Football Manager Blog | Football Manager Guru | Millwall In September

Hello and welcome, hope you are all well. In this post, Millwall will take on the challenge of 6 games in the month of September. 5 league games and the Johnstone Paint Trophy first round match. The first match being the JPT first round match against Norwich.

Before this match, I wasn’t really fussed about the scoreline at the end of the match, so I didn’t field the strongest side I could. I left the front 2 being strong along with the 2 in the centre midfield and the 2 full backs, but changed everyone else to give them a game.

I thought the game was going well, as In the 11^th minute, Steve Morison scored a nicely placed shot into the near corner to give us a 1-0 lead, but 3 minutes before half time, Jens Berthel Askou scored a nice header to give them the equaliser.

During the time of the 2^nd half, David Forde had a nightmare and pushed a shot from a Norwich player right into the left hand corner of the goal giving them a 2-1 lead just after half time. Grant Holt of Norwich finished the game off with a beautiful volley scorching into the top left corner.

I gave our man of the match award to Neil Harris who put in a strong performance and was unlucky with a few chances.

Next up saw us facing Bristol Rovers in the League hoping to keep up our good run.

I fielded quite a strong side for this hoping for a good team performance in this match, but no goals came during the whole match giving both teams a point each. The only thing that happened in the match was Bristol’s Carl Regan got injured in the 85^th minute by a bad challenge made by David Martin.

My man of the match for this game is Tony Craig who never put a foot wrong the whole game.

Next up, was a trip to Priestfield, Gillingham where we really needed the 3 points.

In a game that we needed the 3 points, I fielded the strongest side I possibly could and set out straight from the off. We lost a goal to a nice Simeon Jackson strike in the 15^th minute. After this we had to go and attack without letting them have any possession of the ball whatsoever. We were gifted a goal in the 22^nd minute via Steve Morison with a well tooken header.

16 minutes later, David Martin scored a nice solo goal with his left foot which he hit into the top left corner. Just into the 2^nd half, Neil Harris killed Gillingham off and scored the 4^th goal of the game, 3^rd for Millwall surely giving us the 3 points but 10 minutes later, James Walker of Gillingham scored a consolation goal to make it 3-2.

We got the 3 points we needed today, and remain in the top 2 which is where I hope to be come the end of the season. My man of the match for this game goes to Steve Morison who played a massive part in our win and I hope to see him continue his good run of performances.

Next match is a home match against Huddersfield Town.

Following a 3-2 win away from home against Gillingham, I felt confident of a win against Huddersfield at home. Feeling confident I set off with a control the game strategy, but then in the 6^th minute, Jordan Rhodes scored a nice goal leaving us treading behind 1-0. After we conceded a stupid goal, I decided to change the tactics a bit, and set out for an attacking end to the first half. After changing this, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas scored a smasher into the corner from a David Martin corner, giving us a vital equaliser.

Around 20 minutes later, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas scored another goal from outside the box to give us the lead on a day that we needed the 3 points.

Just after half time, Anthony Pilkington scored a equaliser which put us on the back foot. They were on the attack for the rest of the 2^nd half, but in the 82^nd minute, Jason Price scored a header which gave us the 3 points, which I never thought we would have got.

My Man of the match for this game goes to Jay Emmanuel-Thomas after puting in a fantastic performance and scoring Millwall’s first 2 goals.

Next up is a trip to Brisbane Road, London to face Leyton Orient.

I needed to keep up my good run. After 2 games in a row ending up 3-2 to Millwall, I was really confident of a win. I started off telling the players to control the game, and as soon as this happened, Steve Morison scored a beautiful goal to put us into the lead. I continued to play in a controlling manner and it seemed to be working as Steve Morison slotted home another great goal to make it 2-0 Millwall. Just before half time, Scott McGleish scored a splendid goal in off the post to make it 2-1.

Millwall controlled in the second half leaving it hard for Leyton Orient to get any chances but they left it late and equalised in the 90^th minute through a Andy Monkhouse tap-in to secure there point which was truly devastating for Me and my players.

The fans were not happy about conceding a late equaliser and neither was I. I need the players to be focused and ready for the next match who was against Yeovil in the last game of the month. My man of the match for the Leyton Orient game was Steve Morison who grabbed the 2 goals for Millwall and should have had a couple of others to secure the win but was unlucky with those opportunities.

Yeovil Town was the next team the Lions had to face and this time we havehome advantage and need to get the 3 points.

This game was our last game of the month and I wanted a big win. We had predictions of a massive win and Yeovil were sitting on the bottom of the table and weren’t looking like moving anywhere soon so I set out at the start of the match to go for a massive win.

We were gifted in the 43^rd minute when Millwall were playing fantastic attacking football and Neil Harris played a good through ball to Steve Morison and he slotted it to the opposite side of the oppositions keeper.

18 minutes into the 2^nd half, Neil Harris fired an excellent strike into the bottom left hand corner of the goal to give us the 2-0 lead we needed. Gavin Tomlin of Yeovil scored a consolation goal in the 78^th minute to make it 2-1 but they had no chance of scoring an equaliser as my defenders were solid at the back and wouldn’t let anything through them.

The man of the match award for this match goes to Steve Morison again, who scored the opener and set up Neil Harris for his game. He has had an excellent month and looks to continue it as he has been the best player so far for Millwall. He has been the player of the month for the club.

This is the top 8 in the league after 10 games. We sit top of the table ahead of Colchester by 2 points. We had played 10 games, won 7 of those 10 and drew 3. We are the only side in the league not to be defeated. I hope not to get defeated in any time soon.

Thanks for reading.