Zian Flemming impresses Millwall captain Shaun Hutchinson as brace sinks Boro
Posted Sunday, October 09, 2022 by PA
Millwall captain Shaun Hutchinson has high hopes for Zian Flemming after the Dutchman’s double earned a 2-0 win at home to Middlesbrough.
Flemming scored his first goal for the club since his summer arrival from Fortuna Sittard with a stunning effort in the midweek draw at Rotherham and added another two against managerless Boro to continue Millwall’s superb home form.
The Lions have now registered 15 of their 17 points at the Den this season.
Asked whether there was more to come from Flemming, who opened the scoring with a deflected free-kick, centre-half Hutchinson said: “I think you’ll see a few more of what he did on Wednesday. From distance he strikes one hell of a ball.
“He’s a great addition to the squad and he’s surprisingly very strong as well. He protects the ball well and he gets his shots off.
“In the past obviously we had Jed (Wallace) who scored a few from distance, but, other than that, we haven’t really had that many who will pull the trigger.
“We don’t want to take too much away from him because we need that flame and obviously sometimes we struggle to create things and he’s definitely someone who can create.”
Millwall boss Gary Rowett stuck with the 4-2-3-1 formation that produced a promising away performance in midweek and was coy when pressed on whether he would stick with it going forward.
“I’ve had to really think about each formation,” said Rowett. “I mean, it’s because we haven’t really found that form I’d like. Who knows? We’ve done it for two games.
“How many times have we played a five for two games and actually been good for two games? It’s about being good over a 10- or 15-game period.”
Middlesbrough finished the day two points and one place above the relegation zone, but interim boss Leo Percovich said the mood in the camp remained bright.
“It’s very positive,” said Percovich. “The dressing room is very positive, for sure. The players are still alive.
“When people are talking about the expectations of the season, I think this could be a very good season for us.
“We’ve started bad, but it doesn’t mean the season is gone. It doesn’t mean that it’s finished.
“A positive thing is that the team from the last game to this one, they feel more comfortable with the ball, they do more movements.”
But he acknowledged his players ran out of steam on Saturday after battling to a 1-0 win at home to Birmingham in midweek.
“Just today it was a battle and they finished exhausted after a hard week. It was a very emotional week,” said Percovich.
“I felt the team really did run out of energy today, a little flat, because of everything in the hard game on Wednesday and the early goal cost us.
“You need to build step by step. The positive thing also is that when we came we were in the relegation places and now we are above.
“This is the first step and the second step now is to build wins. You can only build a style or a philosophy when you win first.”
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