Tony Mowbray urges Albion to stay positive
Mar 3 2009 by Robert Tanner, Birmingham Post
West Bromwich Albion’s position may have become that much bleaker after what could prove to be a crucial weekend of the season but manager Tony Mowbray refuses to be downhearted.
While Albion suffered a disappointing defeat at Everton, relegation-battling rivals Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers picked up surprise victories while Stoke City came from two goals down to snatch a point at Villa Park.
That left Albion four points adrift at the bottom of the table with 11 games remaining and Mowbray admits his side will have to start picking up victories soon, starting with the visit of Arsenal tonight.
However, the Albion boss insists his side are still confident they can put a run together that will fire them to safety.
“We’ve got to win some games pretty quickly,” said Mowbray.
“Let’s say we win the next two games against Arsenal and West Ham and get six points. Then we would be facing Bolton and Stoke at home with everything spun on its head.
“It’s easy to say ‘how are you going to win the next two games when you haven’t won in however many?’ But let’s say we do win the next two games, then we’ve got two at home that I would hope to win as well. If we win the next four matches where would we be in the table?
“Why be negative? Let’s be positive and optimistic and believe that we are going to win the games.
“You can see every weekend when somebody wins a game that they can jump a few places. We’re going to have to win a couple of games to jump a few places but it can be done.
“I sat with Roy Hodgson last weekend and he said Fulham had less points than we’ve got when they survived last season. Why did they survive? Because they won football matches. Why did Portsmouth survive the year before? Because they won some games.
“Nobody is hiding the fact that we’ve got to win some games, but can we do it? I think we can.”
Mowbray knows that vital to any such run of victories will be the return of his key players from injury and influential captain Jonathan Greening could make his first start for six games against the Gunners after coming on as a substitute at Goodison Park. He likened Greening’s importance to that of Steven Gerrard at Liverpool.
“The bottom line is that we have to have our best players on the pitch week in, week out to give ourselves the best chance of winning matches,” Mowbray said.
“It’s the same at any club. If Liverpool are without Gerrard they miss him, if Arsenal are without Cesc Fabregas they miss him and if Manchester United, even with a special squad, miss something from their team on the days Ronaldo doesn’t play.
“Jonathan can be integral to the way we ask the team to play. He can use his body, see the right pass, play long and short and play forwards. He does all that and he’s got the human element too.
“He carries around the humility to be a top player and he is a vital part of what we do.”
Luke Moore could replace Jay Simpson in attack as the young striker is ineligible as a condition of his loan move from Arsenal and Roman Bednar is struggling with a back injury. Jonas Olsson returned to training yesterday after a knee injury but will not be ready and Youssuf Mulumbu has a thigh strain.
