The Will Scott column: Millwall lost sight of the basics against Pompey

THE most frustrating thing about Millwall's 3-1 loss to Portsmouth on Saturday was how avoidable it all was.

Three baffling defensive mistakes led to all three of Pompey's goals in front of an increasingly excited away end (saw one fan led away by stewards for overexuberant celebrations after their third).

Miscommunication between Alfie Doughty and Caleb Taylor led to Gustavo Caballero stealing in and finishing one-on-one for the first, and no one tracked either John Swift or Marlon Pack for their second and third, respectively.

Credit to Portsmouth, who were ruthless when presented with opportunities and excellent between the boxes, but it all felt a bit self-inflicted, which is particularly bizarre given Millwall are well in the play-off hunt and have been excellent at home over the past couple of months.

The Lions are not going to be at their best all the time, but when it is not clicking, it becomes all the more important to avoid the lapses of concentration that handed Portsmouth all three goals.

It seemed like Alex Neil had exorcised these sorts of performances from his side - that they had the confidence and discipline to at least be on it when being made to suffer, like they did away at Wrexham.

It had been two months since they last conceded more than twice in a league game, and that was when they had no fit central midfielders.

What was behind it on Saturday?

Casper De Norre, speaking to Millwall TV, has one idea.

"It wasn't good enough today," De Norre said. "I feel like they just maybe wanted it more than us today. If you're not going to perform at 100 per cent in a Championship, it's going to be difficult against every team.

"Today was one of those days, but the good thing about the Championship as well is there's another opportunity on Wednesday to get back on track, and we're going to try and do that."

It is startling to hear a player on a team in the thick of the play-off race admit that another team wanted it more when coming up to your home turf, especially given how hungry Millwall have looked last month.

Opposition managers have talked about the intensity with which Millwall play - the win at Watford being the prime example - but they were lacking that on Saturday, something De Norre's head coach agreed with.

"After games, we'll always be very honest with each other, or certainly, I'll be honest with them, in terms of what I thought," Neil said. "Today, I thought Portsmouth really wanted the game. That really frustrates me, in the fact that nine times out of ten that's us, and I think today I just thought we fell a little bit short in that respect.

Any theories as to why that might be?

"My worry is, and I said this to the lads after the game, the minute you start thinking you're a good team and you don't need to do the basics well, is when you come up short in this league," Neil said. "That's what it felt like a little bit today. We're a good side, we know we're a good side, and we all want to play and be nice, but the fact is we're built on duels, we're built on running, we're built on the aggressive parts of the game and being very, very good at it. To be fair to Portsmouth, I thought they were very good at that today."

Those are two different ideas, but are along the same lines. Millwall did not approach the game with the hunger they had shown in recent weeks, and as a result, failed to get the basics right, the same basics that have underpinned their successful season so far.

That is frustrating for a few reasons, but fortunately, it is a fleeting frustration.

As mentioned, Millwall have the opportunity to do something really quite special and dropping points on a day when most of your play-off rivals also stumble feels like a missed opportunity.

Moreover, their next four games are all tricky, and they will drop points at some point - whether it be at home to Birmingham City and Derby County or away at Hull City or Preston North End, all of whom are in the top ten.

Even beyond that, they have got back-to-back trips to Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough, either side of the international break.

No games are easy in the Championship, etc, etc, but there is clearly a degree of difficulty, and getting a result at Portman Road or the Riverside Stadium is obviously harder than beating a side down the other end of the table at home (Portsmouth are better than their position suggests, in fairness).

Capitalising on a relatively easier schedule would have given them a bit more of a buffer ahead of that gauntlet.

However, that gauntlet is also why it is not a lingering feeling.

Millwall have three days to lick their wounds before getting straight into Birmingham City at home on Wednesday.

I spoke to Hutch earlier (will be on NewsAtDen+ tomorrow), and he emphasised how a result like that does not require a massive amount of soul-searching or panicked team meetings.

Teams will not always be at their best - it was disappointing to see it happen at home and in the way it did, but unless it becomes a trend, there is no reason to think it is a season-altering result.

Millwall have a habit of raising their performance to match the level of their opponents, and a clash with seventh-place, unbeaten in seven, Birmingham City should hopefully serve up far more of an entertaining spectacle.

A loss at home also tends to provide a proverbial kick up the arse, and the squad will be desperate to avoid more accusations of other teams wanting it more.