Over the last few years, Millwall have had a very good record at home and a not so good record on the road. This year it seems to be the other way round. With seven league defeats at home this season, the Den is no longer a place to fear for opposing teams. The hostility of our atmosphere may still be there from time to time, but it's not a difficult place to go this season in terms of picking up points.
With no home league wins so far in 2012, this backs up my arguement. There are many reasons for our poor home form, which I'm going to discuss. First of all, tactics. We seem to give teams too much respect when playing at home. Some games we've played five in midfield, or an extra defender in midfield. Occasionally our play is too predictable, when Darius Henderson is playing especially. We rely on our central defenders to lump balls forward to Henderson, allowing him to bring other players into play.
We needed width in the team. James Henry has offered us that since he's been back in the side. We already look a much better proposition with him in the team, however results at home are still bad. You could blame the pitch, which looks truly awful at the moment. I have no idea whats causing it, but it needs to be sorted. Kenny Jackett has used it as an excuse the odd time, well if it's a problem then just sort it. This could be a reason for our downfall at home. In our games away at Brighton and Peterborough, their pitch has been immaculate which allowed us to play on the ground. In those games we came away with a 2-2 draw and a 3-0 win. Both games were arguably our best performances of the season.
Playing infront of our home crowd could be another factor. Some will be thinking that surely this works in our advantage. In some cases yes, but when the team is playing poorly and fans are getting on their back, it can effect players confidence. I'm probably guilty of singling out particular players for abuse whilst at a game, but maybe thats not the right thing to do. We need to be supporting the team from the off, making the opposition feel intimidated and not our own players.
This season, playing away from home seems to be a different story for once. We usually struggle on our travels. We've won our last two away games convincingly, winning four in the league in total this season. I know that isn't brilliant but trust me, this is Millwall we're talking about and that's a great away record going by our history. We probably should have more away wins to our name based on performances. In every away league win this season we have scored three goals. Pretty impressive, but I just wish we could do it at home every now and again.
We seem to adopt a different style of play away from home. We play football on the ground, spreading the ball about the pitch, retaining possession well. The fact that away from home there is less pressure on the players may also result in better performances. Obviously there are less Millwall fans in attendance away from home than at home, so there is less chance of a particular player being singled out for a stupid mistake.
Maybe I've got it all wrong. It's difficult to put your finger on it really. All of these arguements are valid, but may not be accurate. Looking at our fixtures, we play most of the teams around us away and all of our home games are against teams in the top half. Something tells me that we could see plenty more home defeats and away victorys for the rest of the season.
Wednesday 7 March 2012
Tuesday 6 March 2012
David Forde: The scapegoat of our season
David Forde. At 32 years of age, Forde is an experienced member of our squad. This season, just like the team itself, he has been very poor and has been subject of lots of criticism. Some will say that he's cost us lots of points this season. From the two poor goals conceded at home against Peterborough back in August, to the more recent mistake last month at Brighton following Kazenga Lua-Lua's late free-kick.
I totally agree with his critics. Infact you could say that I am one of them. In League One he was a very good goalkeeper. He had one of the best clean sheet records in our two Play-Off seasons in League One. We had one of the best defensive records in the Championship last season too. However, something has gone wrong this season.
Forde was prone to mistakes before, however he made up for it with heroic penalty saves and good overall performances where he wins us points. The thing is that this season, Forde has cost us more points than he's won us. Jackett has dropped him once or twice this season when his performances haven't been acceptable. Steve Mildenhall, our backup goalkeeper, isn't brilliant either which shows that Forde doesn't have any real competition for the number one jersey.
One thing that Forde is always singled out for is the fact that he's poor when commanding his area. When a corner comes in, he flaps at it or punches it away instead of claiming it. An example of this was on Saturday against Reading, where he cost us all three points. For the first goal, he punched away a corner kick straight out to an attacker on the edge of the box, who smashed the ball in the top corner.
He is also poor at getting down to shots. Against Peterborough at home in August, he let in two goals from 20 yards which were hit very poorly, scuffed you could say. What happened? Forde got down way to slow to it and they both went in the bottom corner. He had a spell out injured earlier in the season, so maybe he's still getting his confidence back. It doesn't help that he's getting abused, but it's very frustrating to see him making mistakes week after week.
You could also argue that he isn't being coached properly. Tony Burns is our goalkeeping coach and he is approaching his 68th birthday. Yes he's experienced, but maybe we could do with someone more youthful to coach Forde. Then again, what do I know? I'm a Millwall fan.
Forde is also the third choice goalkeeper for the Republic of Ireland national team. Shay Given of Aston Villa and Kieran Westwood of Sunderland are ahead of him in the pecking order. Forde has two caps, one of which came against a weakened Italy side where Forde kept a clean sheet. Possibly one of his proudest achivements to date. Ireland must be desperate if Forde is their third best goalkeeper. No, I'm not exaggerating here.
