Birmingham City boss Tony Mowbray has revealed a weird Siriki Dembele concern that he had to address during his first few days in command.
The winger may have put on a magnificent performance on Saturday as the Blues drew 2-2 with Swansea City, but it wouldn’t have been as powerful if he hadn’t spoken with Mowbray earlier in the week. In his post-match press conference, the new manager said that he had to request a meeting with Dembele because the 27-year-old “didn’t want to run” during training.
“I called him in for a one-on-one because I was a bit concerned during one of the early training sessions as he didn’t want to run,” he said. “One of his first remarks was that he wanted to preserve energy to harm the opposition. I answered, “Well, that’s not going to work, mate.” What? We have ten guys when we don’t have any, and you come alive when we attack? I believe he bought into it.
“He was a menace to Swansea, and he scored an incredible goal. I told him that as a young man fresh from the Nike Academy, I had traveled all the way to Grimsby to watch him play. He’s always been talented and someone I’ve kept an eye on. Now, we’re working together.
I hope I can motivate him to enjoy both hard work and a lot of talent. He knows he’s a fantastic footballer, and he’s confident on the ball; the question is whether I can convince him to come back, tackle, and compete for headers. If you want to play at the highest level, you must do it everything,” Mowbray added.
Although there was an early effort issue, Dembele appears to have quickly addressed the new manager’s concerns, as he performed admirably defensively over the weekend. His goal was terrific, but Mowbray will be more concerned about the improved levels of desire demonstrated.
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