Millwall manager Gary Rowett makes Billy Mitchell claim as he assesses Derby draw
Gary Rowett disagreed with Wayne Rooney’s claim that Derby should have won today’s match at Millwall.
Scott Malone equalised for the Lions after Festy Ebosele punished a defensive slip by Jake Cooper, who lost the ball on the edge of his own penalty area.
Rooney felt the Rams, who played the closing stages with 10 men after Nathan Byrne’s dismissal, should have left SE16 with maximum points.
But Rowett said: “I’m not sure they did enough to win the game. They turned up and showed a brilliant response from the Barnsley defeat.
“The first 5-10 minutes we got on the front foot and I changed formation again, I played 4-2-3-1 and tried to get Scottie Malone higher and tried to press them. After that we just didn’t do it with enough conviction for some reason. At home we seem to be a little bit edgy and we didn’t move the ball well enough.
“We score an excellent goal and that was after conceding an absolutely horrendous goal on our behalf. We overplay, we try and go backwards, we have a chance to go forwards and we end up making a mistake for their goal. I would say at that point it was probably deserved because they moved the ball well and made it hard for us to get up against them and press.
“There just seems to be a strange psychology about us at the moment, the whole ground just seems to feel a little bit edgy in the first half of games.
“We came out in the second half and showed a great response. I had a go at them at half-time and I said that Billy Mitchell epitomised the bravery we needed – he was going and getting on the ball. He’s a young player and he was making things happen. I felt there were more players around him that needed to have the same bottle and quality to help him.
“The second half we did and were much better. A couple of breakaways on their behalf but we were the dominant side even before the sending off. It was whether we could get the winner. We have done in the last couple of home games when we’e not played as well as we’d like, we’ve turned it on second half and won the games. Today we just couldn’t quite find the finish. Jed has a one-v-one, Benik has a great chance, Sav has a wonderful chance, Mase has a header and so does Smudge.
“The players have tried everything they could and it’s another performance where I can’t fault them for effort, certainly second half and late in the game. Just a little lack of quality.”
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To the manager – and I quote…..”The whole ground just feels edgy” the reason is because most supporters think that you dont know what you are doing. In fact home supporters and away supporters – especially if its a club that you have been involved with in the past – and there are many of them!
Different systems poor team selection – Thommo playing for the U23’s – what is that about – Afobe wouldnt get in a good Sunday side