Midfielder Juninho Bacuna of Birmingham City has talked about the challenging time he and the team had to deal with manager Tony Mowbray’s absence.
The Curuacao international, who was the Blues’ best player in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to Southampton, has revealed that none of the other players had spoken with Mowbray directly since he withdrew from his duties due to illness. The only member of Blues’ first-team setup who has spoken to Mowbray since February 19 is assistant head coach Mark Venus, who has been handling routine managing responsibilities in the interim.
After his abrupt departure, Birmingham has an added motivation to make their manager proud, according to Bacuna, but he also acknowledges that it has been a difficult emotional journey. “It’s challenging, particularly in light of his current situation. However, I believe that everyone is giving it their all during practice and competition. We make every effort to help him, and ideally, he’ll return soon, stated Bacuna.
Without Mowbray, the Blues have faced two extremely difficult games, the most painful of which was a seven-goal thriller that was decided in the latter stages of stoppage time in the second half against Southampton. The other was a 3-1 loss away to Ipswich Town, who automatically qualified for promotion. The Sky Bet Championship relegation battle has intensified due to results elsewhere, with Blues now one goal differential above the basement.
Bacuna responded, “Yeah, definitely,” when asked if staying up will give Mowbray the lift he needs. We have to get back to winning games. The manager, the players, and the club all need it, in my opinion. We’ll exert every effort to win games and maintain our position in the league.”
Another question aimed to Bacuna concerned how it felt to go from 100 percent to zero with Mowbray so rapidly. He’s had conversations with Mark. Every player has his number if they wish to get in touch with him, the midfield player stated. We’re just giving him time to heal for now, but if someone wants to talk to him, they can. We let Mark handle everything, and we’ll talk to Mark and he’ll let us know if we need anything,” Bacuna said.
Birmingham will play seven to ten of the remaining 12 Championship games during the four to six weeks that Mowbray is anticipated to be out of the dugout. The crucial stretch starts on March 5 with a trip to Hull City and concludes on May 4 with a home match against Norwich City.
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