{"id":478027,"date":"2026-04-20T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/?p=478027"},"modified":"2026-04-20T01:49:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T00:49:30","slug":"dereks-had-to-bide-his-time-millwall-boss-says-whole-squad-have-contributed-to-unbelievable-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/sport\/football\/millwall\/dereks-had-to-bide-his-time-millwall-boss-says-whole-squad-have-contributed-to-unbelievable-season\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Derek&#8217;s had to bide his time&#8217; &#8211; Millwall boss says whole squad have contributed to &#8216;unbelievable season&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>ALEX Neil said all of Millwall&#8217;s squad, regardless of playing time, have contributed to an \u201cunbelievable season\u201d after Derek Mazou-Sacko marked his first start in five months with a man-of-the-match performance against Queens Park Rangers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 21-year-old French midfielder opened the scoring with a powerful strike in the third minute, then laid the ball off for Camiel Neghli to score the Lions&#8217; second fourteen minutes later. Millwall went on to win the game 2-0.<\/p><script type=\"text\/plain\" data-tcf=\"waiting-for-consent\" data-id=\"69959\" data-bid=\"1\" data-placement=\"448384\" data-no-track=\"impressions\">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<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>Mazou-Sacko&#8217;s last start came against Portsmouth on November 22. He was sidelined by an ACL strain sustained at Fratton Park, then suffered a bone bruise in training in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I spoke to the lads after the game about the likes of Derek&#8217;s situation, where it&#8217;s tough when you&#8217;re not playing all the time,&#8221; Neil said. &#8220;What I&#8217;ve said to the lads is, irrespective of whether your part in this team is that size in one game and that size in another game, you&#8217;ve contributed to an unbelievable season for this club, and you&#8217;re a vital part of the team. <\/p><script type=\"text\/plain\" data-tcf=\"waiting-for-consent\" data-id=\"68153\" data-bid=\"1\" data-placement=\"448385\" data-no-track=\"impressions\">PGRpdiBpZD0ic291dGgtMjExNTEyODgxOCIgY2xhc3M9InNvdXRoLWNvbnRlbnQgc291dGgtZW50aXR5LXBsYWNlbWVudCIgc3R5bGU9Im1hcmdpbi1sZWZ0OiBhdXRvO21hcmdpbi1yaWdodDogYXV0bzt0ZXh0LWFsaWduOiBjZW50ZXI7Ij48IS0tICAvMTU0NzI1MDcwLDIyNjk0MTk2OTY5L3NvdXRod2Fya25ld3Mvc291dGh3YXJrbmV3cyAtLT4NCjxkaXYgaWQ9ImRpdi1ncHQtYWQtMngxIj4NCjxzY3JpcHQ+DQpnb29nbGV0YWcuY21kLnB1c2goZnVuY3Rpb24oKSB7IGdvb2dsZXRhZy5kaXNwbGF5KCdkaXYtZ3B0LWFkLTJ4MScpOyB9KTsNCjwvc2NyaXB0Pg0KPC9kaXY+ICAgICAgICAgIDwvZGl2Pg==<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Now, what you&#8217;ve got to do when you&#8217;re not playing is you&#8217;ve got to be a great support act for the rest of the lads that are playing, because when you&#8217;re playing, you&#8217;d expect them to do the same. That&#8217;s why this team is like that, and that&#8217;s why the dressing room has got so much in it because they fight for each other, they care for each other, they support each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Derek&#8217;s had to bide his time. And as you can see today, not only the fans, but the players couldn&#8217;t be any happier for Derek in terms of how he performed and how he influenced the game. So it&#8217;s brilliant.