Alex Neil has ‘rough idea’ on Millwall goalkeeper decision ahead of Norwich City season opener.

Alex Neil said he had a “rough idea” of who would start in goal for Millwall’s season opener at Norwich City tomorrow.

The Lions enter the new season without an established number one after last season’s first choice, Lukas Jensen, ruptured his Achilles in April and is out indefinitely. His deputy, Liam Roberts, declined a two-year contract with Millwall to join Mansfield Town.

To replace them, Millwall signed two new goalkeepers this summer: Max Crocombe on a free transfer and Steven Benda on loan from Fulham, while George Evans started the final four games of last season and was named man of the match in a 1-0 victory over Swansea City on April 26. Following Andy Marshall’s decision to step down, the club hired Dean Thornton, a former Benda goalkeeping coach.

“I’ve got a rough idea,” Neil said during a press conference yesterday. “The goalkeeping coach dedicates more time to the goalkeepers than we do. But we’ll have a good discussion about where we are and what we believe is the best option for us heading into this game.

“As with any position, things can change. We’ll need everyone throughout the season, including good performances, suspensions, and injuries.

So just because one custodian starts does not guarantee that they will be a consistent presence in the goal. I’m not sure what that will look like. “I believe the difficulty we have had is that Max has come in early in the window, which has been fantastic. So, we’ve taken a good look at Max.

Steven came in late in the window, so we gave him more game time leading up to the season because we wouldn’t have seen him play otherwise. He has played more prominently in the last two games.
Now we’ve got a decision to make going into the weekend.”

When asked if he had decided on the rest of his starting lineup, Neil replied, “I’m pretty sure where we’ll go with the starting eleven. “We have another training session tomorrow, so that could change slightly.

As with most teams, you probably have about seven or eight that are set in your mind, and maybe one or two that are up for debate, shall we say.

I have a pretty clear idea of where we’re going with it.”