‘Mixed bag’ – Millwall boss Joe Edwards on latest international break and balancing act involved

Joe Edwards has described the latest international break as “a mixed bag” for the Millwall players who were away on international duty.

The Lions new head coach had one match in charge of the South London club – a 4-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday – before the Championship shut down while the latest round of international fixtures were played.

Millwall had senior pros in George Saville and Tom Bradshaw away with Northern Ireland and Wales respectively and prospects Aidomo Emakhu (Republic of Ireland) and Romain Esse (England U19s) also selected.

Edwards had been England U20 head coach for a short spell before taking the Lions job.

“It’s funny – I’ve seen it from both ends,” he told the South London Press. “When you go away and you’re part of the international teams, being from a club background before that, you’re very aware that clubs have certain players that come away that they’d like to be limited in the minutes they play because they are key players or they have tough schedules at their clubs – you don’t necessarily want them coming back from breaks even more fatigued and more tired.

“Then you have the flip of that, that it comes in good periods where players can go and keep getting more games.

“If you look at two of our young players at the moment – Aidomo and Romain Esse – they are two boys that are very much part of what we’re doing here but haven’t got to that point yet at senior level where they start and play regular football and put big lots of minutes together.

“When the break came after Sheffield Wednesday you know that Aidomo is going to go away and keep playing games – Romain has got game time – that can be really useful.

“In Romain’s case I’ve spoken to the England staff while he is there to make sure we’re on top of what minutes is he playing? But then in between that, if for example the first game he didn’t start, what is he doing in between that to make sure he keeps building.

“It is that fine balance. Players can come back from international break and be tired off the back of a busy camp or they can actually go and de-train a little bit. When you’re with the national team you don’t train that hard – the focus is all around the games. There are a lot of prep sessions and recovery sessions.

“We’ve got a mixed bag of someone like George Saville who has gone and played two games, so we’ll need to look after Sav once he is back, but the likes of Romain and Aidomo it is good for them to play. Tom Bradshaw didn’t play (the first game) which for us wasn’t the worst thing – even though I’m sure Tom would love to go and play a part. But he is one who has been playing a lot here and works his socks off when he does play.

“We do our best to stay in touch with the national teams as to how we can best manage them to come back in the best shape possible.”

Emakhu scored and assisted in Ireland’s 3-2 defeat to Norway and then played the full 90 minutes as they drew 2-2 with Italy.

“When you are a young player trying to break in and get a regular spot in the team then one of the difficult things is that you never really build up any rhythm or momentum,” said Edwards. “So it is nice when these stoppages come that he has had somewhere to go. It’s at a younger age group level so he probably feels a bit of a bigger player in that team.

“And purely from a confidence point of view, when you are an attacking player, then goals and assists are what you’re all about. To keep topping up on that is hopefully a positive and gives him something to build on when he gets back.”