Tony Mowbray has defended Luke O'Nien, after his antics at Norwich came under some criticism. He's also spoke of the challenges he keeps setting to the team as a whole...
LUKE
“I’m assuming you’re talking about giving their player a kiss, did he? Listen, you have to know, as I’ve said many times in this room, Luke O’Nien is an amazing human being, fantastic guy. I can’t find any aspect of being able to criticise Luke because of the kid he is and yet I’m not sure of why he would do that. You should ask him. I don’t know if you get the opportunity to ask them direct questions after the game but I just want to leave it saying what a fantastic guy he is. There would have been no animosity in anything he did, I’m assuming he’s on social media, I don’t know if he’s tweeted something about it or talked about it but it is a little bit unusual! If I’m going to give you a final comment on it, there would be no malicious intent or anything and I don't think anyone is suggesting that. He’s a great guy and in that second and that moment to try and diffuse a situation that’s probably what he did.”
1-0 UP
“Any win is massive to be honest. I don't want to be flippant about it, it is a result against the grain. Even the team knew travelling to Norwich away, who were in the Premier League last year, they've been on a really good run and they've got some really talented players. We knew it was a big ask to go to Norwich and get a result, yet we scored the first goal. Even when we went to Fulham in the cup and scored the first goal, we have a real resilience about us and the togetherness can make life difficult for the opposition. I think that's what we did, maybe should have scored a second. Huge credit to the players for approaching the game the way they did and as you get pushed back in the second half their resistance, resilience is something that is not coaching. I don't sit here saying I played a tactical game, it’s them really at their core putting their bodies on the line stopping shots, blocking shots, making tackles and yet we still carried a threat on the back of that as well. So that’s the group they are and that's why we've done okay over the course of the season.”
LOOK AHEAD
“We look forward, I know I look forward to the next transfer window trying to help the group get better depth and strength in certain areas of the pitch. We’ve got one or two injuries that are important that will come back hopefully stronger and ready. I don't fear for the group, I think the group is really strong and yet I do laugh sometimes. I do sometimes sit there with the staff watching them warming up as they do their little drills with the sports science department thinking ‘goodness me can you believe we play in the championship with these young boys’ because they look so young and they mess about and they're so daft. The perception is big strong athletic men in their mid twenties understanding football, played 250 games and ready to go. But they're not, they're learning on the job really as they go along and it's good to be with them and trying to guide them in the right direction at times.”
GUIDANCE
“I think the job is to challenge them everyday. What do they want to get from their careers? What do they want to be? Are they happy to sit in the middle of the table? Do they want to be a team that is competing at the top end of the table? For me it's about throwing a challenge out to them as a group. Some teams hit a certain target and don't win another game because they think they've done their work for the season and what's important for us is that we keep trying to push on. And yet we do have a run of three games against first, second and fourth in the league, all three of them have an amazing away record so they're difficult games for us. But I just think to see it as a challenge for them, where do you want to go, what do you want to do? You’ve already beaten Middlesbrough and Blackburn, the other two teams in the top six this season, at home so here’s the next challenge: can you keep winning against the top teams at home and see where that takes you? That’s all we’ll be trying to do over the next two games.”
