v Millwall (a) 14/8/21

[Admiral Nelsen]

I'm expecting improvement from Pickering, but I'm satisfied enough with what I've seen. Certainly an upgrade defensively, and let's not forget that last year was his first in L1. 

 

Very good point today, even if the performance wasn't good. After last year I'll take a few more days like today. 

[Exiled_Rover]

4 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

I hope that was just shithousery from Joe towards the end with the injury....

Tough game, really tough and was feeling pretty down till the goal as we weren't threatening. But what a goal it was, superb.

Really hope Ben is gonna 'do an armstrong', he sprang into life when dacky got injured and we need someone to do the same now Armo is gone.

Ayala I think makes a massive difference especially in a young team, another 90 will hopefully do him good.

Butty looked bright again when he came on, he needs a full half or even a start next game for me.

 

Nah if you watch the replay the Millwall player wraps his foot around Rothwell's ankle. 

Looks innocuous in real time, but could be a bad one. 

[Wood26]

On train home, dreadful first half and when they scored I thought it was over.

Could tell the players were fired up off the back of the supporters today cheering them on. Great header by Diaz.

Butterworth has impressed both games so far.

Please keep Ayala fit!

[Butty]

40 minutes ago, Gav said:

 

 

 

 

@Sparks Rover You were so quick to put your foot in your mouth I couldn't resists 😁 But I could have picked plenty more 👍

Great result today with a depleted squad, Diaz 2 in 2, who needs Armstrong?

A word for Mowbray, substitutions looked to have changed the game.

Onwards and upwards.

Who needs mercer when you’ve got us lads predicting the score. 😉 Wish I’d have chucked a few quid on it! 

[Stonesrick]

1 hour ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Early days but it appears Pickering is not looking great at left back.

He was much better today after a few dodgy games. Stood up well to their physical threat.

[West Yorks Rover]

7 minutes ago, Wood26 said:

On train home, dreadful first half and when they scored I thought it was over.

Could tell the players were fired up off the back of the supporters today cheering them on. Great header by Diaz.

Butterworth has impressed both games so far.

Please keep Ayala fit!

How many Rovers there ?

[Wood26]

2 minutes ago, West Yorks Rover said:

How many Rovers there ?

Top section seemed full. Don’t think we had anyone in lower tier

[JBiz]

Didn’t see any of the game - only the written commentary- had the pleasure of watching Stanley instead!

Made up for this lad though. A decent point!

[Ulrich]

Did we really line up like this?

[West Yorks Rover]

5 minutes ago, Wood26 said:

Top section seemed full. Don’t think we had anyone in lower tier

Not bad, we usually have a pretty decent turnout for the London games.

 

[den9112]

53 minutes ago, tonyoz said:

I thought bbd was poor except for his one moment of magic

I based my opinion on his overhaul performance from basically watching him all through the match (i tend to be a player watcher ) ,his movement ,his commitment and i actual believe he is potentially a Rovers captain. His running off the ball creating spaces his never seen sometimes from his fellow players and therefore can make him look like he doesn't know what he is doing , in my humble opinion. A much better all round player than he as been out to be previously .

[roversfan99]

A very difficult game today in which we picked up a perhaps undeserved in many ways but a welcome point with a battling display that throws up as many questions as answer

Ayala was absolutely superb, if only he could stay fit. Lenihan and when he came on Carter were also very impressive, all 3 very much in the same mould.

Pickering is a huge worry based on his opening displays for me, defensively he looks really weak and sluggish, and he hasn't shown signs of the attacking qualities that he made his name for, I feel that we need proper competition there. Nyambe was also rather shaky especially in the first half although he grew into the game a tad.

Travis looked like he really enjoyed the game and Rothwell grew into it. Buckley looked absolutely terrified however, a level of technical competence is meaningless if there are regular games in which he is totally unable to make the game about his strengths, hence why he is going to struggle to establish himself as a regular Championship player. It is not just about physical strength, it is about bravery and having the composure and intelligence to trust what you are good at, you can't not be considered for selective games because you cant hack the physicality. I also felt that Dolan seemed massively overawed and deserved to be hooked at half time.

Brereton had a strange game, for 70 minutes he was the Brereton we all know especially from his first 2 seasons, he was horrendous, couldnt stay on his feet, touch all over the place etc. That being said, the main thing we need from our forwards is goals and what a header that was, and he seemed to gain confidence from that. Gallagher was in the main ineffective, Butterworth was bright off the bench and Chapman was really poor in a strange role.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

1 hour ago, OldEwoodBlue said:

Davenport been good since coming on. Buckley was useless today. Too physical for him today. Chapman is crap. Nyambe poor today. Ayala MOM. Brereton really good second half.

Awful first half.

Enjoyable second half.

Fair result

I thought we were allowed only three subs - Butterworth, Chapman and Carter - when did Davenport come on ?

[JacknOry]

9 minutes ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

I thought we were allowed only three subs - Butterworth, Chapman and Carter - when did Davenport come on ?

He didnt

[davulsukur]

1 hour ago, Ossydave said:

I hope that was just shithousery from Joe towards the end with the injury....

Tough game, really tough and was feeling pretty down till the goal as we weren't threatening. But what a goal it was, superb.

Really hope Ben is gonna 'do an armstrong', he sprang into life when dacky got injured and we need someone to do the same now Armo is gone.

Ayala I think makes a massive difference especially in a young team, another 90 will hopefully do him good.

Butty looked bright again when he came on, he needs a full half or even a start next game for me.

 

Question now is, can we play him Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday? 

2 tough games coming up and we could really use him.

[Butty]

26 minutes ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

I thought we were allowed only three subs - Butterworth, Chapman and Carter - when did Davenport come on ?

I’m guessing he’s got Davenport confused with Butterworth. 

[yankfan]

1 hour ago, Roverthechimp said:

Davenport awesome performance considering he never came on 🤔😉 (it was Butterworth)

Ayala makes a difference but was caught out for the goal. Agree on Buckley and Chapman (today) and would put McBride on bench in future instead of Chapman.

Sometime you make a difference by cheering on your mates. 

[Ulrich]

1 hour ago, Meesh said:

No.

I cut that straight from the BBC site.

[yoda's brother]

20 minutes ago, yankfan said:

Sometime you make a difference by cheering on your mates. 

snide remark

 

[Gav]

3 minutes ago, yoda's brother said:

snide remark

 

Pearls of wisdom, can you offer anything on the game? Or is that you done?

Edited August 14, 2021 by Gav

[riverholmes]

Didn't see the game but being dominated by a side who finished mid-table last year sounds worrying. It looks like we returned to the "tried and tested" 4-3-3, with our tallest attackers, Gallagher and Brereton playing wide?

Edited August 14, 2021 by riverholmes

[joey_big_nose]

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

I thought he was good against Swansea but people need to give him time to settle in and get used to this level. But rather have him than Bell or Douglas, 

I think Mowbray over thinks the game far too much and last season he had far too options and he changes the team too much last season. 

With a smaller squad and few good additions(not all loans) we can stay up and get top half

I couldn't watch the match (French 4G on the TGV train down to Marseille couldn't deliver), so take what I say with a pinch of salt. But I watched pretty much every game last season and one thing we very rarely did was go to a back three. Even though we had  real problems against teams with a back three themselves we just huffed and puffed and usually ended up getting well beat by them.

That we do now have the option of changing our back line to matchup can only be a good thing.

As an aside - it looks like the capability to watch the full game back does not feature on whatever it is that has replaced ifollow which is a real shame. 

I'm moving up to Manchester from London in October so will be able to make quite a few games. But basically with Ifollow you could watch every game you missed in its entirety which was great, but now it seems if you miss the game you get 3 mins of highlights. Very crap.

[Torgeir]

10 minutes ago, riverholmes said:

Didn't see the game but being dominated by a side who finished mid-table last year sounds worrying. It looks like we returned to the "tried and tested" 4-3-3, with our tallest attackers, Gallagher and Brereton playing wide?

 

They won1-0 against us in the same fixture last season, and we've lost a lot of players since then.

Gallagher started on the right and Brereton on the left but they swapped and Brereton got more involved, while Gallagher won more headers on the left. 

Dolan looks out of his depth. Hard-working, and can lead a high pressing team in that sense, but offensively he lacks too many attributes to become a player for me.

Ayala and Travis were both excellent. Also good to see how fired up Brereton was after he scored, working tirelessly. Brimming with confidence, and I hope he can continue his development this season. 

 

The team looks up for it, and looks ready for a dogfight if needed each and every game. Vital that this young group get rewarded by points on the board early doors. Seems like the dressing room atmosphere is good, and if we can add a little quality to the squad then we have a chance against most teams.

[Ossydave]

9 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

 

They won1-0 against us in the same fixture last season, and we've lost a lot of players since then.

 

Pretty sure we beat them and Dack scored....

[rigger]

5 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

Pretty sure we beat them and Dack scored....

0-2 wasn't it ?