Lee Miller on the Walsall game
United captain Lee Miller spoke to the press on Tuesday night following the disappointing home defeat against Walsall.
“It was a terrible night for us,” he admitted. “You could go through the whole team and say that we didn’t do our jobs, and that’s disappointing.
“I’m the first to criticise myself and what I did just wasn’t good enough. I think we all have to hold our hands up and say that. It’s now a case of trying to get it right on Saturday.”
“You do ask yourself what went wrong and whether you prepared in the right way for the game,” he explained. “Sometimes it just happens and you have to put it away as quickly as you can. I think we’re all man enough in the dressing room to admit that we just weren’t good enough and we weren’t at the races at all.”
“We took the early blow but we still had the whole game to put that right,” he said. “We didn’t do our jobs to the best of our ability and we’ve paid the price.
“It’s so frustrating when you’re out on the pitch and that kind of thing is happening. I’m not one to shy away from wanting the ball, but every time I got on it I did something wrong. It’s just the way it happens sometimes and that’s football. I need to forget about it and move on to the next game.”
“The fans just want us to push on and a lot of them will be disappointed with what they have seen,” he acknowledged. “We know we’re miles better than that and we set our standards very high last season. We’ve had a reasonable run over the last six games or so but we maybe haven’t picked up the three points as much as we should have.
“We thought we’d go in and regroup at half time. The manager got us going and we all knew we had to be better. We came out and it happened again and it’s just massively disappointing.
“I don’t think too much blame can be put towards the gaffer because he puts the players out there to do a job. It’s our responsibility to then look after ourselves and do it. We’ve got a superb team spirit in there but it didn’t show at all in this one.”
And on his own form, he commented: “I just know I was nowhere near good enough and that’s the worst I have felt in a match in the whole time I’ve been here.
“I won’t get much sleep after a performance like this. I take my football seriously and I set my own standards high. I wasn’t anywhere near what I want to be.
“I don’t feel any extra responsibility with the captain’s armband. There is a lot of experience in the dressing room and the older lads are constantly speaking out and trying to help things along. We’re old enough and wise enough to know that this wasn’t acceptable and we have to take it from there.
“From a personal point of view it was embarrassing because I gave the ball away almost every time I touched it. I tried harder and harder to stop that but it just didn’t happen for me. I know I can do a lot better but it’s not for the lack of trying.
“I feel fit and I feel good in training, and sometimes things just don’t click. Strikers are judged on goals, and I haven’t been scoring of late, so it’s one of those periods that players go through. Hopefully I’ll come out of the other end of it quickly.
“The contract situation is absolutely not on my mind at all. I go across that white line and I always give 100%. I do the best I can for the team and that will never change, whether I have a contract in place or not.”
“I think the way we lost the game is what has upset everyone,” he concluded. “The performance was atrocious and we need to look at ourselves and sort it out. The whole club needs a lift from somewhere now and we have enough characters in there to bounce back.
“We have to go to Notts County with no fear and make sure we turn out a good performance.”
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