New Rovers signing Marcus Antonsson, who joined on a season-long loan last week is enthusiastic about making his Rovers debut and is keen to open his account for the Blues. The Swede, who was speaking to BBC Radio Lancashire on Thursday, discussed how he was eager to re-ignite his career at Ewood Park.
Antonsson discussed how his move to the Blues came about and also praised the ability and the character of the squad following their defeat to Doncaster last Saturday; “I’m very looking forward to this loan move after getting to know the lads after my first training session. With the new manager at Leeds, I came back to pre-season in good shape as I trained and worked during the holidays and when you have a new manager, you never know what’s going to happen. I was hoping to be part of the squad but then they signed a couple of players and I think it was decided quite early on in pre-season that I wouldn’t be part of the manager’s plans.
“The group (of players at Rovers) is a really good one as it’s easy to settle in with the players straight away and as you can see I’m very happy. We’re concentrating on moving forward, (after the defeat to Doncaster), you can afford to be disappointed for a couple of days after the game, but then you have to turn your attentions towards the next game and I feel that we’re prepared for the weekend.”
The striker was also asked about how he compares the Swedish football leagues to their English counterparts after spending a year in the Championship; “I feel that after one year, I’ve adapted well to the football that’s played in England. It’s a little bit more intense in comparison to Sweden and you definitely get a lot less time on the ball, however it (the Swedish Allsvenskan) is a really good league and I think it’s improving but to play football in England is what you want as a player, especially as it has been my dream ever since I was a little boy and now I’m here, I’m looking forward to scoring goals for Blackburn Rovers.”
The loanee talked about how a player coming from abroad can adapt to the pressure and the play style of the English leagues; “It always takes a player a little bit of time to adapt to the new league and new country. It’s not the same type of football (as in Sweden) and I still think that I can utilise my strengths of running in behind to cause defenders problems. Despite this, a player coming from abroad will need time to get to know the team so the players know when to pick out the right passes. In other occasions players click instantly with their teammates, and that is what I’m hoping to do.”
