After Rovers failed to hold onto their second-half lead against Nottingham Forest, which saw the early high-flying away side fight back to hold onto a point in a 1-1 draw, Blues gaffer Tony Mowbray offered his thoughts on the game to the club’s media team.
“I think we put on a really good performance against a good side who are at the top end of the table and whose quality you could feel throughout the game. I think on the balance of how the game ended, we were getting stronger and stronger as time wore on, and it was getting to a point where there was only going to be one team who was going to win it, by means of the possession and dominance in and around their box. We were hoping that we could find the winner, with things ricocheting around their six-yard box and their ‘keeper making a few saves towards the end and I thought we needed one extra bit of quality, one brilliant cross or finish from somewhere. (Joe) Rothwell could have volleyed his chance like a rocket, into the net, but didn’t get the desired contact on it whilst (Dominic) Samuel could have headed, or ‘mis-headed’ rather, into the bottom corner. We’re a bit frustrated and the dressing room is a bit quiet because they felt they deserved to win, but that’s football, we played extremely well against a strong side in this division, but we leave this game with the confidence knowing that we can match anybody in this league.
“Saturday – (the defeat to Luton Town) – was the massive disappointment for us really, as we should have got the three points as, with total respect to Luton, they aren’t Nottingham Forest. I know we had a lot of domination of the ball, at times we had 40-odd minutes at 77% possession whilst being camped around their box on Saturday, and yet we couldn’t turn that dominance into a victory, which is what you have to do if you wish to finish the season at the top end of the table. You have to find a way to score in those types of games and we didn’t which ultimately saw us get hit by a real sucker punch which led to us coming away from Saturday with no points. We’re disappointed to have only taken one point from tonight’s game. If we’d won on Saturday and drawn tonight with four points in the bag, we could sit and say ‘the performance levels are really good, but we have to take that (four points) as Forest are doing well in the league’, but ultimately we’ve only got one point from the two games which we need to put in the bag, forget about and switch our focus onto Queens Park Rangers, on Saturday.
“I didn’t really see Forest scoring tonight, if I’m honest. Whilst they’re capable of building play in order to cause threats, I didn’t think any of their play would result in a Forest goal. Their goalscorer Joe Lolley is a threat on the ball, as is Sammy Ameobi. Lewis Grabban is a natural goalscorer and yet we didn’t see much action from them today in an attacking sense, bar Lolley’s wonderstrike from 25-yards, which was frustrating for us. We talked about Lolley’s threat before the game as I’d watched a few of his recent long-range strikes on my laptop, but it’s ultimately annoying after speaking about him to the team, that he’s managed to score from such a long way out. If we can take any positives from conceding that goal, it’s that we weren’t carved open with some nice football, it was an individual effort that, on another day, could have been missed or blocked. Overall, I was pleased with how the defence did. I thought they concentrated well, put their bodies on the line and kept Forest’s forward players quiet. After the disappointment of the goals we conceded over the weekend, it was important for the team to show resilience tonight, which I’m pleased about.
“I think for the first 70 minutes of the game, Adam (Armstrong) was their main threat as he was bursting past people and fizzing balls into their box. I thought both (Stewart) Downing and (Lewis) Travis were exceptionally good tonight, going about their business and doing the jobs they’re in the team to do. Downing has that knack for spraying the ball around and knowing when to pick the right pass, whilst Travis broke the play up magnificently for us. I think we have to keep working on Travis and aid his development in the passing department to help him understand when to play the ball forwards and when to retain it, in a similar mould to Downing in order to become a top player, but he does his primary ‘ball-winning’ role very well, which is something he should be pleased with.
“I thought the late substitutions made a good contribution as well, (Lewis) Holtby looks high quality and we need to try and get him on the pitch and yet today, I knew how high the work ethic had to be and with total respect to Lewis, he’s come in with a fantastic attitude, but I’m not sure he knows that you have to run in English football, with Sam Gallagher being a prime example of that, who looked like he’d run two marathons by the time he came off because of how high Forest pushed their full-backs up. Holtby’s time is coming, we can all see the quality he possesses, he picks the right pass, he generally troubles the opposition with his forward passing and we’re looking forward to getting him started in the very near future. I stand here and think ‘should I have made the changes, 10 minutes earlier?’, in order to give Lewis (Holtby) and Dominic (Samuel) more time to impact the game in a greater way, but it’s easy to say that now, knowing the full-time result.
“I thought at the time that, with Gallagher coming off, (Danny) Graham was an important man on the pitch who could organise set-plays both offensively and defensively, whilst (Bradley) Dack is always a magnet to the ball and is an outlet our players look for, and yet Holtby showed me tonight, as a number 10, that he can attract the ball as well and pick good passes, which gives us another option if Bradley’s having a quiet day. We’ve got a lot of good options in this squad, which I’m happy with as it gives me a good headache. I’m pleased for Dominic as he’s been out for a long, long time. He looked fit and strong today, but ultimately, he is a centre-forward, yet I know I put him wide on the right on Saturday, but he can do that job, as Gallagher can, who again is ultimately a natural centre-forward. They both need to play up the middle, and yet, as we move forward and grow and feel as if we’re going to dominate some teams at home, then maybe we’ll play with two up top and maybe a number 10 behind them. That’s why I tell the team that formations don’t really matter and that it’s their energy, drive and passion to close down, regain the ball and play in possession that drives our team to win games. We have to develop lots of different ways to play in order to change games, given the personnel we’ve got at the club now.
“I’ve been trying to drip the selection conundrum into the players for a while now. I think footballers can be quite delicate at times regarding whether they’re playing or not. Managing is tough because you’re forced to make difficult decisions regarding who you leave out of the squad of 18 players. I like all my players as both humans and footballers and I believe that it’s fair to communicate to them and give them confidence and yet, when you’re not putting them in the matchday squad, it’s a bit of a difficult scenario because from their perspective they think, ‘here’s a guy who’s trying to be nice to me and try and give me confidence, and yet all of a sudden he hasn’t selected me for the squad’. They are difficult days, but ultimately that’s my job and I get paid to pick the squad that I think, on any given day, will be able to get this club a victory, which the players have to accept, and I think generally, they do. I talk about how our dressing room is and how important it is that the big characters can manage the dressing room as well as dealing with themselves not playing in the first instance. Danny Graham, for example is a prime example of a big character who has found himself out of the team recently, yet he’s been a model professional about it, he hasn’t moaned once, and he’s continued to train to his maximum. All of their opportunities will come because it’s a long, hard season and we’re going to need everyone together and alert so that when those who aren’t currently in the side get their game time, they need to grab it with both hands.
“I think over the last two games, we’ve shown that we can compete against any team in this division and yet the frustration is that we have to win football matches however well we play. It’d be better at times, to play terribly and win 1-0. I do think however that, if you don’t play well and are losing games, then it’s more alarming than playing well and not winning because it allows the players to retain the belief that they’re doing something right and that things are going to click and go their way over the next 30-odd games that are left in the league season in order to get to a points total which I hope, is way above what we achieved last year. I don’t think we should get carried away thinking we’re going to run away with the league, and yet I’m not sure how the league is going to pan out, despite personally tipping Leeds United to win it. West Bromwich Albion are also now contenders, who I thought we did well against in the second-half when we played them and were probably unfortunate not to snatch an equaliser. I think we can compete with everybody, we just have to challenge ourselves and look forward to the next challenge which is down in London away at QPR. We went there last year and won. They’re under new management of course and have been up in the top six. It’s a big challenge for us, but we’ll go there full of confidence knowing that we can match anybody on our day and hopefully replicate last year’s result.”
