GARY Rowett is aiming to be better than just “consistent” as Millwall head into the next period before the international break that on paper at least offers them a good chance to climb the table.
The Lions host Luton Town at The Den on Saturday and are on a seven-game unbeaten league run.
Despite not having a full squad to choose from in 2021 – with almost every member of the first team spending time out injured or ill – the Lions are on just under 65 points when you average their 37-game total over a full season.
Over the last decade, the team that has finished sixth has averaged 74.3 points.
Millwall will be aiming to increase that points-per-game tally over the next six fixtures.
Four of the six games are at The Den, while Millwall will have little fear going to Sheffield United and Huddersfield.
The Lions have their eyes on climbing further up the table.
“I think we’ve been in and around where we want to be for a long time now,” Rowett said.
“The challenge for us always is to aspire and try to get that little bit higher and look at the ways that we can improve to do that.
“But we started from a good place, a place of relative consistency and a good platform.
“So it’s just about those little moments where we’ve got to improve, and having players available for a longer period to do that work will see us get better.
“We’ve been pretty consistent for a few years now but that’s not enough, is it? We want to be better than that.”
One area Rowett knows can help Millwall get the extra points they need is at set-pieces. Five of their last seven goals have come directly from that route.
Rowett said: “We’d probably under-performed previously. Adam [Barrett] and the analysts do a lot of work, really Adam does most of the set-piece stuff.
“We chat about it, Robbo [Paul Robinson] and Joe [Carnall] are involved as well.
“Really it was more about people having that desire to go and score. We’ve had plenty of set-pieces and put decent delivery in, though I think our delivery can be more consistent. That’s one of the challenges.
“But you can’t really do more than hope the players in there get their head on it.
“Hutchy [Shaun Hutchinson] scored six the season before last and I would expect him to do something similar this season. Coops [Jake Cooper] the same, Muzza [Wallace] the same, Matt [Smith], they’re all big lads.
“I’d expect them all to be within three, four, five goals this season. And it makes a huge difference.
“You saw a set-piece won us the game [against Barnsley]. We’ve had other set-pieces to win other games but just haven’t found those moments.
“That’s something we’ll work on a lot over the international break, but we’ve looked more of a threat over the last three or four games.”
Image: Millwall FC