v Millwall (h) - 5/3/24

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

43 minutes ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

I don't think they came for a point - and they nearly caught us with a sucker punch. Tactics we fall for time and time again

They were really lucky with the goal. Their guy was playing the ball back into midfield until a rebound turned it into a killer pass into our box. That and Wahlstadt diving out of the way of the shot. If I saw the “ Dog And Duck “ second team keeper let that one in I’d be shaking my head.

Having said that we got lucky with our goal. Siggy played an awful pass to one of their players. They then played an even worse one straight back to Siggy and he managed to get it right at the second attempt. Nice pass which Sammi dispatched like the second coming of Jimmy Greaves.

[sharpysharps86]

Absolutely woeful from start to finish. Never really looked like scoring and the one goal we did score was a gift from a misplaced Millwall pass.

I'm sick to death of this club and it's players, bar a very small elite group that seem to genuinely care.

Quite frankly, this team deserves to get relegated. They're the biggest bunch of soft touches I think I've ever seen as a Rovers side. The sad reality is, half of 'em won't care because they'll already be on to their agents about securing a move back to the Championship in the summer. The only one that deserves to stay in this league is Szmodics.

Hyam gesturing to the crowd to calm down as he sluggishly meanders about with the ball in the 94th minute or whenever it was. Joke of a captain.

I had hoped that Eustace would be a good shout, but he's looking more like the new Michael Appleton every week. Grim.

[Tricky]

1 minute ago, sharpysharps86 said:

Hyam gesturing to the crowd to calm down as he sluggishly meanders about with the ball in the 94th minute or whenever it was. Joke of a captain.

he really is, seen more leadership from the mascots.

[Bbrovers2288]

10 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Lucky to go up with 96 points, 10 points more than 3rd.

Give over lad, we played in fits and starts, 10 minutes of dack was enough to win most matches, we didn’t play good football, we were lucky to have enough players that were too good for the division rather than tactical brilliance, it was also a poor league that year, 

if we go down it won’t be as easy. 
 

we had a great chance the last time to bed in some youngsters with the experienced heads and get a real exciting team but no we used crap tactics and loans like that Swedish nobody. Did us no favours in the long run 

[roversfan99]

5 minutes ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

Give over lad, we played in fits and starts, 10 minutes of dack was enough to win most matches, we didn’t play good football, we were lucky to have enough players that were too good for the division rather than tactical brilliance, it was also a poor league that year, 

if we go down it won’t be as easy. 
 

we had a great chance the last time to bed in some youngsters with the experienced heads and get a real exciting team but no we used crap tactics and loans like that Swedish nobody. Did us no favours in the long run 

All I am saying that anyone who thinks that any team that gets promoted over a 46 game season on 96 points and with a 10 point buffer is lucky clearly doesnt understand league tables.

[Dreams of 1995]

In our League 1 campaign we had Charlie Mulgrew scoring from free kicks or corners for fun. 15 goals from centre back or something daft like that

I thought we were unlucky not to win the league really. We had a bit of a shite run at some point early doors I think and that cost us. But Mowbray also threw it against Charlton I think?

We weren't lucky to go up that's for sure. Our team was a very, very good one for that level. The criticism is that we should have won that league

Shrewsbury were the unlucky team. Their purple patch also coincided with us and Wigan - with Wigan at that time being a bit of a yoyo team between the leagues if I remember correctly

[lraC]

46 minutes ago, DaveyB said:

Not saying he’s wrong, but, according to the club’s official twitter, Pears missed out with illness rather than injury, so surely it’s too soon to know whether he will be back or not (unless it’s something much more serious than a fever/vomiting bug)

I saw that but Arbitro posted yesterday that it was concussion.

I believe it was also stated that Tronstad was in contention last night and possibly Saturday and I know for a fact that is not correct.

[G Somerset Rover]

35 minutes ago, sharpysharps86 said:

Absolutely woeful from start to finish. Never really looked like scoring and the one goal we did score was a gift from a misplaced Millwall pass.

