[Archived] Rovers v Nobend

[Oldgregg86]

I criticise Lowe because he is a severely limited footballer who is overhyped and over paid for a man of his ability. I will say today I thought bennett should have got mom but Lowe was a close second. He did well today. Credit where it's due

[jim mk2]

28 minutes ago, preston blue said:

I said it as I saw it Jim.  What do you reckon (sorry I have not looked back at the thread)? 

He also did well at Fulham and put in immense and effective effort.   Six months ago I would have strung him up with Mademe Rao and OC, he is a different player under TM.

 

I thought he was our best player at Craven Cottage - trouble is, people have made up their minds about him and won't change.

[Bigdoggsteel]

11 minutes ago, Hasta said:

Offside

Was it? Didn't look it in the highlights. Was a bad angle though 

[mhead]

The Midfield Playmaker we have always wanted....has been in front of our eyes for years and would crawl back to Ewood.

Who can forget his pass thru to Stead when we beat Man Utd years ago.

He was only a sub today but was the 'controller' as soon as he came on.....Paul Gallagher.

He is one of our own...bring him back!

[Hasta]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

Was it? Didn't look it in the highlights. Was a bad angle though 

Didn't go today but that's what they said on Radio Rovers. They said it was tight but probably the right call.

[Mike Graham]

Just now, jim mk2 said:

 

I thought he was our best player at Craven Cottage - trouble is, people have made up their minds about him and won't change.

That's not like Rovers fans 

[bazza]

Just now, Oldgregg86 said:

I criticise Lowe because he is a severely limited footballer who is overhyped and over paid for a man of his ability. I will say today I thought bennett should have got mom but Lowe was a close second. He did well today. Credit where it's due

Bennett and Conway had very poor first halves. Except for the superb goal, Bennett was awful.

Second half they both improved.

Rovers fans always need one of their own players to be a scapegoat. In the past Hanley, Andrews, Wilcox, Jimmy Quinn.

I'm surprised Feeney is winning a few round. Lowe never will do. I feel sorry for the lad. 

As Jim Mk2 says, Lowe is playing better than most of his team mates at the moment.  Yes, Stuart, he is.

[darrenrover]

Looking at the up and coming fixtures, 2  points lost.

If we win at Reading then a point gained.

 

[Stuart]

Just now, bazza said:

As Jim Mk2 says, Lowe is playing better than most of his team mates at the moment.  Yes, Stuart, he is.

Well that's me told. In what way though, Bazza? Tackles? Assists? Goals? Passes? Skill?

He is simply a water carrier. That's it. All he does is run around and make himself available. Then plays the ball off to a teammate who is more capable of doing something with it.

If we had a better team he could be a really useful asset. But we need 11 footballers not 10 plus a runner. We also need a proper centre midfielder and a proper leader to be captain.

It's an insult to the rest of the team to say that he is better than most of them.  He made two tackles. I counted them. Good ones, granted, but two.

[bazza]

He does the same job as Savage did. Not as good as Savage I grant you but we need a player like him to do the grafting.

[Stuart]

Just now, bazza said:

He does the same job as Savage did. Not as good as Savage I grant you but we need a player like him to do the grafting.

Nothing like Sav, I'm afraid. In fact couldn't be more opposite. Robbie was in people's faces and didn't give them a minute's peace. Jason stands off, backs off and tries to slow players up. Very easy to get past.

We've had an awful season and lost most battles in the midfield. Yet, people keep pointing out that he's played every game like that's a good thing. It's hardly a great reference.

[Oldgregg86]

Bennett was phenomenal today. Weird how people watch the same game and see different things. It's a game of opinion I suppose. Bit off topic but does anyone know if greame le saux or Robbie savage ever captained rovers for at least one game

[garnersfags]

2 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

I think mowbray made the correct substitutions. We are just not used to finishing teams off ,we probably didn't know what to do in the situation of being a goal up and being told to attack. Under coyle it was park the bus as soon as we scored,could be 10 min into the game!

Gallagher and Mahoney are young. They will learn. 

I think the exact opposite. We were comfortably in control before Mahoney came on. His and Gallachers performances contributed significantly to the defeat (yes, it still feels like one).

We needed everyone to have at least a reasonable individual performance to control the game and to defeat a well organised play-off chasing side, which was happening before the subs.

