‘I want to set the tempo’ – Millwall midfielder Billy Mitchell hungry to make gains in his game
Billy Mitchell is growing in confidence after being handed a run of matches in his favoured central midfield role. And the Millwall academy product is determined not to take his foot off the gas any time soon.
The 20-year-old has played every minute in the last four Championship fixtures and was the only player to earn praise from Lions manager Gary Rowett for his opening 45 minute shift against Derby County.
Mitchell has made 16 appearances in all competitions this season, already matching his total for the entire 2020-21 campaign – although that was badly disrupted by a serious hamstring injury.
And he admits that Rowett highlighting his efforts at half-time in the 1-1 draw with the Rams came as a pleasant lift.
“It did settle me down because I was a little bit frustrated with my performance and the team’s performance – again we’d struggled to get going in the first half,” Mitchell told the South London Press. “It was a boost to be told to try and continue what I’d been doing.
“It’s nice to get full games on the trot because I can feel my confidence is going up and I’m starting to see pictures quicker and play more incisive passes. You only get that with game time. Sometimes playing 60 minutes here or 30 minutes there disrupts your flow.
“The one thing I really want to add to the team is to be that man who puts his foot on the ball, settles the tempo down and perhaps gives us a bit of composure when the game is quite erratic.
“We need that at times. We’ve also got a lot of good players who perhaps just need to believe in their ability on the ball a little bit more. We’ve seen us produce some really good moves and Scott Malone’s goal [against Derby] saw Jed [Wallace] move the ball out to the left really well. We can do it, but sometimes it takes one player to instigate it.”
Mitchell has scored once in 43 outings for the Lions – in the 4-1 home win over Bristol City at the start of May.
But he has revealed a recent chat with Rowett changed how he reviews his displays.
“He read one of my articles where I said I didn’t want to settle for being an average Championship midfielder and that being a good one, for me, is being able to provide assists, key passes and goals,” explained Mitchell.
“But he went on to explain to me that the way he’s going to review my performances is dependent on the system we play.
“If I’m playing next to George Saville then Savs is obviously more likely to be the one to bomb on and try to make the box.
“So I might be the one who sits behind, cleans up the pieces and dictates from a deeper position. It doesn’t mean I’m not playing well because I’m not providing assists or goals. It just means a good performance looks slightly different versus perhaps playing with Kief [Maikel Kieftenbeld] or Evo [George Evans], who has got a good passing range and sits a bit deeper. I might be allowed to go and make the box and ring things up around there.
“Don’t get me wrong, I do want to add goals to my game. Against Reading the other day, I probably had more shots than anyone else on the pitch – a few of them were quite poor. It’s something I need to work on and I’m lucky to have a good role model in Sav, as he arrives in the box so well.”
A win at Middlesbrough tomorrow could lift the Lions as high as fifth in the standings. But equally, they are only three points ahead of 16th-placed Reading.
“You can get really wrapped up looking at the table,” said Mitchell. “I check it after every game. But it is a really difficult one to judge. We’re one point off the play-offs but if you even draw two games on the spin you can be mid-table, at best.
“Every team in the Championship has got good quality. There are no easy matches or ones you look at and think that is a definite win.
“We didn’t start off the season particularly hot. Then we won five in seven and flew up the league.
“It’s definitely too early to call who is going to be right up there because anything can happen around Christmas when there are a lot of games.”
