Rovers fell to their fourth successive defeat for the first-time under Tony Mowbray, following his sides’ 1-0 defeat at home to Middlesbrough. Once the dust had settled over Ewood Park, the manager took some time out to reveal his thoughts on the game, to the club’s media team.
“We’re frustrated with how the first-half played out really. It was a ‘non-event’ for us as we produced a performance that nobody saw coming. I was shocked with today’s first-half performance. We didn’t play forwards, we weren’t brave enough with the ball, we kept going backwards and we were almost afraid of Middlesbrough, which was something we needed to sort out during the break.
“We put in a better effort in the second-half, but by then we only had 10 men. I stand here a bit ‘hollow’ on that first-half performance and that’s something that we cannot see again. I don’t mind losing football matches because that’s part and parcel of the game, but you have to fight and show you care about the team, a quality which I thought was a bit missing during the first period.
“It was a very ‘out of character’ display and I couldn’t see where it came from. I was questioning them during the break and telling them that I didn’t recognise the team that was out on the grass. Let’s hope it was a blip and we eradicate such a performance from our system. Let’s hope we can be better as we move forward. The second-half was better, of course and although it would have probably been unfair on Middlesbrough to be stood here talking of a draw, you would have fancied Danny (Graham) to put away his chance when he’s goalside of the last defender (Ryan Shotton) and one-on-one with the goalie. Although their ‘keeper (Darren Randolph) made a great save and we’re left a little frustrated, I’m more concerned with the performance during the first 45 minutes rather than the overall result.
“I think, in terms of going down for a penalty, Danny believes he’s going to put it away, so he stays on his feet in order to score, whereas, if he goes down, although he had a strong case for a penalty, he may not have gotten it. I’m not going to stand here and tell Danny to go down because he’s an experienced footballer and he’ll know whether or not the contact, if there was any, would have hindered his opportunity to score a goal.
“The bottom line is, we can talk about shots and efforts at goal but unless they end up bulging the opposition’s net, they’re meaningless. I will say, however, that despite being a man light, we did get down the other end of the field and create chances, which was pleasing. I heard that, rightly so, Amari’i Bell received the Man of the Match award, which was richly deserved due to his positivity after coming off the bench. Amari’i felt my wrath on Wednesday night at half-time because I felt as if he was too weak for Reading’s first goal, and I think Wednesday’s second-half and today was the perfect reaction from his point of view, because he showed his positivity with a goal on Wednesday and the creation of numerous chances today.
“This positive version of Amari’i is who we signed. We want him to play like a left-winger, utilising his quick feet and his pace down the wing in order to create space and chances for others, whilst also having the pace and strength to deal with people who take him on, defensively. I’m hoping that somewhere down the line, we’re going to see a full-back, in Amari’i, who terrorises opposition full-backs with his ability to go past them and change direction at such speed. Individually, I’m pleased for Amari’i, but I’m disappointed that we’ve come away with no points. We will be in tomorrow, (Monday), to work through the first-half horror show.
“The triple change at half-time was to give our club the best chance of coming out of the game with something, despite being down to 10 men and coming up against a team full of confidence. During the break, I was telling the team at half-time that, if I was Middlesbrough’s manager I would have been in the dressing room saying, ‘these are rubbish, we need to finish them off in the second-half as quickly as possible’ and as a result of that, we needed to make drastic changes. I was just trying to give the team the best chance of getting back into the game and although they put in a good effort, we didn’t quite manage to get a result.
“Every game in football is tough, but my job is to win football matches, and to build a team who are capable of functioning and finding a way to win, but you can’t lose faith in your players. They have been amazing for 2 years and they are a fantastic set of lads on a personal level. We’ll get back in tomorrow and continue working hard before going to Birmingham City next Saturday, which will hopefully see us send out a team full of energy and drive.”
