selection with Lee Gregory and Tom Elliott partnered up front together, with a return to 4-4-2 and the inclusion of Alex Pearce over Shaun Hutchinson. “We have tinkered with a shape and played more of a footballing shape, but don’t create any chances. That is ok against a footballing side and you can counter on teams, but I wanted to come and win the game today and be positive. Tom Elliott has got the best win-percentage ratio in a Millwall shirt. We score more goals, concede less and win more games when he is in the team. I wanted to show faith in Lee because he has been my top goalscorer for four years in a row. I wanted to play two up front. Pearcy has been excellent. We have conceded eight goals in three games.
=
