v Stoke City (a) - 12/3/2025, k/o 20.00

[Gamst]

It’s a damn good job we had those 2 wins with Lowe in charge otherwise we would be looking over our shoulder 

[had.e.nuff]

If this manager gets to his average of 50 games stay at a club we will be a first division club, without a doubt one of the worst managers i have seen for a long time trying to change the way we play so much is baffling.

[Bethnal]

2 minutes ago, DE. said:

Cool, blaming the players already. That'll help them take to him.

It’s almost as though this guy has a reputation for falling out with players and managing himself out of a job within 12 months…

[simongarnerisgod]

season is basically over,bet the ones with a year on their contract are trying to manipulate a way out,you won`t get much out of them now,an injury could curtail their move

[ageoftherover]

So now we know if VI can get it done on a cold night in Stoke.

[A Northern Horde...]

Going to be some Steve Kean level fun and games here.

Not a good feeling about this folks...strap in!☹️

[JHRover]

6 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

season is basically over,bet the ones with a year on their contract are trying to manipulate a way out,you won`t get much out of them now,an injury could curtail their move

All part of the plan. Anyone capable of getting a move elsewhere will be on to their agents pushing for it.

Then Rovers can pretend they've offered them all new terms but the players are angling for moves elsewhere leaving poor old Rovers powerless to do anything other than sell the lot of them and replace with frees, all under the banner of giving Ismael the players he wants to get his plans off the ground.

Unfortunately within a couple of weeks of this season ending there will be plenty in the fanbase subscribing to this scheme and going along with it.

Edited March 12 by JHRover

[RevidgeBlue]

42 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Not good enough, not creating enough, too deep and not enough balls into the box for me, when you got Ohashi and Gueye on the pitch, too slow in possession. not enough pressure on their goal for me. 

Cantwell and JRC forced 2 smart saves from Johannsson tonight, we didn't do enough shots or chances created. 

on their goal, stupid pass from Hyam, no reason to take such a risk. 

Subs no impact attacking wise.  

my team for Saturday is Pears; Brittain, Hyam, Carter, Ribeiro; Travis, Tronstad; Dennis, Ohashi, Dolan; Gueye

So the "reaction" you were confidently expecting didnt happen then?

[Lecogsportif]

10 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

It’s his own fault.
 

He took over a team that needed coaching into  playing pragmatic, mistake free football to keep us in the top 6. 

Instead he’s tried to impose his own way of playing and in the process confused and lost the players and destroyed the team’s confidence.

Poor, unintelligent management

cant agree more, team formation was too spread out (under JE we were tighter), too many mistakes, players were not used to hitting long passes, ended up playing long balls towards the end, no shape, disjointed....missing man-management to draw a reaction from the players. Another post Jan slide..

[RevidgeBlue]

57 minutes ago, onlyonejackwalker said:

Another depressing away performance. Feel sorry for our travelling fans.

Swansea, Norwich, Derby, Stoke. One point. Pathetic.

As the Chief critic of Eustace's decision to up sticks and leave for Derby, what do you make of our Club's decision not to offer him an extension on his deal which ran out at the end of next season, but to give the current bloke a 3 and a half year deal?

[Ghost7]

I think the players are disinterested during and after January when they realise they've been over-performing and still don't get backed. Too many of them have been involved in this cycle with disinterested owners for a long time.

The investment and strategy don't align in trying to seriously help the players get into the Premier League, whether they're 5th or 2nd they know it doesn't happen. That includes when it comes to finding the players a new head coach.

Until there's a real significant investment in permanent players and not a fantasy PR one, the players will keep running out of inspiration and steam. By a real significant investment I mean a few million spent on a few key positions such as GK, ST, RW, LW, CM and CB we won't ever seriously stand a chance of getting into the Premier League.

Not 600k spent on a winger from Serie B/C or 300k on Ryan Hedges....

