Milwall Away Post Match 1-0 Loss!

[Heart-Shaped Fox]

Exactly the word I used.

Good. Its true.

So Brainless that when Futacs came on we hardly ever hit one all in the air to him, more went to the out of depth Vardy.

Pathetic really from us, just inept all second half against a team who just lumped it all game. Things need to change.

[Tielemans63]

I think those calling for NP need to behave themselves although I do think we have been sussed now and the team look a bit lost when plan A doesn't work. I'm sure he'll bring in some quality players in Jan to boost our options - God knows he needs to!

I think we need at least 3 or 4 more players. IMHO Vardy and Waggy are great players to have in the squad but they're not going to spearhead a promotion campaign. Drinky and Kingy have been great but as others have said - having the option of a direct, nasty bastard wouldn't go amiss.

[Carl the Llama]

The league table doesn't look that bad at all following the match - we'll still be in the playoffs even if Cardiff come back from today's shock to turn us over, whereas a win will see us at worst 4 points off the autos.

Calm the fook down lads.

[Tom17LCFC]

It's interesting that at the start of the season most fans thought we'd be lucky to make the play-offs, but now we're 5th and it's not good enough for a lot of people. The good run has raised expectations, but I hope and think most people will realise that since we haven't even been close to the play-offs for two years a return to the managerial merry-go-round is the last thing we need. Especially since we're constructing a side that is not only good enough to compete for the play-offs, but that is young and in another three or four years could be a solid Premier League side.

Spot on mate!

If the majority of people on this forum had been offered 5th at this stage of the season, they'd have snapped off the hand offering it, but now we're here it's not good enough? I understand the frustration of everyone because I'm frustrated myself, but Millwall's a tough place to go, especially with the style of football we adopt. Watch us beat Cardiff next week, everyone will be singing Pearson's praises again and the post match thread won't have half the number of posts as this...ridiculous.

EDIT: Oh, and Alan Young can fvck off.

[hornyhollthefox123]

Why do people keep saying Richie Wellens is the physical midfielder that will sort it out? I can't believe what i keep hearing.

[beryllind]

So. **** the owners they're the reason we're 2 years behind where could be, messing around with 'star' managers & players.

Pearson is the sole reason for our climb.

Saying that - we need to impose our game better away from home. Today I would have played James over King, he makes good use of the ball. And Schlupp at LB is a no-brainer.

We've stopped pressing high, we've stopped breaking with pace we're not playing the way we did when we win & teams can't live with us.

But your point is a joke & always will be.

You obviously like a different type of football than I do, it sounded like big boot today, is that your type of football ?

[Jaspa]

I'd quite like that Trotter tho

[Carl the Llama]

Oh and btw we still have the best gd in the league.

[purpleronnie]

It's interesting that at the start of the season most fans thought we'd be lucky to make the play-offs, but now we're 5th and it's not good enough for a lot of people. The good run has raised expectations, but I hope and think most people will realise that since we haven't even been close to the play-offs for two years a return to the managerial merry-go-round is the last thing we need. Especially since we're constructing a side that is not only good enough to compete for the play-offs, but that is young and in another three or four years could be a solid Premier League side.

That's true, I think I predicted 8th, I'd be very happy if we finish in the playoffs.

[eastendfox]

We were not terrible today, and none of the players deserve to be case as scapegoat. One of the favourite targets of that, Whitbread, was pretty much our best player. But same old story, we need somehow to get more composure when teams are pressing us in midfield. Too many stray passes, too many bad choices, and just not enough to break down opposing teams especially if Knockaert is generally quiet. A midfield enforcer maybe, but we're not far short... but we are short.

[smudger63]

We are not far off a really good side but we lack a quality striker to go alongside Nugent and the midfield is inconsistent, if the passing is poor we struggle badly.

It`s not so much that the midfield is inconsistent, it`s more that when teams close us down, and get into our faces, our midfield struggles to cope, because they are lightweight.

Against teams that sit off them, and let them play, our midfielders are quality.

The problem is, that more teams are starting to work that out, and starting to bully us out of games.

We are desperate for a strong physical midfielder, to play in games like today.

