'Millwall's Atmosphere Makes The Hairs On Your Neck Stand Up'

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'Millwall's Atmosphere Makes The Hairs On Your Neck Stand Up'

Richard Cawley, Sports Editor for the South London Press, anticipates a red-hot atmosphere to greet Leicester City when they visit The Den to tackle Millwall in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

2021-09-22T07:53:00.000Z

'Millwall's Atmosphere Makes The Hairs On Your Neck Stand Up'

Richard Cawley, Sports Editor for the South London Press, anticipates a red-hot atmosphere to greet Leicester City when they visit The Den to tackle Millwall in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

2021-09-22T07:53:00.000Z

'Millwall's Atmosphere Makes The Hairs On Your Neck Stand Up'

Richard Cawley, Sports Editor for the South London Press, anticipates a red-hot atmosphere to greet Leicester City when they visit The Den to tackle Millwall in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

2021-09-22T07:53:00.000Z

'Millwall's Atmosphere Makes The Hairs On Your Neck Stand Up'

Richard Cawley, Sports Editor for the South London Press, anticipates a red-hot atmosphere to greet Leicester City when they visit The Den to tackle Millwall in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

2021-09-22T07:53:00.000Z

'Millwall's Atmosphere Makes The Hairs On Your Neck Stand Up'

Richard Cawley, Sports Editor for the South London Press, anticipates a red-hot atmosphere to greet Leicester City when they visit The Den to tackle Millwall in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

2021-09-22T07:53:00.000Z

- Millwall host Leicester City in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday (7:45pm BST kick-off)- The Lions are currently 18th in the Sky Bet Championship- Richard Cawley, from the South London Press, has provided a preview for LCFC Radio- He believes the Millwall supporters will step up to the occasion against the Foxes

For the first time ever, City face the Lions in the League Cup four years after their last visit to the south-east London outfit, with both sides looking to put their names in the hat for the fourth round. So far in the competition, the Lions have seen off Portsmouth and Cambridge United.

Leicester, on the other hand, are yet to feature as one of England's European representatives this term. Cawley, who follows Millwall's fortunes closely, believes there may be alterations to former Fox Gary Rowett's starting XI, but is nonetheless expecting the Sky Bet Championship outfit to pose a stern test.

"There probably will be [some changes]," he told LCFC Radio's Matchday Live show. "There’s a few different factors. They’ve got a game at Nottingham Forest on Saturday, which is important to them. The Championship is the priority, but I suppose that applies for every club in that league.

"On top of that, they’ve got quite a lot of injury problems. Gary Rowett has spoken about it a number of times. They’ve had five or six players out at any one stage. That’s going to be a problem for them in terms of how they approach this game.

"I’m sure they’ll want to keep players as fresh as they can considering they play again on the Saturday. It’s a difficult juggling act because, of course, they have a good record in the cup competitions. They’ve obviously knocked Leicester City out of the FA Cup before.

"I was covering that game and they had decent runs after that, also knocking Everton out of the cup and getting to the quarter-finals. There’s an expectation that they need to go out there and give a good account of themselves, but I do think we’ll see changes.

"Gary has said before that George Long, who’s come in for the previous cup games, it’s a chance for him to get matches and I think you’ll see some other changes too."

For some time, Millwall have been striving to turn draws into wins. This season, the Lions have already been locked in stalemate on five occasions, most recently against Coventry City, but Cawley is hopeful that the loan signing of Benik Afobe could help them pick up more points in 2021/22.

"There’s been a lot of draws," he added. "If you look at them, they have been a side who have drawn a lot of games, I think they had 17 draws last season and 17 the season before. That puts them right at the top of that particular table. Again, this season, they’ve had five draws in the league so far.

"They’ve always been a side under Gary Rowett that’s been difficult to break down and they’re very competitive. Budget-wise, they’re not one of the biggest spenders in the division, but spending big on offensive players might not help turn those draws into wins anyway.

"It’s not always that easy to do. That’s been a problem and they’ve looked into loan signings in the last couple of windows and, this summer, they signed Benik Afobe on loan from Stoke. Gary knows him well and I think there’s a feeling that maybe he can help them find that extra edge in the final third.

"That might just help them crack the play-offs. They’ve gone close a couple of times, both under Gary Rowett and under Neil Harris. When you look at their performances, they’re a strong, powerful side.

"They’ve got some decent quality in there, the likes of Jed Wallace, who has been a very, very good performer consistently over the last few seasons. He scored double figures in the last couple of seasons. He’s not an out-and-out striker, although he has been used up there at times.

"Quite often, he’ll play in a slightly wider role. You’ve definitely got to look at Jed as their main guy. He scored a brilliant free-kick a few weeks against Blackpool which was up for Goal of the Month.

"I don’t think he’ll play, but Bartosz Białkowski has been excellent in the last couple of seasons since he came in from Ipswich. He’s a very experienced goalkeeper, but I do think George Long will get a chance this time.

"George Saville can break through from midfield. He got his first Championship goal of the season at the weekend and he is someone who, if he times those runs right, we’ve seen he can get double figures for goals. He was sold to Middlesbrough for big money a few years back and now he’s back at Millwall this summer."

The visiting Blue Army are likely to be greeted by a vociferous home following on Wednesday, according to Cawley, who says Millwall's fans always step up for the big occasions.

"Whenever there’s a big game at The Den, you tend to find that the volume goes up," he explained. "It’s not the biggest ground when you look at others up and down the country, but the noise level… there’s certain games you go to and the atmosphere just makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

"I can think of when they went close to getting into the play-offs under Neil Harris, they played Fulham in one of their last home games, and the volume in there was unbelievable. I definitely think there’s a chance you’ll get that kind of night again.

"Obviously, it needs Millwall to go out there and get the fans up for the match and that’s the key for them, but I don’t see any reason why there won’t be a really good atmosphere."

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