After Rovers booked themselves into the draw for the Second Round of the Carabao Cup, boss Tony Mowbray reflected on his team’s first competitive game of the season, as he highlighted positives and negatives of the game he had just viewed.
“We made hard work of this game, today. I didn’t enjoy the first 25 minutes of the second-half, to be honest. It was not good enough as we went from total control in the first-half, to conceding two in the second. I seriously can’t remember them having more than one attempt at goal in the first period. Throughout the first period, we had a lot of possession, a lot of dominance and we played the game in their half and scored a wonderful goal through Lewis (Holtby). In the second-half, we started really sloppily and I’m not sure why that was. That allowed the game to open up and evolve into a more end-to-end tie, which caused us a lot of issues. In the end, we got to grips with the situation and we got the job done in the end.
“Every game doesn’t go in a straight line, where you can just totally dominate for 90 minutes and romp your opponent, but as long as this kind of display won’t evolve into the norm this season, then we can live with what happened today. Ultimately, we’re through in the cup, and this game offered a lot of players 90 minutes and an opportunity to regain their fitness. Whether the second-half showing was down to a lack of fitness? Maybe it was, given that they’re only a few weeks into the season and I thought their fitness and energy levels were really high, which didn’t allow Doncaster any of the ball. That superiority with the fitness dropped away in the second-half which allowed the game to become more end-to-end, causing us to lose a couple of goals. Despite that, there are positives from today in that we advanced into the next round and all the players came through the game with minutes under their belt.
“I think this team has the ability to play on the front-foot and take the ball off the opposition, as we did in the first-half, but it also has the ability to break away on transition with the likes of (Adam) Armstrong, (Ben) Brereton, (Harry) Chapman, (Tyrhys) Dolan and (Sam) Gallagher, to name just a few. We have real pace within the squad that allows us to break away from deeper positions, so we’ll keep working on different ways of playing, because you can’t dominate the game for the whole 90 minutes. We’re going to have to defend, in future games, better than we did when Doncaster were on top in that 20-minute spell, but we can’t lose goals in the manner we did, going forwards. Obviously, one was a penalty, which I haven’t re-watched, and the other was a soft shot from outside the box that sneaked in. Although we have to be better, barring that poor 20-minute spell, we were really good and probably could have scored more goals.
“To the player’s credit, they did ultimately go on to win the game, but as I was telling them in the dressing room, I expect Blackburn Rovers to beat Fleetwood Town, Blackpool and Doncaster Rovers. I know football isn’t as ‘black and white’ as that, but we won in the end, despite Doncaster, to their credit making a game of it. We have to put this game behind us quickly and move onto the next one. The first-half performance was really positive, and it was how I would envisage us playing, but we’d obviously like to have scored more goals. Young Dolan, who we got from Preston North End, made a huge impact when he came on. His energy, drive, individuality and technique on the ball made a big difference for us. I’ve told the players in the dressing room, that this young boy shouldn’t be able to make such a big impact in our first-team and yet, he’s done just that. Every time he’s played in this pre-season period, he’s made a big impact. All I’m trying to do is raise the bar for this club, by pointing out what is and isn’t acceptable. What might have been acceptable last year, or the one before, is no longer acceptable and if you can’t get to levels required, you won’t be playing, and this team will move forward without you.
“I’m looking for more from Lewis (Holtby) this season, even though he did well last season. He has to recognise how this team is going to play, and if he wants to get in the team – which he does – he has to play on the front-foot and use his experience. He also has to work really hard out of possession, because when he’s in possession, we know how talented he is, but football at this level is about how you are off the ball, as well as on it, and Lewis has got some growth to do in that department as well. I would say he works and uses his voice, better than most in our team and that’s why he’s started today ahead of some other experienced players in his position. The message has been loud and clear to the whole group, in that they have to earn their place in the team, this year.”
