{"id":478201,"date":"2026-04-21T09:48:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T08:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/?p=478201"},"modified":"2026-04-21T09:51:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T08:51:22","slug":"alex-neil-tells-millwall-squad-to-shut-out-noise-in-top-two-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/sport\/football\/millwall\/alex-neil-tells-millwall-squad-to-shut-out-noise-in-top-two-race\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Don&#8217;t play the occasion&#8217; &#8211; Alex Neil tells Millwall squad to shut out noise in top-two race"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>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. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.  <\/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>The day after Millwall&#8217;s win at The Den, Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough drew 1-1, with both sides having lost their previous match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p><script type=\"text\/plain\" data-tcf=\"waiting-for-consent\" data-id=\"68153\" data-bid=\"1\" data-placement=\"448385\" data-no-track=\"impressions\">PGRpdiBpZD0ic291dGgtMjE0NDUwNjM3OCIgY2xhc3M9InNvdXRoLWNvbnRlbnQgc291dGgtZW50aXR5LXBsYWNlbWVudCIgc3R5bGU9Im1hcmdpbi1sZWZ0OiBhdXRvO21hcmdpbi1yaWdodDogYXV0bzt0ZXh0LWFsaWduOiBjZW50ZXI7Ij48IS0tICAvMTU0NzI1MDcwLDIyNjk0MTk2OTY5L3NvdXRod2Fya25ld3Mvc291dGh3YXJrbmV3cyAtLT4NCjxkaXYgaWQ9ImRpdi1ncHQtYWQtMngxIj4NCjxzY3JpcHQ+DQpnb29nbGV0YWcuY21kLnB1c2goZnVuY3Rpb24oKSB7IGdvb2dsZXRhZy5kaXNwbGF5KCdkaXYtZ3B0LWFkLTJ4MScpOyB9KTsNCjwvc2NyaXB0Pg0KPC9kaXY+ICAgICAgICAgIDwvZGl2Pg==<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>Neil was asked if he had his eye on automatic promotion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think about it that way, and I know sometimes that might ruffle a few feathers,&#8221; Neil said. <\/p><script type=\"text\/plain\" data-tcf=\"waiting-for-consent\" data-id=\"71156\" data-bid=\"1\" data-placement=\"448386\" data-no-track=\"impressions\">PGRpdiBpZD0ic291dGgtNjYzOTg3NjYzIiBjbGFzcz0ic291dGgtaW4tYXJ0aWNsZS1tcHU5IHNvdXRoLWVudGl0eS1wbGFjZW1lbnQiPjwhLS0gIC8xNTQ3MjUwNzAsMjI2OTQxOTY5Njkvc291dGh3YXJrbmV3cy9zb3V0aHdhcmtuZXdzIC0tPg0KPGRpdiBpZD0iZGl2LWdwdC1hZC1tcHU5Ij4NCjxzY3JpcHQ+DQpnb29nbGV0YWcuY21kLnB1c2goZnVuY3Rpb24oKSB7IGdvb2dsZXRhZy5kaXNwbGF5KCdkaXYtZ3B0LWFkLW1wdTknKTsgfSk7DQo8L3NjcmlwdD4NCjwvZGl2PiAgICAgPC9kaXY+<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Why not? You&#8217;re sitting second in the league. Because there&#8217;s still so many games to be played. Not only that, though, we&#8217;re not at the stage where if we win all our games, then we finish second. That&#8217;s not how things are. There are teams that have games in hand or whatever the case may be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;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&#8217;s just too much to consume. That&#8217;s why I never encourage the players to read and listen to what people say. You can only consume so much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Sometimes the best thing to do is just have a clear mind and a clear brain and focus on what&#8217;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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been coaching for well over a decade, and it&#8217;s the best way to approach it. And I&#8217;ve done three play-offs, and we&#8217;ve managed to be successful in each and every one of them. But it&#8217;s because we only focus on what&#8217;s in front of us. We don&#8217;t get carried away with anything.&#8221;<\/p><script type=\"text\/plain\" data-tcf=\"waiting-for-consent\" data-id=\"71157\" data-bid=\"1\" data-placement=\"448387\" data-no-track=\"impressions\">PGRpdiBpZD0ic291dGgtMjg4ODI0Njg3MiIgY2xhc3M9InNvdXRoLWluLWFydGljbGUtbXB1LTEwIHNvdXRoLWVudGl0eS1wbGFjZW1lbnQiPjwhLS0gIC8xNTQ3MjUwNzAsMjI2OTQxOTY5Njkvc291dGh3YXJrbmV3cy9zb3V0aHdhcmtuZXdzIC0tPg0KPGRpdiBpZD0iZGl2LWdwdC1hZC1tcHUxMCI+DQo8c2NyaXB0Pg0KZ29vZ2xldGFnLmNtZC5wdXNoKGZ1bmN0aW9uKCkgeyBnb29nbGV0YWcuZGlzcGxheSgnZGl2LWdwdC1hZC1tcHUxMCcpOyB9KTsNCjwvc2NyaXB0Pg0KPC9kaXY+ICAgICA8L2Rpdj4=<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>Neil was asked how he stops the noise from creeping in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;When you&#8217;re commentating, or you&#8217;re commenting on the playoffs, your job&#8217;s to build it up,&#8221; Neil said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a big crescendo and look how important and exciting it is. The problem you&#8217;ve got with players is they consume that as much as anybody else at the moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I just try to bring them back down to reality a little bit. All the big hullabaloo that happens, that&#8217;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&#8217;t play the occasion, play the game.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18969,"featured_media":478233,"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=\"vqLew2jVSIF8\" v=\"f9c32bd173b1b4ea497e63416f67ee6f\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 5320px; aspect-ratio: 5320\/3332;\"><\/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-478201","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\/478201","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=478201"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":478235,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478201\/revisions\/478235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}