Millwall 1 – 1 Barnsley

Another draw under caretaker boss Adam Murray sees the reds remain winless so far this season but still out of the bottom three.

Murray has done a decent job in securing draws in his two spells in charge. He has now steadied the ship and given the new manager a platform to build on and hopefully turn these draws in to wins.

I must admit I am very underwhelmed with the new managerial appointment but I knew I would be. Hopefully he can prove me wrong but I can’t see there being much progress and it will be a case of same old.

Yesterday I felt we were lucky to escape with a draw. I thought we were poor throughout in what was a poor game to watch.

First half I felt we looked the most threatening even though Millwall had the majority of the possession. We still never really looked like scoring though until Mowatt’s fantastic strike. Goals is the one area of his game he could do with improving on and when you can see him hit them like that you really feel he should score more.

Their goal was a poor one from our point of view. We had three defenders round him and none of them jumped with him. And if we would have had someone on the post then that would be cleared. I cannot understand why teams no longer cover both posts from corners, especially given the amount of goals that are conceded from not doing it. Another one of modern footballs baffling decisions.

Facebook almost crashed with criticism of Walton when that goal went in. And whilst some keepers would have saved it, there was certainly no fault attached to Walton for it. The fault was with the defenders and the manager for not having anyone on the post.

Walton certainly made these fans eat their words in the second half as he pulled off three fantastic saves to keep us in the game and was easily our man of the match.

Millwall battered us second half for me. They controlled the game and they created the best opportunities. A complete midfield reshuffle couldn’t change the course of the game and whilst I felt James and Mowatt played well as did Palmer when he came on, Millwall still controlled the game almost throughout.

The midfield conversation will continue. Whilst Styles is inured I would do away with the number ten and play James, Mowatt and Palmer. Kane looked poor when he came on yesterday and is miles off being fit enough to compete for a starting place.

Our main problem is still up front though. Without Woodrow up there we virtually have no one to hold the ball. I also felt the pressing from them was poor yesterday and we gave their defenders too much time on the ball to pick a pass.

Simoes struggled to impact the game in the number ten after playing well in the previous game. Chaplin has been poor for a while now, in fact other than about six games, he has been poor since he joined us.

I can see why he gets picked a lot though. The other options we have are poor and other than Woodrow he is the only one who seems likely to score semi regularly.

Hopefully Woodrow will be fit for the next game and if he is I would give Simoes a go up front with him. I think he would be better suited there and he has played there for the reserves and been successful.

I am not sold on the fridge yet and Schmidt is better coming on for the last ten to twenty minutes. Free agent strikers are about and some big names are still without a club. Hopefully we can pick one of them up fairly soon.

COYR