Ten places off the play-offs, 20 points away from relegation, ten wins, ten draws, ten defeats - it’s the archetypal midtable season for QPR’s Tuesday opponents Millwall. Journo Lucas Ball and Den regular James Blewett are looking for a bit of excitement in their lives.
How's the season gone so far?
LB: It's been a slightly disappointing season, to be honest. We weren't quite promised a play-off push but after coming close in the last two seasons, this seemed like the campaign where we could really push for a coveted spot there. Instead, we've seen a lot of passive football, disappointing results and seem to be heading for mid-table mediocrity. The league looks so open this year that we could have got there, though injuries have played their part, in fairness to Gary Rowett.
JB: Yes it’s been a strange season. Our form has been very up and down and there has been in particular a dearth of goals. We have not been helped by a string of injuries to key players and lots of uncertainty around our most dangerous player, Jed Wallace.
Millwall league results so far…
QPR 1-1 Millwall Dickie 31 — Wallace 11
Millwall 1-1 Blackburn Wallace 64 — Brereton-Diaz 76
Millwall 1-2 Fulham Afobe 87 — Mitrovic 3, Carvalho 8
Cardiff 3-1 Millwall Flint 66, 70, Morrison 83 — Afobe 76
Millwall 2-1 Blackpool Wallace 63, Cooper 90 — Lavery 56
West Brom 1-1 Millwall Bartley 49 — Ballard 55
Swansea 0-0 Millwall
Millwall 1-1 Coventry Savile 21 — Gyokeres 9
Forest 1-1 Millwall Lowe 52 — Smith 32
Millwall 1-0 Bristol City Wallace pen 64
Barnsley 0-1 Millwall Wallace 89
Millwall 0-2 Luton Cornick 11, 53
Sheff Utd 1-2 Millwall Sharp pen 45 — Wallace 11, Cooper 90
Millwall 2-1 Stoke Bradshaw 51, 61 — Sawyers 20
Huddersfield 1-0 Millwall Hogg 82
Millwall 1-0 Reading Afobe 71
Millwall 1-1 Derby Malone 45 — Ebosele 44
Boro 1-1 Millwall Crooks 15 — Bamba og 27
Millwall 1-1 Bournemouth Afobe 67 — Solanke 44
Hull 2-1 Millwall Honeyman 29, Longman 53 — Bradshaw 45
Millwall 3-1 Birmingham Wallace 10, Bradshaw 41, Evans 73 — Deeney 56
Peterborough 2-1 Millwall McNamara og 64, Clarke Harris 67 — Bradshaw 16
Coventry 0-1 Millwall Bradshaw 79
Bristol City 3-2 Millwall Weimann 7, 73, 85 — Bradshaw 23, Afobe pen 29
Millwall 0-1 Forest Grabban 90
Blackpool 1-0 Millwall Lavery 55
Millwall 2-0 West Brom Bennett 67, Afobe 76
Millwall 0-0 Preston
Fulham 3-0 Millwall Mitrovic 29, 50, Reid 87
Millwall 2-1 Cardiff Wallace 73, Bennett 82 — Bagan 90
Pretty poor form of late, one West Brom win apart, and a real dearth of goals - any particular reasons for this?
LB: The win over Cardiff was much-needed, but our overall form in the last six is very poor. We have some decent attacking players and the defence - a formidable Fulham aside - have looked back to something close to the organisation of previous seasons. Our midfield has been the problem, they've been bypassed too easily at times and haven't offered enough creativity coming forward. That improved slightly with the return of Jed Wallace to the starting line-up as a #10 on Saturday, with the second-half performance against Cardiff much-improved after another tepid first half.
Gary Rowett approval ratings currently?
LB: I'm still Rowett in, for now - but plenty want him gone. His tactics can be uninspiring and we are dull to watch at times, but a win percentage of 38% after 120 games - all in the Championship - isn't bad going at all and each of his transfer windows have been hindered by Covid and budget restraints. We are heading for a big rebuild in the summer and hopefully he can get the recruitment right to make a real go of things in 2022/23.
