Gary Rowett in planning mode at Millwall as he gets answers to some lingering questions
BY ALEX GRACE
Planning for next season is now at the forefront of Gary Rowett’s mind as Millwall are set for a fifth consecutive season in the Championship.
The Lions boss wants his side to be top-six challengers next season and the remaining Championship fixtures will be a way of finding out what his side are going to be capable of and where improvements or potential investments may be needed.
Rowett said: “If I can stand here at the end of the season and say I finished eighth, ninth or 10th or 11th, if it’s not the top six then it’s neither here or there.
“It’s about learning for next season. Of course we want to finish as high as we can, and get as many points as we can, but it’s more important to go into the summer knowing exactly what’s required for next season. With that comes one or two moments in games where we have to try something different and do different things – we did some of those things well today [Saturday] and some of those we need to get a bit better at.”
The Lions chief is still keen for his players to finish the season as strongly as they possibly can but also admitted that he will look to try different things as he ponders how to make Millwall a top six challenger next season.
Rowett has stuck with the five at the back system for the majority of the season and it would appear that it will be that system that he will try to continue with going into 2021-22.
“We can pick the same team for the last five games, what am I going to learn? So that’s why today Billy Mitchell came out. It wasn’t Billy, I wanted passers in there with George Evans and Woodsy [Ryan Woods] that was how we wanted to go. We felt if we could get a grip of the midfield then our wing-backs could push on and be more attacking down the side.
“We have got to find one or two things out and if we can get results along the way, fabulous. There is no pressure on us. For the integrity of the league you always want to get results and win points, which I thought we showed today [Saturday], but we also need to be a little bit selfish, we have to find out one or two things about ourselves for next season.”