GARY Rowett has explained the decision to put the responsibility on Tyler Burey to replace arguably Millwall’s best player of the last three seasons in the Lions’ game against Hull City on Monday.
Burey, 21, started in place of Jed Wallace who missed out through injury.
Burey helped set up the first goal, beating two players on the left before passing towards Billy Mitchell who dummied it on the edge of the box to leave it for Scott Malone who mis-controlled before the ball ricocheted in off the wing-back from Richie Smallwood’s attempted clearance. Burey clipped the crossbar with an effort at 2-0.
Rowett had limited options in attack with Mason Bennett also out, but had the more experienced Oliver Burke available. Rowett could also have played Ryan Leonard or George Evans and changed formation.
As well as Wallace’s absence, Rowett wanted to make changes after the long trip to Preston three days earlier. Burey and Tom Bradshaw – who scored the second in the 2-1 win against the Tigers – replaced Wallace and Burke. George Saville also started in place of Maikel Kieftenbeld.
Rowett wanted Burey’s dribbling ability and freshness, but the Lions boss also explained he wanted to stay true to his principles at Millwall in continuing to develop the younger players and give them first-team opportunities.
“It was a difficult call. You’re looking at that stage of the season and you’re looking for certain things within the games,” Rowett told NewsAtDen. “I just felt Tyler would give us that youthfulness, that ability one-v-one to beat people.
“Burkey has come back into the team on not much training and he just felt it a little bit with back-to-back games.
“I needed to freshen the team up, that was a big part of the team selection. I felt I needed to make two or three changes at least, and Tyler was one of those.
“It’s also part of his development as a young player. It’s hard at this stage of the season because you want results, results are the most important, but at the same time you still have to believe in what we’re doing with the club. And part of that is to work with young players.
“We’ve got Danny McNamara, Billy Mitchell, Tyler starting in an important game. That’s got to be good for the long-term future of the club. And there are a few others behind.
“So, yeah, it was a big call but at the same time we have reasonably limited options in forward areas at the moment with Jed being unavailable.
“In my opinion, [Burey] has done really well when he’s played and did well again. I thought he was better second half. First half it was tough for him but it was tough for a few of the lads.
“He was certainly one of the ones that lifted us more second half.”
Image: Millwall FC