In his OS interview he didn’t actually say the forwards weren’t good enough, he just trotted out his standard line that “we needed a bit more quality up front” which, yes, is saying pretty much that the forwards aren’t good enough, but without calling out those particular players for their poor play!
Rowett did mention about the “energy and effort” needing to continue after the Bournemouth game (which was there at Hull), but that “sometimes, don’t know why, in the players minds, one or two just think they haven’t quite got to run with the same intensity, we haven’t quite got our shape! Of course you have to!“ If Rowett is saying this, then why weren’t all the players running with the same intensity? Why aren’t all the players fit enough? Why didn’t they keep their shape? Why isn’t this rectified in the next training sessions (even though we know it won’t be?)
It’s obvious that one of those players not giving that intensity, was Ojo, who hasn’t had a good, standout game since he joined us! How many more games must Rowett play him, before he realises that Ojo will never have that intensity, and that the best thing to do is end his contract, ship him back to Liverpool, and use the loan money in January to bring someone else in?
If Rowett was disappointed with the “manner of the goals we conceded, and we’ve got into the habit of conceding really sloppy goals,” then this hasn’t happened overnight, so why hasn’t Rowett and Barrett addressed this on the training field? It’s not as if Hutch, Cooper and Murray Wallace are novices as centre halfs, so why are these mistakes continually happening?
Talking about Hull’s 1st goal, Rowett said, “We spoke about Honeyman’s late runs, and we don’t track him, we let him run off us, and it’s a free header!” Why aren’t the defenders retaining this information, and using it to their advantage?
This lack of intensity, and players not doing what they are told to do, makes me think more and more that Rowett has lost the dressing room, or at the very least, lost the respect of some of our more influential players! It has to be that, because nearly all the players who played in that Hull match, were in Rowett’s team when he first became our manager, and we were playing well then, and winning more games than we currently are!
If I’m right, then it’s unfortunate that our chairman, John Berylson, the one man who has the power to change things, cannot, or will not acknowledge the ’problem‘ which is apparent to both the players and many supporters, that time is up for Gary Rowett as Millwall manager! It isn’t working, and a change is needed if there is still an aspiration to get us to the play offs by the end of this season!
Sadly, for supporters who want Rowett gone, they know that JB will never sack him whilst we are in the position we are in the league! It is extremely unlikely that we will have a collapse in the 2nd half of the season, and find ourselves perilously close (or in), the relegation zone, to force JB to get rid of Rowett before we’re relegated, so until that happens, we are going to be stuck with Rowett and his dull, defensive football, for a very long time to come!