This is the massive concern. If it hadn’t been for that gift from their defender then we could have played til Christmas and not scored. Newcastle aside, Eustace just cannot get us looking threatening in front of goal at all.

He simply must let the shackles off on Saturday because make no mistake, a draw will not be good enough.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

More reflections after waking up at 5-00 am and with the game still going on in my head.

Wahlstedt, one eminently saveable shot to save in 90 odd minutes and it’s a goal. As somebody else said “ like an outfield player playing in goal “. And not a very good one at that. Ritchie Smallwood, when he had to be the emergency keeper that time, was way better.

Brittain, other people are saying he had a good half. Not for me, he passes it straight back to the centre halves too much for my liking. I thought the idea of wing backs was to give us some width ? It’s a shit idea, at our level it’s full of players who can’t really attack and can’t defend either. Not many Ashley Cole’s in this league.  He gets injured a lot for no apparent reason, like several other players in this squad.

Hyam, did ok I suppose. Three centre halves at home against Millwall ? It’s a bit desperate.

MacFad, probably the pick of the three for me. I ’don’t like it when he comes lumbering out with the ball.
 

Wharton, again, did ok without pulling up any trees. Opponents exploit his one footedness by pushing him onto his right foot when he comes forward with the ball.

Pickering, so so game. He’s another one footed player. Came inside crowding the play all the time when he went to right back. Rarely got forward from left back in the first half.

Buckley, played an absolute shocker of a cross field ball right from the kick off that got intercepted. What a way to start the game !  After that a mixture of good and bad. At least he can get his head up on the ball. He was trying to thread a needle with the ball most of the time. Not enough runners for him forwards.

Garrett, I thought he played well and I was surprised he got subbed, especially has he hadn’t received his usual yellow card by then. He’s raw but there’s a player in there. Him and Buckley would be better in a three but that’s obvious.

Dolan, I keep saying I like Dolan but he’s starting to frustrate me. He keeps running up blind alleys and losing the ball. Totally ineffectual last night. Maybe he needs to go back on the left side. The right should suit him but nothing is happening for him and he doesn’t combine well with Brittain.

Sammi, scored a great goal but apart from that struggled to get into the game. Not through lack of effort but lack of support. Started to drop too deep. That’s where you don’t want him as he’s liable to play silly balls. 
 

Gally, he’d been playing 30 minutes before I noticed he was playing. Totally ineffectual. Watching Obafemi - he isn’t the answer either but at least he looked to be a threat in possession.

Subs

Siggy - did the minimum as usual. Good pass at the second attempt to Sammi for the goal.

Chrisene - ok, not much of note.

Ayari, ok, see Chrisene.

Markanday, ok, see Ayari

That’s one of our problems - 4 subs, and apart from the Siggy pass for the goal none of them did anything worthy of note. One of their subs scored a goal and looked a threat.

As for the game - one paced walking football for most of the time. A really slow tempo that rarely speeded up. When you play 5 at the back and 2 just in front in it stands to reason most of the play isn’t going to be in their last third, where you’d like it to be, but in central midfield where we were out numbered. We play in front of opponents all the time, we never get them turned around. We didn’t create one clear chance all game. Not one ! The goal came courtesy of an awful pass from their defence to Siggy. We’ve nobody who can do the un-expected and catch an opponent on the hop. It’s all basic, stuff.

The contrast between last nights game and the Newcastle game was glaring. Why can’t we up the tempo a bit, be brave ? Getting a point a game is unlikely to keep us up. The “ deadmen “ at Xmas, Sheff Wed and QPR are winning games.

For me the juries out on Eustace, he’s got a shit, injury prone, squad that start feeling sorry for themselves at the drop of a hat. Keeping us up is a big ask but he’ll live or die by that.

Edited March 6 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[TheKitGuy]

Well, having had time to sleep on it and most of the morning to think about it. It's just simply put, utter gross being served up ain't it. Has a manager ever had a 0% win record after his first 7 games in charge? Has a team ever been relegated with the leagues top scorer? Will we hear from grEgg this week? Will the fans ever become a priority? Will the players admit they pick and choose when to put a performance in? 

 

We are being made a mockery of week in week out. The fans deserve better and I can't believe we still have 11k odd that go on, if it wasn't tradition I bet you'd be down to 5k. I fear we end up a middling League one side and it's a case of when and not if we get relegated. Next season will be a real shambles wether we go down or stay up. We know the AW money won't be spent. We know the budget will be tightened and the wages slashed. 

League one would be a disaster but it's been coming, all part of the master plan perhaps by the Venkys faithful. 

 

Truly, where do we go from here? 

[Mattyblue]

To ‘real’ turnout wasn’t close to 11,500 home fans. 7k max.

Yes, it was a night game, but Saturday ST holder turnouts are dwindling too. Next season’s sales, Christ, they’ll be some sell for L1 football at £400-£500 a pop.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

48 minutes ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

Give over lad, we played in fits and starts, 10 minutes of dack was enough to win most matches, we didn’t play good football, we were lucky to have enough players that were too good for the division rather than tactical brilliance, it was also a poor league that year, 

if we go down it won’t be as easy. 
 

we had a great chance the last time to bed in some youngsters with the experienced heads and get a real exciting team but no we used crap tactics and loans like that Swedish nobody. Did us no favours in the long run 

20 minutes of Dack and Co was usually enough to see most teams off. After that we coasted. No team is going to play well for 90 minutes but we rarely played well for more than 30 minutes in 46 games. Maybe 2 or 3 games. Lots of the football on show was pretty turgid.

[TheKitGuy]

2 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

20 minutes of Dack and Co was usually enough to see most teams off. After that we coasted. No team is going to play well for 90 minutes but we rarely played well for more than 30 minutes in 46 games. Maybe 2 or 3 games. Lots of the football on show was pretty turgid.

It's the Blackburn way of doing things, we play to the other teams standards, Newcastle and Chelsea this season we put in a solid 7/10 minimum performance. 

 

Millwall were shit, therefore we play shit to match them. 

 

Wrexham were woeful and so we're we but we just had an extra bit of class where it mattered. 

 

League one was the same, remember Southend away one of the early games in the league, turgid. A mulgrew free kick to break the deadlock or a counter attack with Armstrong using his pace and Graham using his knowledge to draw a defender out of position. Other than the occasional spark of brilliance it's been turgid for 90% of the time we've been out the Barclays. 

[jim mk2]

1 hour ago, sharpysharps86 said:

 

Quite frankly, this team deserves to get relegated. They're the biggest bunch of soft touches I think I've ever seen as a Rovers side. The sad reality is, half of 'em won't care.

That's it for me. They don't seem to care

The West Brom away game in the last days of JDT's reign was a case in point. The whole lot of them spent 90 minutes jogging around going through the motions

Yet put them in front of TV cameras and Premier League opposition and they pull their tripe out

As I said last night, they're cheating the club and the fans

[G Somerset Rover]

13 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

That's it for me. They don't seem to care

The West Brom away game in the last days of JDT's reign was a case in point. The whole lot of them spent 90 minutes jogging around going through the motions

Yet put them in front of TV cameras and Premier League opposition and they pull their tripe out

As I said last night, they're cheating the club and the fans

Hard to argue. This is what happens from years of downgrading and filling your side out with players who won’t be here beyond the season (and I’d include the likes of Gallagher in that whose performance last night was dreadful).

Edited March 6 by G Somerset Rover

[Exiled_Rover]

2 hours ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

I don't think they came for a point - and they nearly caught us with a sucker punch. Tactics we fall for time and time again

They absolutely came for a point - they were time wasting from the off. 

[Gamst]

A lot of negativity around (rightly so). Last night was pretty lame, but it was a 6 pointer and losing would have been a lot worse. 

