Following the 150th meeting between Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United, which saw a rampant Rovers side blunt the Blades by a 3-1 scoreline, Tony Mowbray – in his post-match press conference – reflected on a brilliant day for his young side as Rovers headed into the international break with a vital victory.
Q: That was a good three points, Tony. What did you make of your team, today?
“We talked about getting off to a good start and making sure we were still in the game after 20 minutes. That went down well, as we found ourselves behind, a minute or so in. I thought the players reacted extremely well. That reaction wasn’t a surprise to me because, that’s what our players do. I’ve been saying that we’ve all had to cope with midweek’s defeat, but I think we showed great strength and character as a team, after the start we had today, to come back and stick together and find a way to win.”
Q: Your team settled down after the goal, didn’t they?
“I don’t think about football in that basic manner, really. We didn’t really settle down after their goal. They created some good play down their right win and Scott Wharton, who was thrown straight into the deep end with his first game in a long time, got caught in a footrace which he didn’t win and their lad, (Billy Sharp), managed to pull it back to his teammate, (Rhian Brewster), who peeled off the back one of our players and volleyed it in. I think the intention for our team, today, was to be aggressive and play on transition. We should have scored more goals than we did, if I’m honest. I’m bemused as to how we didn’t get a penalty in the first-half? I have to give great credit to the players for coming back the way they did.
“I have to also mention the supporters, because they were with the team every step of the way. Even when we went a goal behind, they weren’t booing. They offered total support to the team and I think that had an effect on the way we reacted and ultimately got the result. I’d like to think that fans come to football to try and enjoy the game, win, lose or draw. As long as they have a team who are fighting hard, they have to accept the result on the day. I understand the human emotion and if fans want to boo when we get beat, that’s fine, that’s a personal choice. But I do think, as I’ve just said to the team, ‘we’re like a family in this dressing room and if someone starts to attack your family, you stick together’. That’s what the team did today, and we want to include all of the supporters of this football club, as part of that family and I think they played their part in helping us win, today.”
Q: Do you think when there’s 17,000-odd people in here, supporting both clubs, it does make a big difference?
“Listen, it was a proper football match and some days it’s very difficult because you can hear every abusive shout from the stands. It’s difficult and these are young players, which I keep mentioning. People can shout at me all they want, I’m pretty long in the tooth these days and I’ve been doing this job for 20 years, but I think young players need encouragement and they need to know that people are with them and support them. They’re going to make mistakes, they’re going to do daft things, but I think the crowd were great today and they drove the team on to victory. I understand the idea, as I say to the players, ‘what comes first? Does the team get the crowd going or does the crowd get the team going? I think the crowd got the team going, today, despite going behind. There will be other days where the team have a great chance or Lewis Travis will come in with a brilliant tackle or something like that will occur, which will ignite the crowd. Today, the team on the grass and the supporters both collectively, got things done.”
Q: You made four changes today, how pleased were you with the four who came in?
“I thought Wharton was immense and brought a calmness to the team. He looks assured on his left-side and wins the headers that he has to win. He’s steady, he sticks the ball through the lines to our strikers. His performance was a good and comfortable and he and Darragh Lenihan looked really solid today. Lenihan is a warrior, anyway, but I thought Scott brought a calmness to the game. I brought Jacob Davenport back in from the cold, today. I always know what I get from Jacob. Jacob is such a nice lad. I’ve just said to our in-house media that Jacob is a really well-to-do kid. He seems to me like he’s from a good background, and I almost feel like I need to give him a slap, before he goes out on the grass, to annoy him in order to get him wound up for a game. These lads we’re playing against aren’t nice kids, it’s not a training session. I think sometimes, you have to rile Jacob up and I think he was riled today which led to him putting in a superb performance for us.
“The two wide attackers, (Reda Khadra and Ian Poveda), are two young kids, who have waited for their chances. I’ve done a lot of talking to them both, in my office about running, working, cutting off passing lines, chasing back, winning headers and tackling, because they both want to play with the ball and dribble past people. That’s not how football is at this level. That might be the case at under-23 level, because it is almost like playing chess, as everyone stands in their position and move the ball around the pitch, but this is the Championship and they have to both run, work and fight.
“I thought they both did that really well today, but they also brought the high quality we needed, which they both possess. That high quality is why their clubs have allowed them to come to a team whose manager will shout at them, sometimes and tell them that they’re not playing, if they don’t put the running in. Today, they ran, they both did their jobs, they also got a goal each and I’m delighted for the pair of them.”
Q: Two weeks without a game, now due to the international break. You will have some players away on international duty, but you’ve also got some injured ones in the building. Are you relatively hopefully of some returns from injury, by Bristol City after the break?
“I mention to you every week that I’m not the physio, but I would hope to have some players back fit by the conclusion of the international break. I thought Ben Brereton Diaz was magnificent today and he was really threatening and torturing defenders who were in the Premier League, last season. He twisted them inside out. He should have scored a lot more goals, today. He’s laughing in the dressing room saying he should have had a hattrick. Brereton Diaz has been great all season and he’s obviously going away to Chile over this break, for their two games. Ryan Nyambe is going to Africa with Namibia, and young Leighton Clarkson is off with England’s under-20s. We just hope that they come back safe and sound.
“The lads who are injured will be in every day, working hard to try and get themselves fit for Bristol City, when it comes around in a fortnight. The rest of the squad will have a balance. If they’ve been playing pretty regularly, they’ll have a good couple of days off and will be able to relax and forget about football for a few days. The rest will come in and keep their fitness levels up and be ready to play in two weeks, if they’re called upon.”
Q: Was your team selection today, a reaction from Wednesday night’s defeat, or was such a rotation always in your mind?
“The selection was a bit of both, really. The three-game week made my decisions easier. I’ve done it before. Unfortunately, we went to QPR and I changed in that middle game, because I felt that was the game to do it in, as I believed that QPR were a bit lightweight, and I felt that we could play Clarkson. I didn’t think Fulham was the game to play the kids, but I might as well have done, I suppose. It was definitely in my mind today, that we were going to play with creative wide players, either side of Brereton Diaz, because (Sam) Gallagher was unavailable and I was conscious of overworking (Tyrhys) Dolan, because he can’t keep playing 90 minutes, every three days, which is why he sat on the bench. I think Joe Rothwell’s in a similar situation to Tyrhys. Joe’s still learning the position of centre-midfield, but he’s getting better and better at it. He’s improving at playing slightly deeper and breaking away into space using his pace. I’d have to say that he’s probably our best passer of the ball from deeper areas. He needed a break. I can’t keep burdening Joe with that pressure, because he’s still adapting and learning how to play as a central midfielder.
“I’m personally looking forward to a mental break. It’s been a tough week, but I told the lads to go and enjoy their families, do something nice with their kids or take their partners out for a nice dinner and just forget about football for a week, before the madness all starts again after the international break.”
