Neil Redfearn to uncomplicate matters in bid for Millers resurrection

Manager Neil Redfearn will simplify matters as he tries to resurrect Rotherham’s stricken season.

The Millers are stranded at the bottom of the Sky Bet Championship and in danger of being cut adrift after their 5-2 defeat to Ipswich on Saturday left them five points from safety.

After a trio of losses in tough games against Sheffield Wednesday, Derby and Middlesbrough, there was real hope that they could kick-start their campaign with the home clash against Mick McCarthy’s side.

But they put in their worst performance yet, slumping to a 4-0 deficit after 48 minutes, to leave an under-pressure Redfearn without a win in his first six games.

He has tried to implement a change of style in the Millers, though the success of that has not been evident, so the former Leeds boss is going back to the drawing board.

“We have got to pick them up. We have got a two-week period now before we play Leeds,” Redfearn said.

“We can't change everything, we have got to work with the boys we have got. 

“Maybe we have got to uncomplicate it totally and make it about the work ethic and making it about competing and getting up and down the pitch. We have got to instil some confidence back in them.

“It's been a tough old run of games, I'm not making excuses, but we have played everybody in the top 10, looking at Derbys, Ipswichs, Sheffield Wednesdays.

“We are fragile and have caught teams at a bad time that are really in form.

“But there is no excuse for a performance like that and the lads know in no uncertain terms that it's not acceptable.”

With Leon Best already training with the Millers, Redfearn is making use of the international break to take a look at several more trialists, with former West Ham forward Ricardo Vaz Te and former Ipswich and Reading midfielder Stephen Hunt at the club this week.

"We have got a two-week period now before we play Leeds, we are going to have a look at some who are going to come in on trial, we have got some boys coming in," Redfearn added.