After Rovers managed to scrape past Championship strugglers Barnsley in their first game after the second international break of the season, by a 3-2 scoreline, Blues boss Tony Mowbray offered his thoughts on the nervy game that was decided by a Man of the Match performance from Bradley Dack.
“It was a tough afternoon today. I think, if we had played Leeds United at home today, I think we would have been stood here saying ‘what a victory, what a result’, but we were playing the team who are bottom of the league and that just creates its own anxiety. Saying that, I knew this was going to be a tough game from when I was studying them, because I know they’ve got a young, athletic, talented team. They’re probably a bit like us in respect to, they probably feel that they haven’t been getting the rewards for their efforts that they probably should have got throughout the season and today was probably another one for them. They have a very young average age in their side, but they’re not far away from being a very good team.
“We ultimately found a way to win today. I said to the team all week that, this was a game that they might have to win late on, because you have to match their physicality, as we tried to do at Elland Road, which is why I picked the team that I did, because it’s packed full of runners. Ultimately, today was about finding a way to get three points, no matter how we did it, because that was paramount to today. Had we not got the victory, that alone would have brought a lot of pressure and anxiety. From me, the pressure is internal, but I can feel the anxiety in the group and the crowd, and the players are very much working as hard as they can.
“I built the expectation for this club, for this season, thinking that we need to push on and try to get into the top six and then eventually, into the Premier League. Up to now, we’ve fallen short of that expectation and have conceded too many goals, which could be down to the fact that the likes of (Darragh) Lenihan and (Tosin) Adarabioyo were missing previously and (Derrick) Williams and (Greg) Cunningham are missing now. That can be seen as me making excuses, or it can be seen as factual evidence. I do hope that we can keep the core of this group together, fit and healthy, which will allow us to be a match for any team in the division.
“Ultimately, from where we are at the moment, I feel that we have to win matches because I can feel the anxiety and the disenchantment within the crowd, whether it’s aimed at me or the players on the pitch. It’s a cycle for football. I’ve been here for nearly three years, it’s a cycle that I’ve been apart of, where it seems as if every team selection and substitution is wrong unless you win, and that’s what we’ve got to do and have been trying to do. Let’s hope we can keep Darragh and Tosin fit and get Derrick back soon and push on and let’s wait and see how we do, because as anyone can see, we have goals in this team. I thought (Bradley) Dack was immense again today and it was good to see Joe Rothwell start well today at the expense of him getting a tight calf which makes me think I should have taken him off 20 minutes earlier, but I thought the team worked extraordinarily hard. It’s good to be able to bring on (Stewart) Downing and (Danny) Graham on off the bench to affect the game, which they both did today.
“My experience tells me that you can’t get through that footballing cycle unless you win games. Otherwise it’s going to be my fault every time we lose a game, I think. I don’t want to be a burden on this football club. I came here to Blackburn Rovers, because I love football, and this is a historic club and I won’t be a burden on the club. If it isn’t going well, I don’t need to get booed out, I’m a proud working-class man from the North-East and I’ve put a lot into the job. I’ve talked a lot about family and living away from them and what you give to a team by doing that and I think that’s why I still see a team that are still fighting until the final whistle, because they know that their gaffer is giving them everything he’s got.
“I get 100% effort and work-rate from this group of players. I won’t always get the quality that I would like, or the 20-pass move that finishes with a great cross and a great finish, but I do get maximum effort. Some of the new signings are still settling in, but that’s football. If it clicks and gels and the team can win on Wednesday (against Brentford at Ewood Park) for instance, we then go to Stoke City with another belief that we can get another win and then we come back here for another home game (against Derby County), and by then you could have won four on the bounce. Alternatively, you could end up getting beat in the first game and your momentum is ruined. Brentford, for instance, have won 3-1 (against Queens Park Rangers before the break) and 3-0 (against Wigan Athletic) in their last two away games, so they are right on top form at the moment, which signals for us that it’ll be a tough game where we’ll be out of possession a lot, but we can generally find ways of winning at home, so we should be looking forward to Wednesday.
“I think, second-half today epitomised what I love about Bradley (Dack). He’s at his best when he gets wrapped up in the emotion of the game. He’s making tackles and blocks on the edge of his area one moment, and then 20 seconds later he’s sprinting into the opposition’s six-yard box. That’s what Brad needs to do, he needs to lead the team, even though he’s not officially a leader in terms of captaincy, he needs to lead the team from the front due to his quality and class. He needs to score the goals and help the midfield. He needs to get wrapped up in games, enjoy them, play like he’s a kid in a playground which he has a license to do with us. I’m pleased for him because he doesn’t always get the rewards his effort merits and sometimes it can be a bit tireless for someone so gifted. We’ve talked about having a more technical midfield and yet we’re having issues trying to find that balance. In some games, you can’t put technical players in, like today for example, so we put the likes of (Lewis) Travis and (Lewis) Holtby in, because they can run and help us match Barnsley’s athleticism, which they did, whilst also having the ability to move forwards with the ball. There’s a lot of thought that goes into the team selection each week, even though people might think otherwise! We just have to keep moving on and working hard, to see where we end up.
“The whole dressing room at the end, was frustrated with their second goal, even though we won, because they felt their lad (Cauley Woodrow) handled it in. We live in a world where, I feel, that the refereeing standards have dropped dramatically and what the answer is, I don’t know. We have VAR (Video Assistant Referee) in the Premier League and that seems to be carnage most weeks. Just because we don’t have VAR in this league, it doesn’t mean there’s no carnage in most of the games that are played throughout the division. There are a lot of decisions that happen in this league where you think, ‘what is going on?’, but we all have the same referees so I can’t say ‘it’s only happening against Blackburn Rovers’, a team every week will have a bad decision go against them, which is probably why there’s so many draws in this league, because of the nature of how tight the games are. Ultimately though, we don’t need to overly focus on the referee today, because we got the three points we wanted. We’ll put them in the bag and move on to Brentford on Wednesday night.”
