Millwall boss reveals changes he had contemplated for Huddersfield Town match

Gary Rowett had toyed with the idea of starting Oliver Burke and Duncan Watmore in Millwall’s 1-0 defeat against Huddersfield on Saturday.

The Lions were sunk by Danny Ward’s 67th-minute goal at The Den.

Rowett had brought Burke and Watmore on for George Honeyman and Andreas Voglsammer on the hour mark to freshen up his wide positions.

And Romain Esse was an attacking change, replacing George Saville with 14 minutes remaining.

“I nearly started Burkey and Watmore,” said Rowett. “I just thought about some more direct attacking players in those areas that were fresh, but the team had done so well that I wanted to see if we could go again – see if we could do it. I don’t think the halves were that different.

“We wanted a little more width second half because everyone was cramping it up a bit and blocking up our space.

“At some point I had to take a risk, of putting Rom on and Z (Zian Flemming) as attacking midfielders. The risk is that you get transitioned and countered on. But it is that type of game – risk and reward.

“Today the risk didn’t work. Against Swansea, at half-time, the risk did work. No manager has got a magic wand that can get it right every time. Disappointing but we had enough chances and moments – certainly we had enough ball. We need to have that killer instinct around the edge of the box.”