Three was the magic number at Ewood Park as three goals secured three points for Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side after they brushed aside newly-promoted Rotherham United, 3-0. The Dane reflected on his side’s fine performance with a smile as he heaped praise on his side following a ‘great performance.’
“It’s been a brilliant day for everyone connected with Blackburn Rovers. It was a great performance and a great result. I asked the players for a reaction, after the Cardiff City defeat and they gave me that. We were, more or less, in control for the entire game, we played some good football. Our decision-making was good, as was our retaining of possession as we played through the lines. The switch of play, movement and balls in-behind their defence was also shown today, which was very good. We also kept a clean-sheet, which was great. It’s always nice to be back at Fortress Ewood Park. I think we’ve played seven games here and we’ve won five.
“I’m enjoying it and I think the fans are enjoying it. I’m seeing a lot of good decision-making, both as a team and as individuals, as well as the togetherness and spirit of the team, which is very good. Now, we’re all dreaming about the inconsistency on Tuesday(!) But in all seriousness, today’s game was a good win. It was great to see Sammie (Szmodics) get a goal and an assist. It’s good because it helps everyone understand that, although you might be playing in the under-21s one week, that doesn’t mean that you’re not important. It means you have a chance to impress because the next week, you could be pivotal in a first-team victory.
“It’s always good when the things you work on in training happen in games, but there’s always the difficulty of getting messages across when you don’t have a lot of time on the training ground, because we’ve been playing a lot of games. That’s especially the case when you have a new, young group. During games, we can all see where all the opportunities and the solutions are, but sometimes football isn’t easy. That’s why I was delighted with today’s performance. We got everything we wanted, a reaction, a clean-sheet and three points.
“I think we could have scored more than the three we got, today. We were very dangerous, especially from set-pieces. We could have scored a few in the first-half from set-pieces. We saw Scotty (Wharton) doing a bicycle kick and he almost broke his back, I think! He was definitely inspired by Dom Hyam’s goal against Watford from a couple of weeks ago! In games, you will always concede a couple of chances, but throughout the 90 minutes, we were more or less in control, which was pleasing.
“We did all the right things in the lead-up to the goals, because there’s split-second decision-making to create the goals. We could have scored more, like I said, but they were great goals. We scored three and kept a clean-sheet, but we created a lot of chances, which I liked. It was an enjoyable day at the fortress, which allowed us to show our togetherness with our fans.
“I have been telling the boys that, if they need minutes in their legs, they’ll be playing for the under-21s, but that doesn’t mean they’re out of the first-team. It’s all about trying to give each player the opportunity to be at their best and help them perform when they get the chance, which helps the club. Sammie (Szmodics) was a perfect example of that, and he displayed a great performance today. He can be very proud of his performance, but it is unfair to single out one player, because everyone did an amazing job as a team, even those who came off the bench. I think we’ve seen a collective Rovers team, high on team-spirit putting forward a very positive performance. I think the concept of playing for the under-21s, before the first-team, as I’ve mentioned makes sense. I keep putting that message across, but I also have to act on that, and I think the boys understand that.
“The whole league battles with inconsistency. Even those with big budgets who have come down from the Premier League. I’m focussed on today’s positives; the three points, clean-sheet and a win at home. This is a brilliant league. I love it. I get hurt, the team get hurt and the fans get hurt, because of how close this league is, but it’s a great league. It’s a competitive league with a lot of good clubs, a lot of good players and that means you can win or lose every game you go into. That’s why I’m so pleased with how we controlled the game and created chances through our extremely good decision-making. We played short, we played direct, we switched play which created great runs in-behind and chances to score.”
