MILLWALL manager Gary Rowett wants his the Lions to be “greedy” to strive for a higher position in the table – and he believes there is plenty more to come from the side.
Almost a quarter of the way into the league season, Millwall are ninth, two points off sixth.
When Millwall’s 70 points and goal difference over Rowett’s 44 league games in charge is averaged over a full season’s 46 games, it would have been enough for the Lions to finish fifth last season.
Rowett and his team’s ambition is to reach the play-offs this campaign.
“I think we’ve continued looking like a really good, organised team,” Rowett said.
“The Championship is a tough division and there is lots and lots of competition from other clubs that are as big if not bigger than ourselves in terms of the expectation.
“We’re in a decent position. There are some games we felt like we could have done better, other games we were pleased with.
“The consistency level has been pretty good. We’ve only lost two games.
“We’ve won four. In an ideal world we’d like to have won one or two more. That would have got us into a really healthy position.
“But I’m not disappointed. Sometimes you have to look over a whole. We’ve had 44 games at the club and in that period we would be in and around the top six.
“There has been a real consistent element to the players. Within that year they’ve progressed really well.
“But we’re greedy, we want more, we want to achieve more and be higher in the table.”
Rowett is full of admiration for his defence. Shaun Hutchinson, Murray Wallace and Jake Cooper were the back three in 0-0 draws at Norwich and Sheffield Wednesday, giving their side such assurance.
Rowett added: “You can add Pearcey [Alex Pearce] into the mix as well. We’ve got four centre-backs who desperately, desperately want to keep the ball out of the back of the net.
“When you add that to Bart [Bialkowski] who’s been in such good form over the year, it’s a good formula. They’ve been very, very consistent.
“I don’t think there are many better centre-backs in the division and we’re grateful to have them.
“I think the challenge is playing three from four because they’ve all been very good. I’m sure we’ll need all of them to maintain that defensive resilience.
“And that’s their job, they’re doing their job and the team is doing its job. It’s the team working hard to try and improve.”
Image: Millwall FC