SHAUN Williams and Ed Upson have revealed that Neil Harris’ management style is giving Millwall’s players a sense of “freedom” in training and matches.
The Lions, who host rivals Charlton at The Den on Good Friday, are yet to record a victory under Harris but their performances have improved with each passing game.
Harris was put in charge until the end of the season in the wake of Ian Holloway’s sacking, and Upson and Williams have both enjoyed working for the Millwall legend so far.
Williams, who ahead of Harris’ first day in charge tweeted that he was “looking forward to training” for the first time in a “long time”, said:
“I feel there’s a bit more freedom to express ourselves. There seems to be a lot of enjoyment back in people’s day-to-day business.
“Towards the end [of Holloway’s time in charge] I felt like I couldn’t put a foot out of place but now there’s a freedom and we can play our own game.
“Chopper has given a lot of people confidence in their own ability and that’s flourishing at the moment.
“Obviously we haven’t won a game yet but things are a lot better than they have been.”
Upson, who Harris deployed in a wide role against Bolton and Brentford, added:
“There’s a lot more freedom to training and in matches you’re allowed to make your own mistakes and not worry too much about it.
“When any new manager comes in, everybody ups their game – that’s just the way it is.
“It probably shouldn’t be like that – you should be upping your game all the time – but when there’s someone new, you have to impress.
“Even though he’s been here before, Chopper is still a new manager so you’ve got to try harder. There’s a higher tempo to training and everyone is desperate to do well.”