We really couldn't afford to drop the quality level and stay in control so we conceded possession and failed to defend from front to back, neither Joao nor Gallacher were able to hold the ball up a single time in the last 15 minutes, and Gallacher and Mahoney gave the ball away, failed to take relatively simple chances, conceded naive, needless fouls in dangerous areas, and showed a total lack of ability to control/shield/pass the ball in the way their team-mates had done for 65 minutes.

The responsibility for this lies firmly with Mowbray. Both substitutions were, in my view, a risk and should have been made 10 minutes later. We had continually stretched Preston through intelligent possession and passing until the moment Bennett was withdrawn, and from that moment on we did not have a single minute of possession and were limited to the odd breakaway resulting in absolutely zero threat.

It was a risk, a naive risk which wasn't worth taking. It returned Joao to looking like a talentless trier, which we we have all seen, given the right support, he is anything but. 

Mowbray had 10 minutes to see that the Mahoney switch had backfired but he still decided to bring on Gallacher, who in my opinion directly contributed to the gut-wrenching finale.

Grayson couldn't believe his luck that Mowbray gifted Preston the tactical change which he had been unable to produce himself. 

We gave them the territorial advantage and 70% possession that allowed (the real...) Gallacher the freedom to run the game for the last 10 minutes and pick the (admittedly quality) pass to finally unlock our still leaky defence.

I don't accept that Bennett and Emnes were on their last legs and I don't agree with Mowbray and bigdoggsteel that Gallacher and Mahoney were likely to perform as well or better than either of them.

The game management improvement is needed by Mowbray, not just the players. He now knows we need to bring experience off the bench, not naivety. Feeney for Bennett would have worked if he was 100% sure that Bennett couldn't last 10 more minutes. Then possibly another sub in the last 5 minutes to shore up the defence.

Yes, I know hindsight is wonderful but we hardly touched the ball in the last 15 after looking threatening for the previous hour, Preston were handed the point on a silver f***ing platter. 

'That's why you're going down' was ringing in my ears all the way home, and I could only feel that Mowbray had surrendered......that's how low me, and I'm sure many others, were feeling for at least a couple of hours.

I'm glad a few voices of reason on here have reminded us about the general quality of the performance and of our still reasonable chances of staying up but I worry about Mowbray's decision making after today. I hope he proves me wrong and continues to get the extra 20% out of the squad that he has done since his arrival.

I'm still hurt by the result (as you can clearly see from the rant...), mainly because it was so clearly preventable....

 

[Bigdoggsteel]

Neil Mellor tweeted that rovers aren't playing like a team fighting relegation and he tipped us to stay up.  

We are definitely the form team. I would love if we had forest or Bristol next and would be very confident. Hopefully these two upcoming speed bumps don't knock us back. I don't think they will though. We need to beat those two. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, garnersfags said:

I think the exact opposite. We were comfortably in control before Mahoney came on. His and Gallachers performances contributed significantly to the defeat (yes, it still feels like one).

We needed everyone to have at least a reasonable individual performance to control the game and to defeat a well organised play-off chasing side, which was happening before the subs.

We really couldn't afford to drop the quality level and stay in control so we conceded possession and failed to defend from front to back, neither Joao nor Gallacher were able to hold the ball up a single time in the last 15 minutes, and Gallacher and Mahoney gave the ball away, failed to take relatively simple chances, conceded naive, needless fouls in dangerous areas, and showed a total lack of ability to control/shield/pass the ball in the way their team-mates had done for 65 minutes.

The responsibility for this lies firmly with Mowbray. Both substitutions were, in my view, a risk and should have been made 10 minutes later. We had continually stretched Preston through intelligent possession and passing until the moment Bennett was withdrawn, and from that moment on we did not have a single minute of possession and were limited to the odd breakaway resulting in absolutely zero threat.

It was a risk, a naive risk which wasn't worth taking. It returned Joao to looking like a talentless trier, which we we have all seen, given the right support, he is anything but. 

Mowbray had 10 minutes to see that the Mahoney switch had backfired but he still decided to bring on Gallacher, who in my opinion directly contributed to the gut-wrenching finale.

Grayson couldn't believe his luck that Mowbray gifted Preston the tactical change which he had been unable to produce himself. 

We gave them the territorial advantage and 70% possession that allowed Gallacher the freedom to run the game for the last 10 minutes and pick the (admittedly quality) pass to finally unlock our still leaky defence.

I don't accept that Bennett and Emnes were on their last legs and I don't agree with Mowbray and bigdoggsteel that Gallacher and Mahoney were likely to perform as well or better than either of them.

