ALEX Neil insists Millwall will “attack every game” after his side claimed the scalp of another play-off contender at The Den.
The Lions were aggressive from the off against Birmingham City on Wednesday, and that approach paid off with a 3-0 win courtesy of goals from Femi Azeez, Tristan Crama and Jake Cooper.
Neil’s side rank among the most front-footed teams in the Championship, leading the division in high turnovers (256) and percentage of passes sent forward (43.1 per cent).
That approach can occasionally backfire – as shown in the 3-1 loss to Portsmouth four days earlier – but more often than not it has worked, with Millwall sitting third, nine points clear of seventh.
“You’re not going to play well all the time,” Neil said. “My job when I came here, and I promised it to myself when I came, and I walked through the door, is that I would attack every single game and try to win every single game. Not try and not lose, not try and be compact and hard to beat, try and win.
“But when you do that, you run the risk that when it goes wrong, or you underperform, or you make a couple of mistakes, that you can get a bit of a bloody nose, and it might not look good.
“But when it does work, it’s brilliant. I think it’s entertaining to watch, it’s high octane, the game’s going back and forward, there are tackles. That’s what Millwall and the Den’s about. About flying into things, and it’s just end-to-end.
“I thought the game tonight was brilliant. I really enjoyed it. That’s what I’m going to do, and I’m going to continue to do that, and we’re not going to always get it right. I’m not going to get it right, the players are not going to get it right, but I think more often than not, it’s served us really well.”
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Talking of ‘attacking’ , I note that on the official Millwall site, every match preview includes a note of which players are injured, and which ones, if any, are added to the match day squad. It’s been noticeable that Zak Lovelace is not mentioned in either. He has yet to appear in a match since being signed, reportedly for ‘good money’ (£1m was mentioned at the time) over a year ago. Does he actually exist? Or have I made him up, it’s a mystery.