What Alex Neil said about 'quality' Millwall player in West Brom victory

Millwall head coach Alex Neil heaped praise on winger Femi Azeez following the 3-0 win over West Brom on Saturday afternoon as the Lions returned to winning ways.

The London outfit had been on the receiving end of a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Coventry City on Wednesday in a painful defeat in front of home supporters. However, it was a revived Millwall performance back at The Den against the Baggies.

Millwall hoisted themselves up to eighth in the league thanks to goals from Jake Cooper, Azeez and Zak Sturge. Neil’s side now have a two week break before making the short trip to QPR on October 18.

Alex Neil praises Femi Azeez after West Brom win

Speaking after the match, Neil praised one Millwall player who had particularly caught his eye in Azeez. He said: “He carried a real threat in the game, good ball with his left foot. He’s got a real good quality in terms of the final third areas. He’s a threat.

“He’s wanted to play on the right for a while. Last year, because we played two centre-forwards, we needed that left foot to go outside and put quality crosses in. Hence, the reason why the strikers scored quite a lot of goals. But I felt because we were playing with one striker, I knew Zak Sturge would step in on the left, and that allowed Femi to play on the right, and he certainly delivered, so fair play to him.”

Azeez had started the first two fixtures of the Championship season but then picked up an ankle problem that saw him miss eight matches in all competitions. He returned to the matchday squad against Coventry City and saw minutes off the bench before getting back into the starting XI against West Brom.

Millwall find clinical edge in Baggies win

The winger’s goal was his first of the season. It was a stunning strike from outside the box, lashed home having cut inside from the right and onto his left foot. Azeez joined Millwall from Reading in August 2024 and made 38 appearances across all competitions for the Lions last term, scoring four goals and registering five assists.

Reflecting on the match, Neil added: “We’ve had some really good performances this year, we just haven’t been clinical at times. That clinical aspect makes the games look different, doesn’t it? Coventry were clinical against us, and that’s why the scoreline looked like it looked.

“But I thought today we were clinical in good moments. We hunted the ball well in the first half. We were threatening. We got the goals at good times. Then defensively, that 4-4-2 more passive block towards the end helped us, because bear in mind, we’ve still got Massimo [Luongo] coming back after needing a little bit of a breather. Billy [Mitchell] coming back, who I thought looked knackered, [Thierno] Ballo coming back, Femi coming back. We’ve still got a lot of lads I wouldn’t say are fully up to speed.”

In other news, Millwall injury concern for West Brom as QPR boss responds to Jake Clarke-Salter injury setback.