‘We are stretched at top end of pitch’ – Millwall boss gives verdict after Championship loss to Hull City
Alex Neil has talked about lacking attacking options after Millwall’s 1-0 reverse to Hull City today.
The two lowest scoring clubs in the Championship produced a game starved of major chances with the outcome decided by Jake Cooper’s own goal.
The Lions saw their hottest prospect Romain Esse complete his transfer to Crystal Palace today. Winger Femi Azeez and Middlesbrough loanee striker Josh Coburn were both ruled out due to injury.
Regan Slater drove into the Lions’ penalty area in the second half with his cross clipping off Cooper and deceiving goalkeeper Lukas Jensen.
Millwall’s only effort on target was a Mihailo Ivanovic header in the third minute from Joe Bryan’s free-kick but it was a comfortable stop for Carl Rushworth.
George Honeyman drove a strike over in the first period against his former club after Duncan Watmore had initially threatened to break clear, only for the ball to get slightly caught up under his feet to slow his progression.
Millwall have collected two points from a possible 15 since their 1-0 home victory against Blackburn on December 21.
Neil said: “It was a scrappy game. We set up differently for a couple of reasons. Watching Hull, the best way to try and play around Hull – because they press from out to in and try to shut central areas off – you need to play outside of them.
“When we did get the ball down via the wing-backs we looked threatening. But if you are going to play that way you need an element of control, which means making some passes to take the sting out of their press. We didn’t do that. We turned the ball from front to back too often and it became a transition game. When that happens they have naturally got wingers in high positions and they are playing off the side of your centre-backs.
“What it did mean when we picked the ball up is we had more volume attacks going forward. We looked more threatening. We had a couple of decent chances in the first half and so did they. I felt towards the end of the first half they looked more likely to score than we did, that’s why I changed it at half-time to more match it up and make it a more conventional Millwall – so that it is a man-for-man battle.
“If I’m being honest if we are going to play that way you normally have a target you are going to play up to and work around. Milo is not really a target – he is more of a runner. That is his strength. Listen, we are stretched at the top end of the pitch. I think anyone can see that.
“We’ve just sold Romain for a lot of money and we’ve got Femi who is not available for us right now. Calum Scanlon has literally trained for one week and I’ve got his left wing. It’s not easy but the game got decided on a cross which hit one of our lad’s heels and deflects in at the front post. From that perspective it is really, really frustrating because if you get done with a bit of quality or the opposition performing better and they should comfortably win the game then you go: ‘We need to be better’. But it was a scrappy game decided by an unfortunate moment.”