GARY Rowett believes that Millwall will benefit from a free week going into Saturday’s clash with Reading at the Madejski Stadium.
The Lions faced seven matches in the space of just over three weeks in February, including three Tuesday night matches and numerous games against direct rivals for promotion.
It undoubtedly took a toll on their already thin squad, with many players having to push through the pain barrier to start in almost every game in order for the team to remain competitive around the top end of the division.
Many argued that it played a part last weekend, where Norwich City had a free week heading into their trip to The Den while Millwall had played out a thrilling 2-2 draw against Luton Town at Kenilworth Road just four days earlier.
Rowett was keen not to use that as an excuse, although he believes that his players will feel better for having an extended period to rest and recover ahead of their upcoming game in Berkshire.
“After 30 minutes, I’m sure people would have said that it didn’t look like a massive advantage,” the manager said about his side’s defeat to the Canaries.
“What it does is that it allows you to maintain those energy levels over a period of 90 odd minutes, whereas we know that players have gone Tuesday night at top level without the ball. If you think of the previous two games of Stoke and Luton, we didn’t have loads of the ball and had to do loads of work off the ball.
“I think it means that you’ve got to keep making changes to the team to maintain that energy. Sometimes when you’ve had that free week, people like Bradders feel fresh again, Zian feels fresh again, George Honeyman feels fresh again, rather than those players having to go again three days later.
“It’s the Championship, everyone has to do it. Norwich could well have beaten us comfortably if we both played in midweek, I’m not suggesting otherwise. It just means you’re on the edge, and being on the edge means that it’s hard to feel fresh going into games.
“It’ll be nice to get a little bit of that back, that’s all.”
Photo: Millwall FC