ROVERS’ RETURN?
We examine how Tony Mowbray has turned Blackburn around
EVEN in the immediate aftermath of Blackburn’s heart-breaking relegation from the Championship last term, Tony Mowbray was already plotting a promotion assault this season.
Speaking after Rovers’ 3-1 final day win at Brentford proved not quite enough to save their skin, he said: “We have to recruit well, be strong next year and bounce back. We just need to turn the ship around and get promotion.”
At the start of the season, it looked as though Blackburn might be blown off course. Two defeats from their opening two games – 2-1 at Southend and 3-1 at home against Doncaster – suggested the Lancashire club might find it hard to adapt to the third tier.
Yet, gradually, Capt Mowbray has managed to steer his side away from choppy waters.
Indeed, last Tuesday’s mightily impressive 3-0 victory on a freezing cold night at AFC Wimbledon meant Blackburn had lost just one of their last 24 league games – winning 15 and drawing eight.
It’s no wonder that consistency had opened up a four-point lead ahead of the weekend programme.
Even though the sides directly below them, Shrewsbury and Wigan, have games in hand, Rovers have clear water ahead of them and are sailing smoothly on.
Resources
It looks as though Mowbray has successfully turned the ship around and now it’s picking up speed.
Some will no doubt argue that Blackburn should be swanning off into the distance, with the quality of the playing squad and the resources at their disposal.
We all know there are no guarantees in football and that plenty of favourites fail to cut the mustard.
Yet it appears the experienced Mowbray has cleverly harnessed the squad’s hunger to make an immediate return to the Championship.
There is a real camaraderie and togetherness about them.
And don’t forget that Mowbray, too, has something to prove.
The former Hibs, West Brom, Celtic and Middlesbrough boss fell on his sword at Coventry last season after the Sky Blues failed to win any of their opening ten league games and sunk to the foot of the table.
The 54-year-old then took the reins at Blackburn in late February after Owen Coyle’s departure, but he couldn’t keep the club in the Championship. On a personal level, it was a season to forget.
Back in League One again, Mowbray has shown he can forge a winning team.
Against the Dons, skipper Charlie Mulgrew and Darragh Lenihan formed an impressive centre-back partnership. Richie Smallwood and Elliott Bennett doubled up in centre midfield, giving goalscoring midfielder Bradley Dack the chance to press forward.
Huddersfield loanee Jack Payne, 23, and Newcastle loan capture Adam Armstrong, 21, initially provided the width from the flanks, with the experienced Danny Graham up top.
Payne crossed deep for the predatory Dack to steer a header over out-of-position Dons keeper George Long for the crucial opener on the half-hour.
But one of Rovers’ strengths is their flexibility. After the first goal, Mowbray switched Armstrong to the right flank, Graham to the left and Dack to a more central attacking role. The creative Payne was switched more centrally, too, into the heart of midfield.
Northern Ireland international Corry Evans came on in the second half – an illustration of Blackburn’s impressive squad depth – and that allowed Bennett to push a bit further forward.
After the hosts had started the second half well, Bennett smashed home a stunning low 25-yard drive to kill their momentum shortly after the hour mark.
Rovers were now playing with a swagger and, five minutes after the second, it was game over. Graham showed an unexpected burst of pace on the left flank and rolled an inviting ball across the face of goal.
Nipping
Dack was the first to react, nipping in front of his marker and superbly flicking the ball past an exposed Long.
With the likes of 15-goal Graham, Dack and Armstrong in their ranks, Blackburn clearly have goals in them.
But their squad strength and adaptability are just as important.
As for the permutations at his disposal, Mowbray told The FLP: “We lost 12 players in the summer, outof-contract, big-salary players that we couldn’t re-sign. It was about trying to build a squad and we got on with that.
“We’ve had spells where Mulgrew was missing recently, but we’ve managed to cope. Danny Graham has missed some games. Dominic Samuel, too.
“There are some good players sitting on our bench, but to win games is very, very difficult. No-one is going to give you a free shot at it.”
Dack told The FLP: “We’ve got a massively strong squad. You can see that with the quality we’ve got, especially in forward areas.
“The loan boys that have come in have done really well and strengthened the team. They are going to be here until the end of the season and we are all in it together. Everyone’s behind each other and that’s why it works so well.
“There’s a lot of competition and that means you have to perform every week to stay in the team. It’s healthy competition.” Mowbray admitted he likes to keep rivals guessing with his mid-match tactical moves.
“Sometimes it’s important just to change the rhythm of the game and to test the opposition to see whether they can adapt to a formation change,” he said.
“If, all of a sudden, you’ve got wing-backs flying up the flank playing really high, do they adjust their team? It’s good to have the players to be able to do that.
Dynamics
“And it’s fine as long as the players understand it’s not their performance that means they’re being taken off, but that we’re changing the dynamics of the structure of how we want to play.
“They’ve all bought into that, the spirit is really good. We have no-one sulking if they’re not playing. They understand the reasons: our aim is to try to win enough matches to get out of this division.”
As for the mid-match tactical tinkering, Dack says he and his colleagues are prepared for it.
“It just depends on how the game is going and what you think are the opposition’s weaknesses,” he said.
“Against AFC Wimbledon, we felt that Danny (Graham) could expose halves. playing their smaller up against two centrebig full-back rather than
“He pulled out a big wider, so we could hit him on the diags, and then the rest of us attacking players could fill in the space behind him.
“It wasn’t a game where we could really get the ball down and play because the pitch became very bobbly.”
Their latest victory has put them in buoyant mood ahead of this afternoon’s showdown with Wigan. You could even call it a promotion six-pointer.
Blackburn have a six-point advantage over Paul Cook’s Latics, but the latter have four games in hand. A Rovers win today would extend the cushion to nine points with four extra games played. It would begin to look difficult for Wigan.
Defining
But a Latics win would cut the gap to three points – and they would have four games in hand. That would be a lot more manageable.
Mowbray is happy to have the points in the bag ahead of what he calls a ‘defining game’ against Wigan.
“I’d rather be in our position,” he said. “We’ve played the game. God knows when they’re going to fit in four extra games.
“They have the Cup to play, as well. It could be five. Yet that’s not our problem. We just have to win our games as they come along.
“The next game is a big one against them. If we can win that, they’ll look at the table and see the games in hand, but they’re going to have to win most of them to get back on top.
“We just do what we do at the moment: try to win football matches and let everybody else look after themselves.”
One of Blackburn’s biggest weapons will be Dack’s goal threat. The former Gillingham man has 14 already this term and believes a natural instinct can be further honed.
“It’s something you grow up with,” said the 24-year-old. “But we work on stuff on the training ground, little movements and getting into the right areas in the box, and we work on our finishing.”
It’s all set up for a cracking Lancashire derby this afternoon. Whichever way it goes, it would be a surprise if Mowbray wasn’t steering a ship back in Championship waters next season.
As the Blackburn fans like to sing, “We’re on our way back.”