Match Thread Millwall FC - Coventry City Match Thread - Wednesday 1st Oct (15 Viewers)

[Tommo1993]

Don’t get sucked in and misled by form. This is the championship, cautious optimism at the very most.

 

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[Londonccfcfan]

And????

They've managed 1 win in the last 5, a scrappy 1-0 against a very poor Watford.

We are second in the league, we are the highest scorers in the championship, we have the 2 top scorers in this league, we are unbeaten, we are full of confidence, we are man for man better than them, and we are going there to win. End of.

They have Ivanovic back too. Take a draw here.

 

[clint van damme]

Don’t get sucked in and misled by form. This is the championship, cautious optimism at the very most.

Preffered you in your 'must win' era.

 

[Tommo1993]

Preffered you in your 'must win' era.

Hiatus. That attitude will be back at some point, I find these times are times for serious pants.

 

[clint van damme]

Hiatus. That attitude will be back at some point, I find these times are times for serious pants.

I generally 'go commando' for the first few months of the season.

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

Midweek away game so will predict our first loss. 2 - 0 to them.

I would of course be disappointed with that and would hope to leave with at least a point, but we do seem to be terrible when we play midweek.

 

[Lamps]

Would take a draw as it’s midweek away and we never win those. Would like wins from the next two to cement us at the top though. If we’re serious about being a top four side it’s the sort of game we should be winning.

Of course we're a top 4 side.

What we need to do is keep an average of 2 points a game. Win at home draw away. We won't stay undefeated for the whole season and we won't win every home game.

I won't be too upset if we only get a point against Millwall but they're there for the taking. They won at home for the first time in their last home game. They have players out injured so not as strong as they would normally be. If we play like we have been so far we should win. Our defence is getting better with each game.

2-0 City

 

[blunted]

Lamps has put a lot of our hoodoos to bed like Preston and Swansea but Norwich miraculously avoided defeat. Want us to put the midweek away problem starting on Wednesday. Be a battle I suspect.

 

[MillwallFan]

Why? They aren't Brazil.
If we are serious about getting promotion we really need to be beating mid table fodder like Millwall.

Christ, we’re not even Alan Brazil 2025 vintage!

Having said that, we’ve hardly been mid table fodder these past few seasons, having finished 4 times in 8th position since our return to the Championship (with this being our 9th consecutive season in this division).

Our problem this season was our early home form. Losing to Boro 3-0 sounds bad, until you realise it was only 1-0 to them by the 87th minute. Their 2nd goal was a result of our players pushing forward a bit recklessly to get the equaliser and the 3rd went in during the last minute (of 7) in injury time.

Wrexham were an awful team to play against, but two poor mistakes from our keeper gifted them the 3 points. Of course our nemesis, Kiefer Moore, who always scores against us (regardless of who he plays for) got their first and it was all downhill after that.

We were poor against a poor Watford side in the 1st half at the Den (even though we took the lead after 10 minutes) and then took the game to them in the 2nd half, riding our luck a couple of times but our stalwart defence stood firm and we finished with a 1-0 victory.

We’ve had injuries to key players since our first game of the season, when we beat Norwich City 2-1 (our first victory there since 1958) and we’ve had the likes of Doughty, Azeez and Cundle missing for us over the 7 games we’ve played so far, but it’s looking likely that Cundle will be back to play against you, and possibly Azeez as well, so that will be 2 plus points in our favour.

I think it will be a tough game for both sides. If, on the Tuesday night Stoke were somehow able to beat Boro, Bristol City were somehow able to beat Ipswich and Preston beat Hull (can’t see Wrexham beating Leicester) then you will have dropped 5 places to 7th by the time you play us the following evening.

Lose to us and you’d drop a further place to 8th and we’d be 1 point and 1 place above you. Yes, it’s a tall order for Stoke and Bristol to win (not so Preston) but it could happen. Fat Frank will be well aware of this scenario playing out, so he‘ll know the importance of a win against us will keep you in 2nd place (regardless if Stoke, Bristol, Leicester and Preston have already beaten their opponents).

