Gary Rowett reflects on Millwall’s approach in 3-0 defeat to Sunderland | OneFootball

Millwall returned to Championship action at the weekend after a three-week due to the 2022 World Cup.

The Lions travelled to a Sunderland side that sat in midtable, four points behind them, while Gary Rowett’s men would have climbed as high as fourth with a win.

However, Millwall were taken apart by an impressive second-half display by Sunderland, with two goals in five minutes all but killing the contest. Despite conceding three goals, the London side dominated proceedings in front of goal in terms of shots, having 19 in total however, they failed to convert a single one of them.

However, it wasn’t just the Lions’ finishing that was an issue, Rowett has also claimed that the positioning of his two fullbacks in the game was “unintentional”.

Rowett decided to line up with Murray Wallace on the left side and Danny McNamara on the right of the back four. The game kicked off, and it was noticeable to see Wallace sitting deep in defence while McNamara pushed forward whenever the Lions had possession.

This setup appeared to work in the first half, as the game was close and neither side appeared to be uncomfortable. However, in the second half, Sunderland’s Amad Diallo started to cause Wallace a few issues, and with McNamara still pushing forward, he started to leave space behind him.

These issues caused Millwall significant problems and inevitably contributed to their 3-0 defeat. Rowett claimed that plan “wasn’t the thinking” and ended up as an unintentional part of Millwall’s setup.

He told NewsAtDen, via Southwark News: “It was simply that [Jack] Clarke defensively wasn’t the sort of winger that would track back.

“We spoke to Danny and said that there was an opportunity to take him the other way, and I think Diallo probably pinned Murray back a little bit more on the ball as well.

“I think it was more of that rather than anything that was intentional. I think it’s something that Danny can bring to his game more when we play in a flat back four, we still need the full backs to get forward.

“He’s got a lot of energy, you saw against Preston he did that, and that’s something I think he can do more. We weren’t playing lopsided intentionally, that’s just how the game worked out.”

Quiz: 10 of these 25 Millwall facts are fake – Can you identify them?

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George Long has played for Rotherham United

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The Verdict

The way modern football is a majority of teams now like having their fullbacks high up the pitch when they have the ball.

So, how McNamara played isn’t an unusual setup; however, Rowett saw an opportunity that could benefit his side, but that appears to have been a disadvantage as Sunderland caught on and punished them.

Saturday’s result will be a setback for Rowett and co., but they have had a good start to the season, and as long as they can bounce back from defeats like this, they will continue to be strong this season. With young players in the side like McNamara, situations like this could occur, but it will be about learning from it and improving.