Lions

[KLOS]

Not particularly talented squad but well organised, put in a shift, and savvy manager.
Cue for someone to say,' yeah, but they play dour boring stuff, we don't want to be like that'
I glad we never play dour boring stuff.

[3London]

Take out Coventry , Middlesboro, Ipswich , And Southampton (currently ) and the rest of the league play mostly dour boring football - hence the league being so even this year.

It just takes a run of consistency - not flashy 5 or 6 game runs - every club from 20th upwards has had little runs but its those that can grind out results that will be around the play offs at the end. the likes of Millwall, Hull , Preston

[Abseits]

Must be really boring for them singing "1-0 to the Lions" every week. EVERY single fan in top 6 would bite your hand off for 10 diabolically dull 1-0 wins over the run-in.

I dunno why we make such a pig's ear of recruiting? Alex Neil has a track record of getting normal non-parachute money EFL clubs into and around the play-offs on his CV. He's only 44 too, probably in his prime in terms of focus, ideas, energy, zest and determination. Did well in Scotland. Very well with PNE, Norwich and Wall, OK at Sunderland and poor at Stoke. Given managers seldom walk into a happy/succesful situation that's a bloody impressive body of work.

Be flipping weird if Wall go up and Spurs/Hammers stay up... half the Prem will be London teams!

[FurtiveFox]

There are always a small number of teams who punch above their weight but they are the exception. Would just be nice if we were that exception sometimes!

Have always thought you need a solid base otherwise you will struggle to get anywhere and we just don't have that.

There have been a lot of 'pretty' teams in the Premiership over the years who are easy on the eye but rarely if ever challenge. They lack that solidity. Man City spent their way initially but became a mega force once the team had that spine. That gave them the extra couple of percent to go from a very good team to a dominant one. Look at Manure under Fergie, yes plenty of ability to say the least but solid and organised. We are not solid and do not look organised going forwards either.

Millwall are old school organised and that has become part of their DNA. Is it a progressive, modern approach? No but it allows them to be the best version of them they can be. That isn't the only way to be though. Look at Brighton in their Championship days and whilst establishing themselves in the Premiership. Didn't spend big but emphasis on youth, developing players and playing good, identifiable football. Took them years to get the club to that stage. In principle we seem to be looking at same kind of model but we should be seeing better return than we have at the moment. Can only rely on excuse of pointing to the messes of the past for so long. The rebuilding started under Les' watch and we are a little way into the post Les world. In my view we should be seeing youngsters starting to come through, be improving our first team players and be playing at a decent level in the Championship. A reasonable finish to the season could see us achieving the latter, compared to last few seasons, but we are not doing what we should in developing players and that has to change.

[SheepRanger]

Our style of plsy will always break down if recruitment lightweight players who can't cope with the physical style of the premiership.

Our young players, or should I say inexperienced 22yr olds, will hopefully be better equiped next season for what theyre going through this season.

What boils my pi££ is that its easier to be a defensive plsyer than a creative one. Why we cant set ourselves to to grind out a draw is beyond me. Kone is getting himself around the pitch, but the midfield just isnt working hard enough. We dont have a midfield terrier who will chase runners and block out attacks.

[FurtiveFox]

Don't disagree Sheep but thing that gets me is we should have a team capable of digging in. A back four of Mbengue, Dunne, Edwards and RND should be good at this level and of course we have others for cover and competition. Central midfield keep hearing how Varane likes dirty side of game, Hayden perfectly good defensive midfielder, Morgan looked very promising last season.

We have looked our best this season when all players have been getting stuck in and harassing opposition. Can't recall which game it was but remember shortly after his return Saito being up against someone double his height (maybe small exaggeration) and not giving him a minute's peace and winning balls etc. Others doing the same. We still lacked cohesion going forwards but the fact we were willing to fight for every ball made things difficult for the other side and we got the win. We seem to have lost that hunger and zest. Can be partly explained by injuries and long season but it is the same for every club.

