5 days Ago By [email protected] (Andy Turner)
Tony Mowbray admits he’s tempted to change his footballing philosophy for the final run-in, starting at former club Coventry City. The former Sky Blues boss made a welcome return to management with West Bromwich Albion in January after an unexpected spell out of the game due to ill health, and got back into the managerial hot seat in the familiar surroundings of another of his former clubs. The Baggies won 2-1 at home to Watford at the weekend to end a run of five games without a victory, and breathe life into their play-off chase – now going into Good Friday’s clash at the CBS Arena in seventh place, just three points behind Frank Lampard’s men.
READ MORE: Ruben Selles reveals how much Kasey Palmer 'wanted' to score against Coventry City READ MORE: Frank Lampard confirms another Coventry City player out of the final run-in as two more touch and go Karlan Grant and Mikey Johnston scored in a counter-attacking masterclass for Albion - a style some way removed for Mowbray’s preference to dominate possession and dictate play, with the Albion boss admitting his side’s break-away success against the Hornets has given him food for thought for the final four games of the season. Mowbray’s side should have won by a bigger margin despite just 38 per cent possession against Watford. Albion’s three straight defeats of late, against Norwich, Sunderland and Bristol City, have seen the team on top in stats but failing to convert their chances.
“I’ve said I thought the performance levels in those games was really high and we could easily have won all of those,” said Mowbray, speaking to the Express and Star. “Yet we find ourselves winning a game with 38 per cent possession, it’s not really how I want to play, but it opens the question to letting the opposition have more of the ball and playing in spaces they leave you. “We could’ve scored more goals than we did, I think it was five big chances.
It’s food for thought. When you’ve got the speed of (Tom) Fellows, Grant, Mikey Johnston, sometimes you can let the opposition have it.” Academy graduate winger Tom Fellows ran the show with one of his best displays in some time in creating both Albion goals.
Tottenham loan striker Will Lankshear, in for former Sky Blues loan star Adam Armstrong for just a second start, was dominant throughout. Mowbray, though, admitted watching opponents monopolise possession is against his instincts and can be “uncomfortable” and requires real belief in actions. He added: “The only thing is you need a strong mentality - in my job anyway - to sit there and allow the opposition so much ball in and around your box.
It’s not comfortable. Yet having so much dominance in the last three games, especially the second half at Bristol City, having not scored enough goals is something to think about.” Mowbray added of his side’s refreshingly ruthless finishes: “What’s really pleasing is we’ve done non-stop work on cut-backs, one-touch finishes and the goals today were picture-perfect, because it’s all the work we’ve done.
“Against Sunderland we got into so many amazing positions to score from cut-backs but kept picking the wrong pass. The difference was somebody running through the six-yard box, to drag their defenders towards their goal and we finished in the corners, something we’ve been working on all week.” Get the latest Coventry City news sent straight to your phone by joining our Sky Blues WhatsApp group.
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