v Preston North End (h) - 10/11/23

[RoversTilliDie]

8 hours ago, Mercer said:

Sadly, when the injured players return and some not until January onwards, I suspect all hope of making the top 6 will have gone as we will be too far adrift.  We will have paid the price for a paper thin and inexperienced squad.  This will not change until our owners decide to back JDT.  The more likely scenario is he will be gone long before next season kicks off.

I think somebody's put a curse on the Rovers squad, like last season and the season before, a dressing room full of injuries at the wrong time.

[white boy]

6 hours ago, martonrover said:

If we had a reasonable track record in these types of games, then your point would be valid.

"Another day" never comes and we generally lose, or fail to win, any game with a bit more pressure riding on it, eg a local derby or against a potential promotion rival, or against any side if we are in control of our own destiny at the business end of the season, (see the stats of our recent second half of the season collapses).

Friday's game ticked two of the above boxes.

We can be easy on the eye, but lack mental and physical toughness.

The head coach was denied the opportunity to try and address that last Summer.

 

 

which point then is not valid?

[white boy]

6 hours ago, tomphil said:

We don't need to think we know, last seasons budget decreased at short notice in this summers window by 15% and we had to bring in 5 million in fees pronto.

That isn't transfer kitty it was operating/wage budget.  We were already on sell to buy before that.

Thank you for pointing that percentage out to me.

 

How do you think that now sits you in the championship spending table?

[Upside Down]

1 hour ago, simongarnerisgod said:

why would they not want promotion with all the mega millions it brings,it would raise their profile as well

They certainly don't want the attention it would bring.

They are under investigation for corruption, in India. Do you think they want the world spotlight on them that would come with promotion to the biggest sports spectacle in the world?

They can't even handle people on this forum looking into their dirty business.

 

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, white boy said:

Thank you for pointing that percentage out to me.

 

How do you think that now sits you in the championship spending table?

From 17th last season to 22nd this season in terms of wage bill according to various online platforms.

Got to take into account though the number of young players from our own academy and others on their first pro contracts now in our squad.  They won't be on as much as a lot of more established championship players in this league, probably like at your place.

Also they've got rid of at least 60k pwk in the forms of Dack, BBD, Ayala and Kaminsky, before any new addition wages were added.

Edited November 12, 2023 by tomphil

[TheRovers1994]

Rovers the better team but lack of experience and luck lost it, game cups have gone either way but there is no doubt to the fact we are a better team and that’s with 7 senior and key injuries so what could we have done with a fit squad ? Knobbers will be licking their egos but they was still outplayed by a patched up rovers with a second string defence, they seem to get a lot of luck at ewood over the years, bar last season I’ve always come away from this fixture wondering how we either didn’t win or at least get a draw even then we was deserving more. 
 

Jdt being criticised but what is he supposed to do ? He’s got nobody on the bench to make an impact, full of raw youth or unfit/ not ready players, he’s working miracles with what he’s got, the fact preston have a bigger budget speaks volumes. 
 

its another defeat to another anti football bunch of cloggers but experience was an important factor for them, they are a poor footballing side but the fact they are hard working and aggressive is what’s keeping them solid in this league but very few of them could go to another team who actually play football and thrive. 
 

I think if we do much as had JRC we would have won that match, we missed his engine and his quality and the fact travis at right back cost us dearly, all their best stuff came from that side hence the first goal 

 

a hopefully strong rovers team in feb ti get our revenge at deepdale seen as we do better there these days 

[TheRovers1994]

1 hour ago, Upside Down said:

They certainly don't want the attention it would bring.

They are under investigation for corruption, in India. Do you think they want the world spotlight on them that would come with promotion to the biggest sports spectacle in the world?

They can't even handle people on this forum looking into their dirty business.

 

You are talking utter nonsense seriously, conspiracy theorist nonsense… off the weed mate 

[Upside Down]

1 minute ago, TheRovers1994 said:

You are talking utter nonsense seriously, conspiracy theorist nonsense… off the weed mate 

Disgustful response. 

Off the crack mate.

[tomphil]

28 minutes ago, TheRovers1994 said:

Rovers the better team but lack of experience and luck lost it, game cups have gone either way but there is no doubt to the fact we are a better team and that’s with 7 senior and key injuries so what could we have done with a fit squad ? Knobbers will be licking their egos but they was still outplayed by a patched up rovers with a second string defence, they seem to get a lot of luck at ewood over the years, bar last season I’ve always come away from this fixture wondering how we either didn’t win or at least get a draw even then we was deserving more. 
 

Jdt being criticised but what is he supposed to do ? He’s got nobody on the bench to make an impact, full of raw youth or unfit/ not ready players, he’s working miracles with what he’s got, the fact preston have a bigger budget speaks volumes. 
 

its another defeat to another anti football bunch of cloggers but experience was an important factor for them, they are a poor footballing side but the fact they are hard working and aggressive is what’s keeping them solid in this league but very few of them could go to another team who actually play football and thrive. 
 

I think if we do much as had JRC we would have won that match, we missed his engine and his quality and the fact travis at right back cost us dearly, all their best stuff came from that side hence the first goal 

 

a hopefully strong rovers team in feb ti get our revenge at deepdale seen as we do better there these days 

Licking windows more like from what iv'e seen flying around from that lot, practically on the verge of an open top bus parade down Fishergate.

Word of warning to noisy neighbours though, when you've won your cup final at Ewood it doesn't mean you are that good, just look at Burnley.

All it means is you've beaten one of the youngest teams in this league.

[booth]

10 hours ago, white boy said:

how did you feel the match went?

I think you got lucky. Caught us with a lot of injuries having to rely on a lot of youth, but we still outplayed you for long periods. If we had a decent striker I believe it would have been a different story as other than Szmodics (who I reckon is also carrying an injury), our other players rarely chip in (I think the most goals by other players is 4). If we hadn't lost JRC to a bad injury against Norwich, he'd have been all over you and added some much needed bollocks. Due to his loss we had a midfielder at fullback and you took full advantage. At the beginning of the game when I saw Travis at fullback I groaned, and as expected we lost, despite playing better than I expected and raising hopes. We had four first team defenders out and no fit strikers. The three strikers we did have on the bench were a kid, a L1 striker short of match fitness and a lad from a foreign pub team league, who previously also looks short of match fitness.

I'm guessing now your fans love Lowe, despite wanting him sacking after taking you to the top. To be fair I can see why after a bad result it could easily turn as a team with a decent striker or two would have turned you over before your first goal went in. For a team that's spent most of the time in the top 6 I was surprised at how almost every PNE pass gave the ball away cheaply, and resorting to fouling, but you can get away with that when you have belief and some physicality.

Preston remind me of us early last season when we weren't playing very well but getting results by hitting teams on the break and relying on a bit of luck. Hopefully your luck runs out like ours did when we were cheated at Coventry 😉

[Leonard Venkhater]

6 minutes ago, booth said:

I think you got lucky. Caught us with a lot of injuries having to rely on a lot of youth, but we still outplayed you for long periods. If we had a decent striker I believe it would have been a different story as other than Szmodics (who I reckon is also carrying an injury), our other players rarely chip in (I think the most goals by other players is 4). If we hadn't lost JRC to a bad injury against Norwich, he'd have been all over you and added some much needed bollocks. Due to his loss we had a midfielder at fullback and you took full advantage. At the beginning of the game when I saw Travis at fullback I groaned, and as expected we lost, despite playing better than I expected and raising hopes. We had four first team defenders out and no fit strikers. The three strikers we did have on the bench were a kid, a L1 striker short of match fitness and a lad from a foreign pub team league, who previously also looks short of match fitness.

I'm guessing now your fans love Lowe, despite wanting him sacking after taking you to the top. To be fair I can see why after a bad result it could easily turn as a team with a decent striker or two would have turned you over before your first goal went in. For a team that's spent most of the time in the top 6 I was surprised at how almost every PNE pass gave the ball away cheaply, and resorting to fouling, but you can get away with that when you have belief and some physicality.

Preston remind me of us early last season when we weren't playing very well but getting results by hitting teams on the break and relying on a bit of luck. Hopefully your luck runs out like ours did when we were cheated at Coventry 😉

I do agree with all this, but .....we lost.

I would have been more than happy to play shite, and win, especially in a derby.

Losing in the last minute seemed like a Rovers script.

I remember going to Burnden in the mid 70's. They could/should have had seven, but we won in a smash and grab-John Waddington, I think. Ecstasy!!

Playing shite in a derby and winning is the name of the game.....

 

[martonrover]

3 hours ago, white boy said:

which point then is not valid?

The “on another day” point doesn’t carry weight when, as I explained, our recent record in matches carrying any sort of extra pressure is very poor.

Friday night wasn’t just down to a bit of luck. It’s a pattern.

We will have to see what the context of the return fixture is and how that game plays out.

 

[booth]

9 minutes ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

I do agree with all this, but .....we lost.

I would have been more than happy to play shite, and win, especially in a derby.

Losing in the last minute seemed like a Rovers script.

I remember going to Burnden in the mid 70's. They could/should have had seven, but we won in a smash and grab-John Waddington, I think. Ecstasy!!

Playing shite in a derby and winning is the name of the game.....

 

He asked how I felt it went and I did acknowledge that we lost, as well as saying I thought we would pre-match when I saw Travis was at full back. Tbh I don't expect much from a game when Travis is lines up as a midfielder never mind a defender. He tried hard and broke up play better than a lot of games this season but he's not a full back and PNE knew it before a ball was kicked.

I don't think there's any chance of us playing shite and winning at the moment.

[tomphil]

20 minutes ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

I do agree with all this, but .....we lost.

I would have been more than happy to play shite, and win, especially in a derby.

Losing in the last minute seemed like a Rovers script.

I remember going to Burnden in the mid 70's. They could/should have had seven, but we won in a smash and grab-John Waddington, I think. Ecstasy!!

Playing shite in a derby and winning is the name of the game.....

 

Although battering these lot on their own patch was sweet a few seasons ago, we also battered them last season but the same old demons got the better of us. 

6 months later and despite a changed team and playing just as well it's same old same old.

Would be very nice indeed if they are still going well when we go there and we stick it up them and play a part in ruining a play off push.

Tick tock....

[Leonard Venkhater]

3 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Although battering these lot on their own patch was sweet a few seasons ago, we also battered them last season but the same old demons got the better of us. 

6 months later and despite a changed team and playing just as well it's same old same old.

Would be very nice indeed if they are still going well when we go there and we stick it up them and play a part in ruining a play off push.

Tick tock....

I can hardly stomach their attitude towards us, now the men against boys stuff etc...

I know they are bitter and I get it.

 

There are die hard Knobbers, pushing 70, who have never once seen their team in the top flight.

Since they were last in the top flight, local rivals Blackpool have been promoted twice, Rovers twice, Burnley more(!), Bolton twice, Wigan once.

Moreover Rovers have won the Premiership and League Cup. Wigan have won the F.A. Cup.

Then, just think about some of the other clubs, who have tasted top flight football, during the long PNE exile:

Barnsley, Bradford, Carlisle, Huddersfield, Hull, Luton, Oldham, Swindon, Oxford, Charlton, Millwall, Cardiff, QPR, Bristol City, Notts County, Portsmouth...

Just saying lol 

[R0verb0y]

On 10/11/2023 at 23:59, Crimpshrine said:

We may need to sell in January!

No; what we need in January is for Venky's to sell the club - lock, stock and barrel - to an organisation which: knows something about owning a successful football club; and will back JDT and Gregg with some funds to allow us to acquire some decent fringe players.

That way, we could be challenging for promotion at the end of next season. More of the same as we have at the moment; and we could be looking down, rather than up, at the end of next season.

Thinking back, JDT may have made a rod for his own back when, on appointment, he spoke of Rovers being a "three windows project".

Edited November 13, 2023 by R0verb0y
A penny dropped for me!

[R0verb0y]

On 11/11/2023 at 08:43, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

.... .... .... .... 

 
As I see it there’s no incentive for them to back a promotion team and every incentive to keep us bumping along, not making waves, in the lower reaches of this league.

They've owned us in each of the top three Divisions of English football. And by far the longest time of that ownership has been in the Championship. 

It seems obvious that they seem content - for reasons only they can fathom - for that state of affairs to continue ad infinitum.

[R0verb0y]

On 11/11/2023 at 09:58, den said:

Harsh Jim. 
 

Rovers are playing possibly the best football outside the PL. I can’t remember the last time it was as good as we’re seeing now. We don’t want to lose that do we? We want to build on it surely.
 

what needs to happen is that those above JDT need to realise what we have and give him what he needs.

Or, to name the guilty people: i) The Venky's family; and, presumably, ii) Swaggot.

All people who can't admit that they're out of their depth when it comes to owning and "running" a successful football club (not just a team).

[R0verb0y]

On 11/11/2023 at 13:57, Mercer said:

:Reading today's posts there are two common concensuses:

• We are too nice
• Our set plays are crap

I have posted consistently in JDT's reign, including last night, that we need at least one, and preferably two, nasty hard bastards in our team.  We are too nice and the opposition know it and bully us.  Potts sent Moran flying into the hoardings early in the game and I'm pretty sure with an Andy Todd in our team he wouldn't have done or at least he wouldn't have gone on to commit other offences in the game and continue to wind Rovers' players and supporters up as he did.  Travis isn't the 'hard man' he likes to think he is and I think a eunuch would show more hardness.

Think I'm right in thinking Benson is our set piece coach.  ... IMO, Benson should not be anywhere near such roles in a Championship club and is a man at least 100 fathoms out of his depth.

 

Insomniac that I am, I decided to read tonight the twenty+ pages on this thread I hadn't read.

I've agreed with a lot; disagreed with some; but, @Mercer, the phrase I've highlighted nearly had me waking up the neighbours with laughter!! You've made the trawl through these pages well worth while.

I'm going to call it a night after that. Thank you.

[TheRovers1994]

11 hours ago, tomphil said:

Licking windows more like from what iv'e seen flying around from that lot, practically on the verge of an open top bus parade down Fishergate.

Word of warning to noisy neighbours though, when you've won your cup final at Ewood it doesn't mean you are that good, just look at Burnley.

All it means is you've beaten one of the youngest teams in this league.

Beaten us with half our team out injured, if we do much as has jrc fit it would have been entirely different 

[roverblue]

still feel miffed this morning, having the international break to dwell on it doesnt help. I hope all the gloating from the nobbers is being stored away ready to playback to the players prior to our next meeting.

"men against boys" is brutal but I agree with it.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

On 12/11/2023 at 07:55, chaddyrovers said:

 

Steve Eyre on Radio Lancs was going on about the Evans effect and the way every championship team fear him and players. I was totally baffled by that comment then. 

 

Oddly I think that most of the better teams will struggle with him as he is something from the past. He will battle and fight to get the ball and give more cultured centre halves a true battle which many will not have had. Billy Whitehurst would eat most of the centre halves today

Teams coming from the lower leagues wont struggle as much as there is a likely hood that those centre halves will have grown up playing the likes of Evans.

Sam Gallagher could do worse than to learn a lesson or two from Evans. The size of Gallagher he should be putting himself around like Evans. It would offer a plan B which we do not have.

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, dingles staying down 4ever said:

Oddly I think that most of the better teams will struggle with him as he is something from the past. He will battle and fight to get the ball and give more cultured centre halves a true battle which many will not have had. Billy Whitehurst would eat most of the centre halves today

Teams coming from the lower leagues wont struggle as much as there is a likely hood that those centre halves will have grown up playing the likes of Evans.

Sam Gallagher could do worse than to learn a lesson or two from Evans. The size of Gallagher he should be putting himself around like Evans. It would offer a plan B which we do not have.

Gallagher isn't the type of player either and can't play like Evans. 

We don't play any sort of tactics under JDT that suits the type of player that Evans is. We have a set pattern of play and our signings have been made to fit that tactic and style of play. 

[martonrover]

2 hours ago, roverblue said:

still feel miffed this morning, having the international break to dwell on it doesnt help. I hope all the gloating from the nobbers is being stored away ready to playback to the players prior to our next meeting.

"men against boys" is brutal but I agree with it.

Every time we lose a pressure game like this we hear the same excuses, (injuries, luck etc.).

We’re not strong enough, either mentally or physically.

Until that changes we will continue to lose big games.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

13 minutes ago, martonrover said:

Every time we lose a pressure game like this we hear the same excuses, (injuries, luck etc.).

We’re not strong enough, either mentally or physically.

Until that changes we will continue to lose big games.

10/10