Paul Warne post Aston Villa...
Interim Manager Paul Warne assessed his side’s performance after a 2-0 defeat on home soil against Aston Villa.
With the scores level at the break, the Millers looked good for a point until an unfortunate own goal from Will Vaulks opened the scoring on 68 minutes.
“I was happy with the way I set the team up; it was the best I could muster,” said Warne. “We worked really hard with them this week to get them up for the game and I thought they were. We had a little bit of misfortune with players going down (injured) and Wardy was dizzy after 30 minutes, it didn’t really help me. But I just said to the lads we need to pick them up for another big game on Tuesday.
“Quality did tell in the end. When we were 1-0 down it was quite an even game, I think they had better chances in the first half – I’m not disputing that. On another day a corner might drop and we might get a goal. I felt that the more we were having a go at them, the more we were vulnerable to the counter-attack and they’ve got pace throughout the team.
“I’m disappointed but I’m not disappointed with the lads. I’d love to send the fans home happy with a win but the lads have given me everything they’ve got. What more can I ask them to do?”
Villa’s second arrived from Jonathan Kodjia on 87 minutes whilst the ball just wouldn’t drop for Warne’s side at the other end.
“I want the fans to leave here feeling happy and entertained,” he continued. “I decided to go 4-4-2 and set up to win but Jedinak’s sitting in their midfield, I thought he was outstanding today. He blocked all of the positive play we tried to do. We had two attacking wingers and I was hopeful before the game that we would at least score some goals and give the fans something to clap about. I’m not embarrassed the way we played, the lads have given everything they’ve got but they’ve lost to the better team.
“It didn’t help with Kelly going off. Then I had an injury to Tayls (Jon Taylor) with his back after Wardy felt dizzy. I made my subs prior to when I wanted to. I couldn’t really affect anything apart from putting Tom up with young Jerry.
“They had a couple of injuries themselves but they kept putting more and more pace on. I’m obviously upset that we lost, but I’m still proud of the way the lads keep going to the end.”
The Millers had a header cleared off the line – Tom Adeyemi saw his effort hacked away by Kodjia before Forde’s drilled effort was expertly saved by Sam Johnstone.
“There isn’t a lot wrong with the team. The team spirit’s there and they train hard every day with us. They’ve been brilliant for me. They’re not that far away from winning games.
“I spoke to their staff after the game and they were really complimentary but, unfortunately, that’s not enough.”