During the aftermath of Rovers’ comfortable 2-0 win over bottom of the table Ipswich Town at Ewood Park, Tony Mowbray spoke to the clubs’ media team as he reflected on a satisfactory afternoon’s work for his side, in addition to some solid individual performances.
“I thought Ipswich were alright in spells today. They tried to play, they tried getting the ball forward quickly and they gave us a few problems defensively. I think our intensity levels weren’t up to the usual standard that we’ve set over the past 18 months and as a result, I wasn’t best pleased at half-time. My unhappiness during the break wasn’t necessarily with the players and their decisions, but more due to their lack of intensity and their lethargic play during the first-half, which I think ultimately came down to the 120 minutes we played against Newcastle United in the FA Cup, on Tuesday.
“With that in mind, when you come up against a team who want to play it out from the back, when you don’t have great intensity, they can play the ball through and around you, which they did to often for my liking. I just think that, had we been at the peak of our intensity, we would have kept nicking the ball off them in their half and would have probably ended up with more goals. Regardless of the performance today, we’re delighted with the victory, the points and the clean sheet.
“I have to say, I’m delighted for Jack (Rodwell) and Darragh (Lenihan) today. Darragh has been magnificent over the past few games. I’m happy for David (Raya) as well because clean sheets mean everything to goalkeepers, but overall, I’m happy with the result. Yes, bits of the performance do needed sharpening, yet we hit the post a couple of times and could have scored a few more goals, but I want to be respectful to Ipswich, because they’re a club quite close to my heart having spent 9 years of my career there. It’s a great club with a lot of great people behind it and I wish Paul (Lambert) all the best in their quest for survival.
“We showed glimpses of what we were capable of, intensity-wise, during the second-half, but it was nowhere near the levels I believe we can play at. If we have a full week of preparation and we’re right at it, I think we could have tested them more. We’ve just decided in the dressing room, to give them an extra day off so they can eat, drink and sleep properly in order to explode against Hull City next week, if we can, and in order to make sure that our intensity levels aren’t, potentially, an excuse for a low par performance.
“Adam’s (Armstrong) now come into a vein of form where he’s directly affecting the scoreline in every game he plays in. Adam can always look good when he’s whizzing past someone, but ultimately his end product is what he’ll be judged upon. He’s scored a couple of goals in addition to 3 assists over the past couple of weeks as well, so I’m delighted for him. We swapped Adam over to the right in the second-half, in order to accommodate (Joe) Rothwell on the left, and I think they both did well. Joe came on, worked hard and picked out the passes that Adam maybe didn’t see, which gave us a more attacking threat that ultimately paid off.
“Joe did really well when he came on as he showed off his work-rate and his talent to the supporters. He’s a really talented player who needs more time on the field than he’s currently getting, which I’ve talked to him about. It’s very difficult, in certain games, when you can feel the threat of an opposition full-back, to play such an attack-minded player because that could potentially lead to you going a couple of goals down before he even gets a touch of the ball. Joe has been doing fine for us, I think, he’s had some gametime, although probably not as much as his talent deserves. I had a chat with him this week, he’s not overly happy about his lack of playing time, but I talked to him and tried to help him understand that he has a bright future at this club, as a result of his exceptional talent, however I told him that he has to keep learning and developing all the aspects of his game, in order to push his way into the side.
“The second-goal was very good. I’m happy for Joe (Nuttall), to be honest because he went from having an amazing start at our club, a year or so ago, he came into the first-team and then he tailed off. He’s managed to claw his way back in recent weeks, and Damien (Johnson, under-23s manager) deserves a lot of credit for the work he’s done with Joe to build his confidence and you can see, that when he’s on the pitch, he’s not a bad replacement for Danny Graham. I’m delighted for Nuttall, but I’m also happy when the squad as a whole are doing well, rather than just the starting-11 as it’s great that the substitutes can come on and change things because it shows that all the lads have got big parts to play.
“The league table is looking okay. Today was a massive 3 points for us, because had we taken nothing from the past 3 league games, then we’d be a million miles away from the top 6 and would probably be looking over our shoulder, but at the moment, we’re looking upwards. Our next challenge is against Hull City, who are on an amazing run of results and look a completely different team to the one we beat in August. Something has dramatically changed at that club and the challenge for us now, is to try and concoct a plan that can snatch victory off them and end their brilliant run.”
