After Rovers once again let a two-goal lead slip at home, as Coventry City battled back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2, Tony Mowbray reflected on an afternoon which saw his side, once again, put in polarising displays in each half.
“It was a frustrating afternoon. I thought, overall, it was a really good performance from the team. There are a lot of good teams in this league, so you’re always going to have a spell where the opposition are going to be on top and are going to have periods where they’ll push you back because they’re a good team with good players. I thought the game-plan worked in the first-half, because Coventry built their team around possession. I watched a lot of their games and they showed how good they are as a team by scoring four against Fulham before the international break, but I thought we set up well and the players executed the game-plan well and we got our rewards before half-time with the two great goals. Joe Rothwell showed what he was all about today, displaying his amazing speed and his great talent, which he needs to show on a more consistent basis, but I was pleased with his performance and impact.
“We had a chat at half-time, because we’d been in this position before this season and we talked to them about game-management, not about cheating or slowing the game down too much, but we focussed on trying to take the momentum out of Coventry’s play, particularly given the number of supporters they had. It was always going to be difficult, given they were shooting towards the goal in-front of their fans, because if they’d managed to get one back, the momentum swing would have been huge and that’s generally what happened. I think we took our foot off the gas and tried to protect the lead we had at 2-0 and we became a bit more passive than we were in the first-half. We still gave them the leg-up by putting it on a plate for their first goal, so ultimately, we’re left disappointed that we, once again, didn’t manage to see the game out. We talked about doing the basics well at half-time. Clearing it when we had to clear it, chase them down to stop their momentum, play forwards and stay on the front-foot in order to see if we could hit them on the transition in the middle of the pitch and slide the strikers through. That didn’t pan out as we would have liked, unfortunately. The 5-1 win over Cardiff City comes into my mind, because we talked about winning the second-half at the break, even though we were ahead by a few goals, which is the exact same conversation we had today and yet, we lost the second-half 2-0. We’re left frustrated, because we got ourselves back on the front-foot and could have scored a winner, which would have improved the mood significantly around the ground and the town.
“We struggled for momentum in the second-half and yet, we’re not focussed on possession-based football this season, that’s not the way we set up to play. We’re happy for the other team to have the ball and yet, they pushed up a little bit higher in the second-half, they instructed two of their three midfielders to push on, rather than sit behind the ball and it changed the balance of the game. We had John Buckley on a booking, and we needed to change him, so I thought I’d add Jacob Davenport, rather than Leighton Clarkson in order to add more steel in the centre of the park, yet in hindsight, another passer might have been the answer, as Clarkson could have helped us release the pressure. Yet, it’s easy to manage in hindsight. We had a few chances towards the end through Ben Brereton Díaz who nearly got the winner, as well as set one up, but it wasn’t to be. We managed to get ourselves back on the front-foot and probably could have won it 3-2. Coventry are a good team, and we’ve been preparing all week, but we haven’t been preparing with the team because we’ve had a few illnesses in the camp this week. A few of those who were ill made it, like Tyrhys Dolan, whilst other didn’t. We’ve had a bout of tonsilitis around the squad, the likes of Dolan, Reda Khadra, Harry Pickering have all come down with it. It’s been a tough week’s preparation, but it hasn’t been an ideal week in the lead up to the game. We have to push on and take all of the positives from the game. I’m pretty proud of the work-ethic and desire of the team and the frustration at the end of the game, in the dressing room is good to see because it shows how passionate they are to get a result. Sometimes, with the number of young players we’ve got, days like today can be a learning curve for the team and the only way to learn is out on the grass, rather than me standing at the front of a room and lecturing them.
“Against certain teams, the five-at-the-back system we used today, will come out. We played against a team today, who play five-at-the-back, they push their wing-backs forward and overload you with crosses from the wings. We’ve found it a good backup system, because teams who play it cause problems for our back for, so in games like today or against Middlesbrough at the Riverside earlier on in the season, the switch to a five-back system comes in handy. It’s also good, particularly as we’re not basing our team around possession, sometimes, it’s the team that’s on top who adjust to the tactical side of the match. I thought, today, we should start with a five-back, rather than change halfway through because they’ve put too much pressure on us. I felt we adjusted well to the system change and got ourselves ahead, but I don’t think the formation was the reason behind why we dropped points, today. It was a case of individual mistakes, which we’ll analyse and discuss with the players and ultimately the players have to eradicate those individual errors if the team are to push on.
“Joe Rothwell showed what he was capable of, today. He’s a player who can damage any team in this league, we just need to see more of it and need him to be more consistent. He gets challenged on a daily basis, now about what the top midfielders in this division are doing and how many goals they’ve scored and how many assists they’ve had and how they affect games. Joe, if he wants to be a top player in this division or move into the Premier League, has to not just look good on the eye with the ball, he needs to be a real threat to the opposition by not only scoring and assisting goals, but also do the work required off the ball for the sake of the team.”
