GARY Rowett wants his Millwall side to “attack the game” at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday and “positively grab the opportunities” with eight matches left this season.
The Lions are sixth in the Championship, three points ahead of Norwich City and Coventry City.
Millwall would go eight points clear of Carlos Corberan’s Baggies with a win at The Hawthorns. But it’s a big task as West Brom have won nine and drawn one of their last 10 league games at home since their last defeat there, 2-0 to Sheffield United in October.
Millwall will face Jed Wallace again as they aim to do the double over their opponents this season.
“We’ve got to be respectful that their home form has been fantastic under Carlos and they’re a very good side,” Rowett said on Millwall TV. “We know all about their players, notably Jed who was here and has been a fabulous player for them this season as well as for us in previous seasons.
“But we have to attack the game, I don’t think there’s any point in going there and just trying to stodge the game up and hope we can come away with a draw. I think we have to take a little bit of a risk, we have to take a little bit of a gamble in all eight of the final games.
“What you want to do in a position like this is try and positively grab the opportunities rather than wait for them and hope you can get them. That’s the difference at this stage.
“One of the staff mentioned it the other day, it sounds cliché, but it is almost like eight cup finals to see if we can win each game and see where we can get to.
“This is me talking about the last eight games to you guys but for the players it’s all about Saturday’s game. We haven’t mentioned eight games to go, it’s all about Saturday’s game and trying to make sure in training we do everything we can to be prepared.”
Millwall could be boosted by the returns of Billy Mitchell and Tyler Burey. Mitchell hasn’t played since February 14, while Burey’s last game was on January 7.
“The week’s training has been a lot more competitive this week, the previous week we ended up with 12 or 13 players because we had a lot away [on international duty] and some of the injured players weren’t quite back,” Rowett said.
“We had 20 training [Thursday] which doesn’t sound like tonnes but it is decent numbers and there is competition.
“That’s been the message today, internally, if you’re in the team you’ve got eight games to go, you’re going to have to fight to stay in the team. There isn’t going to be an easy way to do that. And if you’re not in the team you’ve got to do something about it in training. If you don’t then you’re not going to be in the team for any of those eight games. That’s how it has to be, there has to be real fierce competition towards the end, as long as players train in the right way and stick together while they’re doing that.
“Having those bodies back makes a big difference and it’s nice to see the group out there with a little more depth to it and looking like we have a few more options.
“And then of course I’m the one who has to pick those right options. You’d rather have that decision to make rather than the team picking itself.
“It’s a massive eight games for anyone trying to get into the top six or stay in the top six. It’s exciting, it’s a great position to be in. It’s the unknown that you’re not quite sure what’s going to happen.
“But what you can do is control how you approach it and we’ll approach it really, really positively. And I have to say I’m really looking forward to it because as a manager the last thing you want is eight games to go and nothing to play for. It’s testament to everyone at the club for working hard to get us into this situation.
“The fans have been brilliantly behind all the games that we’ve played. It just feels like there’s a real good feeling about the club and we’ve just got to give it everything we can together to see if we can get there.”
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