WHILE Romain Esse may take the headlines for his impressive first half performance on his debut for Millwall’s first-team, a number of other youngsters were involved in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Brondby.
Abdul Abdulmalik and Sashiel Adom-Malaki both came off the bench for the final 20 minutes of the game, with the former standing out after combining with Andreas Voglsammer and George Honeyman to create a golden opportunity to grab a second goal against the former Danish champions.
It wasn’t to be, however, although supporters were keen to see some of the under-21’s involved in senior action against one of the biggest clubs in Scandinavian football.
Manager Gary Rowett had stressed that the match was purely used to build up fitness ahead of next weekend’s Championship return away at Sunderland, although he added that it was a valuable platform to test some of the club’s best young players against a high-level opponent.
It also helps to highlight key areas in which they need to improve if they are to fulfil their potential, and the Millwall boss was able to pinpoint a key area in which Abdulmalik needs to develop in the coming months and years.
“That’s what you have to sometimes take out of these games,” he said after the draw.
“If you think about it, we’ve had 20 players playing today so you’re never going to get a balanced performance, you’re never going to get a consistent performance over 90 minutes. You’re going to see a little bit, then it’ll go a little bit dead, then you’ll see other little bits, which I think we did.
“For the likes of Abdul late on, I think one of his biggest challenges is out of possession. He’s good on the ball, he gets into good positions, but I think sometimes out of position he has to improve that understanding to help the team.
“That’s something he’ll work on, I’m sure, but he’s got lovely feet. There was a little moment where we combined quite well, probably should’ve scored. We’ve got some good youngsters at this club.”
Photo: Millwall FC