Millwall have managed to pull themselves further away from the drop zone in recent weeks but face an incredibly difficult fixture against Leeds United at Elland Road on Sunday afternoon.
The Lions were in a precarious position when the club decided to pull the trigger on Joe Edwards’ time in charge at The Den after merely 19 games. Even more controversial was the decision to reappoint former manager Neil Harris as head coach.
This was Harris’ third management job this season, having been sacked by League Two club Gillingham back in October before taking up the vacant role at Cambridge United a few weeks later. After just two months at the Abbey Stadium, the 46-year-old then left the U’s in a relegation scrap to move up the ladder again and return to Millwall.
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However, the return of Harris has proved pivotal to the club’s survival in the Championship thus far. Millwall are unbeaten in four league outings under the ex-player, having picked up important victories against Watford and Birmingham City while also earning three points away at Southampton.
Nevertheless, the job is not complete. The Lions still sit just five points above the relegation zone which could be cut even shorter after this Sunday’s trip to Yorkshire to take on title-chasers Leeds United.
Speaking ahead of the clash at Elland Road to South London Press, Millwall defender Joe Bryan has called for his teammates to have “no fear”, but admits that getting a result will be very difficult [quotes via the Yorkshire Evening Post]:
“The atmosphere there is always good. It’s always a very, very tough place to go but one we will relish – you like playing at places that are proper English football grounds. We enjoy those kind of fights.
“In this league, especially, you can’t ever go and fear a team. Myself, as a defender, I will defend as best that I can and attack as best that I can – run around,” he continued.
“If all 11 players of ours do that then we might come away with a result. We might not, but that’s just the way football works – we can only go in with no fear and try our best to win the match.”
Writer’s View
Losing against Leeds tomorrow wouldn’t be the end of the world, especially with matches against Rotherham United and Huddersfield Town coming up. It’s unlikely that Millwall will get a result given that Elland Road is arguably the toughest ground to go to in the league right now.
However, it will be very interesting to see how the Lions react to their first defeat under the head coach after riding the wave of the ‘new manager bounce’ for a couple of weeks now. Will they pick themselves up and dust themselves off or return to the form shown under Edwards? Only time will tell.
Deputy Head of Writing
