‘It’s poor defending as a team’ – Millwall boss on their recent habit of conceding early goals in Championship

Gary Rowett has a simple and quick answer when asked about why his Millwall side have conceded early goals in three of their four Championship matches.

The Lions drew 2-2 at Swansea on Tuesday with two stoppage time own goals. The hosts went 2-0 up inside the opening 13 minutes.

Millwall also fought back to win 3-2 against Coventry at The Den on Saturday, with their opponents breaching the hosts’ goal twice inside the opening half-hour.

And Sheffield United also scored both their goals in a 2-0 win at Bramall Lane with only 22 minutes on the clock.

“It’s poor defending as a team – it’s very easy to pinpoint,” Rowett told the South London Press. “We’ve shown the players. We’ve started games a little bit passive. We’re not dealing with little bits of individual movement at that point. You have to go to places like Sheffield United, Swansea and Norwich and you have to be able to deal with bits of good attacking play – that’s what opposition at this level do.

“It’s a team, not any individuals or any one moment – we have to do that better. It’s very difficult to get a foothold in any game, particularly when you’re 1-0 down after one minute and then 2-0 down not that long after.

“We are trying this year to be a little bit more aggressive in certain areas and that might lead to little bits of extra space available, but that’s what we’re trying to do. If that has a downside then you have to assess that and try to solve that. Because what you can’t do is go to Norwich and be 2-0 down after 20 minutes and just expect to keep coming back all the time. It doesn’t work like that.

“It’s up to us to fix it and the players will work hard, as ever, to try and do that.”

Shaun Hutchinson has played just 26 minutes of league football this season but came off the bench at Swansea.

Rowett has already indicated he is set to make changes at Norwich tonight, not least because of the quick turnaround and yet another away fixture.

“It’s a bit difficult – Hutchy missed the first game through injury,” said the Lions chief. “The likes of Cressy got his opportunity and scored two goals – then deserved to keep his place. Coops has been such a rock for us for so long, such a top player.

“We have got great options – like being able to bring on Hutchy and Lenny just to make sure if we were stretched on the counter-attack we could deal with it.

“If you look at the moment when Lenny stops Obafemi, not only is it a great tackle but it’s exactly the reason we brought him on. We knew we might be a little bit open and we needed to be able to cope with that.

“Of course heading into Friday you want to be making good decisions with your squad. We’re in a position now where even at the back you wouldn’t normally change too much but when you’ve got players like Hutchinson and Ryan Leonard it makes it quite easy to potentially rotate and freshen up in the right areas.”