After Rovers fought from behind to claim an underwhelming 1-1 Boxing Day draw against troubled Sheffield Wednesday, Tony Mowbray offered his analysis of the festive fixture that his side struggled in.
“We’re hugely disappointed with today’s game because home games are always a good opportunity to get three points, especially against a team in the bottom three. Sheffield Wednesday have been really struggling this season and only got their first win in ten, last week so it’s frustrating we couldn’t capitalise on that poor form. Football is what it is, they stuck a lot of men behind the ball and made it really hard for us, today. They didn’t even create their goal; we just gave it to them which gave them a platform to hang onto the lead. It feels like we’ve been hard done by or harsh on us, but that’s football. As I’ve just said to them in the dressing room, they’re a bunch of young guys and football’s hard, because nobody gives you anything. We have to keep working at it in order to find the answers. We’ve spent every training session since the Stoke City game trying to break down deep blocks and yet we’ve failed and had to rely on a bit of magic from (Joe) Rothwell in between the lines to score our goal. Deep blocks are a conundrum for us, because if every team comes and sets up like that against us, things are going to be tough.
We’re trying to get the right balance within the team, but it was good to see (Bradley) Dack back today. You could see as soon as he came onto the pitch, that Dack was orchestrating play, he was playing one-touch passes and popping things round corners and if he hadn’t hit (Adam) Armstrong on the chin with a pass, rather than the chest, Adam would have been through one-on-one. (Ben) Brereton had a few chances to score and perhaps he should have, but maybe he was a bit rusty having been out for a few weeks? We also hit the post, but ultimately, we’re left frustrated. We just need to turn our attentions to Huddersfield Town and put today’s point in the bag and move on. We’ve got two back-to-back away games and as I’ve just said to them, I think we can win both games, because we can be more ruthless away from home because teams attack us and that leaves space in-behind them for us to exploit.
“Their goal today was ridiculous because we virtually gave it to them on a plate. The lads involved (Daniel Ayala and Barry Douglas) are honest guys, but they’ve just suffered from a lack of communication. I’d have to say however, that if Adam Reach tried that another 20 times, he’d probably not score it. I think we just have to keep rolling with it because I don’t believe there’s a lot wrong. To dominate football matches, you have to put these types of teams to the sword and there’s a lot of different aspects to it. The delivery into the box from wide area when we’re high up the pitch has to be better and we have to get more men in the box when the crosses come in. It’s just frustrating. I’ve managed many sides against Tony Pulis and he’s always difficult to come up against.
“I thought, after Joe’s goal, that we had the momentum to go on and win it as there was 15-20 minutes left. We lost the balance of the team a bit, because we put so many attackers on, but I would rather lose 2-0 than not try and come back into the game. After we did that, the game became a bit more end-to-end and I felt as if we had a few more opportunities late on to win the game, but it didn’t happen. That’s football and we have to get on with it.
“Brad and I have mutual respect and we talked openly about whether he felt he was ready to come back into the first-team. He felt he was ready and that’s what triggered our decision. He still can’t play 90 minutes yet, because he’s still got a bit to go before, he can play a full game, but we’ll see where we get to with him. His numbers are good in training but it’s just a case of getting him back match fit. He brings imagination to the team, which is something I’ve spoken to the lads about. I’ve said to them that if they want to play at the top level, they have to bring some imagination to their game, because I feel as if we’ve given them a way of playing, the shape, the right positions and a platform with the possession-based game, but a bit of imagination, class and guile is what wins you games. Dack’s all about coming ‘off-script’ which is what makes him so dangerous for oppositions and why he’s a difference-maker.
“I hope we go to both away games and dominate and be positive. Hopefully we can score and keep a clean sheet in order to get the three points in both ties. I expect this team to win every game, to be honest. We look forward to the return games of Bournemouth and Watford and teams like that because I feel as if we can take it to every team in this league and yet the reality is that we need to actually go and show that on the grass. We’ve just played one of the teams in the relegation zone and not won, so we need to improve and find a way to win these games with the talent we have in this squad. We didn’t quite do that today, but I think that we are not far away from being a pretty good team in this league, but I can’t keep saying that every week without backing it up. We need to start turning these dominating performances into victories and three points.”
