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'Wolves reserves lifting Millwall up the Championship table'

PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:53 am
by Forever Blue
Wallace: 'Wolves reserves lifting Millwall up the Championship table'

Tuesday February 13, 2018

By John Kelly


JED Wallace joked after Friday’s 1-1 draw against Cardiff that Wolves reserves are driving Millwall’s climb up the table.

Three of Millwall’s starting midfield came from the current Championship table-toppers, Wallace and George Saville last summer and Ben Marshall on loan in January.

All three found themselves out of favour at Wolves, but Wallace and Saville are already firm favourites with Millwall fans, and Marshall made a promising debut against the Bluebirds.

“He did very well. Marshy’s got good pedigree,” Wallace said. “Wolves ressies are taking Millwall to the top half of the Championship! We’re really enjoying it, three out of the four of us in the midfield.

“Marshy is a player that shows the club is going in the right direction. He’s someone who likes to get the ball a lot and I’m someone who likes to run in behind a lot so it’s a good balance.

“He’s only going to get stronger, it was a good debut for him.”

Wallace was asked what makes Wolves players appealing to boss Neil Harris and he joked: “He hates me and Sav so I don’t know why he has gone back for more!

“But it shows the strength in depth there. They’ve got a second 11 that would probably finish in the top half, that’s how strong they are and how much money they have ploughed into it.

“You’ve got players from there that have come in and been strong additions for us. The squad now compared to where it was four weeks ago looks very, very strong. That’s the way it needs to be at a club like Millwall. You need to know if you’re not playing well you’re out of the team and potentially out of the squad.

“That’s going to keep people hungry and we’re showing what a good squad we’ve got.

“We’ve spoken about how we’ve matched teams that have spent all these millions. But I’ve felt myself at times when I’ve been playing every single week, sometimes you need to mentally refresh yourself.

“After my ban I came back in and did really well. Since then I feel I’ve done well. You need that mental freshness. If you look at Man City they’re changing their team all the time and they’re winning every game. It just shows how important it is to have that strength in depth.”

Millwall and Cardiff are two of the sides with the lowest team passing totals in the league, but Wallace believes they play to the strengths of the players they have.

He said: “Everyone watching Man City at the moment would tell you a different story. Are me, Steve Morison and George Saville good enough to play like [Kevin] De Bruyne, [Sergio] Aguero and [Leroy] Sane? Probably not. We play to our strengths, it’s back to front and it’s about winning games of football.

“I enjoyed it. It’s the two teams with the least possession stats but it’s effective. They’re a really good side with a really good manager, and it shows how far we’ve come the way we stood up to the challenge.

“I thought we were the better team second half, they had a 10-minute spell when they looked dangerous. They had a disallowed goal so a draw was probably a fair result in the end.

“Last 10 minutes we were under the cosh. We’ve got a young team. Normally we kick the ball out and get a breather. But your man Tom Brady [Sean Morrison] throws it 900 yards and they’re on you again. It’s difficult.

“They’re a good side and will probably end up in the play-offs. We have similar styles and that’s a team we should look at and emulate and get to where they are.”