After Rovers produced a ‘five-star’ display after brushing Huddersfield Town aside by a 5-2 scoreline, a very happy Tony Mowbray reflected on his side’s brilliant display as well as his side’s contractual issues, with the club’s media.
“I think we played against a team who allowed us to play at our best. Throughout the season, a lot of teams watched our early games and started to play more direct against us, like when they kick it wide from kick-offs or play off big centre-forwards. For some reason, Huddersfield Town today, played to our strengths. We just have to find a way to play against all teams. Although they played to our strengths, today, it’s great that all three attackers scored goals and helped create. We’re a bit disappointed with the goals that we lost, especially the one on the stroke of half-time, as it could have been a real kick in the stomach for the team, but they recovered. We talked about winning the second-half at half-time and we did that comfortably, so I was pleased with the team.
“All the goals pleased me. One goal in particular was brilliant where we’ve played out from our own third and popped it around and through them and we’ve broke away in the spaces and squared it back for a tap-in into an empty net. It felt similar to how we played during the first 15 games of the season where we felt like we were going to score against a lot of teams and yet, this is a league full of quality and a lot of good coaches in it. We’ve had some good performances this season, but that alone hasn’t been enough. We played well away at Norwich City, who beat Huddersfield 7-0, and I can see why they beat them by seven. I feel like we have a pretty good football team and yet, moving forward we as staff and the team as players, need to find the answers to different teams we play against. The best example I can give, are Barnsley. They are a team who, shouldn’t be in the same category as Blackburn Rovers and yet, they’re probably going to finish in the playoffs. They have a system and a style that they don’t change. They don’t take chances or play out from the back and they get it forward as quickly as they can, they condense the pitch and play very directly, but it works for them.
“All I want to do is get a brand of football that allows us to play on the front-foot and win it with our strikers’ press, but also, when teams push us back because they have good quality or they knock a long balls forwards, we have the quality to be able to build through teams, like how some of today’s goals were. So, in the end, we end up scoring both, transition goals and goals due to our high-press and whatever the opposition then do, we’ll have the answers. That’s all we’re trying to do, but we’ve probably suffered in the second-half of the season in an attempt to try and score more transition-based goals, rather than high-pressing goals. I keep talking about the ‘journey’ that we’re on and the team will only get better, but we do need to try and keep the likes of Adam Armstrong, Joe Rothwell and other players who might have contractual issues. Those problems aren’t easy for those young guys and it’s important for the club to keep developing and growing as best as we can.
“Adam’s situation is interesting, given how his season has panned out and it’s a wonder what valuation there is on him from other teams. At the end of the day, the footballer is the footballer. If, in his stomach, he wants to go and play in the Premier League and he wants to do it now, we’re not really in a position, financially, to stop that. My advice to Adam, when I’ve been sitting down and chatting to him, would be that there’s growth for him here. He has to ask himself; ‘is he going to start in the Premier League, play all 38 games and score 20 goals in the Premier League, now?’, I would suggest, maybe not. He might be a substitute who, gets the odd game and the odd goal, but my assumption would be that he should stay here, sign a good contract, enjoy playing every week, score another 25-30 goals and keep learning the game. He’s still a young lad and it’s not as if his career is running away from him and the time’s winding down. He should still be wanting to play football, which is the main reason why he left Newcastle United to come here. It’s not for me to advise him, because that’s the job of his family, his advisors and the people around him, but any player in his position should continue to develop by playing and scoring goals, because when that big move eventually comes along, he’ll be in that Premier League team, week-in, week-out, because they’ll need what he brings and he’ll not just be another squad player.
“Adam Armstrong is an amazing human being and a fantastic lad to work with everyday and he’s really positive. I’ve given him the armband a few times this year because he’s vocal and has an opinion. He loves football and has personality which is really important. I only wish him the best. In my honest opinion, I think the best for him would be to stay here for another year or two, keep doing what he’s been doing and show everybody that it wasn’t just a fluke and then I know that the right move will come for him and when they come knocking, he’ll have a lot of choices. However, I don’t want to cause any controversy with him. I wouldn’t ever try to bully Adam or anyone else, in order to sign a new deal. I think Adam and I have a very strong working relationship, and I think he knows that I’m only here to try and help him towards becoming the player he wants to be, in his career. The only advice I would give, which I’ve already told him, is that, if he was to sign a deal for us, there’d be no negative, because if the right bid comes in, we’ll sell. We’re not here to keep anybody against their will or chain you to Ewood Park. If the right bid comes in, you can go. If he knocks on my door, one day and shows me the offer and he’s keen, I will ask the Owners to make that happen.
“I don’t think it’s a case of ‘if one signs, others will’. I think there has to be a realistic view as to what we’ve been through as a football club and as a society. Our Owners are Indians, and if you look at the news, the lead story, especially yesterday was on the pandemic in India. These people pay everybody at this club, so we need to look at things realistically. I only ever want to support what’s best for the Owners and in my opinion, it’s best that we keep Adam Armstrong, but if Adam and his advisors decide that it’s time to go, then we have to try and reinvest and make sure that we don’t weaken as a team. We got Adam for less than £2m, which is why I always talk about recruitment and push it so hard. We have to make sure that if Adam does depart and we get some money for him, we have to know where that money is going. It’s almost similar to how Brentford are. They lost their top scorer, Ollie Watkins and now have the league’s top scorer in Ivan Toney, who came from Peterborough United in League One. Although, they signed Toney for about £10m, which is more than we signed Armstrong for, that’s ultimately how the job works and what it entails. You can’t stop footballers from developing their careers and when they’re good enough and the phone rings, they’ll know, and we have to know where we’re going to spend the money.
“As I highlighted before, I’m pleased with how the front three did today, but it’s been a tough season and with total respect to Sam Gallagher and Ben Brereton, the numbers next to their name haven’t been as high as I want. I know that I’ve played them wide, generally, which some could argue impacts that, I still want them to get in the box. I still want them to narrow off when we’re attacking down one side, they have to be that second striker in the box, down the other side and I thought they did that well today. Sam arriving for his goal was a good example of that, and Ben showed great quality. They both could have scored one or two goals more, each, I think. Adam could have scored another two as well. The team were all great today and it felt like it did early season, where we had a real goal-threat and I don’t think their defenders would have enjoyed playing today, against the speed of Adam, the power and strength of Sam and the relentless non-stop running of Ben, who kept threatening the space in-behind.
“Ben (Brereton) has made huge progress throughout this campaign. His agent was on the phone, literally every second day last year, because he thought that he wasn’t getting enough game time and they wanted him to go out on loan. I signed Ben because I felt his quality, which is there. I’ve talked about his maturity and we need to remember that he’s still a young lad. I would be inclined to think that Ben is only going to get better at this point. He still has to find more maturity, but I think he can dribble and run with the ball past people. You look at him today and see him running past people and running away from them, leaving them in his wake. He has got attributes that can help teams, we just have to keep polishing them and try to add the goals and assists and keep getting him into areas, where we can get the best out of his undoubted capacity, in order to affect a game.”
