Brentford v Rovers

[Exiled in Toronto]

Two other things stuck in my mind, if Armstrong had put that chance away to make it 3-0, I think it would have been enough, and I agree with Mowbray about no one closing down the shooter for their 2nd, we don’t have anyone who’ll take one in the bollocks to stop a shot.

[Mattyblue]

Just now, Paul Mellelieu said:

Eh? Big Sam saved us and then bored us to death.  A disaster occurred and we are a middling level two club.  

Bored you to death. 

Indeed it did and here we are.

[Paul Mellelieu]

Just now, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Oh dear, poor choice there matey.

Lager ahead of a Bordeaux red.  Phone an ambulance now mate.

[AAK]

2 minutes ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

Sam had a premiership squad.  I was harsh on Hughes - agreed - but he had money, John Williams and a decent squad.

Samba, Nelsen, McCarthy, Santa Cruz, Savage, Ooijer, Bentley and Zurab all signed for a combined, what? £15mil or so? Nothing short of fucking brilliant mate

[Paul Mellelieu]

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Bored you to death. 

Indeed it did and here we are.

Matty, I just don't understand you - literally.

[Paul Mellelieu]

Just now, AAK said:

Samba, Nelsen, McCarthy, Santa Cruz, Savage, Ooijer, Bentley and Zurab all signed for a combined, what? £15mil or so? Nothing short of fucking brilliant mate

I don't think you've read what you quoted.  

[Ewood Ace]

Just now, Paul Mellelieu said:

Sam had a premiership squad.  I was harsh on Hughes - agreed - but he had money, John Williams and a decent squad.

Sam inherited a team that was 19th after 17 games, the likes of Friedel and Bentley had gone, Santa Cruz had no interest and we were heading for relegation. Sam came in got us up to 15th by the end of the season and comfortably safe with a few games to spare and then the following season finished 10th and got to a cup Semi Final, if that's what you call awful then you clearly have very different expectations for Rovers than I do.

[AAK]

Just now, bluebruce said:

What people expect is to not be 2-0 up, capitulate, and lose 5-2.

To add to this, a one off okay, but we certainly don't expect similar every other fucking week.

[bluebruce]

8 minutes ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

I agree with that, especially as they were passing us to death once they’d recovered from the opening goal. Personally I think far too much is made of things like game management, sometimes the opposition are just better than you all over the park, as Brentford were today. We certainly aren’t capable yet of stuffing a team like they did us. 

We did it last week. 3-0 is the same margin as 5-2.

[Uddersfelt Blue]

Everyone gutted, particularly after being 2-0 up and lots of reasons why we lost but let’s not be too despondent. OK after beating Hull last week we all got a bit carried away but this result just shows that we aren’t quite ready for the top 6. 

Brentford are a decent team and quite capable of giving the the best in the league a tough match as they showed at Elland Rd earlier in the season.

Hopefully the injuries aren’t too bad and we can regroup before next week’s match. 

Edited February 2, 2019 by Uddersfelt Blue

[AAK]

Just now, Paul Mellelieu said:

I don't think you've read what you quoted.  

I'm pointing out what Hughes did, of which you've questioned, isn't that's relevant mate? I'm not arguing with you pal, just brings back some great memories for me mate

[Mattyblue]

Just now, Paul Mellelieu said:

Matty, I just don't understand you - literally.

Too much Bordeaux obviously.

 

[bluebruce]

Just now, AAK said:

To add to this, a one off okay, but we certainly don't expect similar every other fucking week.

Not a lot of fans of other clubs have to contend with, whenever they're two goals up, knowing that not even a point is in the bag yet.

I've never had that feeling supporting Rovers before. 

[AAK]

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Too much Bordeaux obviously.

 

You go down today, Matt? Sure you did mate. 

[Paul Mellelieu]

1 minute ago, Ewood Ace said:

Sam inherited a team that was 19th after 17 games, the likes of Friedel and Bentley had gone, Santa Cruz had no interest and we were heading for relegation. Sam came in got us up to 15th by the end of the season and comfortably safe with a few games to spare and then the following season finished 10th and got to a cup Semi Final, if that's what you call awful then you clearly have very different expectations for Rovers than I do.

I did.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, AAK said:

I'm pointing out what Hughes did, of which you've questioned, isn't that's relevant mate? I'm not arguing with you pal, just brings back some great memories for me mate

Whatever anyone says about Sparky's teams nobody ever said they lacked fighting spirit. Some Southern softies thought we had too much !

Edited February 2, 2019 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Paul Mellelieu]

Just now, AAK said:

I'm pointing out what Hughes did, of which you've questioned, isn't that's relevant mate? I'm not arguing with you pal, just brings back some great memories for me mate

I accepted I was harsh on Hughes.

[booth]

15 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

Nah I’m just here for the laugh.

Sorry if I’m upsetting you more or you feel like I’m winding you up by disagreeing and discussing what you say. 

