Stoke boss Alex Neil: “We certainly deserved at least a draw against Millwall”
BY ALEX GRACE
Stoke boss Alex Neil was left disappointed by his side’s first-half showing in their 1-0 defeat against Millwall this afternoon.
The Lions took all three points and secured their first home win of the season thanks to Kevin Nisbet’s 38th-minute strike – his first for the club.
Gary Rowett’s men were forced to hold on towards the end as Stoke piled on the pressure but ultimately they couldn’t find a way past a stubborn Millwall defence.
“We certainly deserved something from the game,” said Neil.
“The chances we had second half you could argue we probably should have won it with the opportunities we had. First half, we started okay, we started quite bright, we had the chance, [Josh] Tyman cuts one back but I thought from 10 minutes onwards, we didn’t compete well enough.
“Millwall aren’t the type of team that are going to play through with how they play, they are direct in their style but they are good at what they do. They play on the front foot, they link it and get in behind you, they land on second balls, get the ball wide and put crosses into the box. If you don’t win that first contact and you don’t win that second ball they hurt you. We weren’t brave enough with the ball.”
Neil made four changes at the break and changed shape with the visitors switching to 4-3-3 for the second half, a switch which gave his side a much stronger hold of the contest in the second period.
“You could see a complete contrast in the first half to the second half in terms of us using the ball and taking it under pressure,” he said.
“You are going to have to do that against Millwall if you want to try and break them down. Our use of the ball in the first half was poor. We could argue that the shape didn’t help us and when we changed it at half-time we were much, much better.
“At half time I thought that I’ve got to do something. I’m not in the habit of taking four players off at any one time ever, but I just thought I needed to impact the game in a positive manner and we did.
“Second half we were excellent. We definitely deserved to get something out of the match.”
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