I talk to Paul Glassborrow, a Millwall fan, about Liam’s Trotter and Feeney. Could they be our next ‘Pratley’s’
Managerial wizard, Dougie Freedman brought in a lot of players. Two of whom, are ex-Millwall midfielders Liam Feeney and Liam Trotter who have both had a difficult time winning over fans during their first full season at the club. Obviously Dougie must have seen something in them in order to warrant his interest. Since I hadn`t really followed Millwall that closely, I`d little knowledge of how either player fared at The Den so I talked to Paul Glassborrow who said the following:
‘I was excited by the arrival of Liam Feeney a nippy winger and a player that can cross a ball, unfortunately Liam was inconsistent, great at getting forward in some games and could pin point a forward with a cross but never ever got back to defend. It didn’t seem to be his job. I think he had a bad attitude in general but maybe it was just at Millwall our fans can be hard to get on with… Such a shame.
‘As for Liam Trotter, where to start, most Millwall supporters would say he was talented but very lazy, The best game I see Trotter have was a 3-0 win away at Ipswich Town where he pulled the strings and looked like the player Arsenal were supposedly watching. On his day went hand in hand when talking about Trotter because on his day he was amazing and a joy to watch but this day only happened about 3 times a season. Trotter is one of the most frustrating players I have ever watched play for us simply because he was so lazy but we all knew what he was capable of.`
Oh, what a surprise. I think Paul`s pretty much summed up what we seem to know of the players from their time at Bolton. Feeney`s crossing really does need improving- so many promising attacks have been ruined by poor final balls, and as a winger, this isn`t acceptable. I didn`t expect to hear about his ‘bad attitude`, as one thing I`ve always credited Feeney for is his work ethic. He works very hard up and down the wing and even tries to come inside when a cross comes in from the other side, so that`s an aspect of his game that he`s probably improved since arriving at the Macron. To be honest, while he`s among the less exciting number ‘7`s we`ve had in recent years, he`s probably the best we can afford at the moment. I also seem to recall lots of fans wanting him back after an impressive loan spell in October 2013 when his simpler game was refreshing after we`d seen the likes of Chris Eagles frustrating fans by trying to do too much.
With regards to Trotter, Paul`s really hit the nail on the head. Here`s a clearly strong player who could dominate midfields. However he ends up loitering around half-heartedly. Part of me says that this is due to a lack of effort, but another part of me says that he`s not lazy but instead uncertain of his positioning and doesn`t want to leave holes in our midfield. Well, tactical ineptness isn`t great either but I can forgive that over lack of effort.
The likes of Arsenal were interested in Trotter ‘a big strong young midfielder with good ability on the ball`. If Neil Lennon can tap into that potential and get Feeney`s delivery on point, then we could well have ourselves some more Darren Pratley`s.