Having flicked through the fixtures (Birmingham,Liecester,Hull,Forest) the first wave suddenly seems pretty tough... I'm certainly a bit nervous... Whereas at the beginning of the summer I was pretty confident...
A good start is so vital this year (as always) ....
Nervous excitement ...
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Hamer- Good Keeper and will hold his own in this league.
Solly/ Wiggins- IMO potentially the best set of full backs in one team in the championship.
Morrison- A good defender, a leader and a threat at set plays.
Jackson- Posses a threat from dead ball situations around the box in which other teams will be mindful of, takes a good penalty.
Stephens- I believe that Dale will excel in this league given he will have more time on the ball, started well, and finished strongly towards the end of the season, good vision, and a good range of passing.
Pritchard- Full of running, could be key when he comes on as players tire with his running from deep.
Yann- Has a point to prove to Leicester, and is now a true fans favourite. He can now go on to get 15 plus goals, at times unplayable simply because you do not know if he is going to shoot. lay the ball off, as well as another option to Jackson when it comes to set plays.
Haynes- A very under rated player, pace to burn and a good finisher, could be a player that gives BWP a run for his money to partner Yann up front.
BWP- Same as Dale Stephens, think that this league will suit him better than League 1, as seen last season very much a confidence player.
Given the spine of the team, the fitness levels in which we evident last season, the momentum going into the new season, as well as the management team we will be able to hold our own.
Additional signings would help but at the same time they would have to be signings in which would strength the team and not just to please the fans, we have a very good team bond in which galvanized us a team and a club to win promotion last year and i see no reason why that shouldn't continue. The majority of the team have waited for this oppertunity to prove themselves at a higher level and after their performances laast season they have the right to do so, how else are players going to better themselves in their carer.
My only concern would be the goal keeping position, not a great fan of Sullivan, and given the performance at Fulham in the cup, it was evident that if Hamer had been in goal we would have pushed Fulham all the way.
I am sure given the chance there would be a few clubs/ managers that would like to sign a few of the players in which are in our squad, don't under estimate us, we are the unknown and not fancied to do well , in which will suit us just fine, enabling us to play under no pressure.
Formation/Tactics: around April, when our 4-4-2 was looking stale and we struggled a bit against different formations, i was concerned that our shape would be too predictable in the Champ. Clearly SCP has recognised this, and though the solution(s) are still evolving, we look less rigid now. Grounds for optimism...
Goalkeeper: I think Hamer is good enough. Sully a mixed bag though, as WIWLB above notes. I wonder how quickly Pope can develop
Defence: Obviously a strength last year, and yes, better strikers will punish us more, etc, so we'll concede more. But we should still have a defence that's mid-table quality - v good full backs and a manager who is also a great defensive coach
Midfield overall: this is a big question mark - we have very few proven players at this level. My bet is that SCP doesn't know what his best m/f is, at this point.
Midfield/defensive: Ok I think, though in some ways we looked best when Hughes was in the anchor role. Much depends on formation.
Midfield/creative. This was a weakness last year, in terms of open play. We relied on set pieces and/pr BWP ruthlessly converting a relatively small number of chances (granted, often very good chances). Set pieces are fine - you get these at all levels, and our quality last year was very high - we'll still bag a good few. But even last season we weren't creating much from open play in some games, and i am expecting more 0-0s, 1-1 that we would have won last year, etc etc.
Strikers. Jury out for me. BWP has the feel of a flat-track bully that struggles against better defences. I really hope I'm wrong, as we're not blessed with loads of options. I think a move away from 4-4-2 will suit Haynes, Cook better, but possibly not BWP. He may be more of a supersub at Champ level
Overall: i think we've enough quality (+ team spirit) for 10th-16th place. But we may be slow out of the blocks until we've settled on our best XI and formation
We gotta believe in these boys!!!
I know that sounds ludicrous after your record breaking season...but...he was able to buy the best players at his fellow league clubs, thus strengthening a club with good foundations already in place (the young players like Solly) and in front of fans known as pretty laid-back and who weren't expecting that much anyway, after the previous years of disappointment
Furthermore, the dressing room was filled with young players and players he had brought in from smaller clubs or off of other clubs' scrapheaps...so he was in a very strong position for a new manager, especially as a club legend with fans 100% behind him.
This season there will be a lot more bumps in the road, with little experience to draw upon.
Although everyone has to start somewhere - just saying be careful not to let hero worship actually make you get on his back (you know the sort of fans that do that) ie cos you rate him so highly you start to get on at him if you're losing to so called lowly Barnsley.
I think he's gonna need a lot of support from you lot this season - as the board seem to have vanished on him.
One thing really carried us through last season - and that was the team ethic.
That doesn't mean superior quality, but it does mean that we play for each other for 90 mins.
Still need to strengthen the squad IMO
Millwall, as a small club at this level, have always done alright by committed players - we've had more seasons at this level than the likes of Brighton, Bristol City, Hull City, Swansea, Plymouth, and Bradford City - all big (and bar Bristol City) one team places.