On some Millwall messages boards, fans of the elder generation have described Forde as 'one of the worst goalkeepers in our history'. There's the evidence that he really is poor. There was Premier League interest in him last season. I bet the clubs interested are relieved that they didn't persue their interest. Basically, we need a new goalkeeper in the summer, if not two.
I totally agree with his critics. Infact you could say that I am one of them. In League One he was a very good goalkeeper. He had one of the best clean sheet records in our two Play-Off seasons in League One. We had one of the best defensive records in the Championship last season too. However, something has gone wrong this season.
Forde was prone to mistakes before, however he made up for it with heroic penalty saves and good overall performances where he wins us points. The thing is that this season, Forde has cost us more points than he's won us. Jackett has dropped him once or twice this season when his performances haven't been acceptable. Steve Mildenhall, our backup goalkeeper, isn't brilliant either which shows that Forde doesn't have any real competition for the number one jersey.
One thing that Forde is always singled out for is the fact that he's poor when commanding his area. When a corner comes in, he flaps at it or punches it away instead of claiming it. An example of this was on Saturday against Reading, where he cost us all three points. For the first goal, he punched away a corner kick straight out to an attacker on the edge of the box, who smashed the ball in the top corner.
He is also poor at getting down to shots. Against Peterborough at home in August, he let in two goals from 20 yards which were hit very poorly, scuffed you could say. What happened? Forde got down way to slow to it and they both went in the bottom corner. He had a spell out injured earlier in the season, so maybe he's still getting his confidence back. It doesn't help that he's getting abused, but it's very frustrating to see him making mistakes week after week.
You could also argue that he isn't being coached properly. Tony Burns is our goalkeeping coach and he is approaching his 68th birthday. Yes he's experienced, but maybe we could do with someone more youthful to coach Forde. Then again, what do I know? I'm a Millwall fan.
Forde is also the third choice goalkeeper for the Republic of Ireland national team. Shay Given of Aston Villa and Kieran Westwood of Sunderland are ahead of him in the pecking order. Forde has two caps, one of which came against a weakened Italy side where Forde kept a clean sheet. Possibly one of his proudest achivements to date. Ireland must be desperate if Forde is their third best goalkeeper. No, I'm not exaggerating here.
On some Millwall messages boards, fans of the elder generation have described Forde as 'one of the worst goalkeepers in our history'. There's the evidence that he really is poor. There was Premier League interest in him last season. I bet the clubs interested are relieved that they didn't persue their interest. Basically, we need a new goalkeeper in the summer, if not two.
Thursday 1 March 2012
February Review
February produced a month of ups and downs for Millwall. Nothing new there then. The Lions faced a tough and lengthly set of fixtures in February due to their FA Cup and Championship commitments. Our first test came against West Ham United at Upton Park, a fixture which everyone had looked out for when they were released during the summer. Following their relegation from the Premier League last season, the Hammers still had plenty of experienced Premier League and International players amongst their ranks.
The game was shown live on Sky Sports on Saturday 4th February with a 12:30pm kick-off. The home side were reduced to 10 men inside the opening 10 minutes as captain Kevin Nolan was given a straight red card following a two-footed lunge on Jack Smith. Millwall failed to capitalise on the man advantage and West Ham went in at half-time a goal up. Carlton Cole headed in from close range with seconds left of the first period. In the second half, Liam Trotter put Millwall level just after the hour mark with a sublime finish from the edge of the area. This would give us momentum to push on for that winning goal with a man advantage, right?
Wrong. A long punt forward from the West Ham defence was punched away by David Forde who was clattered following a challenge from Julien Faubert. Everyone in the ground thought the ref would blow for a free-kick, but no. Winston Reid smashed the ball into an empty net from outside the area. 2-1 to the referee you could say. Millwall pushed right til the end but couldn't grab the equaliser. 1 defeat after 1 game in February then.
Three days later, Millwall travelled to St Mary's to take on fellow Championship opposition Southampton in an FA Cup 4th round replay. We took a shock lead through Liam Trotter within the first 20 minutes, then Adam Lallana replied for the home side after 35 minutes. In the second half, Rickie Lambert put Southampton 2-1 up with 15 minutes left. Around 5 minutes later, former Saints man Dany N'Guessan made it 2-2 with a header following a well-worked move from James Henry. Then in the 90th minute, sub Liam Feeney's curling shot from 18-yards found the far corner to put Millwall 3-2 up and through to round five.
Surely that would give us the confidence going into our home game with Derby County on Saturday February 11th. Nope, the game finished goalless. There were three shots on target in the entire game. Derby's Craig Bryson missed an open goal from a few yards out. That summed up the game. We need to be winning games like this, especially at home. Brighton away was next up just a few days later on a Tuesday night. One of our best performances of the season, however we drew 2-2. Andy Keogh scored his first Millwall goal after the 20 minute mark. In the second half, Sam Vokes levelled for Brighton before Liam Feeney's tap in restored our lead. In the 88th minute, a Kazenga Lua-Lua free-kick was parried in by Forde and the game finished 2-2. It was a bitterly dissapointing result given how well we played.
