JOE Edwards has challenged his players to seize the moment with big first-team names set to be missing for the trip to Cardiff City.
George Saville and Jake Cooper both picked up their fifth yellow card of the season in the 1-1 draw with Sunderland last Saturday, meaning they will be suspended for the next game.
Far more worrying for fans is the calf injury picked by midfield talisman Casper De Norre, which will keep him out until at least Christmas and potentially longer. He joins Joe Bryan on the injury list.
Saville, Cooper and De Norre have been among the first names on the team-sheet in recent weeks and their absence opens the door for squad players and younger stars to try and make their mark.
Edwards said: “There will be enforced changes. When you come in somewhere new and with very little time on the training pitch with the international break and then three games last week, there’s not loads you get to see at points like that.
“So now there will be enforced changes and we’ll be having to dig deeper into the squad a bit – that’s opportunity, that’s how I see it. Of course I thought Coops did well at the weekend, Sav’s been a key player for us since I came in. They are losses.
“I really like the look of what I thought Casper would be able to offer our team in the way we like to play, so again it’s a loss. Like any team that loses key players, it’s a blow but it’s opportunity for others to come in and with a busy fixture schedule coming up, it gives everyone an opportunity to have an input.”
The entertaining draw with Sunderland proved to be huge step up in performance for Millwall compared to their awful 3-1 defeat away at Ipswich Town three days earlier.
Edwards thinks the difference in the way Millwall started the game, with the Lions 2-0 down after 12 minutes at Ipswich, was key.
He said: “The start of the game was big. Obviously goals can change any game. When you go to somewhere like Ipswich and you know how freely they’re scoring and you concede so early and when you concede another straight after, it can really kill the whole feel. So as much as I was critical of the players after the game for the basics, I do understand had that game at Ipswich stayed 0-0 later, it is easier to get yourself going.
“So the way we started the Sunderland game we were aggressive but Sunderland were on top in terms of the ball. But you could see that once we were compact and resolute and realised we could deal with it, then we grew in confidence. And just in general our work ethic, our compactness off the ball made us difficult to play against. They’re a good team at handling the ball but they weren’t creating much and I feel once the players got comfort from that, we grew in confidence and in general we were more difficult to break down.”
A penalty by Jack Clarke saw Sunderland grab the equaliser after a brilliant, first-half team goal which saw Millwall work the ball from back to front. Edwards, who is trying to gradually introduce a more progressive style of play at The Den, was impressed.
He said: “Lenny [Ryan Leonard] came inside the pitch so we could get Brooke out in that wide area to try and get him one v one as he’s a big attacking threat for us.
“And when you score goals like that, you have to give players credit for the technical execution of it as when it’s not there, you get punished. We had some good crossing positions at Ipswich where the quality was poor. And then in this instance, Brooke couldn’t deliver it anymore perfectly and then that’s what Nis has done for two games now, get the chance and finish.”
