Just four points separate the two sides going head-to-head at The Den tomorrow
In order to maintain their impressive league success, Joe Edwards says he and his players are being cautious.
Following their FA Cup break last week, Millwall will make their Championship debut tomorrow. The team is currently enjoying a run of three straight wins and four straight clean sheets in the division.
However, as Chelsea, Edwards’ previous team, found out on Tuesday night, Middlesbrough look to be a tough nut to crack.
Shortly after exerting relentless pressure on Aston Villa in one of the FA Cup matches played on Saturday night, Boro defeated the Blues 1-0 in the first-leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.
After Millwall’s last game, Michael Carrick’s team has played two games. During his pre-game news conference, Joe Edwards was asked if his team could benefit from their cup efforts.
To be honest, it’s difficult to know, the Lions manager said to reporters. You can always flip this circumstance whenever you look at it. In contrast to us, who had a clear week, they had a lot of work this week and most likely had a late night on Tuesday, which may have affected their training.
However, you also possess their confidence and momentum from playing well against two elite teams. They might have a little more energy going into this game as a result. We’ll attempt not to read too much into it when we prepare this week because we had a hectic week over Christmas and experienced our best time of the year. We simply examine them like we always do in an effort to obtain as much clarity as we can regarding the potential contributions they may make.
But as I constantly say, we are the centre of attention. We haven’t even come close to playing the two, three, or four games that I would like us to play, even though we have probably played pretty well.
He went on, “You can never just assume that it will just continue like that,” in reference to Millwall’s form. Since complacency is currently the enemy, this week has seen a lot of concentration. We also know what to expect from our opponent because they have themselves produced two outstanding performances against Premier League opponents.
Since taking over as Middlesbrough’s manager in October 2022 and guiding the team to fourth place in his first season in management, including a loss in the play-off semifinal, Carrick has garnered high praise.
After an incredible, if somewhat underrated, playing career in which he won five Premier League titles and one Champions League with Manchester United, he has had a stellar start to his managerial career.
When asked if he and Carrick were similar, Edwards smiled and replied, “He was a slightly better player than I was, ever so slightly.”
“I know one of Michael’s assistants, Aaron Danks, very well; we were teammates in the England setup,” he continued. I believe that our journeys are significantly more comparable than Michael’s and mine were. Thus, Aaron undoubtedly has an impact.
“I get the parallels. Probably a lot of similarities with our idealised vision of how we want our teams to perform. Working with elite teams and players has been advantageous to both of us. Thus, when it comes to creating, maintaining possession, and managing games, we have both been really lucky to be able to coach at these levels.
In terms of the number of games he has managed in the Championship and, in particular, the number of victories he secured last year, Michael has undoubtedly been at this for a fair deal longer than I have. We have a tough game this weekend because of how well-coached they are, but I have the utmost regard for the work he’s done so far.
Both clubs struggle with injuries, and Boro’s much lengthier list of ailments seemed to become worse on Tuesday when Emmanuel Latte Lath and Alex Bangura both left the game against Chelsea in the first 20 minutes due to injuries. Better news for Millwall fans: according to Edwards, Murray Wallace and Brooke Norton-Cuffy could both be ready to start on the bench.
However, this doesn’t really solve the Millwall manager’s shortage of centre backs who are ready to play from the outset. Now that the Lions have been comfortable with using a back three in recent weeks, the only players available are Wes Harding and Jake Cooper.
Edwards made a suggestion that he was prepared to start full-back Danny McNamara in the final defensive position following his successful substitution of Ryan Leonard during the 3-2 FA Cup loss to Leicester City.
“I’m comfortable saying I’m a big believer in consistency, particularly in that backline,” he stated, without giving anything away about the club. And when Lenny was hurt in the first half of the match against Leicester, Danny McNamara entered on the right side of the back three and performed admirably for the rest of the game.
“Ryan Longman, who replaced Leonard, enabled McNamara to transition to the right wing-back position. Once again, he performed above and beyond his defensive duties while also providing a strong offensive outlet.
“These injuries do what they do. It puts your squad’s depth to the test. It is necessary to find items and candidates for roles that may not be the ideal fits for them theoretically. However, after Ryan [Leonard] was hurt, we made adjustments because we still felt like a formidable team. I hope we can get more bodies back sooner rather than later, and we’ll be fine to cover it.
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