Ray Wilkins:That performance hurt

By Tommo
August 11 2004

Darren Ward was undisputedly man of the match at the Den against Wigan in a game that had few positives for the Lions. LOTS ratings: Stack 7, Dunne 6, Ward 8, Lawrence 5, Livermore 5, Sweeney 7, Morris 6, Elliott 6 (Wise 7), Simpson 7 (McCammon 6), Dichio 6, Moore 6 (Harris 6).

Assistant boss Ray Wilkins' post-match comments:

Probably performance-wise it was slightly more hurting than results-wise.

Wigan will be a threat in this division because their attacking force has a lot of pace and is pretty potent, so they will win more than they lose.

As far as we're concerned, we're yet to get our own house in order.

You're always disappointed with goals - it doesn't matter how they come against you.

But we are disappointed because we didn't defend well enough, and last year that was our stock game. We defended very well indeed last year, but we haven't started as well as we would have liked to have done, and that's disappointing.

There appears to be an immense lack of confidence. Why that is I've no idea, but we don't appear to be playing with any sort of conviction at the moment, and that has to change rather rapidly.

From where I'm standing it was a tad unfair. We have tried at lengths to bring people in during the summer. Unfortunately they've chosen to go to other clubs rather than Millwall.

From that aspect it's disappointing. We've tried very, very hard. We've had people around the table but they've just decided to go elsewhere.

But that's a fact of life unfortunately.

A lot of players have gone Premier League. Other players have decided geographically to go where they wish to be.

It's difficult to bring the players we were looking to get into the first division.

Dennis has not done all of pre season, but he is as good as done it fit wise.

But he felt that he wanted it for the best bit and see where we go from there.

I'm sure that we will try every minute of every day to try and get players in, and we do need to reinforce the squad - there's no question about it.

But it hasn't been for the want of trying that players haven't been at Millwall, but we have worked very very hard, but we've unfortunately been unable to bring people in.

We'll give it a blast over the next couple of days and see how it goes.

Jody will take time to settle in. It's a different type of game to what he's used to, but he has the ability to be very good in the middle of our midfield, so we've no qualms with Jody whatsoever.

Josh will take a bit of time adjusting. He's only a young man coming in from Canadian football, so the pace of the game is very very quick for him. The stronger he gets the more you'll see off him.

Nerves plays a big part. You get one of these young men coming in from Canada, he is used to playing in front of a couple of shepherds and dogs.

Then all of a sudden it's quite hot out there and it takes a bit of time to adjust, and he's done okay in the two games he's taken part in.

Serioux will be available for selection come Saturday. Whether Dennis picks him is another matter, but he's a very steady player. He can play at right full back or as a holding midfield player, so we're trying to add to our squad.

The young men we bring in play with bundles of enthusiasm, but we do need the experienced type as well.

Patience, because it's the way it has to be.

Kevin Muscat had a full training session today, with the ball, so that's an absolute bonus for us. But still is a month or five weeks away, and Ifill is about the same as well.

So two experienced players, as far as we're concerned, will not be with us for another month or so.

It's a big blow to a club like ours, as it would be to any first division team, but we just have to get on with it.

It means they'll be out of Europe but I'm not too concerned about Europe to be honest. They've been to Europe on holiday.