Louis Hutton thinks Brentford have to defend better after their 2-0 defeat to Welling United at Park View Road on Saturday.
The home side, who play in the Skrill Premier, took the lead two minutes before half-time through Jake Gallagher and Gallagher doubled their advantage 10 minutes into the second-half.
The Bees never looked like getting back into the game, despite playing some good football in patches, and fell to their second defeat in four days after Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat to Staines Town.
Speaking to Bees Player after the game Louis said he was pleased with aspects of The Bees’ work in possession but felt that defensively work has to be done ahead of the new season.
“A defeat is never good but we have got to try to take the few positives from it and move on,” said Louis.
“We have got Gillingham next week and then the league starts the week after that.
“We will try to take the few positives and learn from all the negatives and see what happens next week.
“The first-half I thought we passed it very well.
“We had a lot of the ball in the first-half but no so much in the second-half.
“Defensively we have to get up to the ball quicker and we have to improve on our recovery runs for next week.
“In the first-half I thought we played very well and we kept the ball very well.
“We didn’t create too many clear cut chances but we didn’t keep the ball in our own half, we were playing in their half.
“I was pretty happy at half-time but second-half they got tighter to us in midfield and didn’t let us play.
“It is always tougher when it is basically one-on-one in the midfield.
“It seemed in the second-half that they put one man on me so I had to rotate a lot more whereas in the first-half I had a lot of space to do what I wanted.
“We didn’t defend well enough and conceded a second-goal.
“When you are 2-0 it is easy for the team that is ahead.”
Welling United kick off their Skrill Premier season next Saturday at home to AFC Telford and Louis thinks it was a good test to play a team gearing up for league football.
While the former Manchester City midfielder thinks there are plenty of benefits to be gained from the Under 21 Professional Development League he thinks there is no substitution for playing games of real consequence.
Louis also thinks that these types of friendlies help to educate the players about playing against different styles of football and teams which are purely set up to win.
“Under-21s is good preparation as it builds you technically but there is nothing like playing in an intense match where it is about winning,” said Louis.
“You need to get ready for that in the first-team because if you don’t win you aren’t going to get in the team again.
“We need a lot more of this type of game throughout the season.
“In Under-21s football we want to win every match but it is not quite as important as it is for these guys.
“They want to get into the Football League and it makes it a whole different match really.
“They are a lot more competitive and that is what we need to improve on.
“When we play the Academy games there is a lot more passing and it is not as physical.
“The conference teams are just looking to win.
“Some teams try to pass it because they think that is the best way.
“Welling don’t think that but that’s not to say that’s not the right way it’s just their way of trying to win.
“It is tough, it is different but we have got to get used to it.”
Ahead of the new season Louis feels he is still a little bit off the pace following an injury earlier on in pre-season.
The 19-year-old, who joined The Bees in February after his contract at Manchester City was terminated, completed his second 90 minutes of the season in Saturday’s defeat.
Although Louis thinks he returned to pre-season in good shape he admits the injury has left him a little behind where he would like to be at this stage.
“I think I still need to get a bit fitter ahead of the new season,” said Louis.
“Today was only my second 90 minutes as I missed the first two weeks of pre-season so I am on a little bit of catch-up.
“I am quite happy and I think today my passing was better than it has been.
“I just want to keep improving and see where it takes me.
“If you miss pre-season you are almost catching up for the whole season as you get a lot of training done in pre-season.
“In the pre pre-season I did a lot of running so I felt quite fit coming back.
“It was just a bit of a set-back for 10 days but I feel alright now.
“I am looking forward to the season now and playing a match every week.
“In pre-season you are just trying to get fit really you don’t focus so much on passing or those technical aspects.”
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