Following our 4-1 defeat at Millwall on Saturday afternoon, Poya Asbaghi insisted the Reds’ defending just wasn’t up to scratch.
A brace from Danny McNamara was added to by Oliver Burke and Benik Afobe, with Romal Palmer’s first goal of the season proving to be little more than a consolation on a disappointing day in the capital.
“Overall, it’s not a good enough performance from us, or to say that we performed good enough to get a point, even,” stated Asbaghi.
“We started the game good enough, creating a chance with Britts and the goalkeeper made a save. We had an even better chance with Stylesy being one versus one with the goalkeeper, and I honestly felt that the first half was pretty even, but we were the ones creating more clear chances and Millwall being the more efficient side getting the goal.
“Coming in at half-time, we talked about what we needed to do in offence – a lot of our focus was on that – and, even though we scored a good goal after 2-0, I was hoping for a lot more momentum after 2-1.
“But let’s just be honest and say this is a game where we didn’t defend good enough; we didn’t put on a fight like we should. A lot of us wanted to create things in offence, but when we end up defending two versus ones, we don’t win the duels.”
Results elsewhere in the Sky Bet Championship mean it’s as you were at the start of play, with Reading losing at home to Cardiff City.
The gap to safety is still eight points, and Asbaghi is hoping for a reaction when we travel to Swansea City on Good Friday.
“It gives us still a chance to be in it, but right now I’m just disappointed that we couldn’t close the gap,” asserted our Head Coach. “Right now, I’m so focussed on the performance, so the most disappointment for me is the mentality we have going into the duels, allowing them to look better individually than what they are.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen that in our players and that’s why I’m disappointed, but I’ve seen our players do better – I’ve seen their mentality be better in these situations – and I’m confident that they’ll bounce back and find their way into doing the things they have done, because we need it against Swansea.”
You can watch Poya’s post-match interview on iFollow Barnsley.