Lions head coach Edwards frustrated by lack of belief in Stoke City stalemate

Joe Edwards bemoaned Millwall’s lack of belief in the final third after their 0-0 draw against Stoke City.

The Lions travelled to the Bet365 Stadium hoping to end a six-match winless run but failed to trouble their hosts, who had new head coach Steven Schumacher at the helm for the first time.

After an even first half, Stoke stepped things up after the break but were unable to break down a resolute Lions defence. At the other end, chances came at a premium for Millwall, who failed to lay a glove on their hosts throughout and managed just two shots all afternoon.

Lions head coach Edwards accepted that a draw was probably a fair result. He said: “It was a solid performance. We want to win every game but we’ve also got to respect where we’ve been. We’ve been having a tough time with performances and results.

“When we came in at half-time and we were relatively comfortable in how we were playing and how the game had gone, that gave us a bit of confidence to say: ‘Okay, keep doing what you’re doing’. We did want to win the game but first and foremost, don’t lose when you’re in the position we’ve been in. We’ve lost too many games of late.

“We looked more comfortable and confident on the ball for spells in the first half which we’ve got to keep building on, but by no means were we really exciting with it. We’ve still got to get that final bit. We looked really comfortable playing from the back into midfield but when we’re in their half we want to ask more questions. I get that. We need time to keep adding that bit.

“The issue we’ve had lately is we’ve been going away with a lack of points because we haven’t been defending our box well enough, so when you get a second half like that where [you get] a home team with a new energy about what they’re doing mounting pressure at you, we dealt with it really well. Every question they asked we defended well and answered it. We had a moment right at the end after rolling the dice with one of the subs which nearly came off, but all in all, I don’t think a draw is an unfair result.”

Addressing the lack of creativity, Edwards felt that previous frailties were on show again against Stoke, who remain a point and a place above Millwall near the relegation zone.

He explained: “There was still a lack of belief when we got to the final third. In recent weeks our performances haven’t been great and there’s been several areas we’ve had to address on the training pitch. Firstly it was to stop leaking chances and goals as easily as we have been recently, but then we spoke about trying to come here and taking the sting out of the game by having more control of the ball.

“You can do that by having numbers in the middle and wing-backs. Sometimes you can look light in terms of bodies up the pitch but today, when I watch it back, I know there’ll be moments where we got into little pockets or in between them where if the next pass is a good one, we can put it into the box and create a big chance. That final bit hasn’t been there for us for a few weeks and it wasn’t today [either].

“That’s the final piece that we really need to come together, because we showed a lot more control of the ball than we have in recent weeks. It doesn’t take a lot – sometimes it just takes one game where you score early or you’re confident on the ball early and it comes from there. But we need to improve and we know that.”