Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray has admitted that Liverpool wonderkid Harvey Elliott apologised for the mistake that ‘cost’ his loan club against Reading, according to the team’s official site.
In the 23rd minute of the encounter, 17-year-old Elliott attempted to trick himself out of trouble as he scurried back towards his goal whilst pressured by Omar Richards.
The Bayern Munich-bound full-back dispossessed Elliott as he was in his own defensive third, before slotting the ball to George Puscas, who scored the defining goal of the Championship encounter.
Mowbray stated immediately after the 1-0 defeat that Harvey was ‘apologising’ to the entire team after his unfortunate ‘mistake’, which the Scotsman admitted ultimately ‘cost’ the Rovers on the night.
Mowbray then used the moment to reiterate just how impressive Elliott has been whilst on loan from the Reds this season, he’s scored five times and contributed nine assists in 25 Championship appearances.
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Here is what Mowbray had to say on the Elliott’s unfortunate moment immediately after:
“Harvey’s apologising to the team, but he’s been brilliant for us all season and things like that happen sometimes,”
“He got caught in a poor position and it cost us, but I won’t stand here and criticise him, he’s humble enough to acknowledge his mistake.”
“We’ll put that behind us and we’ll move on.”
Mowbray also defended the fine young attacker with some other comments, per Lancashire Live:
“I said to Harvey, of all that he’s brought to us this year it’s very difficult to criticise him, he’s been amazing for us.”
“Harvey’s really disappointed in there. He’s an amazing footballer. I saw a stat where he’d got the most assists of any teenager in all of Europe’s top five leagues.”
“I have to take that on the chin on days like today. I have asked him to be brave, to stay on the ball and play but it was really frustrating for us as it was out of context with the game, I felt.”
“We huffed and puffed, but we didn’t knock their door down in the end even though we had some half-decent opportunities. It wasn’t to be, so we’ll move on to the next one.”
This is the only blip on a stellar season for Elliott in the English second-tier, it was a moment to forget but considering the amount of games the ace has single-handedly – with all respect – won for Blackburn, it’s nothing that major in the grand scheme of things.