Millwall Analysis: Irony of goals at Ipswich Town; pressing half-time change; Patterson justifies &#8211; plus Lions&#8217; fixt

MILLWALL went into the last international break of the season with a valuable point after they came from behind to draw 1-1 against automatic promotion rivals Ipswich Town at Portman Road.

Alex Neil and the Lions squad could go into the following two-week break with the feeling of satisfaction with a job well done - so far.

Millwall are fourth, level on points with the Tractor Boys but with an inferior goal difference of nineteen. Ipswich also have a game in hand on the Lions and on Middlesbrough, who are two points ahead.

The table shows there are four sides likely in the hunt for the second automatic spot behind leaders Coventry City, though a surging Southampton can’t be ruled out.

Millwall are six points clear of Wrexham in seventh place with seven games left. Wrexham and Saints still have to play each other so either or both will drop points.

Millwall’s immediate equation is simple: beat Boro in their next game and they will go second.

It is not quite all in their own hands, but it is a strong position to be in heading into April.

Neil makes half-time switch after testing opening 45 minute

Millwall had to throw bodies on the line to ensure they weren’t more than one goal down at half-time. They also benefited from some profligate Ipswich finishing.

Ipswich were too easily able to play though the Lions’ press. One of the hosts’ main attacking tactics was to use left-winger Jack Clarke inside to try to out-number Millwall’s midfield. They were successful in doing that as they worked the ball out through the middle of the pitch:

Clarke is then able to turn and attack in the area where he has the most options to choose from. Despite three Millwall players close to the ball, they haven’t been able to stop the pass forward into Clarke’s feet, while Billy Mitchell (8) has been pulled out trying to cover on the left.

This is an even clearer example of Millwall’s struggles to close Ipswich down. Ipswich have three players against Millwall’s two. Goalkeeper Christian Walton makes it a 4v2. It is too easy for the hosts. Walton plays a simple ball to Azor Matusiwa who has time to turn and play another pass forward into the centre of the pitch behind Millwall’s midfield. Luke Cundle (furthest Lions player to the right in the first image) is unsure whether to push up or stay back:

Ipswich kept doing this and creating opportunities. The Lions were consistently pushed back to the edge of their box, allowing the home side space to shoot from 20-25 yards.

Millwall’s injured midfielder, and former Ipswich player, Massimo Luongo, was alongside commentator Karl Bates for Millwall TV . Luongo is recovering from a cruciate ligament tear and has been training with the squad at Calmont Road, so has detailed knowledge on the tactical approach for each game. “Alex is trying to scream instructions to Macaulay Langstaff about whether to go or not to go,” Luongo said. Ipswich kept creating situations where they had one or two men more to work the ball out from the back.

Ironically, the opening goal came from a long hoof forward that Caleb Taylor put out for a throw-in. It was taken quickly and the Lions won it back, but they just couldn’t get up the field. Matusiwa wins back possession and finds Clarke, who turns inside before firing low into the bottom-left corner.

Something had to change at half-time and for the second game in a row Langstaff was replaced with Mihailo Ivanovic.

As well as needing a more physical presence up front to try to make the ball stick, Neil changed the pressing approach. He went man-to-man and it was much better. Here is an illustration of that as the influential Matusiwa and the hosts are forced to go back to Walton. Camiel Neghli has come in from the left wing to make it a 4v4 press:

We mentioned the irony of Ipswich going in front after a long ball. There was more irony in how the Lions went ahead given the contrast in how the sides played in the first half. Goalkeeper Anthony Patterson rolls the ball out to Mitchell who turns and finds Jake Cooper to play a pass forward to left-back Zak Sturge. It is pure class from there as Neghli spins on Sturge’s pass before delivering a sumptuous cross for Josh Coburn to side-foot home:

Ipswich appeared rattled having not turned their first-hand superiority into more goals. The Lions had the ball in the net again only for it to be ruled out after Coburn was adjudged to have fouled Walton.

Ipswich did go close once more when Dan Neil’s low shot deflected just past the left post.

But the Lions went closest when Femi Azeez was denied by Walton and Ivanovic cracked the rebound off the crossbar.

Lions boss Neil was keen to point out that it wasn’t only Ivanovic replacing Langstaff that changed the game. Langstaff will be feeling a little bit down after a second successive half-time substitution. Neil explained it was about a change in the pressing approach and to have a more physical forward on the pitch.

The question now is: does he start Coburn and Ivanovic together at a Middlesbrough side that will try to play out from the back?

Patterson shows why he displaced Crocombe

Plenty of Lions supporters asked what Max Crocombe had done wrong when he was dropped for Patterson against Portsmouth. Neil’s decision wasn’t exactly justified when Patterson conceded three times in the surprise 3-1 defeat at The Den, despite the goalkeeper not obviously being at fault for any of the goals.

But questioning that decision was to miss the bigger picture. I wrote before how Patterson had a higher ceiling than Crocombe for producing really top-class saves. He had shown it in last season’s Championship play-off final to help Sunderland defeat Sheffield United at Wembley.

And he showed it at Portman Road with a stunning reaction save to deny Ivan Azon at 1-0 down. It was a key moment in the game.

One criticism of Patterson is that he needs to improve his distribution. One kick-out early in the second half, when the Lions were playing with more tempo, flew straight out and had Neil glaring at him from the technical area.

Millwall can take advantage of fixture rearrangements

Ipswich will have two games in hand after the Lions play Boro on Teesside. Those two games are at Portsmouth and Southampton. The Pompey game has twice been postponed due to weather while the Saints game was moved as they are still in the FA Cup.

Millwall will play their next three games while Ipswich play only one. Kieran McKenna’s side have that Saints games originally scheduled for Good Friday postponed and then the Lions will face West Bromwich Albion away the Friday evening before Ipswich travel to Norwich City for the East Anglian derby.

The rearranged Saints game isn’t until the end of the month. In other words, the Lions will have plenty of opportunities to put pressure on Ipswich by getting points on the board in those games they play first.

Neil said recently it annoyed him that games at this stage of the season kick off at different times. But it is now something that Millwall should embrace as they can potentially make it work out to their advantage.