Blackburn Rovers loanee Reda Khadra has hailed boss Tony Mowbray for the amount of freedom the 57-year-old has given him during his temporary spell at Ewood Park so far, speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph.
The 20-year-old joined on a season-long loan deal from Brighton and Hove Albion on deadline day after Blackburn were made to wait for his arrival, with the winger being due to sign on the dotted line earlier in August before a minor ankle injury forced him to return to the south coast for a period of rehabilitation.
However, their patience paid off after seeing him join in the final few hours of the previous transfer window, although he has only made five cameo appearances for the Lancashire side thus far and has failed to start a single game.
In fairness to him, the likes of Ben Brereton Diaz, Tyrhys Dolan and Sam Gallagher have kept him out of the starting lineup at Ewood Park, with all three impressing.
The former has been particularly impressive, scoring ten times in 11 second-tier matches so far this season and becoming the league's top scorer alongside Fulham's Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Although their performances have taken the burden off him to hit the ground running, after previously being tipped as Harvey Elliott's replacement, he will be desperate to make his first start for Rovers in the near future.
Khadra is still enjoying his time with the Championship side though - and has singled out manager Tony Mowbray for praise with his managerial style impressing the 20-year-old.
He said to the Lancashire Telegraph: "I like coaches like him (Mowbray) because he lets me do my thing, gives me freedom, but also gives me tips and tells me what I can do better.
"We are a young team, we want to play football and enjoy the moment.
"It’s very fun to play in such a team, a young team, but I feel we have a very strong team.
"I enjoy football, I want to have fun and want to show that on the pitch. I felt I did that well on my debut.
"I want to show the fans what I can do and hopefully do that more and more soon.
"Hopefully soon I will be starting."
The Verdict:
Is there a person more suited to a job in the EFL than Tony Mowbray is at Blackburn Rovers is right now?
Despite losing their last two games, Rovers' young squad have thrived for the most part under the 57-year-old this season and after developing the likes of Adam Armstrong and Harvey Elliott, Khadra will also be keen to learn from Mowbray.
The manager's decision to let his players express themselves could pay dividends towards the latter end of this campaign, even if this freedom could cause errors in the short term.
To be fair to the Blackburn manager, some of the younger players will benefit hugely if they can learn from these mistakes.
And the worse thing he could do at this early stage of Khadra's career is stifle his creativity, because that could prove to be detrimental not just for his loan spell at Ewood Park, but also for the long term.
This man management is why the Lancashire outfit started the season so strongly - and if Mowbray can get his side back on track in the next game against high-flyers Coventry City - this could set them on the right path to a very positive season.