Millwall manager Neil Harris says his side have not picked up the points their performances deserve and that statistics show they should be in the Championship’s top four.
The Lions have nine points from their first nine games and sit 18th in the table, eight points below fourth-placed West Bromwich Albion.
The Baggies trail early leaders Sunderland by two points.
Harris said he and his coaching staff had conducted a review of the opening nine games during the international break and the numbers show his team are performing above their current league position.
“We’re in the top three for big chances created and we’re sixth from bottom in big chances [conceded] and expected goals conceded,” Harris told BBC Radio London.
“Ultimately, we should be in the top four in the division – but we’re not.”
‘I’m confident we’ll grow as a group’
Harris said Millwall had used the second-lowest number of players in the league and their substitutes had the lowest impact from the bench in terms of goal contributions, suggesting “we’ve not had the strength in depth or the right player available to us” at times.
He also pointed to individual mistakes that cost the team in their first two games – a 3-2 home defeat by Watford and a 4-3 loss at Bristol City, with Millwall fighting back from 2-0 down in both games.
“Ultimately, we need a fitter squad and we need to get the young players without any Millwall or Championship experience up to speed as quickly as we can, and we know that’s going to take months rather than days,” said Harris.
“This is why maybe we started a bit slower than I hoped this season and that’s why I’m confident we’ll grow as a group.”
‘We’ve deserved more than six points from home games’
Millwall now enter a period where they play four of their next five games at home, starting against Derby County on Saturday and followed by Plymouth (home), Swansea (away), Burnley (home) and Leeds (home).
Harris said Adam Mayor and Shaun Hutchinson were back in full training this week but would not be ready to face Derby. Tom Bradshaw, Josh Coburn and Billy Mitchell have also been training.
With the club set to welcome some of their injured players back to matchday squads soon, Harris is hoping his side can build some consistency in their spell of games at The Den.
“We’re looking at a run of fixtures now where we’re hopeful that our performances yield the results and points that we probably feel we’ve deserved over the first nine games. We feel that we’re a good few points behind where we deserve to be,” he said.
“We feel like we’ve deserved more than six points from the four home games.
“Derby is a tough game as always but we’re playing at The Den and we expect the crowd to come and get behind us and I expect the players to perform.”