My heart says a hard fought 1-0 Watford style win for us, but if we’re playing you like we did against Wrexham, my head says a 3-0 Birmingham style win for you. A draw unfortunately isn’t good enough for either of us.

 

[SleepyGinger]

Can’t see Eccles starting 3 games in a week, Allen will probably come in. Possibly Bidwell for Dasilva?

 

[clint van damme]

Can’t see Eccles starting 3 games in a week, Allen will probably come in. Possibly Bidwell for Dasilva?

That's a good point actually regarding Eccles.

 

[TomRad85]

That's a good point actually regarding Eccles.

Personally I think he'll want to start his best available team but we'll see certain players subbed sooner than usual. I prefer it that way tbh.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

I maintain the league table means fuck all, not even 10 games played. The Millwall fan above is talking like it’s late April, not late September.

A point at Millwall is a decent return, it’s Sheffield where we need to be aiming for three. Considering that we have Rudoni for neither fixture we do need to manage the squad carefully this week.

 

[SleepyGinger]

could really do with EMC being back sooner rather than later

 

[Marty]

They're a decent side, they'll be in the play off mix come the end of the season, I'll take a draw here and if we win on Saturday it looks like a strong points haul from a 3 game week.

Going for an incredibly hard fought 1-1.

 

[skybluelee]

My heart says a hard fought 1-0 Watford style win for us, but if we’re playing you like we did against Wrexham, my head says a 3-0 Birmingham style win for you. A draw unfortunately isn’t good enough for either of us.

We'll play on the front foot and attack the game. But to say a draw isn't good enough is ridiculous. A point here followed up by a win on Saturday would represent a fantastic week's return.

 

[TomRad85]

I maintain the league table means fuck all, not even 10 games played. The Millwall fan above is talking like it’s late April, not late September.

A point at Millwall is a decent return, it’s Sheffield where we need to be aiming for three. Considering that we have Rudoni for neither fixture we do need to manage the squad carefully this week.

Performance is probably more important at this point and we've certainly been showing consistency there. The fact it has us 2nd is a nice bonus and we should have more points on the board really.
A midweek away game at Millwall is never easy and I'd snap your hand off for 4 points from the next 2.

 

[TomRad85]

We'll play on the front foot and attack the game. But to say a draw isn't good enough is ridiculous. A point here followed up by a win on Saturday would represent a fantastic week's return.

Yeh I'm not sure what he meant by a point isn't good enough for either, it makes no sense

 

[procdoc]

I’d go with an unchanged starting lineup. Eccles can manage an hour again and I imagine Simms and KKH will get more mins off the bench

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Performance is probably more important at this point and we've certainly been showing consistency there. The fact it has us 2nd is a nice bonus and we should have more points on the board really.
A midweek away game at Millwall is never easy and I'd snap your hand off for 4 points from the next 2.

I’d like to see this recent defensive improvement continue. A boring 0-0 suits me just fine on Wednesday.

 

[Pezza]

The 1-0 there last season was a great result. Like most on here, I'd be happy enough to just keep the unbeaten run going, so a 0-0 or 1-1 is fine with me.

Having said that, if we can win this and the Sheff Wed before the next break.... wow, that will put us in a very good position going into the Blackburn game when we come back.

It's hard not to but you really can't afford to look any further ahead than the next game.

 

[Londonccfcfan]

Christ, we’re not even Alan Brazil 2025 vintage!

Having said that, we’ve hardly been mid table fodder these past few seasons, having finished 4 times in 8th position since our return to the Championship (with this being our 9th consecutive season in this division).

Our problem this season was our early home form. Losing to Boro 3-0 sounds bad, until you realise it was only 1-0 to them by the 87th minute. Their 2nd goal was a result of our players pushing forward a bit recklessly to get the equaliser and the 3rd went in during the last minute (of 7) in injury time.

