Paul Warne post Cardiff City...
Rotherham United interim manager Paul Warne was left bitterly disappointed after his side slipped to a 5-0 defeat at Cardiff City.
The Millers boss offered no excuses for his side’s display after goals from Kadeem Harris, Junior Hoilett, Craig Noone and two from Kenneth Zohore secured a comfortable victory for the hosts.
After the game Warne gave an honest assessment of the display, as he now looks to pick his side up for next weekend’s trip to Brentford.
“We set up with the players that we had available,” said Warne.
“Obviously we had some players out for this game – the spine of my team Ajayi, Adeyemi and Ward. From the small squad that I have got really I put a team out that I thought was the best I could. I have no regrets with the team that I picked.
“A few of the lads let themselves down today, it was men against boys at times. They (Cardiff) were significantly better than us, they are in good form. I was pleased with the way the lads played in midweek, it showed we can compete against the best teams in the league, so to come here and take such a drumming was an awakener for a few of them. If they want to play at this level then they need to up their game.”
After a quiet start to the game the Millers went behind to a well taken Harris goal. Despite being little between the sides at that stage, a second goal just before the break was crucial as the Millers failed to stop an in form Cardiff side after the break.
“I thought that the game in the first half was dour,” Warne added.
“They scored with their first shot on target and could have scored another after that but Richard O’Donnell made a great save. We went in two down, I told the lads to go out second half and have a go, but when we conceded early on it became more about damage limitation. Joe Newell was struggling for the last 15 minutes with his glut tightening, so we were virtually down to 10 men which didn’t help.
“We didn’t create a great deal but let’s be honest, they just had better quality. They had a lot more pace and power and we couldn’t deal with it. The lad up front was a handful all day running in behind.”