Paul Warne post Burton Albion...
Rotherham United interim boss Paul Warne insists he gave everything he could to help his side to victory in a game that ultimately saw them defeated 2-1 at the hands of Burton Albion.The popular fitness coach was charged with leading the Millers into battle at the Pirelli Stadium following the departure of Kenny Jackett at the beginning of the week, but saw his side thwarted by goals from Jackson Irvine and Matty Palmer, with Tom Adeyemi firing a consolation late on.
Warney admitted that he had convinced himself that he had done enough in the preparation for the game against the Brewers that they could record victory and says he was disappointed not to send the travelling supporters home with something to smile about.
“I honestly believed that today we would win,” he explained after the match.
“I’ve tried to put that into the lads all week, especially today and they were desperate to win for themselves and for me.
“When I walked off the pitch I had players come up to me and apologise and look visibly devastated, but nobody is more devastated than me because I would have loved to have won for the fans that came, my family, myself and for the lads.
“I just thought that today would be that day.”
“I gave everything I could for the team to win today and it wasn’t enough, which is hard to take. I have no regrets and I can look myself in the mirror. I tried to win a game of football, I didn’t come here to draw and I set out to win. I did every single thing I could.
“I’m disappointed that we didn’t give the fans something.”
The caretaker boss continued to explain that he was impressed with the way Nigel Clough’s side set up and added that he deployed on loan Chelsea attacker behind Danny Ward to try and give his side some joy going forward.
“The way we set up we tried to get Izzy Brown between the lines and running at the back three. I quite like the way they play to be honest and if it was my team in pre-season, I’d probably set up the same way.
“That 3-5-2 works really well and it’s hard to break down but we started the game really well. Championship games have very few chances in them and I don’t think they had more chances in the game than us to be fair.”
The Millers forged some good opportunities early on with Jon Taylor and Brown threatening the hosts’ goal, but admitted that the unforgiving nature of the division meant those misses were costly.
“The sad reality is that we didn’t take our chances,” Warne continued.
“We had a couple of one-on-ones in the first half and we worked hard to get into those situations but we didn’t take them, which obviously I wasn’t best pleased with.
“At half time I went in and told them what I thought and said I wanted them to have more self belief. They were starting to slash at clearances and really trying to get the ball away from themselves and I was trying to instil into them that they are better players than that.
“I’ve been there and I know the mentality of it all and when you’re struggling you sometimes just want to get it away from you. I kept trying to keep them going.
“In the second half I changed the system a bit and thought I’d have a go and put another striker on.
“I’d learned from all different managers things that were good and things that I didn’t like and I thought that would be enough to win and it was not."