Millwall boss had been mulling making this tactical switch for extended period of time

Millwall manager Gary Rowett has revealed he had been toying switching to a 3-4-3 formation for an extended period of time.

The Lions went back to a three-man central defence for Friday’s 3-2 win over Blackpool with Callum Styles and Jamie Shackleton playing in left and right wide roles.

Rowett switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation in early October.

Millwall had suffered back-to-back Championship losses before the victory at Bloomfield Road which took them back into the top six.

Asked about when he started to contemplate changing shape again, Rowett told the South London Press: “Honestly? About four or five weeks. It’s one that I’d been thinking about for a while. Our home form had just started to tail off a tiny bit. We just looked a little bit rigid in a few games.

“It’s a tough one because if you look statistically, since we have changed to a four then in every single objective – shots for and shots against, goals conceded and scored – it has pointed in a positive direction. But it’s just felt a little bit like it was coming off at the end. Because we were playing quite well still, and creating chances, it’s always a hard one at that point to change.

“Sometimes a team goes through a little dip and you have to come out the other side of it, that’s part of a season – isn’t it? Every team in the division, at some point, has had a little wobble apart from Burnley – theirs was at the start.

“I should have done it in the Wigan game, really. But sometimes there is that little bit of whether a five feels negative. It shouldn’t – it’s just a different formation. Luton play a five all the time and Sheffield United play a five and they are going to finish second and third in our league. It’s how you play it and what personnel you play it with.

“I just felt after the Wigan game we needed something different, even if it was just a different focus coming into training the next day – less the formation and just something different to refresh and refocus their minds.

“They took it on really, really well. Some formations suit certain players a little bit better, that’s just the nature of it. It certainly felt like that formation helped Duncan Watmore. He can get a little bit higher up the pitch and it helped him be a little bit freer in his position. For one or two it certainly worked quite well.”