'MICK'S STYLE HAS MADE ME TOUGHER'

PEP Guardiola, it’s fair to assume, would not have sanctioned Morgan Rogers’ loan to Blackpool had Mick McCarthy been at the helm in January. Nor, if he’s entirely honest, would Rogers have been so eager to trek up the M61.

- Chris Dunlavy

On the day he arrived at Bloomfield Road, the 21-year-old attacker was looking forward to a reunion with Michael Appleton, his manager during a previous loan spell at Lincoln and an enthusiastic exponent of expansive football.

Appleton’s philosophy certainly curried favour with Guardiola. Sadly, it was equally popular with opposition forwards and a bleak run of one win in 11 matches proved fatal to the former Preston and West Brom midfielder.

Rogers played just 84 minutes before Appleton was dismissed on January 18, and within days found himself under the direction of a very different Michael with very different ideas.

“A bit unexpected,” is how Rogers describes his conversion from flamboyant winger to target man, yet he is far from unhappy about being forced to battle and brawl for Big Mick’s mortars.

On the one hand, it provided an on-the-job education in the sort of vocational skills often snubbed at the elite end of the game.

“It goes without saying that Mick had a completely different style which wasn’t necessarily suited to me,” explains Rogers, whose robust 6ft 4ins physique certainly suited McCarthy.

“I’ve always liked to get on the ball, operate from a bit deeper and try to make things happen. At Blackpool my job was to stay forward, hold it up and get the team up the pitch.

“It’s a different kind of role, and not one I’d probably choose. But you know what? I thoroughly enjoyed it. I learned so much about my game that I needed to improve.

“It wasn’t things like scoring goals and creating chances. It was more about the defensive side of the game, about competing and using my body - little things like that which can help you anywhere on the pitch.