Attack with a bit more freedom…Rowett: We’ve had a week to work, a luxury we don’t often get

EXCLUSIVE BY YANN TEAR
yann@slpmedia.co.uk

The Lions go into this weekend’s clash with Coventry determined to ‘attack with freedom’ and prove there is no lasting damage to last week’s deflating loss at Sheffield United, according to the boss.

With no midweek game, Gary Rowett has had plenty of time to mull over the 2-0 defeat and prepare his troops for the Sky Blues, but said it would have been a mistake to read too much into the loss or try to change too much about the team’s approach.

Rowett said: “We’ve had a week to work, which is nice – it’s a luxury we don’t often get once the season gets underway.

“And the mood has been good. If I’m having to pick up players after two games, that would be a bit of a problem.

“It’s about recovering our standards and reminding the players we were not quite where we wanted to be last week.

“We want to get quickly back to normal, but it’s not about changing anything major.

“We haven’t focused on anything in particular in training and I wouldn’t want to give too much detail away about what we do in any case.

“But we are looking at work we do in possession and out of possession. Little bits we work on are about attacking with a bit more freedom and at ways of being more solid in defence.”

Rowett knows there is a ready-made excuse for last week, because of suspension to George Honeyman and injury to Tom Bradshaw and Zian Flemming which scuppered plans at Bramall Lane. But he does not want to use it.

Honeyman is back in the fold after he had to sit out last week’s match because of the red card picked up at Cambridge in the Carabao Cup exit.

But it will be a surprise if either of the injured duo feature, although both are said to be making decent progress with the physios.

“We missed the energy and workrate George and Tom provided on the opening day,” Rowett said.

“They were very integral to that first performance against Stoke, so of course we are going to miss them and it means we don’t have that strength in depth on the bench. It’s going to have an effect.

“I’m not saying it had anything to do with Sheffield United’s goals, but the chance of replicating what we did in the first game became harder.

“I don’t think we are the only team that will lose at Bramall Lane this season, either. We saw what they were capable of last season.

“If there is any lesson to take, it is that we have to find more consistency between home and away performances. Our fans give us an intensity at home that makes us play. Our challenge is to find a way of doing the same thing when we aren’t at home.”

Rowett has checked up on this weekend’s opponents, but he is more concerned about what his team can do, rather than what the Sky Blues might do at the Den.

“I have watched the one league game Coventry have played so far, but we’ve played against Mark Robins’ teams plenty of times and have a good idea of what they want to do,” said the Lions boss.

“At home, it’s up to us to make the running and try to control big parts of the game, regardless of what the opposition has done before.

“It is hard to talk about momentum after just two games and if you look at the league, one win followed by a defeat throughout the season would leave you in a healthy position.

“All we want is to perform better than we did last Saturday.”

Main photo: Gary Rowett Picture: PA