‘Millwall defeat was avoidable’ – Stoke City boss O’Neill bemoans nature of set-piece goals

Michael O’Neill was disappointed that Stoke City didn’t deal with Millwall’s set-piece threats.

It was two corners that led to the Lions scoring, with Charlie Cresswell on the end of a George Honeyman and Scott Malone delivery in either half.

Stoke manager O’Neill said: “We’re obviously disappointed to lose the game, I didn’t feel there was a huge amount in the game really.

“The set-pieces came at key moments in the game. We gave ourselves a set-back with the first goal because it came within 11 minutes.

“We reacted to that well and we had some good moments up until half-time and then second half we allowed the ball to be put over the top of us.

“We lost a few second balls and suddenly you’re defending corners again and the second goal is a result of the corner.

“We gave ourselves a mountain to climb, so I’m really disappointed to lose. When you lose games that has very little in the game and you lose it off set-pieces, then you always feel it’s avoidable.

“We competed well and we knew we would have to compete well but on the day we didn’t do enough in the game and we have to reflect on that.

“We did a lot of work on set pieces, we picked the team with that in mind, in terms of the personnel that we played and the defensive choices.

“We went with experience in the middle of the pitch and players we thought could compete and we did that.

“When you lose the game – that was the deciding factor – the deciding factor was we didn’t do our jobs right at set-pieces.”