Blackburn Rovers manager Jon Dahl Tomasson believes individual errors are to blame for their recent poor form, according to the Lancashire Telegraph.
The 1995 Premier League champions lost their third league game on the bounce this afternoon against table toppers Leicester City, with Wout Faes, Jamie Vardy, Kelechi Iheanacho and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall all scoring for the Foxes in a 4-1 win.
The latest defeat means that Rovers have now conceded 11 goals in their last trio of Championship fixtures and they are currently languishing in 18th, just two points above the drop zone. However, that doesn’t tell half the story, and the Lancashire side are arguably unlucky to have picked up zero points from their last nine.
Speaking after today’s game, manager Jon Dahl Tomasson bemoaned individual errors that have proved damaging to his team in recent weeks, saying;
“We are extremely disappointed with the result but it doesn’t reflect the game, I don’t think. We knew it would be tough against a (former) Premier League side with a lot of good players.
“We caused plenty of problems in the first half, good football, great movement, rotations. We gave two soft goals away in the first half.
“In the second half, we were in the game and on top of the opponent when we had the big chance to score. They had four shots on target and a penalty.
“I thought it was a very soft penalty. You can give it but then you’re giving 10 a game. Then it was over. It’s tough with the result but the lads gave a great effort.
“We gave away some poor goals but they are learning on the job against a very good side.”
Faes gave Leicester the lead in just the fourth minute, although Sammie Szmodics levelled matters just five minutes later. Former England international Vardy restored the visitors lead just before the half hour mark and Rovers pushed hard for a second equaliser before Iheanacho’s penalty deep in the second half.
Continuing, Tomasson broke down the goals whilst remaining steadfast in his view that their recent form isn’t a fair reflection of their performances;
“The first one is a corner, it’s quite simple that you have to get the first contact as a team. The second is a throw-in in the opponent’s half, in the corner and we’re not close enough to our man.
“The third is the penalty. We need to do these things better. It’s not because we are open, we are controlling the game but it is personal errors which happens in football.
“You concede and it is a mistake. If you look at the games against Cardiff (in the Carabao Cup), they scored two avoidable goals, we played a poor first half at Ipswich, I wasn’t happy with that. The second half was excellent but we gave too many chances away, not because we were open but we are not defending well enough.
“Against Sunderland, we should’ve been out of sight and then they scored an easy goal, a mistake. We have to do better or we won’t win games. Football is decided in both boxes and of course, we need to do better.”
Blackburn travel to Coventry City on Wednesday hoping to stop the rut, before visiting Queens Park Rangers next Saturday.
Writer’s View
Tomasson may be right in his assessment of recent games. His team have performed largely well but have nothing to show for their efforts. However, football is a results business and he will know that he needs to start putting points on the board before he begins to find himself under pressure.
Although the next two fixtures are away from home, they are both against teams in the bottom half of the table and could represent an opportunity to get back to winning ways. He will feel that sooner or later his luck will change, but he does have a small squad and he needs to instil that winning mentality.
