Millwall boss delighted as changes pay off against Sheffield United

GARY Rowett was delighted that his pre-match changes paid off in Millwall’s 3-2 win against Sheffield United.

The manager brought Andreas Voglsammer, Oliver Burke and Jamie Shackleton into the starting lineup to face the Blades, with George Honeyman, Duncan Watmore and Billy Mitchell dropping out.

Mitchell missed out on a place in the squad entirely due to an ankle injury that Rowett described as similar to Mason Bennett’s, while Voglsammer and Burke were brought in to exploit the gaps behind Sheffield United’s wing-backs and give the two players who came out a rest ahead of facing Burnley on Tuesday.

“It was a tough one before the game because Duncan and G [Honeyman] have been good in the last few games,” Rowett admitted.

“I think with Duncan coming into the team, I thought he was more ready to start than Burkey, but if you play someone that hasn’t played that much and you just play them and play them and play them, all of a sudden you’re going to lose that player.

“G has great energy, I could’ve easily started him today. I just felt that we needed fresh legs outside, ‘go on, see what you can do’. I thought the two of them were outstanding, I thought they were really, really good.

“They gave us a real quality to get up the pitch, and a little bit of power and physicality which I think you need against Sheffield United. It allowed us to make the changes late on.

“Shacks, the biggest compliment that I can pay him, and it’s no disrespect to Billy, is that we didn’t miss Billy. He’s been such a big player for us. I felt we would miss him, it is a big blow, but Shacks came in and I thought he was outstanding alongside [George] Saville, who I thought was really good as well. I was really pleased.

“He only came off because he had a bit of cramp, he hasn’t played much. I said to him a month ago that he’s going to get game time, he’s going to play, don’t be too disappointed. I couldn’t quite give it to him at that point for different reasons.