BFTG Millwall

[Elm Park Kid]

Just reading elsewhere that someone thought this a boring game.

I really enjoyed it. There were plenty of very good performances, a few moments of brilliance,
some moves that were a joy to watch.

Bacuna is classy and should soon establish himself as a starter in midfield. Apart from one moment, he worked hard, tackled back, won loads of ball, was always available, keen to receive the ball and showed lots of vision with almost always the most sensible pass, He fed Popa often (Popa had a great game apart from his finishing). The goal was excellent. Picked up the ball deep in midfield, ghosted through two opponents, carried it to the edge of the box and wellies a great shot into the back of the net. This is a very good player. 8

Popa ran his socks off, was a great outlet. Had he not missed all those chances he'd've got 8.5 from me, but 7.5

Clement showed some fabulous ball skills when he came on as sub. He is going to be an awesome player in a few years, 8

The kid up front worked very hard, but didn't look like he'd ever score. I was so chuffed for him when he finally got a goal. 6

Rinomhota was solid throughout and can step into the first 11 without worries, when needed. 7

The three centre backs did OK throughout up against some big strikers, but we still manage to give away chances after dominating. 6.5s

Gunter was a mixed bag, sometimes OK-to-good, sometimes a bit casual, but overall he was probably a 6.5

Keeper was decent throughout, so I'd go 7

McCleary looked rusty and, I thought, a bit heavy

Millwall looked like a League 1 outfit, but when they went Route 1 it almost came off.

Barrow, Bacuna, Clement show some real class and lovely touches. We still lack "steel" though. At our best we look like we could open up any defence. I expect us to put 5-6 past some team this season

Can you really read anything into an EFL cup fixture in which both teams didn't play their first team? I remember the days when we put 5 goals past a 3rd string Arsenal team (and obviously conceded a few), it didn't mean we could do that in a 'real' game.

[CountryRoyal]

Just like you can't read anything into Villa because they were so bad? Or other games because we've had injuries...etc etc.

Where do you draw the line?

[Nameless]

I saw someone on twitter thanking Reading buses for putting an earlier bus on back to town as they said it was boring. The Gillingham game was desperately boring in the previous round except for Kelly's cracker.

Neither game was boring though.

I was at the Gills game - it was a bore fest. Can't comment last night as I wasn't there.

Whilst you may or may not have been there, the fact that you didn't appreciate the game didn't make it 'boring'. There was lot's to enjoy, not least watching the progress of the Academy lads, plus a couple of good goals from Kelly.
Sadly many people think football is like fast food or T20 cricket whereas often the games are much more subtle and need to be worked on a bit to appreciate.
I'd rather watch a cup game with our youngsters showing their potential than go and watch a Premiership side that has simply been bought and consists of no players who actually care about the club .....

[paultheroyal]

My bullet points from the game....

Sat in lower west - surprised of the atmosphere generated from over in Y25 / Y26 - they do a good job.
Bacuna great goal but apart from that poor.
Decent performance alround but still the frustration that I have yet to see that defence splitting pass through to the strikers. It is that which is missing....shots on target / off target is fine, but its those killer passes which create real opportunities.
Cheese burger in lower west very decent.
Good to watch close up the animation from benches. Harris repeatedly going nuts and obvious he was going straight over to the referee after the whistle. My take on it was he went down like a sack of spuds looking for the foul.
Barrow is a special player and again made the difference when he came on. Doing things others were not doing and striving to create opportunities.

Happy into 3rd round.

[Snowball]

Paul, I'm amazed you thought Bacuna poor. I thought he was great for 95% of his time on the pitch.

Constant threat cutting inside, played simple passes, reverse passes, great cross field passes.

Popa must have loved the service from Bac.

[Snowball]

Well, the game showed us:


1 The squad depth is excellent.

2 The first-teamers who played played very well indeed.

3 The style of play produced 26 shots and a clear win

4 Pelle Clement is going to be a top-division star by his mid 20's and is a brilliant signing.

5 Rinomhota and the CB whatsisname could do an emergency job in the league already, future-bright.

6 (IMO) Bacuna has oodles of class and should be a starter in the league

7 Popa was superb and deserves a run in the side, we can take longer getting McCleary fit.

8 Flynn adds bite and common-sense to the team and shouldn't go out on loan.

9 Our squad was better than their squad.

10 Size isn't everything

[windermereROYAL]

8 Flynn adds bite and common-sense to the team and shouldn't go out on loan

10 Size isn't everything

Ooh missus.

[RoyalBlue]

There are some fcking morons around if you genuinely believe that was boring. I thought it was one of the better games, Reading dominated, actually scored a few goals and were pressing Millwall throughout and it was only in the 2nd half that they really got more into the game (their goal in the 1st half accepted).

Really enjoyed it, people need to think back 2-3 seasons to really appreciate what boring was. Remember we had about 2-3 games in quick succession of 0 (ZERO) shots. Of just nothingness, pure silence and just sat there watching drivel.

Very true. You have to be some sort of prick to pick holes in that for £7

I was 'watching' via Twitter and there were a number of people on there constantly moaning about the game and how boring/poor it was. One even came out with the shockingly awful 'I would rather be injected with Aids than have to watch another 30 minutes of this'.

