MILLWALL manager Gary Rowett has highlighted the factors that help him decide whether to play with a back four or a back five in the Championship.
The Lions have played a 5-2-3 or a 5-2-1-2 formation for most of his tenure so far, but they recently switched to a 4-2-3-1 system after a number of poor performances.
Although they’ve only played two games in their new shape, Millwall look much sharper both on and off the ball, but Rowett has refused to rule out reverting to a back five if he feels that is would benefit his players.
When asked what goes into making that decision, he told NewsAtDen that is was “everything”.
“The opposition’s shape, for starters, and what we think is most likely,” the Millwall boss explained.
“Where the opposition have struggled against certain types of teams and certain areas, where teams concede goals.
“Our record, are we conceding too many opportunities on goal, and therefore where are they coming from? If we play a 5-2-1-2 and we’re conceding lots of chances from out wide, then you have to assess whether there’s enough cover there to be defensively solid.
“There’s so many things that we look at. We look at statistics after every game and compare that to this season, away from home, at home, different formations, the last two seasons or the last three seasons.
“There’s so many things that go into it, but ultimately, has that formation been successful? I think the simple fact is that we’ve played a back five for such a long time on the back of coming in and the team playing a four quite regularly.
“The first season we played a four at home most of the time and a five away from home to turn that away form around. We have actually played a four intermittently throughout that period of time.
“There’s been a few home games where we’ve played a four, a few home games where we started Scotty Malone wide left. It might be a tweak with the ability to switch back to a five if it doesn’t work.
“There’s been quite a lot of things that go into it, but genuinely it’s just a feeling, a feeling with the coaching staff, a feeling with the other staff. Do we feel that we need a little change? Something to freshen the players up, to give the players some momentum or something different.
“There’s so many things that go into every manager picking a team. When you look from the outside, of course, it just looks like two or three changes or maybe a change of shape, but most managers and staff will sit in the office for a considerable amount of time deliberating those changes.
“But it doesn’t always work, that’s the challenge!”
Photo: Millwall FC