Said in another thread if Kone was with another Championship club would probably have 15+ goals this season. Is a pretty thankless task being a striker for us. Nowhere near enough service and support. Been same for years. Far from a new problem.

[shaggy24]

I know you’ll never get a true number but it would be interesting to see how many injuries have come from

a. Pitch related
b. Poor pre season
c. Fitness team

just a comparison Poku managed 20 ish games for pboro with a bad hamstring

we missed Burrell and Madsen badly lately but given cookie can manage 30 plus games are we better off playing him for another 3 and get 1 more season from him or persisting with jcs who can’t do 20 a season ?

gotta be questions asked at the end of the season and a bloody good cull of the not good enough players given the boot

[72bus]

We carry to many players that are not up to championship level .
If Madsen , chair , burrell and poku were fit out go saito , Hayden , Morgan and probably varane ...
Out best 11 can compete but our squad is weak .
We lack energy and fight .
Millwall work really hard for eachother that's the least their fans will put up with .
Got friends that support them and they say anyone that doesn't put in 100% we won't have .

[daveshads]

If it is true that we are not picking Cook because of contractual intricacies, then I regard that as trivial and speaking volumes about where our club now is happy to position itself. I know there are members of the forum who may support such financial decisions but honestly, is this really where our once great club now positions itself?
Whatever it takes, surely we have to be aiming beyond this or the signs are worryingly ominous.

[SheepRanger]

Just seen this on FB but may be old news.

"Former England underage international Harvey Vale has opted to represent Ireland at senior level. The QPR midfielder was hugely highly rated during his time in the Chelsea academy and was once considered one of their standout prospects. Vale captained England’s U19 side to European Championship glory in 2022, highlighting just how highly regarded he was within the English setup. Now developing his career at QPR, Vale is a versatile midfielder capable of operating as a 6, 8, or 10, and can even fill in at left-back when required. This could prove to be a real coup for Ireland, adding a technically gifted and tactically flexible option to the midfield pool. It will now be very interesting to see whether Vale is included in the upcoming squad".

[djp]

Didn't even realise that Steve Gallen was their DOF until today, seems to have done a very good job to be fair.

I remember when Ferdinand left in June 2023 and Gallen left Charlton shortly after that and there were rumours he was coming to replace LF, seems we missed a trick there.

[topperharley]

Don't disagree Sheep but thing that gets me is we should have a team capable of digging in. A back four of Mbengue, Dunne, Edwards and RND should be good at this level and of course we have others for cover and competition. Central midfield keep hearing how Varane likes dirty side of game, Hayden perfectly good defensive midfielder, Morgan looked very promising last season.

We have looked our best this season when all players have been getting stuck in and harassing opposition. Can't recall which game it was but remember shortly after his return Saito being up against someone double his height (maybe small exaggeration) and not giving him a minute's peace and winning balls etc. Others doing the same. We still lacked cohesion going forwards but the fact we were willing to fight for every ball made things difficult for the other side and we got the win. We seem to have lost that hunger and zest. Can be partly explained by injuries and long season but it is the same for every club.

Said in another thread if Kone was with another Championship club would probably have 15+ goals this season. Is a pretty thankless task being a striker for us. Nowhere near enough service and support. Been same for years. Far from a new problem.

Sorry to say that huge part of why our back 4 fails is comms from the goalkeeper. Joe Walsh is not a terrible shot stopper but he's not great at commanding the box. Perhaps he'll improve as he seems to be the bet JS is making.

Another large part of the defence struggling is they are asked to build from the back, but they cannot release the ball ino an area that progresses the play, we are very much lacking in midfield and have been for a long long time. A player that can drop back, make space, spot passes. Such a key part of playing football the way so many seem to want to do it is working in unison with team mates on and off the ball, make space, make runs, draw opposing players in. We don't do this, alot of teams look terrible because they try to play this way and players are just not tuned into it.

Ronnie has the ability and skill to play in that holding role that can progress play, he's got a lovely pass on him. Be interesting to see him in the role that Varane is supossed to play for us.