Positives from defeat for Assistant Manager...
Assistant Manager Paul Raynor took a number of positives from Rotherham United’s final pre-season outing despite slipping to a 3-1 defeat at home to Premier League new boys Leicester City.
The Millers, 2-0 down at half-time through a double strike from Foxes record signing Leonardo Ulloa, looked to have found a way back into the game when Kieran Agard struck, only for Danny Drinkwater to seal the win.
However, Raynor was pleased with how things went in the second period despite nine changes to the side at the break.
“There were some good things, some things we need to work on, and that’s been the story throughout pre-season really. It’s evident what a quality outfit Leicester City are, they’re the type of challengers up the top of the Championship, they were a magnificent outfit last season and I can see on that performance why they caused teams problems. They moved the ball well, but I thought at times so did we and it was a good workout for us.
“We started the second half a little bit brighter and created some more openings getting down the side of them a little bit more with a bit more penetration and more progression with our passing which we asked of them at half-time. As I say we were just a bit disappointed with the goals, particularly the third goal, we let the cross come in a little too easy and could have done a bit better at the back stick.
John Swift made his first start in a Millers shirt and picked up the sponsors’ Man of the Match, and Raynor was impressed with the Chelsea loanee, although he believes the highly-rated youngster has a lot to learn.
“He’s good on the ball you can see he’s a talented boy. He just needs to learn to defend at times which we did mention to him. He’s a young boy coming into a professional environment where we’re playing for points now, every game counts it’s not like Under 21 football and John will learn with us that you need to do both sides of the game but he showed on the ball that he can influence a game.”