The game management improvement is needed by Mowbray, not just the players. He now knows we need to bring experience off the bench, not naivety. Feeney for Bennett would have worked if he was 100% sure that Bennett couldn't last 10 more minutes. Then possibly another sub in the last 5 minutes to shore up the defence.

Yes, I know hindsight is wonderful but we hardly touched the ball in the last 15 after looking threatening for the previous hour, Preston were handed the point on a silver f***ing platter. 

'That's why you're going down' was ringing in my ears all the way home, and I could only feel that Mowbray had surrendered......that's how low me, and I'm sure many others, were feeling for at least a couple of hours.

I'm glad a few voices of reason on here have reminded us about the general quality of the performance and of our still reasonable chances of staying up but I worry about Mowbray's decision making after today. I hope he proves me wrong and continues to get the extra 20% out of the squad that he has done since his arrival.

I'm still hurt by the result (as you can clearly see from the rant...), mainly because it was so clearly preventable....

 

Great post. Some very interesting insights on the game. Sounds like inexperience under pressure hurt us today. Mowbray is still learning about this team and it's characters. Today was a Derby game with a lot at stake for both clubs. A different experience for the younger players. 

We have a decent squad. If Mowbray keeps utilising it as he has been up to today,we will stay up.

 

 

[Tom]

I thought Lowe was decent today but in no way would I use immense or outstanding to describe him.

His mistake in the first half was borderline unforgivable, ball going down the left hand side he could play it out or back to the keeper and instead decided to hook it over his head in a perfect through ball for them, that should have been 2-0 and game over. His shooting was shocking as well.

Thought he came into his own later on when his energy levels shone through and did some closing down that really Gallagher should have done. Really a game of two halves for him, very poor first half very good second.

[darrenrover]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

Great post. Some very interesting insights on the game. Sounds like inexperience under pressure hurt us today. Mowbray is still learning about this team and it's characters. Today was a Derby game with a lot at stake for both clubs. A different experience for the younger players. 

We have a decent squad. If Mowbray keeps utilising it as he has been up to today,we will stay up.

 

 

 

agreed, up to the last 10 today, that cost us 2 points.

[Colt Seavers]

Brilliant post by garnersfags above. I feel your pain! The time Mowbray now has with the players before the next match is crucial. He will be bitterly upset with his subs today. He wanted to take pressure from the defence by getting his young fresh subs to run at Preston and stretch the game but both of them showed incredible naviety. This wasn't a game for them but it's easy to be wise after the event. In similar circumstances, Coyle would bring Wes Brown on which invites pressure on the defence. There are fine margins at play here. Mowbray is learning about his players. 

Much has been written above so I won't rehash it but I wondered if any of you noticed the way we defended corners? We adopted a mix of zonal and man to man marking with Steele actually picking up a striker himself! Made me really nervous!

I thought Joao was great today and I kept commenting how he played the Danny Graham hold up role so well. His movement and footwork is superb and it looked as though he and Emnes enjoyed playing together. 

One other thought: Although Lenihan has given everything at centre half, and looks better and better there, it should be remembered that he is a very young lad and has been filling in from his preferred midfield position due to a chronic lack of centre halves. This seems to have been overlooked in the regime change and, personally, I would like to see Hoban and Mulgrew there for a few games to see how two seasoned defenders work together. We haven't had that all season and consequently we are conceding too many. 

My line up next time would be:

                  Raya

Nyambe Hoban Mulgrew Williams

Bennett Evans Guthrie Conway

             Joao    Emnes

 

This team has a good blend of youth, experience and skill. I can't even begin to list the reasons that we need to have a look at a starting eleven minus Steele and Lowe!

[only2garners]

1 hour ago, Tom said:

I thought Lowe was decent today but in no way would I use immense or outstanding to describe him.

His mistake in the first half was borderline unforgivable, ball going down the left hand side he could play it out or back to the keeper and instead decided to hook it over his head in a perfect through ball for them, that should have been 2-0 and game over. His shooting was shocking as well.

Thought he came into his own later on when his energy levels shone through and did some closing down that really Gallagher should have done. Really a game of two halves for him, very poor first half very good second.

That pass was very poor Tom, but Mulgrew's mistake was worse just a bit later. Funny how no one has remembered that one. Guess who bailed Mulgrew out.......

[Tom]

Just now, only2garners said:

That pass was very poor Tom, but Mulgrew's mistake was worse just a bit later. Funny how no one has remembered that one. Guess who bailed Mulgrew out.......

