Richard Cawley’s takeaways from Millwall’s 1-0 win over Norwich City – Den delights as defensive steel impresses

Millwall made it back to back Den wins with a 1-0 victory over Norwich City on Friday night.

Here are Richard Cawley’s takeaways from the match.

ROCK SOLID WALL

The Lions have kept three clean sheets in a row and, more to the point, they haven’t really looked like conceding on too many occasions during that sequence.

It took until the 69th minute for Matija Sarkic to be called into a save – tipping over Sam McCallum’s shot – and the visitors had an xG (expected goals) of 0.59.

That is the third game in a row that Millwall have restricted the opposition, with QPR posting an xG of 0.59 and Cardiff only managing 0.28 in the fixture in South Wales.

Head coach Joe Edwards had a highly-experienced back five for the visit of Norwich and they used their savvy to nullify Norwich.

COSTLY TACTICAL FOUL

The only negative to come out of last night was the red card for George Saville which is set to sideline the midfielder for the next three matches.

The Millwall midfielder slid in to trip Jon Rowe and deny Norwich a dangerous counter in the 88th minute after Ryan Longman had lost possession.

It was a big call by referee Dean Whitestone with that kind of tactical foul usually only meriting a booking.

From a personal perspective, I’d like to see players punished more heavily for those type of challenges as it would mean that less attacks are cynically halted – depriving us of more goals and entertainments. But, and this really is important, it has to be something that is applied across the board.

With the current rules, Saville was really unlucky to be dismissed. It was a similar kind of foul that saw Jed Wallace red carded against Burton in 2017. Millwall were unsuccessful in appealing that one and described the FA as “archaic” at the time.

If the South Londoners had not held on to their lead against Norwich then I’m sure Edwards would have been more outspoken about the Saville incident. Instead he was keen to praise the performance of his players and the atmosphere generated by the fans.

Whitestone was far more lenient with Ashley Barnes. The Norwich striker pushed his luck after tangling with Jake Cooper, gripping hold of Jake Cooper on the turf to earn a booking, and then carrying on by using his arm to push away Saville and George Honeyman. City boss David Wagner hastily subbed off Barnes moments later.

EMAKHU ENCOURAGES

Aidomo Emakhu has started the last two matches for the Lions and his display against Norwich surely means that he will add to that sequence at Bristol City on New Year’s Day.

His partnership with Brooke Norton-Cuffy down the right was a real handful for the Canaries and Angus Gunn had to be alert to turn over a venomous second-half attempt by the Republic of Ireland U21 international.

Emakhu’s pace is such a good outlet for the Lions, especially paired with the dynamism of Norton-Cuffy down the right, and that new long-term contract he signed recently looks a really sensible move as they have tied down a youngster with big potential.

He was also involved in Tom Bradshaw’s goal. Holding the ball and releasing it at the perfect time for Norton-Cuffy to send in a low cross which the Millwall frontman slid in to gleefully convert.

NORTON-CUFFY A STRONG POTY CONTENDER

There is plenty of football left to be played in this Championship season but Norton-Cuffy is already looking like he could end up being Millwall’s Player of the Year.

It’s not just that the Arsenal loanee is so effective going forward, but also defensively he has looked very assured against the likes of QPR’s Ilias Chair and Leicester’s Stephy Mavididi.