After Rovers suffered their first league defeat of the campaign, which came after promotion-favourites West Bromwich Albion beat the Blues 2-1 at Ewood Park, boss Tony Mowbray was left feeling ‘disappointed’ after watching his side lose their clean sheet inside 29 seconds of the first period.
“We gave ourselves too much to do after the start we had. The start was what nightmares are made of, really and we’ve somehow managed to concede a goal from our own kick-off. We’ve put the ball out to Sam Gallagher to knock it back across towards the centre and it gets headed back towards the edge of our box and we miskick it again. They ended up having a couple of blocked shots before hitting the bar and then finding the top corner with a volley, from a great cross. You couldn’t write it, really. It was really disappointing, because all of the preparation and work you put in during the week, goes out of the window after 30 seconds. The team themselves, are so self-driven and motivated, to go and have a go at that game and then they find themselves behind inside the first minute, which turned the game into a real uphill battle against a very experienced side. We had a go and ultimately, we have to accept that we fell a bit short.
“I’ve always said that the least you can do as a team, is put effort in and that’s what I’ve always built my teams on. You have to look at the two squads, particularly this year and if you compare the benches, that can sometimes highlight the strength and depth of every team in the league. They had Grady Diangana on the bench, who alone cost them around £18m from West Ham United, last season. They also had Cédric Kipré and Semi Ajayi, who are two central defenders that we’ve tried to purchase in the past. That’s irrelevant to my point, really, but it just shows the gap of quality that West Brom have, compared to the rest of the league.
“I thought our lads had a real go at it, particularly in the second period. In the first-half, we had some ‘alright’ play, but teams often find it hard when they come up against a very experienced opposition, like West Brom. Alex Mowatt is a very good player in this division and Jake Livermore is arguably one of the best Championship midfielders, and they have the right knowledge on when to play forward, when to take some pressure of their team by going down and winning a foul and other bits like that which you only learn if you’re very experienced in this division. You can feel their knowhow and knowledge of the division and we were huffing and puffing, trying to get things going and we never did. The second-half, was better, and I talked to them at half-time about trying to engage the fans and get them wrapped up in the match. I thought they did that in the second-half and the supporters played their part in driving the team forwards which helped towards getting our goal, but we’re ultimately left disappointed with the end result.
“Should Brereton (Díaz) have had a penalty? I’m not sure, but I felt as if a few decisions didn’t fall our way, today. I do think that the refereeing situation in the country is a bit of a mess, at the moment. We’ve gone from ridiculous decisions to the referees missing a few things that they shouldn’t, but maybe I’m nit-picking. We have to accept that a good West Brom team came to town, fought really hard and came away with the victory, whilst our lads gave a good account of themselves against a side who will undoubtedly be fighting for automatic promotion, come May. I’m sure that we will win games, as long as we keep the same amount of effort and endeavour as we showed today. Although their players are very talented, you have to say that their style of play is also difficult to play against. That team doesn’t look like a team that I would generally choose, we would probably try to play more football, but I watched Sheffield United try to pass through West Brom the other day, and they got beat 4-0 as a result. Sometimes, you have to fight fire with fire, and I thought we did alright today. It wasn’t a great spectacle, but it was a ‘blood and thunder’ type game. I said that I wanted the fans to get engaged with a team that were fighting for them, but ultimately, we fell a bit short.
“I hope we can get a few in before next week’s fixture at Middlesbrough. Our negotiations are continuing, but I feel like a bit of a broken record, I’ve kept saying that we’re getting closer, but then we end up with nothing. What makes deals work? Money makes deals work. If you offer teams and players what they want, you get them. It’s not that simple, of course, but that’s generally how it works. Everything is a negotiation, and we have to be patient. I would hope, as I’ve said from the very start, that that we could at least fill our loan quota of five and bring people in to help this group. Sam (Gallagher’s) ended up with cramp at the end and having already made the substitutions, he had to plough on. It’s not ideal, but we are short on numbers. Maybe it’s a big ask, for the young players sat behind me, to think that they can get on and win the game against a team who have just come down from the Premier League? I don’t really want to expose the really young players, to playing against a team of men. We could do with some help, and we’re doing all we can in order to get that. I hope that we’ll have some new faces in between now and the closure of the window and the squad will look a bit deeper.”
