JOE Edwards believes his side were “lured into playing a total football game” during their 1-0 defeat against Hull.
Jaden Philogene gave the Tigers the lead at the MKM Stadium during a first half that was also notable for the amount of times Millwall gave away the ball, particularly in defensive areas, when they tried to play out from the back.
Edwards thinks his side improved throughout the game but was critical for his players for relying too heavily on one style to move the ball forward.
Speaking after the 1-0 defeat, the Lions boss said: “You have stay strong and to be honest I was quite disappointed that we got lured into playing a total football game. They were making a lot of short passes – they’ve got a team that are built for that with a lot of technical players – so the ball was moving around very quickly and short. And we would regain it in our own deep third and our only answer was to give it back to them. We weren’t doing it well.
“Also the pitch was in terrible condition and we should have recognised that, so it’s not an excuse. When you have someone like Michael Obafemi with his pace in behind and Zian Flemming, I felt we should have played to the front or in behind earlier.
“As much as Hull made the first half difficult for us – give them credit for the level of their performance – we didn’t make it easy for ourselves. A lot of the ideas we’ve been talking about consistently at the moment should have served us well but we didn’t get the balance right.
“And then you saw in the second half when we’re switching play more, we’re hitting diagonal balls to Danny McNamara, we’re playing balls down the side for Tom Bradshaw… there has to be that variation in our game. We can’t become a predictable, passing team.”
The Millwall head coach was also asked if he was concerned by the teams below the Lions picking up points, with relegation contenders Queens Park Rangers and Huddersfield Town both winning this afternoon and leaving the Lions five points away from danger.
He said: “I haven’t even seen the other results but every game is so tough. Before I was even in this division but now I’ve been in it, you know how difficult every week is. We’ve got so much to focus on in our own performance and getting that consistency that there’s no point looking down or above. We just need to take it game-by-game and try and get points on the board by putting in more consistent performances at the moment. That’s where we’re at.”