Having lost away at Luton and then at home to Middlesbrough, Swansea City go in to a third game against a side in a far better position on Tuesday night. ( Kick off 7.45pm ) And there is one thing that Russell Martin should be aware of regards Millwall this year.
When Millwall win it’s by the odd goal, which displays not only a fighting spirit which we saw in the home game at the Swansea.com which ended 2-2, it also displays a fallibility that Swansea can exploit. We only have to look at the results of the home side this over eleven games to see how they have faired since exiting the FA Cup to Sheffield United.
That’s eleven games with five wins, and apart from the three draws, the losses as per the wins are all by the odd goal. That’s surely something Russell Martin will be working on for this game. And then there is clearly when those goals are being conceded. Millwall are at their weakest in the second half of games. Something like eighty five percent of goals conceded in these eleven games featured come in the second half. And at times they do get the jitters over the last ten minutes of a game.
Sound familiar ? However, Millwall in the main see out games physically and very much to the last kick with a distinct organisational style.
This signifies Millwall will give you a chance in every game to score, and as we saw with Viktor Gyokeres when he scored the winner for Coventry in their 1-0 win in February, it will happen. (second half winner) When Middlesbrough saw off Millwall 1-0 in January that goal was scored in the second half. The deciding goal in Norwich City’s 3-2 win recently at the New Den came in the second half. That’s when Millwall lose games, very much after a good first forty five minutes. Luton held the Lions to a draw two weeks ago at Kenilworth Road, the decisive goal to get Luton a point coming in the eighty seventh minute, the second half.
Tom Bradshaw is very much the Lions talisman this season. He scored three goals against Sheffield United, and that was with their backs against the wall - after the Blades had levelled the game in the eighty second minute. Then Bradshaw clinched a 3-2 win. That details and most certainly evidences that Millwall still retain that fighting spirit we saw when they came back to draw in injury time back in the middle of August at Swansea. Added to that it very much proves why Millwall are in sixth in the championship looking at the play offs whilst Swansea City are in seventeenth looking very much over their shoulders at the bottom three.
This is the third ‘given’ in a row for Swansea City, Luton and Middlesbrough were clearly in that bracket if Russell Martin is to be believed, and like Saturday he won’t be expecting anything from the New Den on Tuesday evening. After that it’s Bristol City at home on Sunday with an early kick off, followed by two weeks off from this run of eight games that Martin referenced back in January, Millwall rarely score a lot of goals to win games of late, in fact over these eleven games not at all. Swansea will be presented with chances to win this game, the only concern of course is the ability to either defend a lead or earn a point. That as we know is the main issue. And to say it’s concerning has to be the understatement of the season.
Millwall v Swansea City kicks off at 7.45pm at the New Den this Tuesday evening ( 14th March )
This game is on the Sky Sports red button, and Sky Sports App we are told but it needs confirming
Click here for the Swansea Independent match day thread Millwall v Swansea City