Millwall: Neil Harris told to drop Honeyman and start £2.5m signing with Macaulay Langstaff | OneFootball

FLW's Lions fan pundit wants to see Mihailo Ivanovic in the starting XI against Plymouth Argyle in midweek

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Millwall striker Mihailo Ivanovic has been backed for a first starting berth of the season against Plymouth Argyle on Wednesday evening off the back of his first goal for the club against Derby County last time out.

Teenage frontman Ivanovic has not enjoyed a great start to life in South London since his summer move from Serbian side Vojvodina, but announced himself to The Den faithful over the weekend with a late equaliser against the Rams to net in English football for the first time.

He stepped off the bench in place of Macaulay Langstaff to bag an impressive equaliser with five minutes of the game left, as he raced through on goal and rounded Jacob Widell Zetterstrom to knock the ball into an empty net and earn his side a share of the spoils.

Neil Harris' side sit 20th in the second-tier as it stands, but look to be finding their feet now as the season gets fully underway, with one win, three draws, and just one loss in their last five games heading into this key fixture against Argyle.

The Pilgrims are just one place above Millwall right now, and head to the capital in midweek off the back of a crushing 5-0 defeat to fellow strugglers Cardiff City, so Wayne Rooney will undoubtedly be looking for a reaction against the Lions.

Mihailo Ivanovic start mooted in place of George Honeyman on Wednesday

Ivanovic became the Lions' club-record signing in late August when he joined the club for a reported £2.5 million in a surprise move from the Serbian SuperLiga, but has had to wait for opportunities on the pitch due to injury issues and the reluctance to rush him into Championship action as a result.

He has featured off the bench in each of the Lions' last five league outings, and Millwall fan pundit, Chris Chapman, of the Chat With Chaps YouTube channel, thinks the 19-year-old now deserves a chance to prove himself from the off against Argyle alongside fellow frontman Macaulay Langstaff.

“The one change I would make would be to start Mihailo Ivanovic, who came on and scored the equaliser at The Den against Derby on Saturday," Chris told FLW.

“He has really impressed in his cameo appearances, obviously none more so than a really cool and composed finish when he rounded the Derby goalkeeper on Saturday.

“I feel like he deserves a chance, but I don’t think it should come at Macauley Langstaff’s expense. I actually want to see them play together.

“I know this is highly unlikely to happen, because its not the system that Neil Harris plays, but I want to see us play two up top.

“I think those two could work really well together. They’ve got very complimentary attributes, and I think it’s something the fans want to see.

“In order to do that we’d need to drop someone. I’m a massive George Honeyman fan and like what he brings to us, but I think given that we are at home against a team that we should beat in Plymouth, I want to see us go two up top.

“Therefore, I would replace Honeyman with Ivanovic, and give him his first start in a Millwall shirt.”

Neil Harris has backed Ivanovic to claim a starting berth

Millwall boss Harris has had to contend with numerous injuries to his attackers in recent weeks, just after Ivanovic's return from being sidelined, with both Josh Coburn and Tom Bradshaw both currently unavailable for selection due to respective injury issues.

That has meant that fellow summer signing Langstaff has been relied on to lead the line in the last few outings, with Ivanovic coming off the bench, but Harris hinted at the 19-year-old playing a bigger role on Wednesday in his post-match press conference after the Derby game.

“We’re very limited in our options at the moment, especially at the top end of the pitch and Macaulay (Langstaff) has done extremely well in recent games," Harris told Southwark News.

“Mika is nineteen and moved abroad and ultimately, he’s hardly trained with us because we had two international breaks and he was recovering from an injury in between. We’ve hardly seen Mika on the training pitch.

“He’s not had a lot of time to get up to speed with how we want him to play, but the goal will do him a world of good and obviously certainly comes into thinking for Wednesday night.

“I was delighted when he took around the goalkeeper because then it becomes an empty net.

“It’s a hefty price tag that follows him, obviously. But he’s a very young man and it’s important for me to see him. It’s lovely for us all to see him out on the pitch, but it’s important for me to learn more about him and what he showed today was composure in the penalty area.”

The fact that Harris was already looking toward the visit of Plymouth with Ivanovic at the forefront of his mind can only be a good thing for the Serbian striker, but it does seem unlikely that he will play alongside Langstaff in a front two, despite Argyle's defensive woes.

The Lions' boss has not yet deviated from a 4-2-3-1 formation in any of the 12 games in all competitions so far this season, so it does look as if Ivanovic will have to play instead of Langstaff if he is to start on Wednesday, which could well happen, given that the former Notts County man has bagged just once in all 12 games so far this campaign.