MILLWALL travel to South Wales for their second away match of the Championship campaign.
The Lions will face a Swansea side who haven’t started the season as well as they’d hoped, although they come into the match off the back of a 1-0 win away at Blackpool.
Gary Rowett will be hoping that his side can pick up their first away win of the season, but Millwall have failed to win any of the previous five meeting between the two clubs.
We spoke to Swansea fan Alex Thomas to get the lowdown on the Swans ahead of the match.
1. What was last season like for Swansea City?
Last season was a transition to say the least, with Russell Martin taking over five days before our opening league fixture and implementing a totally different style of play to Steve Cooper. When we were at our best, we were a match for anyone in the division – our trip to The Den was one of our better performances. But we were very inconsistent, once the opposition scored you feared how many it would end up being. I think our 15th placed finish was a fair reflection of what we were.
2. Who’ve been the key signings and departures so far this summer?
The main departure is Flynn Downes, who joined West Ham for over £10 million. We also saw Ben Hamer leave for Watford and Korey Smith sign for Derby County. Downes has been replaced by a former fan favourite in Joe Allen, who left Stoke after six years, rejoining Swans after 10 years away. Martin also reunited with two of his players who he worked with at MK Dons – Harry Darling, a ball playing defender for £1.5 million, and Matty Sorinola, who’s on loan from Union SG in Belgium. Sorinola is a wing-back who can play on either side. Nathan Wood also bolstered the defence after arriving from Middlesbrough for an undisclosed fee.
3. How was pre-season and the start to your competitive campaign?
The results in pre-season were decent, winning five of the seven matches. One thing Martin has said on numerous occasions is that he’ll need to have a full pre-season for us to be competitive as we were playing catch up for all of last year. The season has not gone according to plan thus far. A point away at Rotherham seems like a decent result, but given that Michael Obafemi missed a tap in, the Swans were frustrated by the result. The first home game of the season was a disaster, a 3-0 smash-and-grab victory for Blackburn Rovers with what I think was our worst performance of Martin’s tenure. The 1-0 win away at Blackpool can hopefully be a turning point and we can start to kick on and progress up the table.
4. What’s the mood and expectation for the campaign?
Going into the season, the majority of our supporters would’ve been hopeful of a playoff push, myself included. But expectations have been lowered due to the poor start to the campaign. I think the Blackburn game was a bad day at the office rather than a sign of things to come. I’d probably expect a top half finish, but unless we get some more players through the door I can’t see us having the depth to compete for a top six position
5. Russell Martin seems to be quite popular down in South Wales? Why do you think that is and what are your thoughts on him?
Swansea have always had an identity for playing a possession-based game and Russell Martin lives and dies by it. I think his honesty when he speaks is something our fans are appreciative of. The style of play will always buy him time as it’s something our fans expect. I personally love Russ, I really believe in his ideologies for football and I love the way he conducts himself.
6. What can Millwall fans expect from Swansea on Tuesday?
I think Lions fans should expect their team to see very little of the ball. We’ve dominated possession in about 90% of our matches under Martin, playing with a slow tempo and waiting for the right chance to open up the opposition. Millwall’s best chance against us will be to hit us on the break and they’re one team in the Championship who I can see causing us more issues than most
7. What are your thoughts on Millwall?
I’m not normally one for clichés, but Millwall are your typical Championship side. ‘What you see is what you get’, ‘hard to beat’ and are always a big threat from a set piece. I think Gary Rowett’s done a brilliant job there over the last few years, going under the radar a bit. But I think Millwall like that. They’re are always an organised, hard-working outfit with some real quality in the final third.
8. Which Swansea player should Millwall fans be most worried about?
I don’t think it’ll be a surprise to any Millwall fan who knows anything about the Championship, but I’m going for Joel Piroe. The talented Dutchman scored 22 goals in the Championship last season and dropped into a no. 10 role to get Obafemi into the side. For me he’s the best player in the division and I’m praying that he’s still our player come through start of September.
9. Which Millwall player are you most concerned about ahead of the game?
I think the Millwall side have a lot of good players – reliable lads like Bialkowski, M. Wallace, Malone, Saville etc – but George Honeyman is a player I’m worried about, I think he’s fantastic and was a great signing from Hull this summer. He’s probably one of the division’s most underrated players. Jake Cooper is another player that I’m a big fan of. He’s a big player for Millwall in both boxes, one of the league’s best central defenders and he’s always a good bet to chip in with a goal.
10. Predicted lineup & score prediction?
We’ll likely line up in a 3-4-2-1 with Andy Fisher in goal, a back three of Kyle Naughton, Harry Darling & Ben Cabango. Joel Latibeaudiere and Ryan Manning to occupy the wing-back positions, with a double pivot of Jay Fulton and captain Matt Grimes. Joel Piroe and Blackpool hero Olivier Ntcham occupying the two no. 10 roles behind Michael Obafemi leading the line.
I’m expecting a really tough game against a solid outfit who’ve made a good start to the season, my prediction is a 1-1 draw with Piroe and Afobe on the scoresheet.