Tottenham loanee Japhet Tanganga is turning himself into a hero under Millwall manager Neil Harris after his late header snatched a crucial victory over fellow Sky Bet Championship strugglers Birmingham.
It was a second goal in Lions colours for Tanganga, 24, who scored the first goal of his senior career in Harris’ first game back in charge at Southampton two weeks ago.
Millwall have now won three of their four games under Harris, who has quickly turned around their form to open up a five-point gap between them and the relegation zone.
Harris said: “Japh’s got great pedigree, he’s got a great CV in terms of games at the top level and playing in Europe, and things like that.
“It’s slightly different here for a centre-half and sometimes you have to be a different player here, and the reason I’m at the football club is to try and teach the players what a Millwall player looks like, whether that’s a goalkeeper or a centre-half or a centre-forward.
“All I said to Japh was – not complicated his game – just to make your decisions and I’ll support you, but you can be as aggressive as you like.
“A couple of his tackles were a little bit dubious here against Watford and away at Southampton in the first five minutes, but he shows that he’s buying into it.
“Ultimately, he’s headed the ball a lot (in both boxes) and to be a good Millwall centre-half you have to do that.”
Millwall started the better side, with Birmingham goalkeeper John Ruddy having to make good saves to deny George Honeyman and Jake Cooper in the first 20 minutes.
Jay Stansfield was then denied by Matija Sarkic just before half-time and hit a great chance wide early in the second half.
He then felt he should have been awarded a penalty after 63 minutes when Millwall’s Joe Bryan appeared to hold him back from Juninho Bacuna’s corner.
The Lions wildly celebrated when their winner came in the 90th minute as Tanganga rose to head in George Saville’s corner.
Birmingham remain only one point above the bottom three and caretaker boss Mark Venus has just one point from four games since taking the reins after manager Tony Mowbray temporarily stepped aside for medical reasons.
Venus, whose side could drop below third-from-bottom Huddersfield if they beat West Brom on Sunday, said on the Blues’ penalty shout: “I don’t want to sit here and pick holes in officials.
“They are what they are in this country and I’m sure everyone has their own opinion of them.
“Everyone has their own opinion of what happened, the incident, and they can make their own mind up.
“I think in the second half we got on top.
“I think in the first half we were too timid, we didn’t influence, we didn’t hurt their goal enough and I think in the second half we had a lot more purpose, more intensity.
“We took the game to them and we had some opportunities to hit the target, to score, to shoot, and we squandered them, really.
“I think they’ve got the stomach for the fight – they showed that in the second half.
“I think they just have to learn to do the basics a bit better and learn to make the right decisions.”
Postecoglou: Spurs have a confidence problem to overcome
Ange Postecoglou says that Tottenham need to "overcome" their low confidence after suffering a 4-2 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.
Spurs slipped to their fourth consecutive Premier League defeat, being left to bemoan their slow start as they found themselves 4-0 down by the hour mark thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott.
Richarlison came off the bench to salvage some pride for Spurs, scoring one before setting up Son Heung-min for a goal on his 300th Premier League appearance.
Spurs had the opportunity to cut the gap to the top four after Aston Villa’s defeat to Brighton, but they remain seven points off a Champions League spot.
Postecoglou’s side still have a game in hand over the Villans, though he was sure that Spurs would be able to put their recent poor run behind them.
Asked if Spurs had a confidence problem, Postecoglou told Sky Sports: "Maybe in the front third there is.
"It probably is a bit of a lack of confidence, but again, that's something the guys have to work through.
"You have to find a way to overcome that because, ultimately, if you don't put pressure on the opposition in the front third after you've worked your way up there, they're going to get comfortable with their position."
Spurs have won just one of their last nine Premier League away games, failing to win any of the last five.
Despite that run extending at Anfield, Postecoglou highlighted what he thought was an improvement on their recent performances.
He continued: "Obviously a hugely disappointing outcome for us but at least we were more like ourselves today in terms of our football.
"Our last two away games at Newcastle and Chelsea, apart from the results which weren't great either, we just didn't try and play our football.
"I thought today, even in the first half, some of our football, our pressing was back to where it should be."
Roma 1-1 Juventus: Juve miss chance to close gap to second after draw with Roma
Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw at Roma on Sunday, missing the chance to close in on Milan in second place in Serie A.
Roma took the lead after 15 minutes when Romelu Lukaku found himself in the perfect position to tap in the rebound from a Bryan Cristante shot.
Bremer levelled with a header for Juventus just after the half-hour mark when Federico Chiesa picked him out inside the box from a corner.
Both sides had chances to find a winner in the final minutes, with Roma keeper Mile Svilar making a fingertip save to push Manuel Locatelli's volley over the bar.
Third-placed Juventus have 66 points, five fewer than Milan, who drew 3-3 with Genoa earlier on Sunday. Roma are fifth with 60 points.
Data Debrief: Leading from the back
Since scoring his first Serie A goal in the 2019-20 season, Bremer is the defender with the most headed goals in the Big-5 European leagues, netting 13 in total. Each of his last seven goals have been headers.
His goal was enough to earn Juventus a point today, but it means that they have drawn each of their last four in the competition - a first since February-March 2012 under Antonio Conte.
Chelsea 8-0 Bristol City: Blues rout hands Hayes perfect home send off
Guro Reiten starred as Chelsea thrashed already-relegated Bristol City 8-0 to keep their title hopes alive in the Women's Super League on Sunday.
The Norwegian scored four goals, netting the opener from the penalty spot to get Emma Hayes' last home game in charge off to the best start.
She scored the other three in the second half in just over 20 minutes, while teeing up Agnes Beever-Jones for the seventh goal with just two minutes left.
Beever-Jones got two, with Sjoeke Nusken and Niamh Charles also adding to the scoreline to eradicate the goal-difference advantage that Manchester City, who lost to Arsenal earlier on Sunday, had over them.
Chelsea move to within three points of the Citizens, with a game in hand over them, remaining in the fight to lift their fifth-consecutive league title.
Data Debrief:
Chelsea have scored eight goals in a game for the first time since December 2022 against Leicester City, a match they also won 8-0.
The Blues have scored in their last six games in the WSL, though it does not come close to their longest run of games with a goal in the competition - a run of 20 from April 2023 to February 2024.
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