LEEDS UNITED loanee Jamie Shackleton is set to stay at Millwall despite concerns surrounding his game time.
The 23-year-old was a regular in the Lions’ team at the start of the season when playing a back five, but he has struggled to find a place in their new 4-2-3-1 formation which manager Gary Rowett implemented at the start of October.
As a result, Shackleton has usually come off the bench, albeit that he started at right-back in Saturday’s friendly match against Danish Superliga outfit Brondby. It left some supporters wondering whether he could return to Elland Road early, while others continue to question whether Millwall will end up triggering their option to buy the versatile midfielder on a permanent deal next summer.
While Rowett has stressed that the versatile midfielder will need to remain patient, he added that there will be opportunities for him in the starting lineup during the Lions’ hectic festive period.
“I said it publicly, having changed formation, I went with what I felt within that formation would give me,” he explained to NewsAtDen.
“The results have been really good in that period, so if you weren’t in that initial team, it’s been hard for you to break into it in that period.
“I think players understand that, they understand that if the team are playing well and winning, I’m not going to stupidly change it to make people feel better.
“It’s a competitive game and people understand that. The likes of Shacks and [Callum] Styles, people like that, they’ve seen it with Charlie Cresswell how you can be out of the team and out of the squad, suddenly he comes back in and plays a big part in a period of games which we’ve won.
“Shacks will be the same, Styles will be the same, Benno [Bennett] will be the same. I could name other players that will be ready to come into the team, and when they do, they’ll be ready to perform to stay in the team.
“I think Shacks is a versatile player. He’s shown he can play right-back, right wing-back, he might play in midfield soon as well. Again, that little bit of flexibility, like you saw with Styles playing as a midfielder and then as a no.10, we need that.
“We need to expose players to that and I think the friendly games are a good opportunity to give those players that sort of game time and feel back into the team. Then we’ll see what Saturday brings.”
Photo: Millwall FC