"We aren't long ball merchants" - Claim dropped on Neil Harris technique at Millwall FC | OneFootball

Millwall's style of play often receives criticism, but our FLW fan pundit enjoys watching the way his side plays

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Millwall have picked up exactly where they left off last season and find themselves firmly in the Championship play-off race with almost a third of the season gone.

The Lions really gathered some momentum at the end of the 2023/24 season, winning their last five games, and they've been able to carry that momentum into this season, thanks in part to Neil Harris.

The Millwall boss returned to The Den in February 2024, taking over a side who at the time were embroiled in a relegation battle, but such was the turnaround, they ended up finishing comfortably in mid-table.

That was actually their lowest league finish since 2018/19 when Harris was last in charge, but despite a raft of top-half finishes, they were never able to bridge the gap to the play-off spots.

Hope springs eternal that they can do so this time around, and our FLW fan pundit believes that in Harris, Millwall have the right man at the helm.

Harris' style of play retains Millwall's DNA

FLW's Millwall fan pundit Chris Chapman, who runs a Youtube channel called Chat with Chaps, was asked for his thoughts on Harris approach and whether he found the brand of football Millwall play enjoyable.

He said: "I do enjoy it, I really do. I think Neil Harris doesn't really get the credit he deserves for the playing style that he's implemented this season.

"At times maybe we don't have enough possession, but it's almost the perfect combination of being Millwall in its DNA, but at the same time being effective and using the ball with purpose and with quality with the players that we now have at our disposal.

"It's quick, it's direct, we don't have a lot of the ball, but we aren't long ball merchants.

"We are quick, effective, and we play on the counter-attack. We've got the lowest average possession in the league, but of course it isn't about possession.

"There are a lot of teams in the league at the moment that have a lot of the ball but it's all sideways passes in their own half.

"Harris likes to try and control where the team has the ball and then when we get it, use it to good effect, and that's been shown by the amount of chances we've created this season and the fact we're right near the top of the xG charts.

"I do like his style, but it does require a team to have the mental resilience of being happy to not have the ball for large periods of time."

Defence has been the bedrock of Millwall's success

Playing Millwall is notoriously a tricky game for any Championship team as, like our fan pundit alludes to, it's in the club's DNA to be a tough opponent to play against, and you know that they're always going to make life difficult for the opposition.

Four 1-0 wins from their last five league games shows they've got that in abundance, but the fact none of their last eight Championship outings saw them net more than a single goal in any given game shows that without their defence they'd likely be in trouble.

It seems to be a risky approach that Harris uses, as their goal-shy nature essentially means they'll more often than not need a clean sheet to win a game, but at the moment it's one which is working for them.

It seems a tall order to expect Millwall to keep that up for the entire season, but considering a whopping 19 of their last 22 wins in the Championship were accompanied by a clean sheet, it's something they have a long-standing history of doing.