Dean Smith gave his thoughts after the defeat to his former club Walsall in the Emirates FA Cup Third Round at Griffin Park, who went through due to a goal from Sam Mantom in the 34th minute.
“We weren’t good enough in the first half,” said Dean. “Second half is more what we’re about: more intensity. We’ve had enough chances really to get back into the game, if not get the replay and go on and win it but we didn’t take our chances.
“I said to the players the first half was unacceptable in terms of what we’re about and the intensity we play. It doesn’t matter who you play against. I know this Walsall team very well, they’re a good team and they showed that in the first half because we didn’t play at any sort of intensity that we need too.”
The Bees Head Coach hinted that the changes made ahead of a busy league programme in the week ahead may have contributed to the defeat.
“I’ll look at myself and maybe whether it was too many changes and the change of system,” said Dean. “But you put Alan Judge on half-time and then all of a sudden there’s a spring in our step, winning the ball back in their half and pegging them back and their goalkeeper’s made some wonderful saves but I felt we should have done better with a number of other chances we had as well.”
You can view the full interview with Dean on Bees PlayerHD below: