v Birmingham City (h) 22/10/2022

[rigger]

13 minutes ago, BRFC4EVA said:

Rigger you keep saying this every time his name is mentioned on here. Don't get me wrong I understand that you watch the U21s so I respect your opinion; but Markanday seems to get an assist and goal every U21 game he plays as well as often testing the goalie and setting up chances for others..

Every game I have seen Markanday play he has been extremely poor for 99% of the game, then hits a stunner in the 1%. He loses the ball too easily when he is playing on the wing. His best position may be through the middle, up front. Take from this what you want, but I would say Markanday is just slightly better than Hirst, at the moment, and that is a low bar.

Edited October 23, 2022 by rigger

[Miller11]

Markanday’s situation isn’t all that surprising considering Mowbray’s obsession with stockpiling wide forwards. In recent games the position has become redundant, but if we were playing a front 3 you’d have Gallagher, Hedges and Dolan all way ahead of Markanday in his favoured position.

Hedges is fast becoming a key player and can be used effectively as a wing back, Gallagher seems to be thriving playing in a front two (to the surprise of very few), and Dolan is obviously seen as someone who can be relied upon to bring a bit of energy and do a lot of closing down late on in games.

The U21s is the right place for Markanday at present while we figure out how he can contribute to the first team. At present there’s no obvious role for him.

[Hasta]

3 hours ago, arbitro said:

One aspect I would criticise Tomasson for is at defensive corners when he has everyone back in our penalty area. I understand the likes of Gallagher and Brereton being there but when they went off we had Dolan picking up a Brum player. Surely he would have been more useful higher up the pitch occupying a couple of defenders and giving us a real chance to counter or at least an outlet to hold the ball up whilst we get further up the pitch.

To be fair its nothing new. We did this under Mowbray as well. It's frustrating because, as you say, Dolan is just another body in the box for the sake of it.

[arbitro]

37 minutes ago, Hasta said:

To be fair its nothing new. We did this under Mowbray as well. It's frustrating because, as you say, Dolan is just another body in the box for the sake of it.

And it used to irk me just as much when Mowbray did it too 😁😁.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, Hasta said:

To be fair its nothing new. We did this under Mowbray as well. It's frustrating because, as you say, Dolan is just another body in the box for the sake of it.

In my experience the only thing that having non tackling forwards around our own penalty box leads to is penalties for the opposition with poorly timed attempts at defending.

Get one on the half way line at least.

[chaddyrovers]

4 hours ago, MarkBRFC said:

Any word on why Brittain wasn't in the matchday squad yesterday?

Injured. Pick up a knock in the Sunderland and Szmodics didn't play due to neck roblem

4 hours ago, J*B said:

I’ve just given my first ever 10/10 for Kaminski: https://www.brfcs.com/magazine/football/match/880911/blackburn-birmingham?tab=voting

same here

4 hours ago, Crozzy said:

I also feel Gallaghers consistency has gone up lately. He’s starting to play well in more games rather than now and then. Deffo looks a lot better when he’s central (which we all knew😂)

Nice to see him playing with confidence, his work rate is phenomenal, let’s hope his confidence keeps growing 

Gallagher looked like he had a point to prove yesterday against his former team, but he was very good yesterday and only second compare to Kaminski 10 out of 10 showing. 

2 hours ago, Miller11 said:

Markanday’s situation isn’t all that surprising considering Mowbray’s obsession with stockpiling wide forwards. In recent games the position has become redundant, but if we were playing a front 3 you’d have Gallagher, Hedges and Dolan all way ahead of Markanday in his favoured position.

Hedges is fast becoming a key player and can be used effectively as a wing back, Gallagher seems to be thriving playing in a front two (to the surprise of very few), and Dolan is obviously seen as someone who can be relied upon to bring a bit of energy and do a lot of closing down late on in games.

The U21s is the right place for Markanday at present while we figure out how he can contribute to the first team. At present there’s no obvious role for him.

exactly my view Miller there. Markanday is behind 3 players for the right-side attacking player if we play one but currently, he is about 7th choice for the striker position

[RoversTilliDie]

Another great result for Rovers, a solid all round performance from Rovers, who were under immense pressure from Birmingham towards the end. Great goal from Adam Wharton which turned out to be the winner and big Sam back on the score sheet. Last season if BBD didnt find the net we lost a lot of games. This season their coming from a few players. And now to the man of the match, Thomas Kaminski. He made 2 or 3 world class saves that had the Blackburn end on their feet chanting his name.

Edited October 23, 2022 by RoversTilliDie

[had.e.nuff]

8 hours ago, arbitro said:

One aspect I would criticise Tomasson for is at defensive corners when he has everyone back in our penalty area. I understand the likes of Gallagher and Brereton being there but when they went off we had Dolan picking up a Brum player. Surely he would have been more useful higher up the pitch occupying a couple of defenders and giving us a real chance to counter or at least an outlet to hold the ball up whilst we get further up the pitch.

I can never understand not putting Dolan on the half way line at corners especially yesterday when the keeper came up that way he marks 2 players outside the box and give you an out ball .

[had.e.nuff]

not sure who writes the rovers web site but i wonder if they actually watch the games i am sure that Carter started the game and Phillips replaced hedges

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2022/october/23/injury-update--ryan-hedges--callum-brittain-and-sam-szmodics/

[R0verb0y]

7 hours ago, Crozzy said:

I also feel Gallaghers consistency has gone up lately. He’s starting to play well in more games rather than now and then. Deffo looks a lot better when he’s central (which we all knew😂)

Nice to see him playing with confidence, his work rate is phenomenal, let’s hope his confidence keeps growing 

Yes; he looked like a happy footballer yesterday. And if he's enjoying his job, his manager will get more out of him.

[joey_big_nose]

10 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Modern football - I don’t understand it. What help is Dolan going to be in our box ? 

Just to play devil's advocate I think he has actually made a goal line clearance for us this season once, can't think which game though?

[roversfan99]

Very pleasing result from what was a sub par performance really, our performance level has been poor all season but it is all about results so another win chalked up.

Kaminski won us the game with a superb performance. We struggled to deal with aeriel balls and Scott Wharton again was shaky. Travis was more like his usual self and Wharton and Morton again impressed, especially the former. Brereton really looks tired, Gallagher was good and scored a typical strikers goal.

A worry would be our strength in depth, both strikers were out on their feet but Dolan and especially Vale are such a drop off in quality, I cannot possibly believe that Dack or Markanday should be behind those, and it also says a lot about Hirst who we only just signed that he is not seen as worthy of a place in the squad. I also am not convinced about Garrett, I felt like his man of the match award midweek was more because it was his debut and he seems very limited on the ball, for all of the blood and thunder tackling,

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

52 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Just to play devil's advocate I think he has actually made a goal line clearance for us this season once, can't think which game though?

Yes I think he did.

[Atko's Engine]

Missed the match as am on holiday. Chuffed with the result, this was always likely to be a tough match given the form Brum have been in.

Sounds like it was v similar to the Sunderland game, with a bit more squeaky bum time involved as Brum were better up front than Sunderland. 

2-0 is a bit of an Achilles heal for us, probably cos teams think "sod it, might as well go gung ho to get back into the game & risk losing 3-0".  Certainly against Sunderland we should've got a 3rd on the break, it seems we were less likely yesterday though.

Am pleased for TK, he really is a fine 'keeper at this level and he seems to really feel part of things here. Good, successful teams have good, match winning goalkeepers, end of.

Back 3 seemed solid again, save for Hyam being off balance for the goal. 

Adam Wharton looks like a real bonus, I know there was some noise around him last season when Scott came into the team (iirc Scott said he's not even the best player in his family) but I didn't expect anything as smooth & pleasing on the eye as he is.

BBD sounded knackered, but I'm not surprised given the shift he put in on Tuesday. Hopefully he benefits from a free week as we approach the 5 match run to the WC.

I'm well chuffed for Gally. I've been a staunch defender of his over the last 2-3 seasons when despite being played wrong, he's been heavily dissed by a large section of our fanbase. Used correctly, and given service, when fully fit he is a proper handful for defenders & has a good goalscoring instinct, as well as a super shot. He's definitely a 15-20 goal a season man if played properly. 

Joint top going into November is unbelievable, when the team is so young & still finding its feet. There's a huge task to stay there but if we can get to the WC, rest a month & work on shapes & tactics, then strengthen in January I don't see why we can't maintain at least a playoff spot. This time last season we were just recovering from a 0-7 reverse; how times have changed, and long may it continue.

Edited October 23, 2022 by Atko's Engine

[garnersfags]

So, thoughts on yesterday. 

I agree Gally had one of his better games, although feel like he was able to move up a gear as it was his former club, which might answer why he often drops below that level. 

Looking back at the 1st half comments, Travis received some criticism, but after saying earlier that I was worried about his passing ability unless he plays alongside Wharton and Morton, I was happy that he was back to breaking up attacks and passing it simple, which in the main he did well. 

We have not been solid at the back all season, which includes our midfield defensive contribution. When teams like Sunderland and Brum take control, Morton and Wharton can go missing, and our defence isn't able to calmly and clinically mop us, as we were doing at this time last season, although van Hecke was a big reason for that defensive stability. 

If we can score twice, it seems to be enough to win, however much we are overrun in the 2nd half. 

If we can add defensive stability I predict we will be promoted, but as I always say, that's a very big 'if'. 

We are getting away with playing our academy starlets more than other teams do, and this will only improve the squad strength.

Kaminsky's performance reminds us that we need to sign a decent back-up keeper in Jan.

Finally, I hope The club starts to do a better job of advertising the much reduced ticket prices for the next home game. I couldn't find details anywhere. 

If everyone knows about this by this week, we could have close to 20000 on. A good initiative. 

Edited October 23, 2022 by garnersfags

[chaddyrovers]

 

 

[chaddyrovers]

2 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Very pleasing result from what was a sub par performance really, our performance level has been poor all season but it is all about results so another win chalked up.

Sub Par performance? really? 

Our performances levels have been poor all season? I am astonished by that comment. if our performances were so poor why are we second in the league right now then?

2 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

 

A worry would be our strength in depth, both strikers were out on their feet but Dolan and especially Vale are such a drop off in quality, I cannot possibly believe that Dack or Markanday should be behind those, and it also says a lot about Hirst who we only just signed that he is not seen as worthy of a place in the squad.

Maybe Markanday and Dack aren't in the squad cos they aren't strikers and we aren't playing a formation that suits either of them now . Hirst and Vale are strikers and Dolan can play the forward role and have impact on the pitch. 

2 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

I also am not convinced about Garrett, I felt like his man of the match award midweek was more because it was his debut and he seems very limited on the ball, for all of the blood and thunder tackling,

He was quality on Tuesday. making tackles, pressing the ball at the right times. He can pass ball as he shown with switch of play. 

Yesterday he played a different role but he did fine in that role. 

 

[arbitro]

Some different angles of Adam's goal on Saturday. I didn't appreciate how good the drop of the shoulder and little shimmy were at the time.

 

[DuffsLeftPeg]

42 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Some different angles of Adam's goal on Saturday. I didn't appreciate how good the drop of the shoulder and little shimmy were at the time.

 

The shift to the side  and strike into the opposite corner is straight out of the coaching manual…the keepers weight shifts onto the opposite foot before the shot comes in making it very difficult to save.

The defending is very poor, showing him onto his stronger foot but AW took full advantage. He was also involved in the build up too so it’s a great goal all round 👍🏻

[arbitro]

7 minutes ago, DuffsLeftPeg said:

The shift to the side  and strike into the opposite corner is straight out of the coaching manual…the keepers weight shifts onto the opposite foot before the shot comes in making it very difficult to save.

The defending is very poor, showing him onto his stronger foot but AW took full advantage. He was also involved in the build up too so it’s a great goal all round 👍🏻

I really believe it's a natural trait as he swivels his hips and drops his shoulder. His ungainly running style probably helps him in this respect as I think opponents just don't know which way he is going. So reminiscent of Damien Duff in my view.

[Dreams of 1995]

One thing I am enjoying is seeing our academy lads step in and play well 

Some may call them limited, I call them integral to a team now sat in 2nd in the Championship 

You can’t win with kids is the famous phrase, but JDT is showing why that is nonsense 

Carter, the Wharton’s, Dolan, Morton and now Garrett and in parts Phillips are all showing that if you are good enough you are old enough 

Yes they have improvements they can all make, as can any young man, but football is a game where people only get better - to a point - and the future is bright for our bunch of “kids” 

Vale needs to start contributing more in his cameos or we need to try another. It’s being proven that if you give them a shot they will take it or not

[joey_big_nose]

I think we are doing superbly. That said we still have one big issue to figure out - how do we push the back line up? We are way way way too deep. I know part of this is tactical, to allow us a lot of space to break into, but also I think having the backline across the 18 yard box for 75% of the game is not intentional... it suggests we are not confident enough in our ability to use pace to recover if the opposition break through a higher defensive line.

System is good, personnel good, but we need to figure out how to get our starting point 20 yards further up the pitch. This is an area where the loss of the pace of Lenihan and Nyambe is an issue.  Ayala is known to be very slow, but I think Hyam and Carter look okay pace wise, we shouldn't really need to be that deep?

Looking forward to improving in this area over the next few games.

[rigger]

23 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I think we are doing superbly. That said we still have one big issue to figure out - how do we push the back line up? We are way way way too deep. I know part of this is tactical, to allow us a lot of space to break into, but also I think having the backline across the 18 yard box for 75% of the game is not intentional... it suggests we are not confident enough in our ability to use pace to recover if the opposition break through a higher defensive line.

System is good, personnel good, but we need to figure out how to get our starting point 20 yards further up the pitch. This is an area where the loss of the pace of Lenihan and Nyambe is an issue.  Ayala is known to be very slow, but I think Hyam and Carter look okay pace wise, we shouldn't really need to be that deep?

Looking forward to improving in this area over the next few games.

If we push the backline further up, the opposition are not going to target our faster players, they are going to go for the slowest players. On Saturday even our faster defenders were beaten for pace, but a deep defensive line allowed us to force the attackers wide. Which is far less dangerous than an attacker coming through the middle at pace.

[roversfan99]

13 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Sub Par performance? really? 

Our performances levels have been poor all season? I am astonished by that comment. if our performances were so poor why are we second in the league right now then?

Maybe Markanday and Dack aren't in the squad cos they aren't strikers and we aren't playing a formation that suits either of them now . Hirst and Vale are strikers and Dolan can play the forward role and have impact on the pitch. 

He was quality on Tuesday. making tackles, pressing the ball at the right times. He can pass ball as he shown with switch of play. 

Yesterday he played a different role but he did fine in that role. 

 

Yeah the performance wasn't particularly good and we clung on, being very reliant on Kaminski to save us. I think the general performance level all season has not been particularly high, we have often been dominated and the style he mentioned in the summer hasn't really materialised, we have clung on well a few times and scored some very good goals rather than goals as a result of consistently attacking.

As it happens, it was another good result and football is a results industry so I went home happy, as I am with our current league position.

You are discounting my point about the quality of these players. I don't think Hirst or Vale in particular look good enough, whether they are strikers or not. Dolan more often than not flatters to deceive. With a lead, the likes of Dack and Markanday would be less likely to be needed, but if we need a goal, I would have not fancied our subs bench to have got one. We have failed to overturn a deficit this season and that has been with Dack getting a couple of minutes at the end and with Markanday not featuring, so it is an area of weakness as it stands.

[chaddyrovers]

9 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Yeah the performance wasn't particularly good and we clung on, being very reliant on Kaminski to save us. I think the general performance level all season has not been particularly high, we have often been dominated and the style he mentioned in the summer hasn't really materialised, we have clung on well a few times and scored some very good goals rather than goals as a result of consistently attacking.

Kaminski was in great form on Saturday, but the team keep fighting and it was only a mistake from Hyam that Birmingham scored from. 

We have to disagree on the overall performances cos we have performed well in the last 3 games and in the majority of wins we have deserved to win the games. In some away games we have been awful, but we are being more consist recently.

9 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

You are discounting my point about the quality of these players. I don't think Hirst or Vale in particular look good enough, whether they are strikers or not. Dolan more often than not flatters to deceive. With a lead, the likes of Dack and Markanday would be less likely to be needed, but if we need a goal, I would have not fancied our subs bench to have got one. We have failed to overturn a deficit this season and that has been with Dack getting a couple of minutes at the end and with Markanday not featuring, so it is an area of weakness as it stands.

Dack has played in the 9 games this season and totally of 389 mins this season. only in 2 games has he come on for a couple of minutes so that is just wrong. BBD and Gallagher worked so hard and never stop working for the team that we need to change the front quite regular. Dack and Markanday aren't strikers so don't fit how we want to play or even in we change shape to 4-2-3-1 given that you got Gallagher, BBD, Dolan, Szmodics, Hedges, Vale, Hirst all ahead of these 2 players. Those are the current situation. Both have to keep performing in training and in under 21's games