In fact, because at the moment we don`t have that type of midfielder at the club, we might be better playing 3 in midfield in games like today, to help our lightweight midfield out.

My worry is that Pearson thinks the present midfield is good enough to get us promoted, because i think he will be sadly disappointed if he does.

.

[unreachable]

A sad dispiriting performance with little to no attacking threat in the second half. I can't remember an effort on target. Dyer and Knockaert were not at the races and the linking between midfield and attack was negligible.

Drinkwater looked particularly diminuitive today and with King having an anonymous game the outcome was quite predictable.

[dannythefox]

Because we always lose away.

Sometimes it comes off if were lucky but most of the time it doesnt. We try and play like we do at home and it doesnt work like that when your away.

[Guest ttfn]

As I said earlier, it was just a brainless performance.

Whitbread constantly had his hands all over their centre forwards.

Dyer spent half the game playing in behind the striker when he should have been out wide.

James refused to pass the ball forwards.

Vardy barely controlled the ball properly all game.

We started very well though, and could easily have been ahead at half-time. Nugent had a decent effort saved, whilst King had a (slightly ponderous) effort blocked.

But the second half was just a disaster. Within seconds Whitbread conceded a completely needless free kick and it set the tone for a scrappy first 25 minutes of the half in which the ball barely touched the floor and rarely left the Leicester half. Millwall's goal when it came was probably deserved, although they were just as poor as we were for the overwhelming majority of the game.

Yet again we've got people on here saying that our problem in these games is that the midfield isn't physical enough. It's such a meaningless and pointless comment. The problem today wasn't that we weren't physical enough in the centre of the park. The problem was that the ball spent half the game in the air, and when it came to Drinkwater and King, they lacked the composure to get the ball down and find a teammate in space. They were rarely helped by the clueless positioning of the front 4 (Vardy and Dyer in particular), but at next to no stage were they physically bullied by the central midfielders of Millwall. The issue was not that they weren't big enough; it was just that they weren't on their game.

The most disappointing thing today was the lack of composure and thought from the players on the pitch. People pay good money to come down to London for the games at Millwall, and the players seem to crumble on virtually every occasion.

We need a response next week. 3 points is now an absolute must.

[stillwater]

Think the only consistency we are about to get is a run of losses.

Hark did you here that??

Sounds like the bubble just burst again.

[MattyFromLE]

You obviously like a different type of football than I do, it sounded like big boot today, is that your type of football ?

In all fairness, 90% of this season we have played the best football I've seen for years. Would you not agree? Longest winning streak for years, highest position in 9 years best GD in the league...what more do you want?

[JonnyBoy]

Spot on mate!

If the majority of people on this forum had been offered 5th at this stage of the season, they'd have snapped off the hand offering it, but now we're here it's not good enough? I understand the frustration of everyone because I'm frustrated myself, but Millwall's a tough place to go, especially with the style of football we adopt. Watch us beat Cardiff next week, everyone will be singing Pearson's praises again and the post match thread won't have half the number of posts as this...ridiculous.

EDIT: Oh, and Alan Young can fvck off.

its not good enough because we can see how well our team can play and have done this season, throwing away points like today are wasted oppurtunities. So yes, it is dissapointing

[MattyFromLE]

Think the only consistency we are about to get is a run of losses.

Hark did you here that??

Sounds like the bubble just burst again.

Grow up you big baby. We've had a poor run of form, so what? Marathon, not a sprint.

[David Guiza]

Score 4 goals against Derby, get out muscled and out fought at the Den, as things change they stay the same. It's the same every year at that garbage bin, with the exception of the league 1 year. Onwards to next week, 3points and we'll be right back in the mix.

[Tom17LCFC]

its not good enough because we can see how well our team can play and have done this season, throwing away points like today are wasted oppurtunities. So yes, it is dissapointing

Never said it wasn't disappointing. I just think a lot of our fans need to realise we're not gonna walk the league and win everything. We're gonna have bumps and blips along the way.

To put it into perspective, this time last season, after 22 games, we were 10th and 5 points off the play-offs!

Reading, who won the league, were 7th, and 10 points off 2nd.

