Millwall defender Shaun Hutchinson on Stoke City’s attacking threat and January transfer window

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard.cawley@slp.co.uk

Millwall have got the joint-worst defensive record in the Championship – and a glance at the attacking talent in Stoke City’s ranks underlines the size of the task tomorrow afternoon at the bet365 Stadium.

The hosts have work to do to push themselves firmly in to the play-off mix. Anything less would be a major failure. Especially when they have serious firepower in the shape of Saido Berahino, Benik Afobe, Peter Crouch and Tom Ince.

But Hutchinson reckons Millwall won’t go there and be overawed.

He said: “We’re a team that go out every game the same – whether we are facing a good side or one that is near the bottom.

“I still give us the same amount of chances of winning the game.

“We showed last season that we’re more than capable of competing with the so-called top-level players in the league. We’re not going to be in any way worried. We’ll respect their talents but we won’t be going in there almost defeated before we kicked off.

“We’ll take it as scrappy as it gets for that first away win.”

Millwall have conceded 16 more goals – 38 in total – than at the same point of the 2017-18 campaign when they finished eighth.

Hutchinson, last season’s Player of the Year, said: “Confidence isn’t quite as high because we are on the back foot rather than the front foot.

“Then there is timing of goals. Last season we scored a lot of early ones and saw games out. Whereas this year we have a tendency to probably be chasing a lot of games.

“We’re all trying our hardest to fix it, don’t worry about that. We’re not sat there thinking ‘oh, next one’. We are looking at a lot of footage and working to try and rectify that.

“They are quite soft goals at times. We just feel a bit unlucky as well. Even Ryan Tunnicliffe at the weekend – it [the free-kick] has flicked off his foot and caught out Jordan Archer.

“These things are going against us, rather than for us. Last season it nearly all went our way.

“You’re always looking to see what you can do better. Even if there is nothing that is your fault for a goal. But also sometimes you can over-analyse things and give yourself too much information – making the task almost harder for you.

“You need to stick to what you know and what has served you best over your career.

“We’ve watched the footage and there are things we aren’t happy about – but there is also stuff there which is very good. It’s fine margins. We weren’t playing too differently last season – but the results were different. We need to look at the positives.”

Millwall’s inability to win on the road has sucked them deeper into the skirmish at the wrong end of the Championship standings.  Last season they had to wait until January 20 – a 4-3 victory at arch-rivals Leeds United – to scratch that particular itch.

The Stoke game is a final shot to take maximum points on their travels in 2018. Next up after that is a huge-looking trip to rock-bottom Ipswich Town on New Year’s Day.

“It’s one of them things where once you get that one [win] then it takes it away a little bit, that’s when you can really kick on,” said Hutchinson.

“It’s becoming a bit of an issue around the fans and the club – that we’ve not got that away win yet. But look what happened last year [a club record-equalling six away wins in a row].

“No-one wants to be in the bottom three, it makes everything a lot harder.

“You have a tendency after matches to look at results below you. That’s not great. Once kick-off comes you have to let the past result go – you’re just trying to do the best you can. You can’t change what has happened last week. All you can do is perform the right way then.”

Lions boss Neil Harris recently told the South London Press that he was looking to add an experienced centre-back in the January transfer window.

He did the same a year ago when he snapped up Jason Shackell on a short-term contract from Derby.

Hutchinson said: “If that’s what he [Harris] thinks is the best thing to do then I’m not going to complain. The more competition for places at the back is only going to be healthy.

“As long as he doesn’t bring in a bad egg, as they say, it should be alright.

“We’ve got a good group who all get on really well. The gaffer does his research and finds the right people. If he does do that then we’ll all support it and move in the right direction.”