Alan Stubbs post Aston Villa...
ROTHERHAM UNITED boss Alan Stubbs has called on his side not to get disheartened by following their 3-0 defeat at Aston Villa.Rudy Gestede’s first half double put Roberto Di Matteo’s men in charge at the interval before Jack Grealish added a third late in the game to inflict Rotherham’s first league defeat of the campaign.
Despite the unflattering nature of the scoreline at Villa Park, Stubbs believed his side gave as good as they got for large periods of the clash in the West Midlands.
“I thought the players stuck at it and we are not going to get too downhearted and we have to move on very quickly to the next game,” Stubbs stated.
“It sometimes just comes down to having an awareness of what is around you when you are receiving the ball and having the confidence of coming to big grounds and getting on the ball.
“We need to look to be positive where sometimes there is an urge to get rid of the ball as quickly as possible. We got ourselves into some good positions today but we just did not deliver on the final ball.”
The Millers were more than a match for Di Matteo’s men in the early stages of the game and arguably Gestede’s opener on 21 minutes, which came from the breakdown of a Rotherham attack, came against the run of the play- to the disappointment of the Millers boss.
“We are always disappointed when we lose,” Stubbs added.
“I thought up until the first goal we were in the game but we probably needed to show a little more belief, when we had the ball. The first goal was disappointing.
“It came from an unforced error where there was not a lot of pressure and to be honest, I think we could have done better on the second one.
“We need to be resolute and I have to say when you see the goals, we haven’t been cut open in any of them. We have contributed to them ourselves significantly and that needs to be addressed.”
The Millers were dealt a blow prior to kick-off when Scottish international Kirk Broadfoot was ruled out because of injury as youngster Dominic Ball was handed his debut at the heart of the Rotherham rearguard just 24 hours after putting pen to paper with the Millers.
“I think not having Broady there was a blow for us,” Stubbs added.
“We thought he was going to be ok for us. He was close, that’s why he travelled."