[FM15] The Lion which lost it's Roar

[pallett1988]

As a season ticket holder down The Den, I look forward to checking in on this! #COYL

[millwalllion]

Good luck with this! Also a Millwall fan, hoping our youth flourishes!

[heat02]

Thanks Pallett1988 and millwalllion - Hopefully it'll be a good season down the Den this year. In Harris we trust!

Not much happening on the transfer front as I have faith in my team, not to mention the poor standard of players my scouts put in front of me.

3 Players joined the club in the shape of Ben Davies, Tommy Smith and Ryan Fredericks (on loan from Spurs) which the latter previously played for the Lions during a previous loan spell. While Kris Twardek was loaned to Tranmere for some experience and Callum Thompson heads to Gloucester both on season long loans with a recall option.

Friendlies and August Fixtures:

The friendlies were all self explainable with wins against the smaller teams and a loss away at Ajax. The main objective of the friendlies was to adapt to the 4-1-4-1 formation and build up match fitness, one of those objectives was met as the team looked sharp and fit however the 4-1-4-1 formation didn't feel right.

With a total revamp of the formation we reverted to a narrow 4-4-2 formation with Cummings and Fredericks offering our only width in the Wing-back positions. By pushing Williams up into the CM position he can have more control on the game and control the tempo of the game while Powell and Angel tidies up around him. The top trio of Martin, Smith and Gregory has a mixture of flair and creativity which will hopefully allow Gregory to push further forward and rely on openings from the other two.

The philosophy was set as slow tempo, fluid movements with the aim to totally boss games by holding possession and taking advantage once an opening arises.

Now on to the first league games...

The first game we were put up against a difficult Doncaster team at home which we controlled the game totally but could only manage a draw through Gregory's goal on the 17th minute. This was mainly due to my too cautious approach that we didn't push for the win and unfortunately we nearly suffered the same fate away at Plymouth on a Tuesday night in the Capital One Cup which is the last place you want to go mid-week! Plymouth decided that they wanted to take chunks out of us by injuring both Gregory and Onyedinma who had to leave the pitch on the 7th and 106th minute respectively. They managed to hold us to 0-0 in normal time that resulted in us turning to a more attacking approach which the match ended with us winning 3-0 and taking a win back home with us while Plymouth took 5 yellow cards and a red card from the match.

The next match was against another promotion rival in Sheffield United at Bramall Lane which we bossed the game from start to finish and walked away with a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Smith and a Williams penalty. In all 3 of these games the most stand out player has been Shaun Cummings in the Right Wing Back position as he was extremely dangerous going forward while also being unbeatable in defence, he walked away with all 3 PoM awards.

Finally back home at the Den after long trips down to Devon followed by a long trip straight after to Yorkshire. This time our opponents were newly promoted Bury who were destroyed within the first 30 minutes by 4 great team goals which all started through Williams. Gregory who went missing in the previous 2 games rebuilt my faith in the Bury game with 2 great finishes.

Away at Swindon we expected a difficult game and a difficult game we had as Swindon through the kitchen sink at us, we survived with a 2-2 all draw thanks to an equaliser from Webster on 78th minute from a corner, once again Gregory got on the scoresheet too.

The Swansea game was non eventful as I played my reserves, with such a small squad there was a high risk of injuries which we couldn't afford and we suffered a 3-0 stuffing as to be expected. Good news was that Philpot and Ebuzoeme both got their first team debuts against Premiership opposition with Ebuzoeme becoming our youngest ever player at 15 years and 22 days.

Lucky enough the team wasn't affected and bounced back with a 3-0 win at home against Colchester with Williams scoring two absolute screamers that took both the second and third spots in the goal of the month.

Overall a really good start which sees us 3rd in the league with 5 games played and something we can hopefully push on with. The small squad is a concern and hopefully my scouts can return with some players before January.

Lee Gregory took August player of the month with 5 goals in 4 games and the rest of the team wasn't doing too bad on the stat front: