In the wake of Rovers’ home tie vs Gillingham, Tony Mowbray spoke to the clubs’ media team about the previous performance, which was a 2-0 win over Rotherham United as well as how Rovers would line-up and what he expected from Saturday’s opponents.
“This weekend, the team need to be focused. They’ve been playing positively, been on the front foot, been asking questions of the opposition. They need to concentrate out of possession and continue to work hard, as they have been doing. By doing all that, all we have to do is hope that we have the talent and the quality to go on and win the game and if it needs a change from the bench, we hope that we have enough quality on the bench to come on and change the game. They’re difficult games and we’ve felt that, we’ve been away to some really tough teams this year, who have previously finished really high up the table, and we’ve managed to get a positive result and yet, with total respect to them, we lost at home to Doncaster and Wimbledon who are struggling a little bit this year.
“The performance mid-week was really positive, against a dangerous team who have scored a lot of goals this season; this is just the next game. I was telling the players that the name of the opposition doesn’t really matter, we have to go out and take them on, man for man and prove that we’re better players, so it’s a game we’re going to look forward to, a game where hopefully we can get the three points. We’ve got a Checkatrade Trophy game on Tuesday followed by an international break, so we find ourselves two games behind a lot of the teams, but when those games come around, we’ll be playing them as if they were a free-hit to try and get three points and hopefully we can still be in and around the top six at the time.”
Mowbray was questioned regarding his team selection and whether he was thinking about re-naming the same starting eleven that despatched Rotherham United due to the impressive performance that the players put in on Tuesday.
“I always try and study the opposition and see where I think their strengths or weaknesses might be. I try not to pick the same team, if it’s an exceptional performance where everybody has worked extraordinarily hard and the opposition look quite similar to the previous team; I can afford to keep the same starting eleven. I think there are a few players knocking on the door to try and get into the first eleven; we’ll see how the players that are returning from injury, are tomorrow off the back of a training session, we’ll put the squad together and pick a starting eleven that will try and get three points against Gillingham. As I sit here now, I haven’t really got that team stuck in my mind, so I guess we’ve got some more options now.
“I think the substitutes have had good impacts over the last couple of games, which is a credit to them. They’re not sat on the bench sulking, they’re sitting on the bench hoping to come on and make an impact on the game that would move them closer to earning a place in the starting eleven. Whilst we don’t have the biggest squad in the league, there is a lot of quality in there that we need to try and utilise, not over use, we’ve got to make sure that everybody feels a part of what we’re trying to achieve and get that balance right as you’ve got the get the balance on the pitch in picking teams right, you’ve got to get the balance of the squad right to try and make sure you keep everybody engrossed in the project of trying to win football matches.
“Harry Chapman is one who has been working hard in training you can see an extra spring in his step, he has scored a goal and is creating a positive environment around what he does when he has been on the pitch. He’s probably one who isn’t far off a starting place, but I have said that football is about both sides of the game, not just about going forward, it’s about working hard out of possession, getting back into position, stopping the opposition and tackling people. Harry still has to focus and work on all those aspects of his game and we’re delighted that he can come off the bench and make such a positive impact as he did on Tuesday. I don’t get sick of talking about good footballers, the job is to try and win the games, if you win a match, you can win an argument and if you don’t win a match, you can’t win an argument. People will be asking why Harry isn’t playing and saying that he should be starting, yet if you’re winning and he comes off the bench, plays well and then scores, you don’t get those questions because you’ve got the three points. I would be interested to know that if we started Chapman and lost, whether people would be questioning the decision to play him. As a manager, you have to go with your own gut feeling, I work with them every day, I talk to them, I see the qualities that they bring to the side, their work ethic in training, their personalities regarding their age and how mature or immature they are and I try to pick the right team every week. We just need to get on with it, keep them focused, keep them working hard and see if we can get a victory at the weekend.”
Mowbray was also asked whether Gillingham as an opposition would become even more dangerous as a result of them sacking their manager, Ady Pennock on Monday.
“All the teams in this division are dangerous, but I liken Gillingham to Wimbledon, a game which we
should definitely be winning on paper and yet the reality was, Wimbledon got a goal and then made life really difficult for us to get back into the game. Gillingham will work really hard, I know Peter Taylor well enough to know that he’s going to have his team well organised, I know he’s only the interim manager but he oversaw a 0-0 draw against Scunthorpe on Tuesday, which I have to say is a decent point against a very good side. They’ll be looking forward to coming to Ewood and making life difficult for us; we have to play like we did against Rotherham, get on the front foot and ask questions of them, put the ball in their box and see how good they are.
“I’ve always said that ten or twelve games is where you should start paying attention to the league table and yet I’m hoping that Shrewsbury are going to get beaten somewhere down the line, they’ve had an amazing start to the season, as have the other teams up there. Wigan keep grinding out 1-0 wins at the moment, but what I do know is that it’s a long season and I was very conscious when I was at Coventry City, where at Christmas, Barnsley were second bottom of League One, yet got promoted via the playoffs and I’m very conscious that we have to keep improving, we have to find the consistency every week of not losing matches, but hopefully more wins than draws. We’ll need to put runs together where we’re unbeaten into double figures, but it’s not going to be easy and we need to keep pushing on, as a lot of teams are doing well. There are a lot of teams punching above their weight, Shrewsbury, Scunthorpe, Blackpool are three examples of that. We just have to look after ourselves, take each game as it comes, keep grinding out results and the points tally will look after itself. If you’re going to be successful, you’re going to aim for around two points per game really, so after a dozen games, if we can get as close to 24-25 points, we’d be doing alright and if you get to 92 points from 46 games, you give yourself a good chance of getting promoted. That is easier said than done as when you drop points you have to make up for those points by winning consecutively, so we’re not too far away, I think we’re on 19 points from 10 games or something like that, which shows you that I don’t look at the table often.”
The final question Mowbray was asked was about Bradley Dack, who would be facing his former employers for the first time since leaving. The manager was asked whether Dack would be fit enough to play and whether the midfielder would be mentally ready to face them.
“I think Bradley (Dack) is doing alright, I still think he’s generally feeling his way in, he’s had two injuries and he does show in training what a talent he is, I still think he has to get up-to speed which he’ll get through constantly training every day, not by missing games and training sessions. We need to get to the point where he’s playing 90 minutes back-to-back and then he’ll be off and running. He’s a very good footballer who I enjoy working with. It’s good that he got off the mark against Shrewsbury and he was unlucky on Tuesday not to get a goal, but I’m sure there are a lot more goals and assists to come from him.”
