Mowbray facing up to more injury absences for West Bromwich Albion

Apr 16 2009 by Robert Tanner, Birmingham Post

Mowbray surprised many when he called up New Zealander Wood and left out £3million signing Luke Moore, which raised questions about the striker’s future, but Mowbray said the former Aston Villa man’s exclusion was actical.

“When I picked the squad to travel on Friday, we were always going to play with one striker with midfield players sitting in behind,” said Mowbray.

“It was a question of whether I needed to take three strikers all the way down to Portsmouth, knowing I wasn’t going to put three of them on the bench.

“I had a chat with Luke and he understood. He wouldn’t have been on the bench at Portsmouth, so I didn’t take him. Jay Simpson and Roman would have been on the bench, although Roman got injured. I didn’t see Luke as a replacement for Roman. I saw Chris Wood as more of a replacement and there is nothing too sinister in it.

“Sometimes, I don’t see the benefit of taking senior players to leave them out, although you need numbers to cover for illnesses overnight.

“I was pretty sure that Luke wouldn’t be required, so I didn’t take him. I left him here rather than drag him all the way to Portsmouth, put him in a hotel and then stick him in the stand with his tracksuit on. He understood that.

“As I say to all the players, there is nothing personal in any decisions. They are made for the team. For me as a manager, as long as you explain your decisions to footballers they accept them, as long as they can see the logic in them.”