Gary Rowett: Millwall performance against Norwich City was hugely disappointing
Gary Rowett condemned Millwall’s “disappointing” display following Sunday’s meek 3-1 loss at Norwich City.
The Lions have now lost three matches in a row after goals from Jon Rowe, Josh Sargent and Ashley Barnes. Aidomo Emakhu responded in additional time for the visitors but it was too little too late.
And Rowett pulled no punches with his assessment of the match. When he was asked for his reflections, he said: “Incredibly disappointed. To go away to Middlesbrough in the first game away from home and perform really, really well and have a real desire and drive and focus about us and then one league game later to be so lacklustre is disappointing.
“We could have certainly caused them more problems. First and foremost I think Norwich are a much better side than they were last season, they’ll be up and around the top areas of the league. They’ve got some top players and they played really well, but we have to make them play a lot harder than that. They outran us, they were quicker to the ball and had a little bit more desire and we conceded three pretty poor goals.
“We pride ourselves on our set-pieces, to start the second-half with Sargent literally having no-one near him – he gives our zone man a little bump – and suddenly we’re 2-0 down. If you don’t do the basics in football then the quality doesn’t even come into the question – at that point, that’s not even the issue.
“We went down the other end and have a really good chance where we should score, their defender came flying across and made an incredible block – again, a little bit of desire – and they break and made it 3-0. So a hugely disappointing performance and we got what we deserved, which was a poor defeat.”
The Lions changed from a back five to a back four with Joe Bryan and Casper de Norre missing out through injury. But Rowett insisted that the manner of the goals Millwall gave away – rather than their shape – was his primary concern.
He added: “I’m actually bored of justifying my tactics – whether we play a five our four. For me the key issue is whether or not we run and compete, for me that’s the key issue. It’s not about how many defenders we’ve got on the pitch. We’ve just conceded three goals with a back four, we went to Middlesbrough and conceded no goals with a back five. It’s not about that.
“Joe missing yesterday is a cause for concern for us in terms of having to then change it. I’ve got to make those decisions based on how I felt and I felt that today was an opportunity for young Romain to come into the line-up. I think he found it tough, like all the other players found it tough. I think, to me, it’s about the ways we conceded those goals rather than me telling everyone why I played the way I played.
“The disappointment for me is the lack of what we’ve prided ourselves on for a few years – being strong, being aggressive, being hard to play and score against. To score three goals in the way Norwich did, yes [that’s] testament to their good play but also to our lack of determination on the day.”
