Formation change working a treat for Millwall as they had 16 shots in victory over Bristol City

BY ALEX GRACE

Gary Rowett believes that Millwall’s change of formation has made them more of an attacking threat.

The Lions have managed to score five goals in three games since he elected to make the change.

Tom Bradshaw and Zian Flemming both scored in today’s 2-1 victory at Bristol City.

“The change of formation gives us a chance to get more attacking bodies forward,” said Rowett.

“What you don’t want to do is have defensive frailty or those defensive problems. At the moment, we look much better defensively in that formation and we’ve got to continue to do that.

“Statistically we ended up with 16 shots and I think seven of those were on target, and we only had one on target against us.

“I’m sure Nigel [Pearson, Bristol City boss] will say that maybe their accuracy in those shooting positions wasn’t what they would want it to be, and we’ve made a couple of very good blocks. Nevertheless, it shows that we’ve had some very good moments in the game. As an away team, we’ve not had that often enough.

“It’s really easy, isn’t it? If you’re playing a back five and you’re not defending well, at some point, in my mind, it probably started last season where you start to think ‘okay, do we just need to do something to change a little bit?’ But when something’s working to a point, it’s hard to just chuck it away, it’s really brave to just chuck it away.

“I felt it was the right time and the players have responded with two wins and a draw and have looked very good defensively.”