It had been a tremendous week for the Tigers. We signed John Bostock, beat Swansea comfortably at home, brought in Robert Koren and then agreed the necessary debt restructuring to allow us to move the club forwards. I joked on Friday that with all that scope for optimism, we’d get hammered at Millwall. Even I didn’t really believe it.

Nigel Pearson named the same team as last week with new signing Robert Koren understandably only making the bench. On Paper it looked a good idea as last weeks team was set up first and foremost to defend our goal. We had two wide players who track back, a holding midfielder and Bostock playing off the striker and able to drop in to make a 5 in midfield. We all know the old cliché about football not being played on paper and that certainly rang true today.

From almost the first whistle Millwall took control. They were confident and aggressive (in a good way, not like the animals in the stands). Whenever the opportunity arose, they passed slickly through midfield, made great runs into the oceans of space behind us and worked positions to cross the ball. When they got the ball wide, 90% of the time, they got a cross in or won a corner. When they got a cross in, 90% of the time, they met the ball. We were atrocious. Our midfield was none existent; they passed through it in 2 passes every time and found themselves 2 on 1 with one of our defenders. Most often they got at Solano who is assured on the ball, can pick a pass and makes solid tackles when the game is tight but isn’t going to cope with runners in wide open spaces, not a chance these days.

In the first five minutes, City stemmed the flow. Zayatte made several interceptions, Garcia held the ball up well and there was little sign of the ease at which we’d collapse. The one sign was the movement of Steve Morison who got himself attached to Solano or Dawson and attacked long diagonal balls. We couldn’t cope with him. After 15 or so minutes, they got in behind Solano to win a corner. The corner was whipped towards the back post, Duke didn’t fancy it and Morison completely outfought Gardner to head it in. While there was possibly a foul on Gardner, there was also a complete lack of the strength or fight needed to cope with a striker like Morison.

We had a lucky escape a couple of minutes later when Kamilkaze attempted to dribble around Lisbie when there was no one behind him (sound familiar?) Luckily Zayatte had the speed to get back at Lisbie who could only shoot tamely. There was no reprieve shortly after as Liam Trotter out paced Kilbane and Dawson to get onto a ball in behind, knocked it back to Henry and his cross was met by Lisbie, stooping at the near post. No one tracking Trotter, no-one stopping the cross and no-one anywhere near Lisbie. Just a complete lack of awareness of the situation. It was too easy. They weren’t Spain, they were Millwall and yet our inability to close space, make tackles and mark them in the box meant they could move the ball around with the freedom of the World Champions. Nigel Pearson had seen enough and sent on McShane for Solano. There were plenty of moaners around us who wanted attacking players on at 0-2 but we were getting mauled at the back. We had to stem the flow before we could build anything.

Our attacking threat was barely existent. We moved the ball around at snail’s pace. The only attacking player with the movement and the awareness of space to match Millwall was Will Atkinson, who sparked our few attacking forays by coming in off the flank, getting into the space Bostock should have been exploiting and trying to link with Garcia. Bostock was pathetic. When he got the ball, he tried to shoot from ridiculous angles. Someone enjoyed all the publicity from last week’s goal a bit too much. It was 70 minutes before he looked anything like a team player. Still, he was better than Kilbane, who was just useless. Attacking threat? None. Defensive cover? None. Experienced head galvanizing young players? Nope. That this clown walked out for the second half and Will Atkinson found himself taking an early shower was a travesty. Peter Halmosi hasn’t done much of anything to earn a first team place at City but he could stroll up and down the left wing doing sod all and would at least whip in some decent set-pieces to justify selection. Kevin Kilbane in a City shirt just makes me think “Perhaps Ryan Williams wasn’t that bad after all?”

So two down at half time Nigel Pearson responded by introducing Robert Koren and Mark Cullen. Will Atkinson and Richard Garcia made way. Both quite unlucky given the lack of input from Kilbane and Bostock. The second half did bring about some positives. It was obvious from his very first involvement that Robert Koren is a touch of class. His movement, on and off the ball, was quicker and more purposeful that anything we’d seen beforehand. In Mark Cullen, he had a good striker to play off. I was more impressed with Cullen in this half than in any game I’ve seen so far, which I think covers just about every first team appearance. He played well with his back to goal, he controlled the ball instantly and brought others into play and then he turned, made for space and demanded the ball back. He showed an ability to get into good positions and the confidence to have a go at goal. After we’d gone 3-0 down, we switched Bostock and Koren and despite being undermined by our total inability to stop Millwall creating a good chance every time they moved inside our half, Koren and Cullen shone up front. They injected pace into our attacks, speed of thought and speed of movement, they moved the ball quickly, made another run and demanded the ball back and we created a few chances. Dawson made a terrific run down the left, was slid in and forced a good save from Forde. Koren burst into the box and was denied by a defender, then Forde and then by the ‘keeper again. Our Slovenian debutant then shot just over with his left foot before Cullen tested Forde from long range. Tom Cairney looked much more comfortable after the introduction of these two and found the movement and ease of passing that we’ve seen from him.

Reading the BBC stats on the way home, it suggested that we had the most possession (51-49) and the most shots on target (7-6) which proves how pointless stats can be. Stats don’t show how Dawson, Solano and McShane found stopping crosses to be an unbelievable task. Nor do they show how utterly diabolical “big” Gardner was. Nor can they explain how the hell Kamil Zayatte’s mind works. As well as the attempt to take on Lisbie, we were also treated to a diving header to put the ball out for a throw, when the ball was a foot off the floor and then a stooping attempt to chest the ball in our box (think of how a seal looks) when the ball was a foot and a half off the floor. That one caused mayhem and gifted Millwall another good chance. The third goal came from a corner that looked a poor decision. Zayatte attempted a back pass despite Morison being between he and Matt Duke but luckily the ball struck Morison and ran out of play. That somehow became a corner. Despite that, the marking when the corner was lobbed in to the back post was terrible. Gardner was watching Morison, he had no idea where the ball was. Morison watched the ball and looped a terrific header into the far corner. Goal number four was pretty much a copy of goal two, only this time Trotter arrived in the box with Zayatte trailing in his wake to tap in. This was easily the worst display of defending since the Wigan debacle in August 2008.

So what now? We’ve had one decent performance and one abysmal performance. Next up is Watford. One thing that is for certain is that in Danny Graham they have a striker who is just as physical as and even better technically than Steve Morison. We can’t afford to be as lackadaisical with our marking as we were today. Despite our defensive troubles last season, I’m sure most people thought that Gardner and Zayatte would be fine at this level but on this evidence, they aren’t. I’d replace one or the other with McShane at centre half next week. I’d also like to see Garcia and Fagan out wide with Koren and Cullen through the middle. This is the first real test of Nigel Pearson. Picking the players up after this horror show is going to be difficult. If he does it and we get a positive result at Watford, it will be another sign that NP might just be the man for us.

Ratings: Duke 6, Solano 5 (McShane 6), Dawson 6, Gardner 5, Zayatte 5, Atkinson 7, Kilbane 5, Ashbee 6, Cairney 6, Bostock 5 (Koren 7), Garcia 6 (Cullen 7)