JAKE Cooper said he accepts that Millwall “were not good enough” in their disappointing 2-0 defeat to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
The Lions lost to a QPR side that are battling relegation, had been winless in seven and had the poorest home record in the division.
But it was the manner of the display that left many fans cold with Millwall registering just two shots throughout the game and failing to match the Hoops’ determination and fight throughout the London derby.
Cooper, who captains the side in Shaun Hutchinson’s absence, provided an honest acknowledgement of the Lions’ shortcomings at Loftus Road.
He told NewsAtDen: “It was just disappointing, really. The performance from the team and individual levels were not good enough. I think everyone is aware that to go to QPR and only have two shots is not ideal and then we give the goals away in the manner we did and you’re just not going to get results in this league playing like we did.
“I don’t know why [things didn’t click], maybe their mentality and the desperation they’re playing with at the minute is what caused that. They really need results and they came into that game knowing that and we maybe thought the game would be a bit nicer than it was and we weren’t ready for the way they put the ball in behind us and the way they were winning the knock-downs and second balls and making the game really tough for us. And they certainly came out on top of all of those battles individually and collectively.
“You can not play well and still be able to produce results and dig in and try and make something of the game and we just weren’t able to do that. We huffed and puffed a little bit but it wasn’t really leading to much.
“I think we had one decent chance with the cross and cut back to Billy [Mitchell] and that was it really. You have to have more moments than that and I take responsibility for the set-plays. They weren’t good enough either and something like that can save you on a day like that.
“We have to be better than that and that’s the reality, really.”
Danny McNamara echoed the words of his teammate.
He said: “It was a disappointing result considering the style of play we’re playing and how well we have been playing. Against QPR we did not perfect that at all. It wasn’t a good day at the office and we’ll look to bounce back on Saturday [against Preston North End].
“It being a local derby, the amount of fans that were there and travelled, we let them down and we let ourselves down that day. We’re going to look back at the game and pick out positives and obviously look at what we didn’t do too well.”