Blackburn Rovers boss happy to see players return
Blackburn Rovers manager Sam Allardyce today spoke of his delight at having several players back in action during their win over Football League Championship outfit Norwich City in the League Cup last night.
Allardyce masterminded a 3-1 for the English Premier League side over the lower league club. Blackburn’s goals all came from Senegal international striker Mame Biram Diouf — who is on a season-long loan from Manchester United and was making his first start —before Jens Berthel Askou netted a consolation in the 90th minute. The hat-trick wasn’t the only plus point for the manager though, as he was able to afford some valuable playing time to several players who had been out injured.
He told Radio Rovers that: "It was nice to have Vince (Grella) back and it was nice to have Pascal (Chimbonda) back on the field and Lars (Jacobsen) for game and match fitness particularly. Christopher Samba is catching up because he missed a lot of pre-season. At the younger end, Amine Linganzi and Junior Hoilett got a little run out too. We may have rested a lot of players, we made eight changes, but it was still a very strong, competitive, skilful team we put out."
As well as making the changes in personnel, Allardyce also tried placing Morten Gamst Pedersen — who is primarily known as a winger and attacking midfielder — in one of the striking berths. The manager said that: "A little try at Morten up the top again which worked very well indeed. So whilst Mame will grab the headlines, he has a lot to thank Morten for because of his movement, his final ball, his delivery was excellent and that is a nice alternative for me to see."
Overall, Allardyce was very pleased with a good night’s work and said that: "It was obviously a comfortable performance by the way we played."
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