I mentioned that on here during the game and was a good example of what Lowe does best. If it's the one I am thinking of it was bizarre from Mulgrew and not like him but Lowe read it very well and got it out for a corner.

We were all over the place at that point - maybe the point wasn't too bad overall 

 

[duggy9197]

2 hours ago, darrenrover said:

Looking at the up and coming fixtures, 2  points lost.

If we win at Reading then a point gained.

 

oh youve forgotten how bad Brighton are atm,i reckon we can get a positive result there,did forest not thump them a few weeks back,they have lost 3 in a short space of time.

[rossyrover]

After Preston slip up we need to get a result at Brighton and Reading  just wish Gallagher had kept the ball in the corner.

[MarkBRFC]

Mowbray's subs cost us yesterday.

It was clear after 2 minutes of coming on that Mahoney was leaving Nyambe totally exposed on the right. When Feeney come on him and Conner should have switched wings, we looked totally unbalenced I spotted it why couldn't Tony?

Hopefully just a one off and we can pick up a unexpected point or two in the next couple of games before that really crucial easter fortnight.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Personally thought that today was Lowe's best game for Rovers. I still can't see why Bennett was taken off. I'd have moved him inside and told him to track Gallacher. 

I know we gave Gallacher the freedom of Ewood again but you have to give him credit for the vision and the skill for the pass for the equalisier. If only we had someone with that playing for Rovers.

[Mike Graham]

8 hours ago, garnersfags said:

I think the exact opposite. We were comfortably in control before Mahoney came on. His and Gallachers performances contributed significantly to the defeat (yes, it still feels like one).

We needed everyone to have at least a reasonable individual performance to control the game and to defeat a well organised play-off chasing side, which was happening before the subs.

We really couldn't afford to drop the quality level and stay in control so we conceded possession and failed to defend from front to back, neither Joao nor Gallacher were able to hold the ball up a single time in the last 15 minutes, and Gallacher and Mahoney gave the ball away, failed to take relatively simple chances, conceded naive, needless fouls in dangerous areas, and showed a total lack of ability to control/shield/pass the ball in the way their team-mates had done for 65 minutes.

The responsibility for this lies firmly with Mowbray. Both substitutions were, in my view, a risk and should have been made 10 minutes later. We had continually stretched Preston through intelligent possession and passing until the moment Bennett was withdrawn, and from that moment on we did not have a single minute of possession and were limited to the odd breakaway resulting in absolutely zero threat.

It was a risk, a naive risk which wasn't worth taking. It returned Joao to looking like a talentless trier, which we we have all seen, given the right support, he is anything but. 

Mowbray had 10 minutes to see that the Mahoney switch had backfired but he still decided to bring on Gallacher, who in my opinion directly contributed to the gut-wrenching finale.

Grayson couldn't believe his luck that Mowbray gifted Preston the tactical change which he had been unable to produce himself. 

We gave them the territorial advantage and 70% possession that allowed (the real...) Gallacher the freedom to run the game for the last 10 minutes and pick the (admittedly quality) pass to finally unlock our still leaky defence.

I don't accept that Bennett and Emnes were on their last legs and I don't agree with Mowbray and bigdoggsteel that Gallacher and Mahoney were likely to perform as well or better than either of them.

The game management improvement is needed by Mowbray, not just the players. He now knows we need to bring experience off the bench, not naivety. Feeney for Bennett would have worked if he was 100% sure that Bennett couldn't last 10 more minutes. Then possibly another sub in the last 5 minutes to shore up the defence.

Yes, I know hindsight is wonderful but we hardly touched the ball in the last 15 after looking threatening for the previous hour, Preston were handed the point on a silver f***ing platter. 

'That's why you're going down' was ringing in my ears all the way home, and I could only feel that Mowbray had surrendered......that's how low me, and I'm sure many others, were feeling for at least a couple of hours.

I'm glad a few voices of reason on here have reminded us about the general quality of the performance and of our still reasonable chances of staying up but I worry about Mowbray's decision making after today. I hope he proves me wrong and continues to get the extra 20% out of the squad that he has done since his arrival.

I'm still hurt by the result (as you can clearly see from the rant...), mainly because it was so clearly preventable....

 

I agree the subs did not work.  I could see the intention but they just did not work, they killed the momentum we had at the time and gave the game back to PNE.

I also felt cheated but then I look back and see how TM has given us a fighting chance of staying up.  Under OC we would probably have been down and out by now.  The players have self belief and fight in them - these are words I did not expect to say this season.

COYB