Millwall boss had been toying with tactical change for a while – as he admits one thing doesn’t like to see

BY ALEX GRACE

Gary Rowett has revealed that he and his staff have been contemplating changing to a back five during games in recent weeks.

The Lions boss opted to change formation from a 4-2-3-1 to a 3-5-2 and later a 5-4-1 as his side battled their way to a 1-0 win against Cardiff City on Saturday to keep in touch with the Championship play-off places.

“I spoke to the staff about it,” said Rowett. “I just felt the last three or four games, we might need to put that into practice at some point. You get the feeling as a manager when you might need it.

“Today, we just seemed to struggle with the gaps between our back four, there were a couple of decisions in the final moments of defending where we step in when we don’t need to step in, and we gave them space.

“I’m the type of manager who doesn’t like seeing the opposition players in lots of space. It feels like a lack of control. I nearly did it at half-time, but early in the second half, we decided to change it. I knew Lenny [Ryan Leonard] at some point would go into midfield, so I decided to put Lenny on first, knowing I could put Cressy [Charlie Cresswell] on and shift Lenny in there if we needed to.

“I felt we needed to be as mobile as we could in those areas, because that was the area just in front of our right side where they were causing us one or two problems. We went 5-3-2, and then we went 5-4-1. The only thing I didn’t do was go 5-5-0 because we didn’t have any other players left. We did what we had to do today. It was never a game we were going to change it with quality. It was always whether we could be organised enough to stop them scoring.”

There was a good turnout from Millwall fans in South Wales, with more than 1,200 supporters making the trip down the M4.

Rowett was pleased to send them all home happy.

“We’ve lost too many games away from home,” he said. “I know that always tends to be the flip when you’re Millwall and our home form is so strong, but our fans have travelled in big numbers. They’ve backed the team. We’ve had some moments to show for it, the Preston game, the Bristol game, and the Watford game. It’s nice to add another one to that because there’s nothing better than an away win.

“There’s nothing better than that feeling of pinching three points on the road and sending your fans home on the train with a few beers and a little bit happier than perhaps they are if they’ve spent their hard-earned money and we’ve lost.”