Preston North End star apologises to supporters for Millwall display as Burnley motivation high
PNE defender fronts up after last Saturday’s defeat to Millwall
Preston North End defender Liam Lindsay admits he and his team mates were way below their standards at Millwall, last Saturday.
The Lilywhites suffered their second defeat under manager Paul Heckingbottom, as the Lions ran out 3-1 winners at The Den. For PNE, it was their 11th game without a win over Millwall, but the performance on the day was the greatest disappointment.
Heckingbottom labelled aspects of the display as unacceptable in his post-match interview - and PNE’s number six was equally as frustrated. Lindsay, in his press conference on Monday afternoon, did not want to make any excuses for the showing in South Bermondsey.
He said: “It was just not good enough. We had a debrief on it this morning. That is not a team we want to be. I think we were off it, every single one of us. So, blame everyone, it’s not just on certain individuals. Everyone was off it, but we are just lucky there is a game midweek to put it right. So, that is what we are looking to do. There are excuses you can make, but no excuses from us.
“As a team, just a bad day at the office and it can’t happen. That is not on the gaffer or anything like that. The preparation was good and everything. It was us players on the pitch, we had to be way better than that. It was so below our standards. We had set our standards in the previous games I think, with work rate and stuff. We were just miles off it.
“We got told about running stats. I think they were down for the majority, so that in itself obviously shows you we didn’t work hard enough. It simply cannot happen. Personally, I did (have confidence going into the match). I think we are more than capable of going toe-to-toe with Millwall and beating them, even though they are tough.
“I don’t really know why, it was a weird day. And it is sad for the fans, travelling all that way for us to put in a performance like that. I feel sorry for them and can only apologise to them. It was just a bit weird that it wasn’t just one or two people who were off it. But listen, it’s done now, we can’t change what happened and we just need to look forward.”
The defender is back working under Paul Heckingbottom - his older manager at Barnsley. Lindsay spoke to the Lancashire Post shortly after the 47-year-old’s appointment and outlined the strengths he would bring to the table.
The number six also asked for a little bit of patience, while Heckingbottom got his ideas across to the squad. Lindsay, despite last weekend, feels PNE are on the right track and knows the importance of the next two games - at home to Watford, and away to Lancashire rivals Burnley.
“We’ve got two good teams coming up, so we need to use it to show what we can do,” said Lindsay. “Burnley is obviously going to be a big test and they are our local rivals. We do owe them one. It wasn’t a good day the other year, away. Genuinely, I think everyone is well on board with what the gaffer is wanting and we just need to keep reinforcing it. And yeah, trust me, we will be fine.”