GARY ROWETT has given a staunch defence of his back five formation following last week’s loss to Bristol City.
Some fans had hit out at his tactics and urged the Millwall boss to return to the more traditional back four which the club played for most of last season.
But Rowett has backed his ideas and pointed to the opening day win at Middlesbrough and April’s triumph at Blackpool – when he surprisingly switched to a back five – as evidence that the formation does work.
The Lions manager even referenced Manchester City as he sought to explain why one system is not objectively better than the other.
He told NewsAtDen: “It’s just preference as a manager for certain games. Everyone has an opinion and everyone is entitled to an opinion and if you pay your money of course you can have whatever opinion you want. I get that and I respect that massively, particularly our own fans.
“But if you look at the last ten games, our two best performances have been Blackpool away and Middlesbrough away. We played a back five in both. Did anyone sit there after the second-half against Blackburn [the 4-3 loss in May] and say ‘I’m really glad we played a back four because it worked a treat?’
“It’s a talking point, it’s something I think about all the time. In certain games it suits us and we’ve spoken about the flexibility. We spoke about our home form and that home form has been largely with a back four and it’s not been as good as we want.
“So as a manager you’re trying to do something about it and find solutions. Saturday [against Bristol], we didn’t do that. But for me it’s not about [just the formation]. Man City played a back five in the Champions Final and won.
“Does the back five suit us? I think that’s an opinion and that’s something I’ll always look at.
“I know it’s a hot topic of conversation and it’s not for me to say right or wrong. But I’m not going to sit here and justify my tactics on a weekly basis whether we’ve won or lost as I don’t think that’s the right thing to do either.”