Jon Dahl Tomasson was left delighted with his side’s five-start performance, as his young, rotated Blackburn Rovers outfit managed to overcome a youthful Cardiff City, by a 5-2 scoreline, to barge into the Carabao Cup Fourth Round to unknowingly set up an away tie with Chelsea. The boss reflected on a solid night’s work with RoversTV, as he praised his side’s eye for goal and their intricate play.
“It’s always great to have a good cup run, just like we had last season. It was a good result, we showed excellent, exceptional attacking football where we scored five really good goals. It could have easily been ten goals! I’m disappointed with the two goals we conceded, however, especially the one on the stroke of half-time as it could have been a mental blow, but they were both situations where our defenders outnumbered their attackers and they still scored, so we need to defend better in those moments, with the right attitude and spirit to get into the duels. Sometimes, it can be tough in the second-half to get going, when you’ve conceded so late in the first, but credit to the boys who showed great character and showed that they were not going to be fazed by that equaliser and we made it 3-2 and created more chances afterwards for the other goals and even the chances we missed. It was a very good game on the ball as we showed some exceptional, fluid, modern attacking football.
“We were clinical tonight, to score five, but I do believe that we could have ended with ten, tonight! We even missed a penalty! But I am really pleased with the attacking display. I’m also pleased with the players who haven’t had as many minutes as they would have liked, as they did well on their journey to get up to speed. We don’t have the biggest squad, so we need everyone to play well, as well as fit and available. It was really nice to see some players add minutes to their tank. We saw (Andrew) Moran score two and assist two, but he really should have had a hattrick! It was great to see Arnór (Sigurðsson) score his second goal in as many starts, too. Despite not having the biggest squad, we want to replicate last season’s cup runs. We want to be in the competition for a long time, and the cups are a great opportunity to create that ‘togetherness’ with the fans and I believe we can do that with the passion and the cup runs. They are extremely important.
“Moran is a quality player. He can score goals, carry the ball, play one-touch football and create chances. He’s also a very intelligent footballer who works hard for the team, which is great to see. He’s not played very many senior games, so games like tonight will be very important for his development. He’s been training at a high level and there’s a reason why Brighton and Hove Albion chose Blackburn Rovers as the place for his development, as our way of playing is similar to them. However, at the end of the day, you need to perform out on loan, you have to come here and do it. It can sometimes be difficult to do that, because you need to show that you can play at a high level and I think he’s doing that really well. I was pleased with Andy’s whole performance, not just his goals or his assists.
“Jake Garrett’s development has been really good over the last couple of months. He’s been used to playing in a deeper role, but now he’s getting forwards and taking up good attacking positions. He’s scored his third goal in this competition, this season, which is excellent as he’s achieved that for the first time in his career. We want to develop players who are capable of going forwards, as well as defend. We all know Garrett loves a tackle, but he’s also a clever player, capable of scoring goals. It’s been an extremely positive start for the boy, this season.
“As a person, not only as a player, you should never be satisfied with where you are. You always need to develop and have a drive to improve. When a player looks at himself, they might think about the areas that they are good in and not in what they can improve. Garrett is a good example, his attacking game has improved significantly over the past few months. I believe that even if you’re 30, you can still improve, and that even at 35 you can keep having that positive mindset of wanting to get better. At the end of the day, we also played without our two most senior and experienced players in Sam Gallagher and Ryan Hedges, so it was nice to see some of the youngsters take their chances.
“I thought all the goals we scored tonight were great. We also missed a penalty tonight, which is the second we’ve missed this season. Normally, they should end up in the back of the net, but when we see such attacking football, we should be proud of it. I’m very happy to see the fans inside Ewood and I believe those who were here enjoyed that game, but I missed those who were not in the Blackburn End, to my left.”
The boss also reflected on the draw for the Fourth Round that pitted Rovers away at Premier League strugglers, Chelsea.
“I’d rather have a draw like that at Ewood Park, so that we can get a lot of people in here. Yet, on the other hand, I remember our midweek game against West Ham United when we were backed by a lot of travelling Rovers fans. We know Chelsea are a big team, but it’s a great opportunity to develop against better players, which then gives our players the chance to see what it takes to get to that level and can help them improve. As we do in every game, we will step out at Stamford Bridge with the mentality of wanting to win the game.”
