The Dean Hall fan column: After Berlin, bring on Big Steve

I spent last Thursday night in Dusseldorf, which has a glorious old town area, cobbled streets and plenty of eateries and bars to enjoy. After flying into Berlin on Friday, we met up with the usual faithful for a couple of days (and a few too many shandies) before the Germany game on Saturday evening.

I’m sure many of you watched the match live or the highlights and would agree that we now have so many young, hungry and fearless attacking options, which is refreshing to see from the national team.

It’s certainly wet my appetite for the Euros in France this summer - the hype around Jamie Vardy, the youthful exuberance of Dele Alli, the way we attacked with pace down the flanks, all of which are a breath of fresh air.

Second half kicks off in survival scrap

Given all that, Tuesday’s friendly against Holland saw a lot of unwarranted criticism in my view. Another lovely Vardy finish and the debut of Danny Drinkwater were big plusses - but squad rotation leads to inconsistency with everyone needing a run under their belt. I’m confident the team you’ll see in France will resemble the one that put in that second-half display in Berlin.

On to Millers matters, and another pivotal week, with three big games, begins tomorrow. It’s down to the squad and management to take each game at a time (that old cliché), but ourselves, as fans, will have already earmarked away trips to Bristol City and MK Dons next week as potential points-earners.

First, there’s just the small matter of Leeds and Mr Evans’ return to town. It’ll be interesting to see what sort of reception Evans gets from the home crowd on his first return to the NYS. Overall, I think it’ll be a positive one.

I don’t see Neil Warnock changing tack too much, and I’d imagine he’ll stick with a similar approach to the last few home games. Leeds are a dangerous side on their day, but very inconsistent, and it’s up to us as the home team to make the running and get that first goal to put the visitors under the cosh. Our approach of being hard to beat first and foremost, though, has served us well in this little run of superb results.

Hopefully we’ll see a good game and a positive result before I get back on the road for the midweek trip down to Bristol - matchsticks needed at work Wednesday morning, no doubt.

Up the Millers.

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