In the aftermath of Rovers’ disheartening 1-1 draw against Aston Villa, which saw Rovers concede a late Conor Hourihane free-kick in added time to drop 2 points, Tony Mowbray reflected on a disappointing evening at Ewood Park, which unravelled in-front of the Sky Sports cameras.
“At the moment, it feels like this game can be a really cruel one. I thought we would see the game out and get the 3 points, despite them having a lot of the ball and bringing on some massive players. We changed to a back 3 to try and counter their strength and presence in the forward areas, but I felt that we didn’t push high enough up the pitch to pressure them.
“Regardless of that, I felt that we should be standing here celebrating a big win, because they weren’t really peppering our goal. I’d have to say that the free-kick was never a foul in a million years, but that’s football for you. Their lad has hit a brilliant strike, which I can’t fault, but we need to address dead-ball situations going into our net, because that’s 2 in 2 now.
“Despite that however, there were some positives from today. The lads put in a huge effort, which is great to see. There were some great individual performances and the spirit was evident for all to see. I think the right attitude now, is to just take the point and the positives and move on to Tuesday’s game against Derby County.
“I was standing on the touchline watching the game, thinking that it was a great end-to-end spectacle that we more than played our part in, especially in the first-half. Villa have some good players, expensive I might add, but good players nonetheless. A prime example of that is their forward (Jonathan Kodjia) who they signed for £15m, and he was on the bench! I think at this moment in time, with what the club has been though, during this rebuilding process, we have to accept that Aston Villa are going to have some moments against us due to the quality within their ranks, yet I believe that we did enough tonight to walk away with all 3 points.
“I’ve told the team that they need to be immensely proud of the effort that they’ve put in, as their desire and work-rate nearly got us over the line with a victory. We’ve played a good game against one of the sides that are going to be up there come the end of the season. I know that they’ve not been on the best of form of late, but they’ve got some wonderful players.
“The team are fine. They understand that there are a lot of positives from today. They also understand what is needed from them to get over the line, however the fear for me, is that whether they can do it on a game-by-game basis, especially with us having a match every 3 days, or so.
“I’ve already told them that there will probably be some changes on Tuesday. I need to get into a position where I can trust around 18 of the lads in order for them, not to fear that we’ll be weaker if I make a couple of changes to the side. I think the challenge for all the lads that come into the side now, is to show me that they deserve to be in the starting 11, by showing me that they’re capable of doing what the lads they’re replacing are doing.
“Bradley (Dack) is an important player, for us, but I don’t want to overplay him, because I don’t want to put pressure on him. He’s a player that the lads all trust with the ball, because he can make things happen for us. I’m delighted for Bradley because his hard work is paying off in his numbers. I had no fears of Bradley not performing in this division, because he has the quality. The challenge for Bradley now is to try and do that in the Premier League, hopefully with us, as we try and strengthen the squad over the next 3 or 4 transfer windows.”
The manager rounded-up his interview by touching upon the demands that he expected his new signings to familiarise themselves with, whilst also talking about the disparity of wealth within the Championship.
“Ideally, we’d like to add quality in order to build around Brad, and that’s the challenge this club is now facing as we’re in a rebuilding process. We’re miles behind the likes of Aston Villa in terms of recruitment, but we need a bit of time to increase the quality within the squad. Any players who come in also need to have the same mentality towards working hard as the rest of the group does.
“Harrison (Reed) is a good player. I see him every day in training, but I think he needs to learn the discipline of our squad. The problem with new players, is that although we’ve trained with them, they don’t yet know the demands of a matchday situation with us. There’s still a lot to work on with the new players, which is why they’re slowly being bled into the side. The important note for the new signings is that they have to compete to get into our side. Harrison, for example, needs to try and oust Corry Evans or Richie Smallwood, who have both been brilliant for us.”
