NEIL Harris wants his forward players to be “a handful” and feel empowered to play with “freedom”.
Millwall have been short on goals all season and have missed golden chances during the 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion last week and the 2-1 loss to Rotherham United.
With Tom Bradshaw and Kevin Nisbet on the sidelines, the thrust of Millwall’s attack under Harris has largely been Zian Flemming playing just off Michael Obafemi.
The pair have started six games together so far since the change in management with Flemming netting twice while Burnley loanee Obafemi has bagged one goal.
Harris was asked what he’s made of the pairing so far in his pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow’s huge crunch game against Huddersfield.
He said: “We play 4-2-3-1. Zian plays as a 10 and plays behind our striker. And what we’ve tried to do is help Zian develop his game and give him different attributes to his game. Not just receiving in the pocket but also breaking into wide areas and getting into the box more. To be a target on set plays because he takes the ball so well, aerially as well as on the floor.
“Michael naturally, in his younger days, was a nine that played off the shoulder because he’s hugely quick and also a technical finisher as well. However, having not played a lot of football, Mikey naturally didn’t want to run as many channels because he wasn’t physically able to do it.
“We’ve had to get him up to speed and, working with Zian for the first time, we had to try and get them to work as a pair to physically get the most out of them. So they have played slightly closer together.