PERHAPS the biggest decision for Millwall boss Gary Rowett at home to Reading on Tuesday night is whether to leave out a defender and play another attacker.
Rowett said that his side “thrived in the chaos” in their comeback 2-1 win over Stoke City in their last game at The Den. That was after Matt Smith had come on and that’s what the striker can bring to the team. He makes things awkward for defenders and helps his side keep opponents pinned in with his set-piece threat.
The Lions boss knows plenty of Millwall fans want to see an extra forward in the side at home.
But Rowett won’t be swayed by that outside noise. Millwall have played a back five for the majority of the season and would have moved into the play-off spots if they had beaten Huddersfield at the weekend.
So Rowett isn’t going to rip up a blueprint that has worked for his side and suits the players he has.
Rowett goes into the game against the Royals with one of the strongest match-day squads he has had at his disposal this season. He is set to be only without midfielder George Evans, who could be out until after the next international break.
Reading have lost their last three games, including 2-0 at home to table-toppers Bournemouth on Saturday.
But midfielder Josh Laurent took the positives from their defeat to the unbeaten Cherries.
“On balance, it was the best we’ve played in a long time, maybe even all season,” Laurent said on Reading’s website. “We pressed well and looked like we were going to create chances and that we could hurt them. We all got stuck in with tackles and ran hard for each other. We need to put things right, but keep doing the right things too.
“We’ve got a small squad right now and a lot of players missing – but there’s no reason that we can’t improve. We’ve done it once before, so there’s no reason we can’t do it again. We did that we a similar size squad then.
“We have to stand up together, be proud, be brave, and I’m sure we’ll turn it around soon.
“If we go out again and play like we did against Bournemouth – especially how we played in the first half – but take our chances, then there won’t be many teams that can come back from that.
“So we want to stay positive, stay brave, take the positive things that we did into Tuesday and not be too disheartened from Saturday. We put a lot into that game – so we’ll have to recover well and stick together.”
Millwall are 12th in the table, two points ahead of 16th-place Reading.
Possible Millwall starting XI: 5-2-3: Bialkowski; Leonard, Ballard, Hutchinson, Cooper, Malone; Mitchell, Saville; J Wallace, Bradshaw, Ojo.
Match odds: Millwall 4/7 Draw 3/1 Reading 6/4
Last meeting: Championship (February 13, 2021): Reading 1-2 Millwall (Semedo 17; Smith 76, Bennett 85).
Millwall: 3-4-1-2: 33 Bialkowski; 28 Evans, 4 Hutchinson, 5 Cooper; 12 Romeo, 19 Woods (Mitchell, 90+3), 6 Williams (J Wallace, 45), 14 Malone; 8 Thompson (Smith, 63); 13 Zohore (Bradshaw, 71), 22 Bödvarsson (Bennett, 45).
Image: Millwall FC