Video '“ Leeds United v Millwall: Whites looking to clean up their act for testing visit from Lions

Meetings at The Den had become a depressing relic of the days football was supposed to have left behind, the air filled with menace and poison as what felt like half the capital’s police force was deployed to keep the warring parties apart.

Weeks would go into the planning for such a combustible fixture. It was the same at Elland Road, much of which in latter years centred on preventing Millwall fans travelling independently to avoid a repeat of the trouble that marred the 2007 meeting between these two clubs in League One.

The Lions’ promotion last May meant a resumption of hostilities with Leeds and, as last September underlined, absence had not made hearts grow fonder. It also hadn’t done much for United’s prospects in south London, that 1-0 defeat under Thomas Christiansen being the eighth time in nine visits that the return trip back north had been made empty-handed.

Liam Cooper, the Yorkshire club’s captain, was not in the team beaten by a second-half strike from Aiden O’Brien on an afternoon that saw missiles thrown on to the pitch. But he admits Leeds have plenty of motivation in today’s return.

“We definitely owe them one,” said the 26-year-old. “We know there is always that bit of edge when Millwall come to town.

“I didn’t play myself down at their place but it is a tough place to go. Maybe a different experience for some of the new boys, a hostile environment.

“But that is the Championship and it is not the only ground in the league like that. As for this game, we know what to expect.

“We know what type of team they are. We have got to stamp our authority on the game – start at a high tempo, which recently has been giving us a lot of joy, and try to blow teams away. We will be doing everything we can to get that win.”

United’s defeat at The Den was made all the more frustrating by it coming with Christiansen’s men sitting on top of the Championship after taking 17 points from the opening seven games.

Two months later, Leeds had slipped to 10th on the back of a horrible run that the players only truly got out of their system during the run-up to Christmas.

Now, with United needing another lift after taking just a point from the last three games and being knocked out of the FA Cup by Newport County, today’s visit from a Lions side with a wretched recent record at Elland Road could be handily timed.

In 11 meetings since the turn of the Millennium, Leeds have won eight and lost just once. The last five also all went the way of the Yorkshire club.

Cooper appreciates the importance of today bringing yet another fruitless journey north for Millwall and their supporters, who for the first time in a decade have been allowed to travel independently.

“This is our last game before we go to Hull in 10 days,” said the former Scotland youth international.

“We have made a pact that we are going to take each game as it comes, and not talk about the next few weeks.

“Let’s talk about the next game, it is the biggest in our vision, and the next game we need to win.”

Adam Forshaw, a £4.5m new arrival from Middlesbrough earlier this week, is not being considered for his debut today due to what Christiansen describes as a need to address “small problems” in his “physical conditions”.

With Samuel Saiz and Eunan O’Kane, both red-carded in United’s last two games, serving suspensions, the Dane’s midfield options look thin even with the return to fitness of Ronaldo Vieira. Those dismissals in the losses to Newport and Ipswich mean Leeds have had five players sent off this season, more than any other club in the second tier.

The club’s tally of 62 bookings, meanwhile, is also higher than all but two of their Championship peers.

“The club have said they’re not going to accept that (poor disciplinary record) and rightly so,” said Cooper, the first Leeds player to receive his marching orders this term in September’s 3-1 defeat at Cardiff City.

“I don’t want to pick Eunan out but he would be the first to hold his hand up and say it was silly of him (against Ipswich, when the midfielder saw red for head-butting Jonas Knudsen).

“They are stupid red cards which can be avoided. We, as a team, won’t stand for that. We have got to sort it out and we will do.

“If Eunan was on the pitch (for the full 90 minutes at Portman Road) there was only going to be one winner. We were creating opportunities and, on another day, we win that game with 11 men.”

United went on to lose four of the five games in which they were reduced to 10 men,

October’s 3-0 win at Bristol City – when Gaetano Berardi was dismissed for a headbutt – being the exception.

“We know we can be a match for anyone,” added Cooper. “We have proved that on many occasions.

“We have also gone on winning streaks. We have just got to keep ourselves motivated and, as captain, that is what I will do.

“I think the lads who we are talking about would be the first to admit they have done wrong. We are not a bad group or a horrible group.

“We are an honest group and the manager has let them know what he thought. The club have let them know what they think as well. They are not bad lads but they would be the first to hold their hands up and admit they were in the wrong. Both lads have apologised and we have to move on.

“It is about finding a balance. We have spoken about that behind closed doors this week. It is about not being too soft and not too over the top.

“We can’t go into games lacklustre. You have got to put your foot forward and make people know you are there. Maybe we have taken that a bit too literally.”

With another 30,000 plus crowd expected today, the crackling atmosphere is likely to bring a big test of that new-found resolve among the United players not to lose their discipline against a Millwall side chasing only their second league double over Leeds.