The lowdown on West Brom 0 Millwall 0 – Lions grind out a point with a defensive masterclass

Millwall bounced back from their 1-0 defeat at Cardiff on Tuesday to claim a point at West Brom in a 0-0 stalemate at The Hawthorns.

Here is the lowdown on the match.

THE LINE-UPS

Millwall: Jensen, Leonard, Cooper, Tanganga, McNamara (Bryan 84), Saville, De Norre (Wintle 66), Azeez (Watmore 66), Honeyman, Esse, Langstaff (Ivanovic 66). Subs not used: Roberts, Wallace, Harding, Massey, Kelly.
West Brom: Palmer, Furlong, Ajayi, Bartley, Heggem, Molumby (Racic 75), Mowatt, Fellows (Swift 81), Diangana (Wallace 90), Johnston (Dobbin 75), Maja (Grant 90). Subs not used: Wildsmith, Holgate, McNair, Styles.

SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME

Not a classic by any means. I’m sure it was a hard watch for the travelling Millwall fans who had to watch their team spend long spells without the ball but defend very well to earn their ninth point of the Championship season.  The home side were dominant in terms of possession and chances created but they failed to really test Millwall stopper Lukas Jensen as he claimed another clean sheet.

TACTICAL APPROACH
Neil Harris made two changes to the side that lost 1-0 at Cardiff on Tuesday evening. Duncan Watmore and Joe Bryan both dropped to the bench with Danny McNamara and Femi Azeez coming in – the latter making his first league start for the club.

It was clear from the onset that Lions head coach Neil Harris was very happy to take a point back to South London. The resilience in their display was commendable. Harris set his team up to withstand a lot of pressure and defend with their hearts. They frustrated a good West Brom side who were looking to bounce back from back to back defeats.

Danny McNamara. He was superb from the outset. Tom Fellows was the liveliest of the attacking threats for the Baggies but McNamara, playing at left-back, gave the Baggies midfielder nothing. He kept tight to Fellows and prevented him from causing any problems. An honorable mention for Ryan Leonard as well – another excellent display from him at right-back.

BEST MOMENT

There were a few superb tackles and some really good defending from a Millwall point of view. It’s hard to pick out one moment in particular. Ryan Leonard, George Saville, Jake Cooper and Japhet Tanganga all produced tackles and blocks that ensured a point for Harris’ men.

MOAN OF THE MATCH

Millwall’s inability to retain the ball. While they were superb in their defending, keeping the ball was a real challenge for the Lions, some poor passing meant the Baggies had very long spells with the ball, forcing the away side to do a lot of off the ball running. When games are tight and you get to the closing stages you want to have energy left in the tank as the home side came on strong but the Lions remained strict and stuck to their task.

The solidity of Millwall’s defence. We saw on numerous occasions last season after Neil Harris’ return to the club that Millwall can defend and withstand mountains of pressure. Gary Rowett also used to rely on that when his side were battling for those play-off places and grinding out 1-0 wins away from home. When you are not at your best – and it doesn’t look like you can win the game – you have to make sure you do not lose and that is something that Millwall under Harris have been known to do. It is a trait that in the Championship may not be great to watch but is very effective and will get valuable points. If you don’t concede, you can’t lose.

“We had a clear game plan and everyone could see that. We executed it superbly. West Brom dominated the ball, the stats show that, but it’s the areas in which they had the ball. They played where we wanted them to play. I picked two very good one v one defenders to deal with their players and we defended the ball in our box. We needed a reaction and a result on the back of that and we thought the best way was to go the way we did and if we play well we will create chances.”