Millwall assistant boss makes positive claim as he discusses their extra attacking options

BY DANIEL MARSH

Adam Barrett feels that Millwall have “progressed” since his previous spell in charge of the club last year.

The Lions assistant manager was placed in temporary charge just over a year ago prior to Gary Rowett’s arrival, taking four points from three games.

Due to Rowett contracting Covid-19, Barrett was in place to oversee Millwall’s 1-1 draw with Barnsley on Saturday. Barrett will continue in the role for the midweek trip to Preston and next weekend’s visit of Huddersfield Town.

When asked for his feelings on how different the squad available to him was this time around, Barrett was quick to talk up the evolution of the Lions squad.

“The squad’s definitely stronger, there’s no two ways about it,” Barrett said when reflecting after the game.

“You look at today – we’ve got a strong bench that can impact games, we’ve got better options. The squad’s definitely moved on. The gaffer’s come in and brought a different dimension to us as well which has been great. We’re moving in the right direction, as a football club we feel that we’re progressing.”

As Barrett alluded to, the Lions had an abundance of attacking options on the bench. Tom Bradshaw, Matt Smith and Kenneth Zohore were all strong attacking options to bring on to change the game.

New arrival Zohore got the call to come on and had a positive impact, coming close to scoring on a couple of occasions as Millwall looked to chase a winning goal.

Barrett was asked after the match if it was a difficult decision to bring on Zohore ahead of Smith, who had a hand in three of the Lions’ four goals from victories against Wycombe and Luton earlier in the week.

“It depends on who we’re playing, the moment in the game and the type of opponents you’re coming up against,” he said.

“Like I mentioned before, we’ve got a hell of a lot of games in a short space of time and we’re going to have to rotate the squad. It’s very hard for the players to keep going at the intensity that we want them [to be at] game in, game out.

“The days of ‘they won last week and then play again next week’ [are gone]. It’s very difficult to do that with so many different systems that you’re up against as well. We’ve got so many different options. Me and the gaffer spoke about it and he felt that Kenneth was the best option to bring on today.

“He’s got so many good attributes. He’s a big, strong powerful guy. We’re getting him up to speed, but he gives us a different option, which is great. He was a handful when he came on and he was unlucky [not to score]. It would have been lovely to see that ball going in the net from his header. But like I said, he’s a great addition to the squad. We’re getting him up to match fitness and hopefully he’s going to have a big part to play.”

PHOTOS: BRIAN TONKS & KEITH GILLARD