JOE Edwards believes Millwall have to be ready to stave off an “early onslaught” to get past Cardiff today.
The Welsh side have enjoyed a strong start to the season but are having a wobble with three defeats from their past four games.
But the Lions boss is still wary of the threat the Bluebirds will pose and believes his side will have to be on top form to get something out of the game.
It’s Millwall’s first away trip since their disappointing 3-1 loss at Ipswich Town 10 days ago, where they conceded two goals in the opening 12 minutes.
The match produced such contrasting fortunes to their last away game previous to that, the 0-4 win at Sheffield Wednesday in Edwards’ first game in charge.
Speaking ahead of today’s game, he said: “It’s tough. They have good attacking players and it’s a similarity to our last game [against Sunderland] where if they get you in wide areas, they can hurt you. I think we had a plan and we dealt with that well on Saturday but we need to do the same.
“Their home record speaks for itself. The different threats they have in [Josh] Bowler, [Callum] Robinson, [Yakou] Méïté… they’ve got a lot up there. So it’s probably similar to the win we got on the road at Sheffield Wednesday, the first part of the game is making sure you stabilise that early onslaught that they try and get to get their crowd going. Get your foot in the game, do the basics right and then eventually try and build from there.”
Reflecting further on the Sunderland game, Edwards added: “I was pleased on Saturday after the Sunderland game because in the dressing room immediately after it felt like a team that had just been on the end of a defeat. And that’s what you want because we played pretty well, there was a lot to be pleased about, particularly in comparison to the performance a few days before at Ipswich. But we drew a game at home and we want to be a team that regularly wins games at homes.
“I was pleased at that initial feeling of disappointment and frustration, it felt like an opportunity missed. But most importantly when we had a day off and then players came back in, the feeling hasn’t lingered. It’s been a fully-focused week.”