FOOTBALL’S NOT MANLY ANY MORE!
Modern players are soft says Morison, we’ll give Spurs a real game today
TODAY at White Hart Lane might mark the end of an era — and not just for being the last FA Cup game at the famous old stadium in north London.
For Millwall’s talismanic centre forward Steve Morison, this might be the last big shot for a player of a dying breed. At the age of 31, and having been to the Premier League and back through six different clubs, he says facing Tottenham might be the last time he plays against ‘players of this calibre’.
Morison’s lament is that the game has changed, that football is not ‘as manly as it used to be’. Spurs can expect something of a throwback today, then.
League One Millwall will be boisterous and hard-working, with a plan to get in Tottenham’s faces, making for an uncomfortable occasion. Morison hopes that it can be a leveller.
‘The gap is massive,’ he admits, looking at the 48-place gulf in league places between the two sides. ‘The teams that are at the top are there for a reason, they’ve got the best players.
‘Football is changing, it’s not as manly as it used to be. We’re producing technical players but I don’t think we’re producing men anymore.’
Perhaps that is the secret behind Millwall’s run to the quarter-finals of this year’s competition — their willingness to mix a team with modern success in their division with values of old.
They have seen off Premier League giants Leicester City, Watford and Bournemouth already to get this far.
Those scalps came at home, at The Den. However, with almost 4,000 travelling fans today there is a hope they can replicate that sort of performance on away turf.
‘You come to this time of year and it becomes more about a game of men and about who is going to come out on top of their battles,’ Morison says, speaking at The Den this week.
‘I think the three teams that have come here have come unstuck because they were not ready for the physical side of the game.
‘When we go to their [Tottenham’s] place we’re going to get a taste of what it’s like playing at the top, playing on a beautiful football pitch against talented players.
‘We hope that we can turn their weaknesses into our strengths and exploit them. We need to make sure that we take our opportunities.
‘It will be tough but I fancy a few of our boys to step up from the level they are at. For me it could be the last time I play against players of this calibre.’
Millwall arrive at the Lane full of confidence. They are unbeaten in almost three months — 17 games — and are far from unfamiliar with causing an upset.
Morison recalls winning here in the top flight with Norwich City back in 2012, and also remembers watching Spurs from the stands in his youth.
He has memories of Jurgen Klinsmann, Alan Shearer as a member of visiting sides, and says that he was ‘fascinated’ watching the top forwards strut their stuff on the White Hart Lane pitch.
Is this an occasion that the former Leeds United and Stevenage Borough striker will be taking as a sentimental one then? No chance.
‘For me, you don’t enjoy any game unless you win. I’m not going to go home with a smile on my face if we lose the game,’ Morison says.
‘There’s no way of painting a good picture if we lose 1-0 in the last minute or 6-0. We’ve lost the game. If you’re going there to enjoy it then they will find that out.
‘We’re going there on Sunday for one thing and that’s to win the game.
‘It’s going to be tough, we’re not under any illusions about how hard it’s going to be.’