[sbfox]

A lot of these comments seem to be from people that weren't there and while I appreciate you can glean a lot from radio etc., here are my thoughts having just got home.

Team

It looked like Pearson tried to play narrow to counteract their strength in the middle. While it looked like it was working in the sense that they weren't dominating play, Knocky and Dyer were dragged far too central and we had no outlets when we won the ball back. I'd suggest that Pearson probably has the idea right, but we're not set up in the right way (ie. we should be playing a 4-5-1/4-3-3, rather than a narrow 4-4-2. I have no idea if that makes sense to anyone...)

Vardy had a poor game - first touch fairly woeful, though he did run around and cause them to hurry on the ball.

Knocky and Dyer weren't able to play their normal game and suffered as a result.

Kingy was absent - I don't remember physically seeing him.

Morgan had a poor game by his standards but actually seemed upset at the end, so fair play.

Atmosphere etc

Our fans, I thought, weren't bad for the most part. We didn't really start complaining and moaning until about 70 minutes, despite some fairly poor play. Relatively loud for the most part and yeah... decent, I guess.

Millwall lot were shite. Genuinely awful. They're living in a different era and are simply a laughable throwback. I mean really, who the fvck do they think they are? Little 12 year old kids giving it the big 'un, all the time watching their balding, dumb-as-fvck elders who were out of their seats and straight down to the pitch as soon as we put a tackle in.

[flowwolf]

In short we have been found out. Barnsley knew what to do and so have Milwall. We are a weak physical side and are easliy muscled out of the game. Midfield we have a great play maker in Drinkwater but other than that no old head to to give a stopping and holding game. Stop us playing flowing foortball and our forwards will be starved of chances. It always happens this time of the year other clubs look at our weak points and exploit them.

Unless there are some top quality signings in the new year in both the midfield and dare I say it defence ( Whitbread ) we will be in a play off position at best.

[ScouseFox]

I've been in work all day and can't be arsed reading all this, but from the bits I have read it seems exactly as expected. Thought we'd lose and we did, but somehow we've almost got away with it as Cardiff and Palace both failed to win much easier games.

We almost definitely have to beat both Cardiff and Hull to remain close enough to the top 2, which I doubt we'll do.

[Grewks]

Just further emphasises the fact that we need to strengthen.

I wouldnt say any player in our squad would compete for a place in the top 11 players in the championship, and that is what you need if you want promotion.

We lack in all forward areas, not enough creativity in the middle of the park or enough steel especially away from home. No one up front who is clinical enough (nugents past record suggest he isnt that clinical), and not enough physical bodies in the final third to get on the end of crosses.

There is no doubt that King and Drinky have been very good this season, and we all must remember they are still relatively young. But they are both what i describe as 'ball retainers'. They don't seem to have the strength or positional sense to win the ball back and prevent the counter attack, especially away from home, and neither seem to have the ability to find that final pass. When looking at our play this season most of our assists have come from outwide or from the strikers which is simply not enough.

It is obvious to all fans that drinky and king have the above weaknesses so why do we persist with only playing 2 central midfielders?? especially away from home. Pearson could have avoided criticism today by trying the 5 in midfield with matty james, even if it didnt work, at least we would know.

[NewburyFox]

Just further emphasises the fact that we need to strengthen.

I wouldnt say any player in our squad would compete for a place in the top 11 players in the championship, and that is what you need if you want promotion.

We lack in all forward areas, not enough creativity in the middle of the park or enough steel especially away from home. No one up front who is clinical enough (nugents past record suggest he isnt that clinical), and not enough physical bodies in the final third to get on the end of crosses.

There is no doubt that King and Drinky have been very good this season, and we all must remember they are still relatively young. But they are both what i describe as 'ball retainers'. They don't seem to have the strength or positional sense to win the ball back and prevent the counter attack, especially away from home, and neither seem to have the ability to find that final pass. When looking at our play this season most of our assists have come from outwide or from the strikers which is simply not enough.

It is obvious to all fans that drinky and king have the above weaknesses so why do we persist with only playing 2 central midfielders?? especially away from home. Pearson could have avoided criticism today by trying the 5 in midfield with matty james, even if it didnt work, at least we would know.

Big Wes is the best CB in the Championship.