adminMillwall Massimo Luongo injury update as Swansea City boss sent strong message ahead of QPR – round-up
Alex Neil awaits news on Massimo Luongo as QPR prepare to face a struggling Swansea City side.
Millwall nervously await the results of a scan being undertaken by midfielder Massimo Luongo today amid fears that the 33-year-old may have sustained a season-ending injury against QPR on Saturday afternoon.
The Australian international was carried off on a stretcher after just 15 minutes of the London derby on Saturday lunchtime, applauded by all four stands at Loftus Road on his return to west London. Luongo spent four years with the R’s between 2015 and 2019.
The player signed a one-year contract at Millwall in June, making the move from Ipswich Town following relegation from the Premier League. He has been an important player for Alex Neil, starting seven of the last eight Championship matches.
Millwall fear season-ending injury to midfleder
Play was stopped for five minutes in the match between the Lions and QPR to allow for the player to receive treatment after appearing to twist his knee in a challenge with R’s striker Michael Frey. There are fears that the midfielder injured his ACL, which is known as a nightmare for football players and can be season ending.
Speaking after the match, Neil told Southwark News: “When a player gets down, particularly as a senior player, and he doesn’t really move, and you start bringing things on to cart them off, it’s never a good sign. Looking at it, he planted his foot, he’s turned, and his knee went the opposite way. So we’ll see. We’ll get a scan on Monday, and we’ll see how that looks.
“[I’m] a bit disappointed for him. I would’ve stayed with the same team that won the last game, but we lost the goalkeeper and we lost the centre-forward. Mas, he’s performed well for us this year.”
Swansea City boss criticised ahead of QPR
QPR will look to bounce back from that 2-1 defeat to Millwall with a trip to Swansea City on Wednesday evening. The hosts sit just two places and two points behind Julien Stephan’s men but go into the clash with questions over the leadership of Alan Sheehan.
The Swans followed up a 3-1 home defeat to Leicester City with a 0-0 draw against Southampton on Saturday. Sheehan was determined to take the positives from a resilient performance, but the fact his side conceded 21 shots is a worry.
Sheehan said: “That is our first good point of the season. The draws we have had have felt like losses. We’ve played better with the ball and come away short of points. They created a lot of chances in that spell in the first half. That is the first time a team has created that amount of chances against us, credit to them.
“As the game went on we felt quite comfortable. Ultimately we played against a good team but our mentality to come here and keep a clean sheet was great. Can we be better with the ball? Yes, we didn’t create enough opportunities but defensively we were quite resilient.”
Those words, however, do not seem to have convinced Swansea City supporters with change in tactics being called for ahead of taking on QPR. JackArmy admitted there was ‘no denying the effort’ of the players but slammed a midfield being ‘bypassed’ an a final third compared to a ‘desert’.
The outlet wrote: “For now, we take the point. We take the praise. But we also take a long, hard look at the performance. Because if we’re honest, we were second best. And no amount of resolve can hide that.
“Alan Sheehan, meanwhile, chose to focus on resilience. He praised the mentality, the fight, the ability to stay in the game. And yes, there’s value in that. A point away from home is never to be refused. But it’s hard to ignore the wider truth: we were second best in every department. We didn’t impose ourselves, didn’t create, didn’t look like a side with a plan beyond survival.
“There’s a danger in dressing up grit as progress. Grit is a baseline — not a blueprint. If we want to climb the table, we need more than resolve. We need rhythm, purpose, and a clear attacking identity.”
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