Casper de Norre Injury Concerns for Millwall After Wrexham Defeat
Alex Neil fears the worst for midfielder Casper de Norre after the Millwall man limped out of Wednesday night’s bruising defeat to Wrexham.
The 29-year-old was forced off just before half-time at 1-0 down in the Championship clash. Without him, Millwall unravelled. Wrexham ran away with it, 3-0.
Afterwards, Neil cut a frustrated figure.
“I thought the big turning point was when we lost Casper,” he told BBC Radio London, before delivering the blunt assessment no Millwall fan wanted to hear: “It’s not good. Senior players know their bodies and he’s definitely felt a pop of some kind.”
That one word – “pop” – will ring alarm bells. De Norre walked straight down the tunnel, and Millwall never recovered their shape or their calm.
Millwall stretched to breaking point
De Norre’s injury exposed just how thin Neil’s options have become.
“He comes off, and Derek [Mazou-Sacko] is not really quite ready to play – he was probably due to get about 20 minutes,” Neil explained. “That’s why Camiel [Neghli] came on initially and then we put Derek on later on.”
The plan was ripped up on the fly. Youngsters Daniel Kelly and Jenson Metcalfe were thrown into the heart of the battle and, as the game wore on, their bodies began to betray them too.
“The two young lads in the middle then started to cramp. Josh Coburn was starting to struggle with his heel,” Neil said.
The pressure finally told. With players tiring and reshuffles everywhere, Millwall lost any real cohesion.
“We ended up having to make wholesale changes, and the difficulty you’ve got with that is that the understanding throughout the players on the pitch is diluted,” Neil admitted. “When you come up against an experienced team like Wrexham, it makes it a difficult task.”
What began as a tight contest turned into a sobering lesson. Experience and continuity on one side; a patched-up, makeshift unit on the other.
“It’s frustrating because we’re probably down to our last third of the squad in terms of trying to get a team on the pitch and trying to be competitive at the level,” Neil said, summing up the scale of the injury crisis.
Bolton next – and a glimmer of relief
There is, at least, a sliver of good news ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Bolton.
Neil is hopeful of having Tairyk Arconte and Kyrell Lisbie back in the squad, while Romain Esse could also feature after his return from Crystal Palace.
“We’ll see where he is, if he’s available and ready,” Neil said of Esse. “I don’t think he’s done loads over the pre-season so we need to be careful.”
Careful or not, Millwall may have little choice. With de Norre facing an anxious wait and the squad already stretched, Neil heads into the weekend knowing every fit body, every returning face, could shape the next phase of their season.
