Millwall boss explains Sunderland approach after wins over Leicester and Cardiff

Millwall boss Neil Harris wants his players to display the same mentality away from home as they’ve shown at The Den in recent weeks.

Harris was reappointed by the Lions in February, replacing Joe Edwards due to the threat of relegation, with Millwall taking 13 points from 15 available at home since the change of manager. Away from The Den, Millwall have won just once under Harris this year, beating Southampton in his first game in charge, while losing matches against Leeds, Rotherham and Huddesrfield.

Back-to-back home wins against Leicester and Cardiff have moved the Lions six points clear of the relegation zone with three matches to play this season, ahead of Saturday’s trip to Sunderland. 

When asked about improving his side’s away form, Harris told Millwall TV: “What we’ve done at home has been Millwall. We’ve been a very, very good Millwall team, a real desire to play, a real point to prove at The Den. The application on the road has been fantastic, the application has been really good. Maybe we need to find a bit of that home spirit, that real winning mentality, that clean sheet mentality that we’ve had at home. Maybe we need to impose ourselves a little bit more on the game.

“The win at Southampton was a great achievement, but I’ve said winning there, beating Leicester at home, it’s a little bit irrelevant where we win. We just have to get enough points to stay in the division, that’s the remit this year.

“Ultimately, we’ve lost three away games, I don’t like that and don’t want that to be us. I want the players to build a siege mentality away from home that we have at The Den. We have to do it without the backing of the majority of the fans and we have to do it ourselves. We had that mindset against Southampton, we had that siege mentality and that’s what we have to have at the Stadium of Light.”