Millwall – Season Two: The British Only Challenge Begins
After a successful first season and promotion to the Premier League, I decided to make it more challenging.
I spent several days searching through players, analysing profiles and trying to find the right balance for my system, and in the end I made the decision to make this save even harder.
The rebuild was massive. In total,
14 players came in and 18 players left the club, all replaced with British players. Considering Millwall’s reputation and financial limitations, this was extremely difficult to pull off, but I am quite happy with what I managed to build.
The biggest signings were
Tyrone Mings and
Charles to strengthen the centre-back positions, bringing much needed experience and physical presence for Premier League football. In midfield,
Tim Iroegbunam joined to add energy and balance, while
Rhian Brewster came in to lead the line in the striker role. Around them, the squad has solid backups in every position, which should help us survive the intensity of the season.
The goal for this year is realistic but ambitious —
fight for a Champions League spot. If I manage to bring in one or two bigger names in January, maybe we can push for something even bigger, but for now the focus is consistency and development.
This is a real challenge. The Premier League is unforgiving, especially with a completely new squad, but I can honestly say I enjoyed the start of the season.
In the first five matches we recorded four wins and one draw, with the only dropped points coming against Crystal Palace, who equalised in the 96th minute.
Early on, I realised I needed to take more risks. The squad is new, chemistry takes time, and playing safe in the Premier League often gets punished. Because of that, I changed my
left wing-back to a more advanced role, which added aggression and often gives us an extra player arriving in the box during the final phase of attacks. The impact has been noticeable, especially in sustaining pressure.
The team itself is a mix of youth and experience, and I’m very curious to see how this experiment finishes in our first Premier League season. Tactically, I also made small adjustments out of possession — against teams using inverted wing-backs in a 4-3-3, I move my two wingers into AMC positions to close central spaces and make it harder for opponents to dominate the middle.
I am still observing, still tweaking, and always trying to improve the tactic. The Premier League is definitely the best place to test it.
A nice early reward came with being named
Barclays Manager of the Month in our first month in the Premier League, which confirms that the project is moving in the right direction — but the real test is still ahead.
This season is about proving that the system works even under stricter limitations. So far, the challenge has been difficult, but exactly the kind of challenge that makes this save enjoyable.
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