Seems they were all too busy tweeting to watch what was really happening on the pitch!

[andrew1957]

Just reading elsewhere that someone thought this a boring game.

I really enjoyed it. There were plenty of very good performances, a few moments of brilliance,
some moves that were a joy to watch.

Bacuna is classy and should soon establish himself as a starter in midfield. Apart from one moment, he worked hard, tackled back, won loads of ball, was always available, keen to receive the ball and showed lots of vision with almost always the most sensible pass, He fed Popa often (Popa had a great game apart from his finishing). The goal was excellent. Picked up the ball deep in midfield, ghosted through two opponents, carried it to the edge of the box and wellies a great shot into the back of the net. This is a very good player. 8

Popa ran his socks off, was a great outlet. Had he not missed all those chances he'd've got 8.5 from me, but 7.5

Clement showed some fabulous ball skills when he came on as sub. He is going to be an awesome player in a few years, 8

The kid up front worked very hard, but didn't look like he'd ever score. I was so chuffed for him when he finally got a goal. 6

Rinomhota was solid throughout and can step into the first 11 without worries, when needed. 7

The three centre backs did OK throughout up against some big strikers, but we still manage to give away chances after dominating. 6.5s

Gunter was a mixed bag, sometimes OK-to-good, sometimes a bit casual, but overall he was probably a 6.5

Keeper was decent throughout, so I'd go 7

McCleary looked rusty and, I thought, a bit heavy

Millwall looked like a League 1 outfit, but when they went Route 1 it almost came off.

Barrow, Bacuna, Clement show some real class and lovely touches. We still lack "steel" though. At our best we look like we could open up any defence. I expect us to put 5-6 past some team this season

Personally I really enjoyed the Villa game but thought that the first 90 minutes last night was largely boring. Most people round me were spending more time looking at their phones than at the match if that is anything to go by.

Extra time was much better and our class showed in the end.

Thought Rimonhota was superb - MOTM for me, especially as he was playing out of position at wing back. I would much rather we gave him a chance rather than buying another midfielder. Hopefully a bright future.

Smith and Andresson also did well IMO. Liked what we saw of Bacuna and so lots of positives.

Finally the crowd that remained for extra time (a lot went after 90 minutes round me) were lively and I loved the 15 minutes of "we've got the ball, we've got the ball, we've lost the ball".

[Snowball]

Age of starting 11

19.5 Smith
19.7 Andresson
20.4 Rinomhota

22.8 Evans
24.6 Ilori
26.0 Bacuna

28.1 Gunter
29.1 Popa
30.3 McCleary
30.5 Jaakkola
31.4 Quinn

25.7 Average

Age of final team (and remaining subs)

16.9 Loader
19.0 East Non-playing sub
19.2 Barrett Non-playing sub
19.5 Smith Non-playing sub

20.4 Rinomhota
21.3 Clement
21.4 Legg
22.8 Evans
23.4 Blackett

24.6 Ilori
24.8 Barrow


28.1 Gunter
29.1 Popa
30.5 Jaakkola

22.9 (21 without the keeper)

[East End Lady]

Off the pitch:
Millwall fan in the home end celebrating a goal...and no one doing anything about it

Indeed it is. If the Millwall fan didn't deliberately wind up the home fans then just let it go. I have to confess that I would not openly celebrate if I was in the opposition end, learning to sit on your hands and do a stifled "Yes!" when score is pretty much essential if you are going to sit 'wrong'.

If this was below the disabled seats in Y24/Y25 that Millwall fan jumped up and down celebrating their goal. It was a good job that most of the usual lot that sit there were not about - think it could have got a bit ugly. They must have moved at half time though as they were not sitting there in the second half

[bobby1413]

Indeed it is. If the Millwall fan didn't deliberately wind up the home fans then just let it go. I have to confess that I would not openly celebrate if I was in the opposition end, learning to sit on your hands and do a stifled "Yes!" when score is pretty much essential if you are going to sit 'wrong'.

If this was below the disabled seats in Y24/Y25 that Millwall fan jumped up and down celebrating their goal. It was a good job that most of the usual lot that sit there were not about - think it could have got a bit ugly. They must have moved at half time though as they were not sitting there in the second half

You must have been right near me. I was in row J - one row in front of disabled section and within Y25 I believe. That Millwall fan was about 45ish, with a black jacket.

He was good natured, as in he wasn't actively cheering in people's faces, it was more of a "Wahaayyyyyy, we scored!" almost sarcastically.

As you stated he was gone in the second half.

[biff]

There were Millwall/ coin flicking cretins at the back of y26. Stewards waded in pretty toothlessly, but it didnt help that the rest of our literally toothless y26 dwellers were telling them to oxf*rd off as they paid their wages (most under 18) as they tried to get the measure of the situation.

Not standing up there again, abysmal.

[Nameless]

Good to watch close up the animation from benches. Harris repeatedly going nuts and obvious he was going straight over to the referee after the whistle. My take on it was he went down like a sack of spuds looking for the foul.
.

I take it you are referring to the incident before our third goal ?
Their guy just flung himself to the ground, not in any way a pen and didn't look like many of the Millwall players thought it was either !