THE “giants” in the Millwall box are set to have good service from out wide this season with Connor Mahoney in the side.
Mahoney was one of the top crossers in the Championship last season and has 6ft 6ins Matt Smith and 6ft 2ins Jon Dadi Bodvarsson to aim for at his new club.
Mahoney also played briefly at Barnsley with Tom Bradshaw, who is renowned for his anticipation in the box though Millwall fans haven’t seen much of that so far as the striker’s first season with the club ended last November.
Neil Harris is set to name a strong side this Saturday against Real Sociedad with Mahoney primed for his first Den appearance.
“I’m not the quickest but the gaffer said to me I cover the ground really well. I’m deceivingly quick on the ball, I probably run quicker with it than without it,” Mahoney said.
“He said when we hit on the counter you and Jed [Wallace] or Skally [Jiri Skalak], whoever the wingers are go full throttle at defences. That’s when we’ll start scaring teams and opening them up.
“I played with Bradders at Barnsley which was an experience in itself. He’s going to be one of the main players for us this season hopefully. It’s perfect for me having two big giants in there and Bradders sniffing around for any knockdowns. If I get the ball in the box, which is why the gaffer’s brought me in, we’ll cause teams a lot of problems.”
New midfielder Jayson Molumby isn’t fit enough to feature in this game, and it will be the second week of the season before he is ready for action.
Fred Onyedinma won’t be involved as he seeks a move away and Tom Elliott is struggling with a hamstring problem.
Real Sociedad finished in ninth place in La Liga last season, doing the league double over Real Madrid.
Manager Imanol Alguacil has signed Martin Odegaard on loan this summer, the prodigy who went to Real as a sixteen-year-old. They have spent £9million on attacking midfielder Portu from Girona and paid £5million to Borussia Dortmund for striker Alexander Isak.
Sociedad play Nottingham Forest on Friday ahead of their trip to The Den.
Kick-off on Saturday is at the earlier time of 2pm.
Possible Millwall team: 4-4-2: Fielding; Romeo, Pearce, Cooper, M Wallace; J Wallace, Thompson, Williams, Mahoney; Bradshaw, Smith.
Image: Millwall FC