Danny McNamara has big shoes to fill in Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s absence but looks ready to try to reinvigorate his Millwall career

WHEN can a series of injuries at one club be classified as an 'injury crisis'? What qualifies it? Is it about the length of time players are out for, the volume of players who are unavailable over the same period or a combination of both? Does it have to be senior 'first-names-on-the-team-sheet' type of players on the sidelines or does six or seven bench players having strains also count? In any case, we're not quite there yet at Millwall but you wonder how many more players the Lions can risk losing to knocks before the team begins to suffer. This time last week Wes Harding was on his way back to fitness and Casper De Norre was also edging back towards getting on the training pitch. But then over 48 hours we learnt about or witnessed Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Shaun Hutchinson, Murray Wallace, Aidomo Emakhu and Ryan Leonard picking up some sort of injury. George Saville is still suspended for another game as well. Norton-Cuffy and Wallace would be out for a "couple of weeks" , Joe Edwards told reporters last Thursday. Hutchinson is expected to be longer than that while we wait for the prognoses on Emakhu and Leonard. [caption id="attachment_209517" align="alignnone" width="463"] Danny McNamara has had to adjust to playing less football this season. Image: Millwall FC[/caption] Football's a squad game and the injuries opened the door to a few players who had been struggling to get a look-in for the FA Cup defeat against Leicester City on Saturday. Most notably Danny McNamara started his first game in 12 matches - and his first under Edwards - as he swooped in to fill the vacancy at right wing-back in Norton-Cuffy's absence. Academy product McNamara had begun the first three games of the season before the arrival of the loanee from Arsenal left him in the shade. Norton-Cuffy started 21 of the previous 23 games before Saturday, underlining his increasing importance to Millwall. The fact that he continues to show obvious improvements in his all-round game week on week has been a positive for the Lions but not for those looking to displace in the line-up. But McNamara finally got his turn against Leicester and all things considered can be really happy with his performance. It can't have been easy coming in against a very good, if weakened, Foxes side but he handled it all capably and reminded us all how he managed to break into Millwall's team in the first place. He was disciplined and composed, picking up good areas defensively and shutting down Leicester back-up winger Wanya Marcal, who was playing instead of the considerably more dangerous Stephy Mavididi. The 21-year-old Marcal has made seven senior appearances and has one goal for Enzo Maresca's side and may well go on to be a fine player, but he was subdued by McNamara's energy for most of the afternoon. The defender had to brilliantly win the ball off Tom Cannon on the halfway line in the first half. Leicester were looking to break on the counter-attack and McNamara was the last man but he judged his challenge well. He then had to make a similar intervention in the second half to hook the ball away from the dangerous Cesare Casadei who was intruding in the Millwall box. Leonard's injury just before half-time also meant McNamara had to operate in the back three after the break, keeping things tight enough that Ryan Longman had the freedom to spend most of the second half running at Leicester's defence and not being too preoccupied with defending. For a player who has not seen much football recently and could have been a bit rusty, this was an impressive and intelligent performance which almost sought to remind everyone why he was still very much an important part of this team. [caption id="attachment_209518" align="alignnone" width="436"] Ryan Leonard's injury meant Danny McNamara had to slot into the back three after half-time against Leicester. Image: Millwall FC[/caption] "It's well-documented he's a Millwall fan and comes from a Millwall family and as Millwall supporters we like to support our own," That Millwall Podcast host Omer Ronayne told NewsAtDen . "He's come through the academy, earned his stripes in a sense, went on loan and proved his worth and then got into the first team a couple of seasons ago. "He's obviously not exempt from criticism for that reason which is something he's been getting a bit from fans. If you look at his main strengths and weaknesses, the main strength for me is obviously his one-on-one defending. I think pound-for-pound he's probably one of the best in the league in that sense. Put him up against a tricky winger and he tends to come out on top, I feel like, when he's isolated out on the wing. I think it's an underrated positive of him." It's not been an easy campaign for McNamara. Having been a first-team starter in the two seasons before this one, opportunities for game-time are now limited which probably took some time adjusting to. He struggled and made obvious mistakes in October's 2-2 draw with Hull City and was substituted at half-time. The 1-0 loss to Southampton in November had one moment in the second half when he mis-controlled the ball on the touchline and the collective groan from The Den was staggering. The 25-year-old started that match after caretaker boss Adam Barrett had experimented by putting Norton-Cuffy in a more advanced position. But when Edwards returned to that idea in December's 1-1 draw with Sunderland , it was Leonard, not McNamara, who was given the right-back berth. And Leonard being Leonard did such a convincing job that it became difficult to work out when McNamara would get his chance again. Omer added: "In regards to his weaknesses, I guess the obvious criticism is his ability going forward which is something Norton-Cuffy has in abundance. You can see going forward Norton-Cuffy likes to get on the end of things, try to score goals like the one at Sheffield Wednesday . Danny's not rubbish at that but I think in comparison to Norton-Cuffy that's definitely something we miss when he isn't in the side. "But where Danny makes up it for me is his defensive ability and also there's that element of a Millwall player in the side who's a Millwall fan and for me that's something you hold on to when you go through tough times results-wise." [caption id="attachment_209519" align="alignnone" width="404"] Depending on how long Brooke Norton-Cuffy is injured for, McNamara might have one or two more games left to impress. Image: Millwall FC[/caption] As Omer says, McNamara certainly has supporters among the general Lions fan base but also, like any player, he has his detractors. While Norton-Cuffy remains out, McNamara will be looking to show everyone at the club that while the two are quite different players, he is more than capable of filling in for him. Over the long term he will also be looking to convince his head coach that he is ready to step back in regularly at right-back when Norton-Cuffy returns to his parent club. Given those stakes, the next couple of games may be quite big for him. McNamara should take inspiration from his team-mates. There are others in the squad who have been subjected to a bit of criticism or spent time on the bench but who have enjoyed a strong return to form at times this season. Wallace and Billy Mitchell recently are good examples while Bartosz Bialkowski impressed when he had to step in for the injured Matija Sarkic, despite a belief among a few fans that the goalkeeper was past his best. Millwall are producing solid performances at the moment and the whole club feels a bit more optimistic than it has for much of the season. They also have a head coach who, as we've seen with Norton-Cuffy and George Honeyman, seems able to find new layers in players. The conditions are there for McNamara to thrive and reboot his Lions career.

Danny McNamara has big shoes to fill in Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s absence but looks ready to try to reinvigorate his Millwall career

It was a first start in 12 games for the full-back against Leicester on Saturday where he reminded everyone how useful he can be

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