Wrexham were an awful team to play against, but two poor mistakes from our keeper gifted them the 3 points. Of course our nemesis, Kiefer Moore, who always scores against us (regardless of who he plays for) got their first and it was all downhill after that.

We were poor against a poor Watford side in the 1st half at the Den (even though we took the lead after 10 minutes) and then took the game to them in the 2nd half, riding our luck a couple of times but our stalwart defence stood firm and we finished with a 1-0 victory.

We’ve had injuries to key players since our first game of the season, when we beat Norwich City 2-1 (our first victory there since 1958) and we’ve had the likes of Doughty, Azeez and Cundle missing for us over the 7 games we’ve played so far, but it’s looking likely that Cundle will be back to play against you, and possibly Azeez as well, so that will be 2 plus points in our favour.

I think it will be a tough game for both sides. If, on the Tuesday night Stoke were somehow able to beat Boro, Bristol City were somehow able to beat Ipswich and Preston beat Hull (can’t see Wrexham beating Leicester) then you will have dropped 5 places to 7th by the time you play us the following evening.

Lose to us and you’d drop a further place to 8th and we’d be 1 point and 1 place above you. Yes, it’s a tall order for Stoke and Bristol to win (not so Preston) but it could happen. Fat Frank will be well aware of this scenario playing out, so he‘ll know the importance of a win against us will keep you in 2nd place (regardless if Stoke, Bristol, Leicester and Preston have already beaten their opponents).

My heart says a hard fought 1-0 Watford style win for us, but if we’re playing you like we did against Wrexham, my head says a 3-0 Birmingham style win for you. A draw unfortunately isn’t good enough for either of us.

Take a draw away from a top 12 team all day long.

That's automatic promotion form. Draw away to top 12 team and win your homes games. Rip your hand off. Saying that we got a good chance to win. Keeping our unbeaten record is massive.

 

[long way home]

Looking forward to this one mainly to see what effect not having Rudoni has on playing away. If EMC is fit he will come in to start which might mean BTA goes into a more central position and EMC goes left with Eccles dropping to the bench.

I wouldn't be shocked to see Simms and Bidwell get the start to give Wright and JDS some rest keeping Saturday in mind.

 

[edgy]

Anything more than 0 points will be decent, considering the injuries and it being a midweek away match.

 

[SleepyGinger]

Is there a chance we set up with KKH and MVE on the right?

 

[JSL]

Eccles got subbed on Saturday presumably to enable him to play on Wednesday. I think he will start. I personally think we have too much for Millwall if we play like we can. However, that often doesn't happen two games in such short succession and think we will get a wakeup call, which may not necessarily be a loss. Lets see. Staying unbeaten would be great

 

[TomRad85]

I might be able to get childcare for this, which means if there are still tickets available i might go along by myself. Anyone on here having a drink anywhere first?

 

[Hincha]

Definitely take a draw here. Have a feeling it's going to be our first defeat though.

Would be surprised if it wasn't the same team (unknown injuries aside). Torp is going to be super important as he'll likely play the two roles again

 

[SkyBlueMatt]

With Rudoni and EMC (likely) out, thats two of our biggest creative outlets unavailable. Midweek games are usually tight and Millwall are a good side.

If we can get an early goal, that (obviously) changes the game completely and I think we'll win.

Failing that, I'd be happy with a point, if we can get 4 from the next 2.

 

[David O'Day]

Even without EMC and Rudi we still have a much better team than Millwall.

 

[Dhinsa's_Millions]

What are the chances of being kept in after the game - its late as it is? Having booked onto the 11pm train from Euston seems foolish in hindsight!

 

[SBT]

What are the chances of being kept in after the game - its late as it is? Having booked onto the 11pm train from Euston seems foolish in hindsight!

Don’t remember it ever happening before. 11pm will be no problem.

 

[SleepyGinger]

They definitely used to keep us after the final whistle but they haven’t the last couple of years