ALEX NEIL said Millwall need to play with less “tension” as they prepare to face in-form Queens Park Rangers.
The Lions can confirm their first Championship play-off appearance since 2002 with a win over the Rangers at The Den on Saturday if other results go their way.
Millwall have been in the top six since early January, and six wins in seven in February and March briefly lifted them into second, but two draws and two defeats have since handed Ipswich Town the advantage in the automatic promotion race.
The Lions’ recent dip has come amid a demanding fixture run, with back-to-back trips to top-six Ipswich and Middlesbrough either side of the international break.
Millwall now face a QPR side unbeaten in their last five and unburdened by the pressures of a promotion push or relegation scrap.
“We seem to have a derby with everybody at the moment,” Neil told NewsAtDen. “It’s another good game. It’s a game at home.
“We want to try and get back on track in terms of winning our next home game. It’s a good game for us.
“They’re playing with an element of freedom now, and the fact that they’ve turned their form around. They were going through a little sort of sticky spell. Now they’re coming out the other side of it.
“It’ll be a tough game. They’ve got an element of freedom that they can just enjoy the match. As a player, it’s a nice feeling. There’s not massive loads at stake apart from their desire to win the game.
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“For us, we’ve got a lot more riding on the game. We just need to play a little bit more relaxed at times. You can see a little bit of tension creeping into our game, and we just need to try and eradicate that and get back to what we’re good at.”
While QPR’s run of form, which included a 6-1 win over Portsmouth, has taken them clear of the drop zone, they are still ten points off the top six and have little to play for in the final four games of the season.
Neil was asked whether there was more danger playing teams with less to play for.
“There can be,” Neil said. “It depends on the team. Because if they come and they put as much into the game as what you would think, then naturally they can play a little bit carefree.
So if they make a mistake, it doesn’t carry the same weight as if we’d make a mistake because of what we’ve got riding on the match.
“At the end of the day, you’re going to have to play everybody across the season. I do think that when you play people matters. If you look at Southampton right now, most teams won’t want to play them. The form that they’re in.
“When you catch teams across the season, I think it does have a big bearing on what version of them you’re going to get. At the moment, QPR are in a good space, so we know we’re going to have to be at our best.”
