Millwall midfielder George Saville on ban risk, being at Chelsea when Frank Lampard was a kingpin and pulling power of the Championship
George Saville will be treading a disciplinary tightrope in tomorrow’s home game against Coventry City but the Millwall midfielder won’t allow that to stop him going full throttle.
The experienced midfielder, 31, picked up his fourth caution of the season in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Oxford United.
But if Saville can keep his nose clean in the fixtures against the Sky Blues and Wednesday’s SE16 encounter against Sheffield United then he will have reached the cut-off point for five bookings landing a one-match suspension.
Millwall are already stretched with Japhet Tanganga out after collecting his fifth caution in last weekend’s game while Shaun Hutchinson, Josh Coburn and Jake Cooper are sidelined with injuries.
Saville has been a key component of the Lions side, even more so since the return of Neil Harris as head coach in February, and has started 16 of their 17 Championship matches.
“When the game starts you don’t really think about that,” said Saville, who made his 350th Championship appearance when he featured at Oxford, when asked about his ban risk. “I am thinking about it now, but once the match kicks off you are just trying to do well in it and win it.
“We’ve got a couple of centre-halves out and Josh as well, it is not ideal. You need your senior players back fit. But it is an opportunity for players to come in and play well. Those injury blows happen in every squad, it is about us being positive and looking forward.
“We are nine unbeaten. We are in the top half of the table in December and this season, in particular, we have played some good stuff. We’ve had more good performances than bad, that’s for sure.
“We’re in a great position. Could we be in a better position? Yeah, of course. There are games we feel we could’ve won but that is maybe saying ‘well done’ to us as a group, because of how well we’ve been playing.
“We’re back to what we’re good at when it comes to The Den – we took seven points from nine against the top three teams, bar Sheff U, who are doing the best this season (Sunderland, Burnley and Leeds).
“The fans have been terrific there. We want to keep that going.”
Millwall have the chance to stretch their unbeaten run at home to seven matches if they get a positive result against Coventry, who appointed former Chelsea and Everton manager Frank Lampard as head coach last week.
His high-profile playing career would have made him a target for the home support, even without the fact he played for West Ham United before a trophy-laden spell with the Blues which included three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the Champions League.
There is extra spice with Lampard bringing in Joe Edwards, who lasted just 19 games in the Millwall hotseat last season, as part of his coaching team.
Saville was a youngster on Chelsea’s books when Lampard was starring – and excelling – in the first-team.
“He was probably the player I did look up to, in terms of position,” said Saville, who was on Reading’s books before joining Chelsea in 2004.
“I’ve not got a bad word to say about Lampard. On and off the pitch he was the ultimate professional in the way he went about his business – that’s why he won so much. He was a nice bloke.
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