The games were coming thick and fast. Saturday, Tuesday every week. Premier League strugglers Bolton were up next at the Den in the FA Cup 5th round. The visitors ran out 2-0 winners but there were some positives. We certainly should've had a goal to our name. We played some nice stuff but to no avail. Ryo Miyaichi and David N'Gog with the goals for Bolton as they progressed to the quarter-finals. Another home game, another Tuesday game. Middlesbrough at home were next as we approached the end of the month. We lost 3-1. Marvin Emnes with two and Curtis Main with the other as Middlesbrough earnt all three points. Darius Henderson scored for us before the break to make it 1-2, but we were punished for not taking our chances. We camped in Boro's half for the whole second period but we still couldn't score.
Last up, the result of the month. A 3-1 away win against Burnley. Keogh gave us an early lead inside 15 minutes smashing home following some poor defending. Then, the goal of the season. Scott Barron's free-kick was headed away, however it fell to Josh Wright some 30-yards from goal. He hit it first time and the ball sailed straight past Lee Grant in the Burnley goal. Some way to score your first Millwall goal. Harry Kane bagged his first league goal for the club in the second half to make it 3-0. Jay Rodriguez replied from the penalty spot in injury time as Millwall earned three valuable points.
Five points from 15 isn't great, but hopefully with some key games coming up in March we can start to turn the corner at the business end of the season. That's it. I'll be back at the end of March for the next monthly review.
The game was shown live on Sky Sports on Saturday 4th February with a 12:30pm kick-off. The home side were reduced to 10 men inside the opening 10 minutes as captain Kevin Nolan was given a straight red card following a two-footed lunge on Jack Smith. Millwall failed to capitalise on the man advantage and West Ham went in at half-time a goal up. Carlton Cole headed in from close range with seconds left of the first period. In the second half, Liam Trotter put Millwall level just after the hour mark with a sublime finish from the edge of the area. This would give us momentum to push on for that winning goal with a man advantage, right?
Wrong. A long punt forward from the West Ham defence was punched away by David Forde who was clattered following a challenge from Julien Faubert. Everyone in the ground thought the ref would blow for a free-kick, but no. Winston Reid smashed the ball into an empty net from outside the area. 2-1 to the referee you could say. Millwall pushed right til the end but couldn't grab the equaliser. 1 defeat after 1 game in February then.
Three days later, Millwall travelled to St Mary's to take on fellow Championship opposition Southampton in an FA Cup 4th round replay. We took a shock lead through Liam Trotter within the first 20 minutes, then Adam Lallana replied for the home side after 35 minutes. In the second half, Rickie Lambert put Southampton 2-1 up with 15 minutes left. Around 5 minutes later, former Saints man Dany N'Guessan made it 2-2 with a header following a well-worked move from James Henry. Then in the 90th minute, sub Liam Feeney's curling shot from 18-yards found the far corner to put Millwall 3-2 up and through to round five.
Surely that would give us the confidence going into our home game with Derby County on Saturday February 11th. Nope, the game finished goalless. There were three shots on target in the entire game. Derby's Craig Bryson missed an open goal from a few yards out. That summed up the game. We need to be winning games like this, especially at home. Brighton away was next up just a few days later on a Tuesday night. One of our best performances of the season, however we drew 2-2. Andy Keogh scored his first Millwall goal after the 20 minute mark. In the second half, Sam Vokes levelled for Brighton before Liam Feeney's tap in restored our lead. In the 88th minute, a Kazenga Lua-Lua free-kick was parried in by Forde and the game finished 2-2. It was a bitterly dissapointing result given how well we played.
The games were coming thick and fast. Saturday, Tuesday every week. Premier League strugglers Bolton were up next at the Den in the FA Cup 5th round. The visitors ran out 2-0 winners but there were some positives. We certainly should've had a goal to our name. We played some nice stuff but to no avail. Ryo Miyaichi and David N'Gog with the goals for Bolton as they progressed to the quarter-finals. Another home game, another Tuesday game. Middlesbrough at home were next as we approached the end of the month. We lost 3-1. Marvin Emnes with two and Curtis Main with the other as Middlesbrough earnt all three points. Darius Henderson scored for us before the break to make it 1-2, but we were punished for not taking our chances. We camped in Boro's half for the whole second period but we still couldn't score.
Last up, the result of the month. A 3-1 away win against Burnley. Keogh gave us an early lead inside 15 minutes smashing home following some poor defending. Then, the goal of the season. Scott Barron's free-kick was headed away, however it fell to Josh Wright some 30-yards from goal. He hit it first time and the ball sailed straight past Lee Grant in the Burnley goal. Some way to score your first Millwall goal. Harry Kane bagged his first league goal for the club in the second half to make it 3-0. Jay Rodriguez replied from the penalty spot in injury time as Millwall earned three valuable points.
Five points from 15 isn't great, but hopefully with some key games coming up in March we can start to turn the corner at the business end of the season. That's it. I'll be back at the end of March for the next monthly review.
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