Rotherham United manager Paul Warne was on iFollow Millers press duties ahead of his side’s Sky Bet Championship fixture with Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
The Millers take on the R’s at AESSEAL New York Stadium, with both side’s in good recent form, something which the manager discussed, as well as the threats posed by the Londoners.
As they did against Cardiff City, the team will have to take to the field without Scottish midfielder Jamie Lindsay, who has been sidelined for up to 10 weeks with in a hamstring injury he sustained against Preston North End last Saturday. Warne discusses the Scots injury below, as well as Kieran Sadlier’s progress.
You can read the highlights from the interview below, with video content to follow shortly HERE on iFollow Millers.
Warne on his side’s start to February…
“The lads have been great, even though we didn’t get any points against Cardiff the other night I thought the performance was good. It was a game of three halves, if you count the last 15 minutes in the snowstorm!
“The lads have been really good, everyone is focused, motivated and have a real belief when they walk on the pitch, which is great in any professional sport so you can’t ask for much more.
“I hope the fans enjoy watching the games, there isn’t a great deal to smile about at the moment, so I hope we’re making them proud. Continuing to reach the same high levels every three days is going to be difficult, but we’re up for the challenge.”
Warne on the congested league table…
“If we’d have drawn with both Preston and Cardiff, we’d have viewed them as two good points, but I was still disappointed we didn’t get the result on Tuesday. It is weird at the moment, all the teams in the bottom half seem to be winning, so it makes the games even more challenging.
“The league table changes on a daily basis, a few results change the picture, it’s just 20 games and we can’t get too emotive either, we’ve just got to look at it that whatever will be will be.”
Warne on Jamie Lindsay’s injury…
“He’s never had a muscle injury before and thought he could run it off, which sounds like something off of Kes! Quite obviously, he didn’t run it off and had to be substituted which is a blow, but this is why we have the ability to make changes.
“It was a flip of the coin between him and Wilsey to play at Preston because of what they put in and typically Jamie ended up picking up an injury. Unfortunately, injuries happen, and we just need to keep the lads as fresh as we can.
“It is a big blow for Jamie and the team. He has been a massive driving force in our season, he’s a great kid and a great lad to have on the pitch. It now means instead of four centre-mids out of six, we now have four to pick from out of five.
“I’d like to think the fans think a lot of him, our fans appreciate hard-working players and he really is one of them. He’s got ability and could have scored a lot more goals the season and I really feel for him.”
Warne of Kieran Sadlier’s return from injury…
“It’s great news for Kieran, he’s been really unlucky with his rehab. The pitches have been frozen which has meant we’ve had to train on astro, which lads recovering from injuries aren’t allowed to train on.
“He’s a long way off starting but could make some impact for us off the bench. Hopefully, with spring round the corner we’ll be able to start getting a lot more match fitness into his legs.”
Warne on the belief within the side…
“All we can do is driving performances and get the absolute best out of our players, we can’t guarantee results, but these things give us the best chance. Belief is a massive thing in football, at the end of the game the other night I told the lads I thought they played well.
“When we are absolutely on song and playing to their best of our abilities, I think we really are a good team. I just don’t think we’ve collected as many points as we’ve deserved, I believe we’ve been really unlucky with a few things going against us.
“I don’t think they believe in ‘imposter system’, I think they have a lot of belief, they not only believe they can stay up push even higher up the table still, something I honestly believe this team can get to.
“The lads can win or lose, I have no issues with that, what I do have an issue with is when I think the performance isn’t up to standards. I honestly believe our recent performances have deserved the points we’ve collected; we’ve rode our luck at times and been unlucky at others. Overall, we’re in a good place, hopefully we can be fortunate and keep everyone healthy for the final 20 games.”
Warne on QPR…
“They’ve done really well in the window; they’ve got Lyndon Dykes and Charlie Austin in and there’s no surprise they’ve been scoring goals. Bally (Dominic Ball) is in midfield who is a great kid and I really like Ilias Chair, who I can see going on to have an amazing career.
“They are good on the ball and cause a lot of teams problems, but I know that if we play to our absolute best we can get a result. We need to get them in the best shape we can and prepare for the game.”