I’ve been told off already because it’s making people’s fee fees hurt. I’ll perhaps log off.

 

Apologies again.

Back to the bongos.

You aren't, but questioning why I'm pissed off after a 5-2 defeat is fishing a bit isn't it?

Anyway no hard feelings, enjoy your evening.

Edited February 2, 2019 by booth

[AAK]

Just now, Paul Mellelieu said:

I accepted I was harsh on Hughes.

Fair enough pal.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

4 minutes ago, Ewood Ace said:

Sam inherited a team that was 19th after 17 games, the likes of Friedel and Bentley had gone, Santa Cruz had no interest and we were heading for relegation. Sam came in got us up to 15th by the end of the season and comfortably safe with a few games to spare and then the following season finished 10th and got to a cup Semi Final, if that's what you call awful then you clearly have very different expectations for Rovers than I do.

I expect there'll be a few at Everton who wanted Sam gone that are suffering from a bit of sellers remorse at the moment.

[Ewood Ace]

Just now, Paul Mellelieu said:

I did.

Where exactly should we have been then when Sam was here then if 10th in the Premier wasn't good enough for you? You do realise Sam wasn't managing in the early/Mid 90's? Anyway you got your wish Sam got the sack and what a resounding failure the club has been ever since then.

[Paul Mellelieu]

4 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Too much Bordeaux obviously.

 

Two glasses.  Maybe one more.

[Miller11]

I struggled with a couple of different streams today and missed big chunks of the game, but from what I did see...

Our 2 early goals came from putting crosses into the box - Something Brentford have struggled with over their last few games. They’ve conceded quite a few in this manner, and I thought we had it spot on. Dack and Graham linking up through the middle would have played into Kona’s hands, he’s a very good young defender (bought from Charlton is the summer for about 2.5 million) and key for them at the back, but looks far less comfortable dealing with deliveries from wide than when players run at him directly. I can’t really comment on whether we continued to do this between 25 mins in and half time due to the issues with the stream. I’m guessing we didn’t, but we should have been getting it out wide and knocking balls over at every opportunity. I’m convinced that it’s the best way for 80% of teams in the country to play, but that’s another discussion.

We have struggled when opposing teams have a decent ball player who sits deep. Evans and Smallwood both tend to sit deep too, and allow such players to dictate. Travis is more box to box and does some of that closing closer to their back four, but he’s also somewhat youthfully naive with some of his play. I haven’t seen that much of Sawyer’s since he signed for them, and in his Walsall days he played a lot higher up the pitch than he did today... but he was pulling the strings this afternoon and we couldn’t cope with it.

Raya’s rush of blood to the head was stupid. I’m a big fan of his, but he needs to work on the fundamentals of his game more and cut out these daft errors that are in all honesty becoming too frequent. This in itself is a worry as they should become less frequent with experience. We need to work on our shape and how he distributes the ball too. Far too often it comes straight back due to him rushing. Occasionally it works wonders and we catch a quick break, but we try it every time.

Nyambe should have started. I get the argument about sticking with a winning team, but playing someone out of position, who hasn’t excelled in there is needless, and I suspect down to Mowbray liking Bennett character more than his ability to do a job there. While there have been countless arguments lately about nurturing Brereton, Mowbray’s approach with one of our best young prospects is confusing. I’ve often heard how quiet and unassuming Nyambe is... maybe he needs to be less so, because he seems an easy target for Mowbray to drop to accomodate his favourites. Bennet was dire today. We were vulnerable down that side for the entirety of the game.

Brereton looked better when he came on today, which offers a bit of hope, however if we are missing Dack or Graham for any length of time our inaction in this window will come back to haunt us. Less said about the defence today the better, and after recent improvements I’m again left thinking we need a proper old fashioned centre half. Conceding 5 is a joke. We also need someone to issue the odd bollocking on the pitch when someone does something idiotic, rather than give them a silly handshake.

We are so inconsistent we can go from looking like world beaters to relegation candidates in the space of half an hour. These cheaply thrown away points are getting ludicrous now, and we’re it not for these capitulations of varying degrees we might be talking about automatic promotion, rather than hoping we can sneak the playoffs... which all of a sudden seems a lot further away than it did at lunch time.

[Ewood Ace]

Just now, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I expect there'll be a few at Everton who wanted Sam gone that are suffering from a bit of sellers remorse at the moment.

I was only saying that to an Everton supporting mate tonight.

[AAK]

4 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Whatever anyone says about Sparky's teams nobody ever said they lacked fighting spirit. Some Southern softies thought we had too much !

Oh eye, Toddy, Samba, The admiral, Sav, Dickov, Reidy, Bellamy and even our show boaters pedersen and Bentley would put themselves about at times. Hughes Defo managers out best ever team since winning the league, he got us within 4 points of the top 4 one season. Remarkable really.

Edited February 2, 2019 by AAK