BY ALEX GRACE
Alex Neil is aware of Millwall’s goal scoring issues but is looking forward to the challenge of increasing their threat in the final third.
The Lions have scored the fewest goals in the Championship this season with just 22 scored in 24 games. The South Londoners are underperforming in front of goal, their xG (expected goals) are 30.3 – compared to the 22 that they have scored.
Millwall have also missed 29 ‘big chances’ and blanked in the New Year’s Day defeat to Oxford United.
Neil, appointed Lions head coach on Monday on a long-term contract, took charge for the first time in the Lions’ 1-0 reverse to Oxford United at The Den.
“We need to carry more of a threat and score more goals,” said Neil.
“Over the course of the season we have either mostly won or lost by one goal, which is highly unusual. We are the lowest scorers in the league -there are bits we need to get better at.
“The volume of chances is going to be important. What we need to do is create chances and we need to be clinical in those moments. That will be the difference between the teams at the top end and those lower down.
“There are teams that can put in really strong performances – they can be strong and they can dominate the ball – but that one key moment is the difference. What you find is players produce that, don’t they?
“There are some teams in the league that might not play well but they have players that can skip past two or three and fire it into the top corner – but those players cost millions and millions of pounds.
“For us, we want to develop the style, we want to try and make sure we are more of a threat but try to keep that solidity which is synonymous with Millwall and one of the key strengths of this club.
“That’s the balance I need to try and strike. It’s not going to be easy but I’m looking forward to it.”
Neil opted to start Macaulay Langstaff and Mihailo Ivanovic – strikers signed in the summer transfer window from Notts County and Vojvodina respectively – against Oxford in an attempt to improve his Millwall’s potency.
“It worked really well for 30 minutes,” said Neil. “We got down the sides of Oxford a lot and that’s where our best chances come from.
“The reason I did it was that I’m very conscious of the fact we don’t score enough goals and I thought ‘it’s a good game, at home, my first match, the fans will be there and they will be up for it’.
“No disrespect to Oxford, we are playing a team that, if we perform, there is no reason we can’t win the game, so that was the main reason I did it.”
Our website reported recently that Millwall are looking to bring in a number 10 in the January window.
The Lions allowed Zian Flemming to join Burnley at the very end of the last period for player trading and did not have time to source a replacement.
“I don’t think at the moment we have a natural 10,” said Neil. “Femi (Azeez) was ill before the game. He said at half past nine this morning that he could give us 30 minutes off the bench at most.
“We’ve had our challenges, we have quite a few players missing at the moment as well.
“If Femi was fit I might have considered putting Romain (Esse) in there [as the number 10] and putting Femi wide. Aidomo (Emakhu) is also injured. If we had those options I might have tinkered with that slightly but I felt today we didn’t have much of a choice.”