Brentford manager Uwe Rosler insisted he should shoulder the responsibility for his team’s 3-1 defeat against Yeovil.
Summer signing Tony Craig endured a nightmare home debut, making a mistake which led to the Glovers’ opener and then scoring a late own goal.
And striker Paul Hayes missed a penalty within a minute of being brought on as a second-half substitute for his Bees debut.
But Rosler suggested he was himself to blame for the result, having boldly switched to three up front by bringing on Hayes and Harry Forrester with the game finely poised at 1-1.
Rosler said: “Tony knows he’s shouldn’t play the ball square, but then we had two chances to recover and didn’t. It was a combination of mistakes.
“We started the second half really well, got the equaliser, created chances and got the penalty. But we didn’t score it and after that the momentum went downhill.
“I have to take responsibility for the substitutions. It was too adventurous – too early in the game – but I really wanted to win.
“They ripped us apart on the counter-attack. I think sometimes managers have to be big enough to stand up.
“There was too long to play, but to get Hayes fit he needs minutes and I felt it was the perfect opportunity.
“I felt we needed goals and went for three up front. Maybe I should have waited longer to bring on Harry Forrester.
“It [the substitution] could have been a master-stroke but it didn’t work out that way.”
The result leaves Brentford with only one point from their opening two league matches.
Rosler, who was without Harlee Dean because the centre-back is nursing a knock, admitted: “I’d call our start to the season not a good one in terms of points after two games – we hoped for more.”
But he added: “We had a good pre-season, played some good stuff and looked fluent. To question all that after two games I think is far too early.”
Follow West London Sport on Twitter
Find us on Facebook
This post was last modified on 22/08/2012