"That ain't gonna work mate" - Siriki Dembele's brutal confrontation with Tony Mowbray

Birmingham City manager Tony Mowbray has revealed a rather bizarre Siriki Dembele concern he had to rectify during his first few days in charge.

The winger may have put on an immense display on Saturday as Blues drew 2-2 with Swansea City, but it may not have been such a strong performance if it wasn't for a chat he had with Mowbray earlier in the week. The new manager revealed in his post-match press conference that he had to request Dembele for a meeting as the 27-year-old "didn't want to run" in 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," Mowbray described. "One of his first comments was that he’d like to conserve energy to damage the opposition. I said, ‘Well, that ain’t ‘gonna work mate. What, we have 10 men when we haven’t got it and then you come alive when we attack?’ I think he bought into it.

"He was a threat to them [Swansea] and he scored an amazing goal. I told him I once went all the way to watch him at Grimsby as a young man coming out of the Nike Academy. He's always been talented and somebody I've had an eye on. Now, here we are working together.

"Hopefully I can inspire him to enjoy hard work as well as lots of talent. He knows he's a good footballer, he's got the confidence on the ball, it's just whether I can coax him to get back, tackle and compete to win headers. If you want to play at the top level, you have to do all of it," Mowbray continued.

Although there was an effort problem initially, it appears Dembele has already responded to the new boss' worries as he did his defensive duties superbly at the weekend. His goal was excellent but Mowbray will care even more about the increased levels of desire on show.