Adam Barrett gives his reaction to Millwall’s 1-1 draw against Barnsley

BY DANIEL MARSH

Adam Barrett was left frustrated as he oversaw Millwall’s 1-1 stalemate with Barnsley at the Den.

Lions assistant Barrett took charge in Gary Rowett’s absence due to coronavirus.

Millwall were disappointing in the opening period and were perhaps fortunate to go in level at the break, with Jake Cooper equalising just a couple of minutes after Alex Mowatt had broken the deadlock for Barnsley.

The Lions improved after the break and pushed hard for all three points, with the visitors goalkeeper Jack Walton excelling to prevent Barrett’s men from what would have been their third win in a week.

Barrett said: “The second half was frustrating because I thought we did enough to win the game. I thought we were disappointing in the first half, I thought we played into their hands. They were very aggressive in the press and I thought we turned the ball over too cheaply.

“But I thought [the] second half was a much better performance, we played with a lot more purpose and created some good chances. Their goalkeeper’s pulled a couple of great saves off and we’ve hit the post and the bar and we just couldn’t quite find the winner. So, [I’m] disappointed but it’s been a big week. Seven points from the three games – we’re delighted with that. [It’s a] great return, you can’t get greedy. We’re delighted with the week that we’ve had and we move on from there now.”

Millwall made the decision to revert to a back five for the visit of the Tykes. Rowett had implemented a 4-2-3-1 system in the back-to-back victories at Wycombe and at home to Luton earlier in the week. The Lions made a storming start in midweek, but couldn’t replicate that against Barnsley after the tactical switch.

“We’ve got a lot of games in a short space of time,” explained Barrett when discussing the change of approach.

“The squad’s going to be vitally important. It’s very, very hard [because] we want to play with a tempo and intensity and it’s difficult to keep asking the lads to go again. We’ve got so many fixtures – the fixture list is crammed in, we’ve got to utilise the squad.

“Also, the opposition that you’re playing [plays a part]. We knew that they’re a very dangerous side who have got a lot of good players at the top end of the pitch, so it’s good to get our captain Pearce back in there. We went with three runners at the top end of the pitch to try and unsettle their big three centre halves. There’s lots of different conversations that go in about changing the formation but like I said, we’ve got a lot of games. We’re [going to be] playing against a lot of different systems and a lot of different players. The gaffer will pick the side which he feels is going to be best suited to that game.”