ALEX Neil said he was encouraging his squad to block out all external noise and focus just on the next game after results elsewhere lifted Millwall back into the top-two race.
The Lions have all but locked up their first Championship play-off appearance since 2002 after their 2-0 win over Queens Park Rangers on Saturday and only need a point across their final three fixtures to confirm it.
The day after Millwall’s win at The Den, Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough drew 1-1, with both sides having lost their previous match.
Millwall are now level on points with second-placed Ipswich, who have a game in hand. They are one point above Southampton, who are unbeaten in fifteen games, and three clear of Middlesbrough. Southampton and Ipswich meet on Tuesday, April 28.
Neil was asked if he had his eye on automatic promotion.
“I don’t think about it that way, and I know sometimes that might ruffle a few feathers,” Neil said.
“Why not? You’re sitting second in the league. Because there’s still so many games to be played. Not only that, though, we’re not at the stage where if we win all our games, then we finish second. That’s not how things are. There are teams that have games in hand or whatever the case may be.
“We just need to try and focus on the next game. What I always think is with football and footballers in particular, is if you try and think about things as a whole, there’s just too much to consume. That’s why I never encourage the players to read and listen to what people say. You can only consume so much.
“Sometimes the best thing to do is just have a clear mind and a clear brain and focus on what’s at hand and what we need to try and achieve and what we need to try and do, which is basically win the next game.
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“I’ve been coaching for well over a decade, and it’s the best way to approach it. And I’ve done three play-offs, and we’ve managed to be successful in each and every one of them. But it’s because we only focus on what’s in front of us. We don’t get carried away with anything.”
Neil was asked how he stops the noise from creeping in.
“When you’re commentating, or you’re commenting on the playoffs, your job’s to build it up,” Neil said. “It’s a big crescendo and look how important and exciting it is. The problem you’ve got with players is they consume that as much as anybody else at the moment.
“I just try to bring them back down to reality a little bit. All the big hullabaloo that happens, that’s not where you win games. You win games by the graft and the grit and the bits that we do day to day. We talk about it quite often as a squad about not building games up too much. Don’t play the occasion, play the game.”
