Kim Hellberg gets emotional as he pays Middlesbrough striker Tommy Conway the ultimate compliment
Tommy Conway isn’t scoring goals but is providing Middlesbrough so much more
Tommy Conway of Middlesbrough(Image: Ryan Browne/Shutterstock)
Kim Hellberg says Tommy Conway’s name is one of the first on his Middlesbrough team sheet each week, as he explained how the striker epitomises why he fell in love with football.
Conway is dividing opinion right now, with the Boro striker struggling for goals. He’s hit the back of the net just three times so far this season, and not since August from open play.
On the other hand, the 23-year-old always works tirelessly for the team, with Hellberg describing his as a throwback football player in that regard. In Friday’s victory over West Brom, it was particularly noted that, despite his lack of goals, the number nine regularly drifted wide left.
Explaining the tactical thinking behind that, and offering a huge public showing of support for Conway, an emotional Hellberg said: “You can see a lot of fans and a lot of players, human beings, talking about individual things with footballers.
“It’s going from ‘this was not the players we liked when we were growing up’ whereas now it’s more thinking about themselves. Tommy’s the absolute opposite of that. He’s like going back in time and doing everything for the team.
“He’s a striker but because in the game I need him to play left, because we had Gilly in that position and Gilly’s I think better suited inside, which means that we switch after some minutes and I ask Tommy, ‘Can you do this for the team?’.
“He just goes and does it. He always does everything for the team. He’s like the reason why I fell in love with this sport. This is why you understand that you have chosen to play football because football is a team sport. You’re doing everything for the team.
“Some supporters, some human beings, can sometimes look at players in different leagues and say ‘What is this? You’re more concerned with yourself or what you want to do’. But he’s all for the team. And I think that is very, very important to understand.”
Paying Conway a huge compliment on team selection, Hellberg continued: “He’s actually the first or second name I put down on the team sheet because he’s brilliant for the team. He’s doing everything for the team.
“He hasn’t scored in a lot of games. You’re a striker so of course you want to score. Then the coach tells you, ‘now you have to play wide because you need to help your team-mates get into better positions,’ and he just does it and does it perfectly.
“You’re not playing tennis, you’re not playing for yourself, you’re playing for everyone else and I think he’s unbelievable. He’s very, very important and I could not be more proud of him.
“Of course he wants to score more. And that’s what makes it even more impressive, to keep doing it for the team when you feel like, ‘But I should score more.’ And he wants to do that.
“But then, to keep doing it for the team, keep being the happiest man when we score every time… I see his celebration after the goal – he was the happiest man on the pitch even if he didn’t score, but we scored.
“I think that is unbelievable and I think that is important to get that message through in a world where we’re talking about individual players, he’s the best team player you can have.”
As Conway drifted left a lot at West Brom to do a job for the team, Hellberg was asked if, in time, he did prefer to have the striker playing more centrally. He didn’t commit to it, but is certain goals will come regardless.
He said: “He’s everything I want in a player because he can play in different positions. He did some amazing defensive things, he had some amazing offensive things where he created opportunities, he ran in behind.
“He can play to the left, he can play central, he can drop deeper, he can link the play. He presses well and he’s good in the box too. He’s just, for the moment, going through a tough spell where the ball is not hitting the net. But it’s been inches, it’s been off the post. That is football.
“But when you keep doing what he’s doing, you know it’s going to come for him. What I like most about players is when they can do versatile things because then we can be unpredictable for the opposition.
“It’s difficult. He can sometimes move out to the left and we have two tens and we play without a nine. He can play a nine as he’s done sometimes central and we can have three up front.
“He gives me an opportunity to switch in the games, being able to adapt, to enable us to use the spaces. I think he’s brilliant. He’s a very good player to the left with that mobility because if you look at our games, he creates a lot of chances from coming in.
“I actually call him a little but Jack Grealish-ish when he moves to the left because he moves with the ball close to his foot, and it’s very difficult to take the ball. Then, it’s good passes in.
“He got an assist against Hull when he moved in from that space. There’s a lot of quality and I think he’s been unbelievable. It makes me emotional to see that type of player in a world where we’re talking about ‘It’s not like it was’ or ‘All those old players that always say it was better before when they were playing.’
“But it wasn’t. I’ve seen that football, it was not good, not always anyway. But that’s the thing, to get those types of players, it makes me very happy.”
Encouragingly for Boro, though Conway has struggled for goals, Boro have not in the main under Hellberg. But as well as Conway’s struggles, summer signings David Strelec and Kaly Sene have also struggled for goals too, with the duo both currently out injured.
But asked if that means the club might need to sign a striker this month, Hellberg said: “I think I’m the same as everyone – every coach wants to have as good a team as they ever can.
“But I’m more focused on doing what I can with those who are here and I think that’s one of my strengths and I’ve always been like that. That’s where I can put all my energy.
“I’m trying to do everything I can with the players I have. I’m trying to train them, I’m trying to work with them. Then, of course, we have discussions. But it’s not really up to me if we’re going to get more players in or not.
“My focus has to be on training those who are here. I think it’s actually unbelievable if you look at some of the players how they have grown from where they started.
“I think that’s a lot of credit to the players, but it’s also a lot of credit to Adi, Anes, and David [first-team coaches] that are doing a hell of a good job with the players. So yeah, let’s focus on those, that’s the main thing for me.”
———-
Here at TeessideLive, we are dedicated to bringing you the best Middlesbrough FC coverage and analysis.
Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest Boro news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe.
Your information will be hidden, you’ll only ever receive messages from the Teesside Live sports team, and you can leave any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose ‘Exit group’. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice .
You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.
