JOE Edwards believes he and Millwall’s “honest” dressing room can turn things around as he reflected on the contrasting atmosphere among the squad compared to other clubs he has been at.
The Lions boss was previously a first-team coach at Chelsea and Everton, two sides that have regularly hit the headlines in recent years for poor on-pitch performances.
Edwards thinks Millwall’s squad does not have the feel of a side who are in a crisis, despite the fact they have lost five of their last six in the league and are sliding into a relegation battle.
But he did lament the avoidable mistakes that have repeatedly cost the Lions points.
Speaking after last night’s dreadful 4-0 defeat to Ipswich Town, Edwards said: “The only way through it is just to go through it. In a weird way it makes it even make more frustrating how honest and open they [the squad] are to work with every day.
“I’ve been in some training grounds where there’s crises, whether that’s at Chelsea when you need to win every game and you stop winning and it’s a crisis or it’s an Everton where it’s a relegation battle.
“I know a dressing room that’s low in confidence and flat and an environment that’s quiet and a bit divided. Our environment every day is far from that and you feel like when one [defeat] happens, whether that’s Hull or Coventry, we get together we dissect it, we talk about it, everyone’s very clear. We have a plan for the next game and for the first part of the next game it looks likes we’ve eradicated it and then same story again.
“Mistakes which … and this isn’t me putting it on the players because we’re all in it together … but there’s some individual defensive mistakes at the moment that’s just costing us. We’re in that rut where we’re the makers of our own downfall to a point and also we’re in a rut where everything that can go against is going against us and any mistake does end up in the back of the net.
“And what we know about those times is that they do turn. Runs in football, whether it’s a winning run or a losing run, at some point they turn and all you can do is keep believing.
“There’s not many places to go in terms of a radical formation change. If you look at the squad tonight, we’ve been depleted. We’ve really suffered with continuous knocks and niggles and illnesses and suspensions that have broken up the consistency of the team I’m able to work with every day, and then the team I’m able to field.
“It’s been one of those periods, I’ll be honest, where since the last win it feels really tough and everything that can go against you can. But everyone in the game has been there before and there’s always a way out, you just have to stand up and face it, keep working and be better.”