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Well, that was unexpected. Also painful, excruciating, dire, and appalling. And I’m sorry that Kenny McLean and Anthony Musaba both got the hump with the away fans because there were a smattering of boos, but when you dish up a performance so lacking in just about everything, then I’m afraid those who have paid their hard-earned money to travel are more-than-entitled to express their frustration. Musaba, in fairness, did at least show a little something in his minutes on the pitch, but still… In terms of offering up a balanced analysis of all that occurred at The Den yesterday lunchtime, they’ve not made it easy for those of us lucky enough to write about the City. Not sure balance is possible after a performance like that. But equally, I’m not sure character assassinations of our poorest performers on the day are too helpful either. I mean, I’d like to pick on, say, Anis Ben Slimane for his lack of intensity, carelessness with the ball, and all-round ineffectiveness, but that would ignore the paucity of Keller Fisher in both possession of the ball and when trying (and failing) to defend… so I won’t. Similarly, I’m tempted to single out Kenny for his own carelessness in possession and lack of energy, but that would be ignoring the nightmare afternoon endured by the hapless Harry Darling, who took being outmuscled, outfought and bullied to a whole new level… so I won’t. Ditto if I were to pick out Sam Field for his passiveness, lethargy and inability to have any kind of influence on the game, but that would ignore Mo Toure’s inability to make any headway while ploughing that lone furrow up top to no effect whatsoever… so I won’t. And the same with Ben Chrisene, who fared only slightly better than his right-sided counterpart, but that would be ignoring the afternoon of Jose Cordoba, who, even ignoring the red card, found himself the wrong side of Josh Coburn for almost every minute he was on the pitch… so I won’t. You get the idea. But it was also one of those rare occasions under the auspices of Philippe Clement when we were also out-muscled from the technical area. Aside from the questionable starting XI, which I’ll come to in a bit, for once Big Phil had no answers. For his every tweak, every tactical change, and every change in personnel, Alex Neil had an answer. And in terms of motivation, those in yellow gave off the air of an end-of-season game in early May when neither promotion nor relegation was a possibility, while those in navy played the game as if their lives depended on it. It was, and it kills me to say it, men vs boys. Pros vs amateurs. Premier League vs League Two. A game so one-sided, the outcome felt inevitable the second Millwall’s first goal hit the net. Out-fought, out-muscled, out-thought and out-played. Every duel lost, every 50/50 lost, and no answers for every single one of the 94 minutes. A performance so dire, some likened it to Norwich 1, Colchester 7 (2009). Personally, I had it more down as a Millwall 4, Norwich 0 (2017). Except, this time, there wasn’t just one Marcel Franke. Of course, the biggest question is why? And how? In his debrief to the press, Clement suggested that maybe some of the players have started to believe the hype; a suggestion, I guess, that some believe success will come their way even without putting in the hard yards. But why would that happen? Among the young players in the squad, and there are several, surely there are enough senior voices to not allow any sort of complacency to creep in. And it’s not as if you don’t know what to expect when heading to The Den. Quite the opposite. You know exactly what’s coming, and you have to be ready for it. And if you’re not, you get rolled over. But, equally, Clement also got it wrong. The axis upon which last season’s Clement successes were built was McCoville/Cordoba and McLean/Mattsson, and so to rip that up to differing degrees over the first two games is an experiment that hasn’t worked. I understand that Darling must have edged the pre-season battle with McConville, and that Mattsson was a little below his best last Saturday, but to play fast and loose with a winning formula is high risk. A gamble that hasn’t worked. Rarely has a team – any team – been so overtly bullied as it was yesterday. And that can’t happen. Lily-livered and powderpuff are adjectives I never expected to use for as long as Philippe Clement is our head coach, but here we are. Yet to analyse it any further is futile. Few positives. Little to learn, other than not to repeat it. What I suggest we all do is write it off as a bad job – a one-off if you like – and trust Big Phil to have a re-think and put it right. In fact, that’s about all we have. To those heading to Cardiff, I salute you. OTBC.