JB: There are mixed views on Gary Rowett. Many supporters find his negative tactics very frustrating , particularly at The Den where he insists on playing five at the back. Other supporters however point out that mid table Championship is good going for Millwall and Rowett has overseen us becoming an established team at this level. I am somewhere in the middle on this debate. I certainly respect Rowett's professionalism and he has assembled in Millwall terms a strong first 11. However, I described Rowett's relationship with Millwall as a loveless marriage the other day. Many of our games have been a really tough watch and our style of play, sitting very deep means we create very few chances. I also worry that Rowett has not recruited for the long term and tended to rely on loans and you don’t any sense that he's building for the future
What January business did you do? What did you need to do? How was the window overall?
LB: Oliver Burke and Luke Freeman both came in on loan. Burke has looked lively; we're yet to see much of Freeman. We haven't seen players who have been setting the Championship alight sign, we can't afford them so we have to try to get players back to their best. We could have done with a few more players, particularly another striker given Tom Bradshaw's long-term injury but hopefully Dan Ballard and Ryan Leonard will be back from injury within the next few weeks.
JB: In the transfer window there were lots of quite exciting rumours about us signing Dutch players etc but in the end we signed two Sheff Utd players, Oliver Burke and Luke Freeman, who of course you know well. I was hoping for a striker and may have no one fit to play up front on Tuesday with Afobe limping off on Saturday. We managed to offload some peripheral squad members which I’m sure was a good for the wage bill but overall the window was underwhelming.
Summer Ins >>> George Saville, 28, CM, Boro, Undisclosed >>> Scott Malone, 30, LB, Derby, Free >>> George Long, 27, GK, Hull, Free >>> Daniel Ballard, 21, CB, Arsenal, Loan >>> Benik Afobe, 28, CF, Stoke, Loan >>> Sheyi Ojo, 24, LW, Liverpool, Loan
Summer Outs >>> Shaun Williams, 34, DM, Pompey, Free >>> Shane Ferguson, 30, LM, Rotherham, Free >>> James Brown, 23, RB, St Johnstone, Free >>> Frank Fielding, 33, GK, Released >>> Mahlon Romeo, 25, RB, Pompey, Loan >>>
Winter Ins >>> Oliver Burke, 25, AM, Sheff Utd, Loan >>> Luke Freeman, 29, AM, Sheff Utd, Loan
Winter Outs >>> Matt Smith, 32, CF, Salford, Undisclosed >>> Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, 29, CF, Bolton, Undisclosed >>> Ben Thompson, 25, CM, Gillingham, Free
Player of the year candidates?
LB: Murray Wallace is the standout candidate currently. He's played centre back, left back and left wing-back and has excelled in all of those roles. He's been solid defensively, leads by example. never stops running and rarely misses a game. He's also added five goals so far this season - and came close to a hat-trick against Cambridge in the Carabao Cup.
JB: Murray Wallace, has been immense this season. Played at both left back and centre back he has been a rock in defence but also popped up with a few goals.
Weak links in the side?
LB: Our midfield has been bypassed a bit too easily of late, but Maikel Kieftenbeld was excellent in the engine room at the weekend. Defensively we haven't been as good as usual this season, but that has improved in recent weeks.
JB: Our lack of goals and generally our forward play. Malone has been very erratic and there’s not much creativity in midfield but that is as much about Rowett's tactics as individual players.
How do you see the rest of the season going?
LB: We just need to focus on trying to win as many games as possible and breed confidence, whilst hopefully introducing some young players who may be in the picture in 2022/23. I can't see us closing the gap too much to the top-six, so it looks like a mid-table finish once more.
JB: More of the same I think and I expect us to finish mid table. We’re 20 points clear of relegation so not in any danger but I don’t expect much excitement between now and the end of the season. I might be pleasantly surprised though if we can get a few injured players aback and go on a run.
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