The games keep coming thick and fast at the moment don’t they? Whilst we still struggle to come down off our high of Saturday’s derby day demolition job, refocussing from the team will be crucial as we travel to East London for yet another high stakes game against one of the sides ‘in and amongst it’ at the wrong end of the table with us. No doubts a frosty reception awaits us as we head into the Lion’s Den for a potential ‘double’ against Millwall but with the Bluebirds unbeaten in 2025 (and in fact since Boxing Day) we should be going into this one with respect but also no fear. With a later kick off (8pm) for the benefit of the Sky cameras, we will once again have the chance to shine in front of a TV audience – don’t let us down boys…. Who Are You? Our hosts on Tuesday night are now managed by former Preston and Stole gaffer Alex Neil following the mutual parting of ways between former Bluebird boss and Lion’s legend Neil Harris back at the end of December. Of the 3 league games played under the Scot’s guidance the Lion’s have picked up 1 point, but they did have a 3-0 victory against Dagenham & Redbridge in the cup, giving the new gaffer a 25% win rate overall. Top scorer for Millwall so far this season is the chunky ex-Sunderland striker Duncan Watmore who’s picked up 5 goals this term together with 1 assist. Hot on his heels was the highly rated Romain Esse. He had 4 goals and an assist to his name but a move to Premier League Crystal Palace has now happened – a big loss to the East Londoners. The team has plenty of Championship experience throughout though with the likes of the pretty long serving George Saville, Macaulay Longstaff , George Honeyman and ex-Wurzel Joe Bryan. Wales International forward Tom Bradshaw is no longer a Lion, instead becoming part of the ongoing development at Oxford, but Millwall have moved to replace him with the signing of Sunderland’s Aaron Connolly. Also joining Connolly as a new arrival is now ex-Brentford defender Tristan Crama. The 23 year old Frenchman was on loan at Exeter City during the first half of the season but now steps up to the Championship with our hosts. Last Time Out & Form Last time saw our struggling Bluebirds pick up their first win of the season at the 8th attempt as the then interim Omer Riza oversaw the beginning of a purple patch that saw us go on a 6 game unbeaten run to lift ourselves away from the drop zone. In just his 2nd game in charge Riza achieved what Erol Bulut couldn’t do in picking up 3 points, in a game that the Bluebirds deserved to win on the day with a goal from Perry Ng following a corner from Joe Ralls. A poor crowd of under 16k were at the CCS to witness the beginning of our turn around. Sadly as we know, the mini run was soon undone by another poor run of results that once again slid us into danger. Will this time be different given that we’re in the middle and not the start of our current purple patch? Millwall come into this one in pretty poor form. With just 1 win in their last 6 (that coming at home to Blackburn before Christmas) they have slowly been dragged back into relegation contention and sit just 3 points and 3 places above the Bluebirds. Their last outing was a 1-0 home defeat to our relegation rivals Hull City (most unhelpful of them to lose that one - let's just hope they are equally as kind to us!). Millwall’s away record is very similar to our own, picking up 10 points from their 12 games played, bit with just a solitary win (that being back in October against our little cousins who I’m sure are still licking their wounds today after a bruising weekend ) and even at home they haven’t really fared much better with the 18th best home record (and just 1 win more than ourselves on our own patch). One thing that may play into the Bluebirds’ hands on Tuesday evening is the fact that Millwall are the divisions lowest scorers (yep, even worse than we are ) with 24 goals from their 26 games played so far. Conversely though, they also have the 6th meanest defence, conceding an equal 24 goals over that period, giving them a 0 goal difference, so a tough task may lie ahead for the City’s attacking line. In, Out Or No Sign Of Them About The loss of Callum O’Dowda to what looked like a hamstring issue on Saturday was a bit of a blow, but with the performance put in by Joel Bagan when he came on you wonder if he’ll be as big a miss as first feared? The greatest compliment I could pay Bagan was that we didn’t really notice O’Dowda’s absence on Saturday in a very heated game. Barring any other knocks or fatigue, I really can’t see Omer Riza wanting to change a thing, I mean why would he? The team really appear to be gelling as an overall unit now and they should still be on such a wave of confidence after Saturday that changing things would seem counter-intuitive and in Callum Robinson we have a man who is clearly eager to add to his double digit tally! Predicted Starting 11 Alnwick Rinomhota Daland Goutas Bagan Robertson Ralls Robinson Ashford Tanner Robbo waves cheerio to the Jacks on Saturday, politely thanking them for their generosity. The Odds Bods Bartley delighted to be called in for this, though his Millwall counterpart looks a little shocked at the odds! Match Day Melody After the weekend we need to show no fear, even if….. We'll be ok right? Even if London does end up burning, we live by the river (Taff) Blooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds!!!
Lovely read and also thought-provoking. I always see Millwall as a banana skin but Brizzle's positivity is infectious......just like Masky but in a different way. Not sure what to make of those ords!
It’s about time we got a result at Millwall. Not sure when we last won there but recall a 4-0 win there in the early 80’s and a win when I think Maynard got badly injured under Mackay.
Ah. It's time for those east enders at the dirty Den. As you say Brizzle, we need to look out for physical, mental and emotional fatigue after the heroics of Saturday. It's also time for our guys to believe in themselves a bit more. No more going defensive after one goal. It's an old cliche that the best form of defence is attack but it seems to apply to us and deprived we can press effectively.That said, our defence is growing into shape too. Great work Brizzle. Thank you Bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds
That's a good shout Nin, from looking back our last win on their patch was 2012!! Our record against them is pretty woeful so what better time to put that right? We've certainly started setting the record straight v the Jacks so let's just keep the ball rolling.
Big game tonight. After the euphoria of Saturday this is the sort of match where we have come down with a bump in the past. If Riza can keep the enthusiasm going we can start off well and press them back. Get their crowd to turn ugly (not difficult) and we can get another good result before demolishing the Snow Queens on Saturday.
I was wondering the same. Surely has to be down to injuries after the heroics of Saturday. If so, hope they're not serious injuries.
Tanner took a heavy knock on Saturday. Maybe struggling from that. Ashford benched as well. A bit of squad rotation I suppose.
Oops, good spot Irish. My bad for trying to tidy up my lineup but getting distracted! In saying that, with Chambers' recent performances he's pretty much omnipresent, so it goes without saying that he's there!! Good job he is there too looking at the lineup tonight, bit of a shock seeing 5 changes.
