Millwall’s Strikers: Review — 2019/20 Season

At the start of the 2019/20 season, Millwall had lost their deadly duo Lee Gregory and Steve Morison, who were a dangerous pair leading the line together. Unfortunately, it was time to replace them and Millwall had to find at least another striker. Therefore, in came Matt Smith from QPR for a fee of around £400,000 and Jón Daði Böðvarsson from Reading for a fee around £900,000. Millwall also had Tom Bradshaw, who had signed permanently in January 2019 for around £1,000,000. Did they turn out to be effective signings?

Tom Bradshaw:

The 27 year old, who has previously played for clubs such as Shrewsbury and Walsall, joined the club from Barnsley for around £1,000,000. Due to the high fee, many fans had high expectations! This season, Bradshaw has played 2410 minutes (the most of our strikers this season) predominantly playing as a single striker in the 523 formation but also slightly off a strike partner in the 442. He has scored 9 goals (8 league goals) from an xG of 8.15 with 1 assist. The striker averages 1.64 shots per 90 minutes with 45.5% of those being on target. The 5'10 striker isn’t the best aerially, only winning 25.3% of his aerial duels. However, this isn’t Bradshaw’s game, as we mostly try to play it into his feet, where he lays it off promptly. Bradshaw has a high work rate and works very hard for the team, especially when off the ball. He closes down defenders at pace and averages 4.22 defensive duels per 90 minutes, winning 54.9% of them. Overall, I believe Bradshaw has performed well this season and I would like to see him score more goals. He gets in to the right areas frequently but often the delivery doesn’t quite reach him. It will be interesting to see how he performs next season!

Jón Daði Böðvarsson:

The Icelandic, 27 year old, international joined Millwall in the summer from fellow Championship club, Reading. He has mainly played the LW role in the 523 and rarely played as the #9. He has played 2019 minutes this season (1234 of those in the Championship) scoring 5 goals in all competitions, from an xG of 6.67, which shows he is slightly underperforming finishing wise and assisting 2 goals this season. He is averaging 1.34 shots per 90 minutes (slightly less than Bradshaw) with 40% of those on target. This could be due to him playing the LW role and not being able to play centrally and get more shots off. The 6'3 striker averages 10.62 aerial duels and winning 35.3 % of them. Bodvarsson also works hard off the ball…