[Exiled_Rover]

12 hours ago, tomphil said:

Hyam is a plant pot i think he comes across a bit snidey to be honest, a big arrogant.

He needs to consider that ironically and fortunate for us it was Millwall pissing about and being negative at the back that led to our goal so no wonder fans are panicking.

He also needs to wake up to the fact he not the fans is very much a part of the responsibility of where we are this season so stop trying to deflect that.  You get the feeling down there some want to try and blame fans instead of accepting their own failings.

Thirdly they brought in a 37 yr old to show him how it's done, a guy who is twice the defender he is but now getting old.

Concentrate on the pitch and your team mates not what's going on behind the goal you prat.

I'm surprised he's not being criticised for the goal - he was loafing back there. Didn't even try to get his foot in to block the shot.

[Exiled_Rover]

4 hours ago, ABBEY said:

Pears out didn't cost us ? Erm did we not er drop 2 points?

Only if we agree that Pears cost us 3 points against Swansea. 

[LeftWinger]

Picture the scene.

It's late on in a game you need to win. Your main striker is not only not much of a goal threat but he's also playing poorly. 

You look across the bench and see a fourth division German striker grinning at you... desperate to get on.

You have an idea. Let's put the American lad we signed on a permanent deal on transfer deadline day. Then you remember that we cancelled the deal so we could get him on loan instead. Then you remember we forgot how to complete a transfer. Again. 

 

Dilan, you're on. 

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

16 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

They absolutely came for a point - they were time wasting from the off. 

They offered nothing all game apart from sprinkling niggly fouls around. The guy that came flying in on Buckley ? could have had a red card on another day. They got lucky with the goal and they would have been happy not to set foot in our half again for the rest of the game. 3 points went begging for us. We won’t have a better chance this season. How they beat Southampton is a mystery.

Edited March 6 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Bbrovers2288]

2 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

All I am saying that anyone who thinks that any team that gets promoted over a 46 game season on 96 points and with a 10 point buffer is lucky clearly doesnt understand league tables.

Lucky in that there was little quality in the league that year,

lucky in that we had a squad of some quality that wanted to right the wrongs that next season- Graham, mulgrew ….

lucky that we could afford to bag the best player in the league- dack

 

need to look at the bigger picture I’m afraid 

[Bbrovers2288]

Having been down this road too many times to mention in recent years, you get a feeling around this time of year if you are going to pull away from trouble or sink, this squad doesn’t have anyone bar Szmodics that is capable and has the desire, rest are feeble with little quality, I don’t think we will get enough points with the teams below all picking up and getting results. We are the one in free fall and it never ends well. 
Looking at the team last night, there isn’t many I would argue aren’t playing at l1 level already, team picks itself for next year 

pears

brittain

mcfadzean

wharton 

Pickering 

gilsenan

jrc

garrett

need a rw

leonard 

telovic 

 

nobody will take Leo 

ones that will go 

hyam

tronstad

gallagher 

Dolan 

sammy 

carter 

 

depressing 

[joey_big_nose]

One thing that worried me last night is McFadz who has broadly been very good was absolutely roasted for their goal. He totally lost track of where their player was and got left behind so easily....

We're playing very conservatively at the moment, controlling the ball, but still give away extremely simple chances. If Millwall had a bit more adventure I think they could have won that. Luckily they didn't really try to test us.

I don't think we can change much at the back - especially now with Leo in goal who needs real protection. But we have to try something different up front. Gallagher, Szmodics and Dolan together just isn't working. I am concerned that despite losing away and drawing at home we are just doing the same thing each game. It seems the thinking is don't worry about the midfield, just hope that the opposition makes a mistake and we can pounce with the three forwards. To be fair that did happen yesterday, but it is a sad state of affairs to be relying on unforced errors to create openings.

 

[jim mk2]

15 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

One thing that worried me last night is McFadz who has broadly been very good was absolutely roasted for their goal. He totally lost track of where their player was and got left behind so easily....

37 year old (?) who's been playing alot of games recently and they're probably catching up with him