After Rovers lost their second consecutive game, this time a 2-1 home defeat to league leaders, Norwich City, Tony Mowbray highlighted the match as a ‘tough one to take’, after his side had equalled the hosts in every department, bar the scoreline.
“We’ve got a disappointed dressing room, because they’ve put in a lot of effort today and come away with nothing. It feels hard to come away from that game with nothing. We started the second-half on the front-foot and created enough chances, yet when we scored the equaliser, we felt as if there was only going to be one winner. However, they scored their second, out of nothing. I came in isolation, out of a shot that deflected in, in a similar fashion to the Nottingham Forest game here, earlier on in the season. We have to accept it and take it on the chin, as I always say and move onto Rotherham United on Wednesday, where there’s an opportunity to try and get back to winning ways.
“Ultimately, today was frustrating because, yes, we’ve played the team that’s top of the table, but I didn’t feel as if we were that far away from them. We gave a good account of ourselves and yet, we’ve lost because of isolated moments where individuals have made some poor decisions, but generally, I can’t question or fault their work-ethic, their desire to win, their commitment with each other to try and achieve their collective goals, but today we’re left frustrated and empty-handed.
“We asked the players at half-time to keep doing what they were doing and remain positive about the way we play; which I generally think they were. We created some decent opportunities at the start of the second-half, but so did Norwich. They have some good players in their squad and most, if not all of them were playing in the Premier League, last season, so we have to take it on the chin and understand that they have got really good players. Saying that, I thought that we were the team in the ascendency for most of the second-half and ultimately, we got nothing from it. We have to accept the days where we play well and get nothing, in football. We need to keep believing in the positives and move onto Wednesday, whilst trying to produce the same intensity and desire. If we manage to do that, then I’m sure we’ll come away from that game with three points.
“The manner of the winning goal was particularly deflating, because I didn’t think they deserved it based on the play. I didn’t see it coming, because it wasn’t as if they were building pressure and we couldn’t deal with their quality, like you’d normally expect from a side at the top of the league. It was a really poor goal to lose because it wasn’t one that was created, and we were the team during that time in the game, who were threatening the most. It’s been a case of ‘fine margins’ so far this season, and it’s like that in every game in this division. We shouldn’t sit here and think ‘oh, we’ve got Rotherham on Wednesday, that’ll be an easy three points’, because Rotherham beat Bristol City, 2-0 today, who we lost 1-0 to in midweek. Rotherham are a really dangerous team who have a lot of strength, physicality, desire and have an urgency about the way they play, so we have a big challenge on Wednesday, but one that we should look forward to, because we believe that we can win every game. The fact that the team are playing as if they believe that they can win every game, is a positive.
“I haven’t seen Harvey’s (Elliott) goal back, but the quality of it doesn’t surprise me. He’s a wonderful talent and a brilliant individual to work with. I tell the team to feed him the ball, just like we’ve done with Bradley (Dack) in the past, before his injury. Generally, when you give the ball to the special talents in your team, they make the right decisions when on the ball, they release it at the right time, they make the right passes or they stay with it, if that’s the right option. I think Harvey’s got those assets, which Bradley had shown us prior to his injury, where you can trust them with the ball. No team should be embarrassed to give the ball to the talent players who can make the better decisions with the ball. Harvey showed those attributes today and the goal capped off a wonderful individual performance. He’s an immense talent and we’re delighted that we’re working with him and hopefully he’s enjoying his time here. If his ability is what we can all see, then I’m sure he’ll end up playing in the Premier League, but at this moment, we should enjoy his talent whilst he’s helping our team try and win games. Liverpool know what they’ve got, so I won’t stand here and say we’ve improved him. We’re just giving him the opportunity to play and express his talent. He has to play how we want the team to play, of course, which he has been doing because he’s humble enough to accept what I’ve been asking and telling him to do and Liverpool are happy with him getting game time, playing men’s football in a competitive league. Hopefully he enjoys it here and Liverpool see his talent progress.”
