‘Stay at home if you don’t think we can get a positive result at Southampton’ – Millwall midfielder George Saville’s message to team

George Saville has a message for anybody in the Millwall squad who doesn’t think they can get a positive result at Southampton: Stay at home.

The Lions start life back under Neil Harris with a trip to the South Coast tomorrow to take on one of the Championship’s leading promotion contenders.

Russell Martin’s Saints side will be smarting from a 2-1 loss to Hull on Tuesday – their first home defeat since September 19.

Southampton set a new club record of 25 matches unbeaten in all competitions before Bristol City’s 3-1 win at Ashton Gate earlier this month.

“Southampton, Leicester and Leeds are the standout teams this year – they are up there for a reason,” said Saville, speaking to the South London Press before the appointment of Harris. “But we went to Leicester and we were 1-0 up after the first 45 minutes, okay that is only one half, but we nullified them to not very much.

“My message to the players this week will be if you don’t think we’re going to get anything from the game then you might as well stay at home.

“The attitude has got to be that we can go there and get something out of the game. Anything more than a point would be great.”
Millwall lost the reverse fixture 1-0 but Wes Harding’s header came back off the crossbar before substitute Ryan Fraser struck in the third minute of second-half stoppage time.

“We’ve competed well with the top sides,” said Saville, 30. “We drew 0-0 at West Brom and for an hour at Coventry we were the better side.

“Hull was poor but, again, we nullified them to not very much. We have competed with sides that are at the top of the table this year and it will be no different on Saturday.”

The Northern Ireland international has made 179 appearances for Millwall across four spells.

“We’re obviously in a difficult situation,” said Saville. “One that maybe none of us were expecting, especially after the Christmas period we had. But we are where we are and need to pull together to get out of it – there’s no-one else who can do that apart from ourselves.

“Everyone can have their own opinion but the league table doesn’t lie. We are down there for a reason and we’ve got 13 games left – there are probably seven or eight teams down there and it’s about us making sure we’re not in the worst three out of them.”

Millwall won three Championship games in a row over Christmas and kept four successive clean sheets.

Saville said: “We were settled and before that we drew with Huddersfield and I conceded a s*** penalty with a handball and then Lenny (Ryan Leonard) did the same) in the Sunderland game.

“Results started to turn for us and we were in a good place. I was suspended at the start of the year for three games and we had injuries – with Lenny and Hutchy (Shaun Hutchinson), who came in for a couple of matches and then was back out. There have been a lot of factors that have gone against us. It is not an excuse but if you add in suspensions, injuries and lack of form it hasn’t helped our cause.”

Asked how much ownership the players need to take for their current predicament, Saville said: “I haven’t started as many games as I’d like due to my suspension but whether I played all or none of them, I’m the type of player who is happy to take full responsibility.

“It is not just one person, it is collectively – all of us. We’ve been poor across the board. The manager is going to take the s*** because that is the easy one to go to. But we, as players, need to improve.

“If you were asked who was doing well I don’t think you could point fingers at many.”

WHAT LIES AHEAD

FEB 24 SOUTHAMPTON (AWAY)
Russell Martin’s Saints had a sticky September of four straight defeats but since then have lost just twice in 28 matches in all competitions. Their only home losses have been to fellow frontrunners Leicester (4-1), Ipswich (1-0) and Hull (2-1). Second in the form guide for the last 10 matches with 22 points collected.

MARCH 2 WATFORD (HOME)
The Hornets have the sixth best away record in the division. Defeated rock bottom Rotherham last time out but had taken two points from a possible 15 prior to that. Millwall are unbeaten in their last three meetings with Watford, winning two of them.

MARCH 5 BLACKBURN (AWAY)
Rovers’ last win – 3-1 over Stoke – saw new boss John Eustace take a watching brief from the stands. Since then they had a defeat at Birmingham followed by back-to-back draws at Preston and Cardiff.

MARCH 9 BIRMINGHAM (HOME)
Blues manager Tony Mowbray has been forced to temporarily step away due to medical treatment. City had been on a run of three straight losses but then produced successive victories over Blackburn and Sunderland. Fourth fewest points on their travels (11).