&#8221;<\/p><script type=\"text\/plain\" data-tcf=\"waiting-for-consent\" data-id=\"71156\" data-bid=\"1\" data-placement=\"448386\" data-no-track=\"impressions\">PGRpdiBpZD0ic291dGgtNTA2MTYwOTQzIiBjbGFzcz0ic291dGgtaW4tYXJ0aWNsZS1tcHU5IHNvdXRoLWVudGl0eS1wbGFjZW1lbnQiPjwhLS0gIC8xNTQ3MjUwNzAsMjI2OTQxOTY5Njkvc291dGh3YXJrbmV3cy9zb3V0aHdhcmtuZXdzIC0tPg0KPGRpdiBpZD0iZGl2LWdwdC1hZC1tcHU5Ij4NCjxzY3JpcHQ+DQpnb29nbGV0YWcuY21kLnB1c2goZnVuY3Rpb24oKSB7IGdvb2dsZXRhZy5kaXNwbGF5KCdkaXYtZ3B0LWFkLW1wdTknKTsgfSk7DQo8L3NjcmlwdD4NCjwvZGl2PiAgICAgPC9kaXY+<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>Mazou-Sacko has made 20 appearances in all competitions since signing from Ligue 2 Rodez AF last August, his first season outside France. He came through Troyes&#8217; academy and also spent a season out on loan at Nancy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mazou-Sacko&#8217;s English was limited when he joined the club, but has since improved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;He understands a hell of a lot more than he can speak,&#8221; Neil said. &#8220;But his footballing IQ is good. We still need to do a little bit of work with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a brilliant changing room. If you&#8217;re a lad coming from abroad and you want to come and try and fit in somewhere, our lads are brilliant. I&#8217;d imagine in other changing rooms you might feel quite lonely, and it&#8217;s difficult, but the lads are brilliant with him. <\/p><script type=\"text\/plain\" data-tcf=\"waiting-for-consent\" data-id=\"71157\" data-bid=\"1\" data-placement=\"448387\" data-no-track=\"impressions\">PGRpdiBpZD0ic291dGgtMjU1NzgzNDkyIiBjbGFzcz0ic291dGgtaW4tYXJ0aWNsZS1tcHUtMTAgc291dGgtZW50aXR5LXBsYWNlbWVudCI+PCEtLSAgLzE1NDcyNTA3MCwyMjY5NDE5Njk2OS9zb3V0aHdhcmtuZXdzL3NvdXRod2Fya25ld3MgLS0+DQo8ZGl2IGlkPSJkaXYtZ3B0LWFkLW1wdTEwIj4NCjxzY3JpcHQ+DQpnb29nbGV0YWcuY21kLnB1c2goZnVuY3Rpb24oKSB7IGdvb2dsZXRhZy5kaXNwbGF5KCdkaXYtZ3B0LWFkLW1wdTEwJyk7IH0pOw0KPC9zY3JpcHQ+DQo8L2Rpdj4gICAgIDwvZGl2Pg==<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve got [Thierno] Ballo, who&#8217;s a French speaker. Tristan [Crama] is a French speaker. I think Camiel Neghli, Casper [De Norre] can speak a bit of French. So we&#8217;ve got a lot of lads. Joe Bryan. I&#8217;m not sure he can. I think he&#8217;s got two words, and he keeps saying the same two words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a brilliant changing room to come in if you&#8217;re a young kid coming from abroad, you want to try and find your feet somewhere. The lads are sound.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ALEX Neil said all of Millwall&#8217;s squad, regardless of playing time, have contributed to an \u201cunbelievable season\u201d after Derek Mazou-Sacko marked his first start in five months with a man-of-the-match performance against Queens Park Rangers. The 21-year-old French midfielder opened the scoring with a powerful strike in the third minute, then laid the ball off [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18969,"featured_media":478082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfio_featured_image":true,"sfio_embed_code":"<smartframe-embed customer-id=\"b8c00f0bc75c1b7e35975e9d278ae7cf\" image-id=\"vqLeOJPrLRtT\" v=\"f9c32bd173b1b4ea497e63416f67ee6f\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 5136px; aspect-ratio: 5136\/2976;\"><\/smartframe-embed><!-- https:\/\/smartframe.io\/embedding-support -->","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[13590],"tags":[18186],"class_list":["post-478027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-millwall","tag-update-me"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18969"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478027"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":478084,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478027\/revisions\/478084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}