Jake Bidwell said there can be no more excuses for poor performances as Brentford return to Sky Bet Championship action after the International Break, hosting Rotherham United at Griffin Park on Saturday.

The Bees have only won one of their last eight in the league and sit 20th in the table, above Saturday’s opponents Rotherham on goal difference.

After the upheaval surrounding the departure of Marinus Dijkhuizen as Head Coach ahead of the break, Jake said the two-week spell without a match came at the right time and that The Bees must kick-on now.

“The break came at a good time for us,” said Jake, speaking to Bees Player ahead of the match. “It gave us time to regroup and look back on the start of the season. It hasn’t gone how we wanted it to have gone but this is the start of the season now. What has gone has gone and we have to learn from it but we need to use this start after the international break as the start of our season and really get going.

“We have had a break but we have also had a tough couple of weeks at the same time. We have been working while we have been away and it has been a good opportunity for us to work on some things. We have tried to get a bit fitter and hopefully we will see the benefits of that tomorrow and for the rest of the season.

“There is no excuse for anyone. We have had the break now. There have been changes but the new lads who came in have been here since August so that settling in period has gone now. The lads who were here last season can’t sit back and say that we had a good season last year in the same way that the lads who have come in can’t say they are new. There are no excuses anymore, we have got to start performing.”

Jake added that the new coaching team of Lee Carsley and Paul Williams have been trying to instil confidence in a Brentford side that has only tasted victory twice in 11 matches this season.

“Lee and Paul have tried to instil a bit of energy and confidence into everyone,” said Jake. “Anyone who has been down to training will see that we have been working hard the last couple of weeks both tactically and physically. Hopefully we are going to see that moving forward now. They have tried to be a bit more positive and get everyone geed up a little bit. Lee only had one session before the Birmingham City game and there wasn’t too much Lee could put across in one session. Now that we have had a couple of weeks there are no excuses for anyone.”

However the Brentford captain believes there is only so much the coaching staff can do and beyond that it is down to the players to get things right on the pitch.

“Confidence only comes from yourself at the end of the day,” said Jake. “Lee, Paul and the coaching staff can do and say what they want but at the end of the day you set your own standards. If you do things right and work hard then when you get the results of that the confidence builds from there. We have all got to look at ourselves and see what we can do better and then collectively we will start pushing up the table. Everybody says that you find out more about yourself when things aren’t going well.

“This is probably the worst spell in my time at the club since I have been here. You just have to keep focused and remember what made us a good team and get back to that as quickly as possible. You can’t be feeling sorry for yourself because if you carry on doing that it is only going to go one way. You have got to stand up and be counted which I am sure that the lads will do. Moving forward now we want to show what we are about because I don’t think that we have done that so far.”

Like Brentford, Rotherham United have also parted with their manager in recent weeks and, with Neil Redfearn set to take charge of The Millers for the first-time this Saturday, Jake admits The Bees will have to be at their best to get anything from the match against a somewhat unknown opponent.

“It is always difficult to analyse a team when they change manager because they come in with new ideas,” said Jake. “We have looked at previous games and Neil Redfearn was in charge when we went up to Leeds United last year so we looked at that too. They are scrapping so we are going to have to be at our best to beat them. They are going to see it as an opportunity to get their season going as well. We have got to be 100 per cent at it.”

Bees Player subscribers can listen to the full interview with Jake below