As someone mentioned with Lewis Baker, cutting a corner on him in summer cost us, just like cutting corners on two keepers in the past 24 months did...

It's a shame the entire fanbase can't see whats right under their noses and unite against a disingenuous board and uninterested owners.

Even when season ticket sales fall to an all time low (and I think they will soon), would someone at the club be held accountable? Will anyone ask for more investment from the owners in players?

I doubt it.

 

[simongarnerisgod]

2 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

As the Chief critic of Eustace's decision to up sticks and leave for Derby, what do you make of our Club's decision not to offer him an extension on his deal which ran out at the end of next season, but to give the current bloke a 3 and a half year deal?

eustace like jdt was far to dangerous,both of them excellent coaches who were threatening the play offs,as we know promotion to this lot is like sunlight to a vampire,it had to be stopped

[den]

Season after season with that awful feeling of hopelessness. 
 

Struggling to find words not used for year after year.

Waggott and Venkys the cause of it all. No matter how bad the team was tonight, it isn’t their fault. 

 

[jim mk2]

8 minutes ago, Lecogsportif said:

cant agree more, team formation was too spread out (under JE we were tighter), too many mistakes, players were not used to hitting long passes, ended up playing long balls towards the end, no shape, disjointed....missing man-management to draw a reaction from the players. Another post Jan slide..

 

Fans were aghast at tonight's starting line-up - what do you think the players were saying? It looked all wrong and it turned out exactly that way. Players aren't stupid and they talk amongst themselves: they'll have decided already Ismael is a dud and doesn't know what he's doing.  

[martonrover]

30 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

ismael clearly has`nt got his message over,his tactics and it looks like the players ar`nt listening and don`t seem to respect him

Everything about him wasn’t right for the situation.

He may as well have come from Mars.

A bonkers appointment.

 

[Bronzed A Donis]

Apathy. Looking at the fixtures' 2 teams battling to avoid the drop up next, would anyone be surprised if we didn't win another game this season?

[RevidgeBlue]

Just now, Bronzed A Donis said:

Apathy. Looking at the fixtures' 2 teams battling to avoid the drop up next, would anyone be surprised if we didn't win another game this season?

No.

[SuperBrfc]

13 minutes ago, JHRover said:

All part of the plan. Anyone capable of getting a move elsewhere will be on to their agents pushing for it.

Then Rovers can pretend they've offered them all new terms but the players are angling for moves elsewhere leaving poor old Rovers powerless to do anything other than sell the lot of them and replace with frees, all under the banner of giving Ismael the players he wants to get his plans off the ground.

Unfortunately within a couple of weeks of this season ending there will be plenty in the fanbase subscribing to this scheme and going along with it.

If people take a look at RoverCanada's latest post in the 'Under The Cosh Podcast' thread, that should give everybody a clue as to what to expect here. They stopped Mowbray from picking Bennett to avoid triggering a contract extension. Just like they did with Salgado, Roberts et al from day one. They tried to shaft Bennett into accepting a 50% pay cut and spread it out over two years, meaning they got two seasons out of him for the price of one. He effectively told them to get stuffed. That's the kind of thing these wasters see as 'wins'. Wage savings, cuts wherever they can make them. Stuff the football.

If the players don't accept the derisory or lowball offers, then no problem. Friendly journos are on hand to tell everyone that the players were being unreasonable, too demanding, the club did everything they could, the players wanted to move down South, closer to home, to spend more time with pets, kids and whatever else. Never the club's fault though, remember. Every year we have people who fall for it and it will happen again. Whether these players are any good or not is a different debate, but watch how very soon the narrative from those sleeping in our fanbase becomes Brittain, Hyam, Dolan, Tronstad etc being snakes and 'ungrateful' because they didn't sign new deals.

The wider fanbase needs to cotton on to what's going on pretty damn quick. This place is on the money and sees through the bullshit. If only large sections of the Ewood crowd could realise what is happening.

[simongarnerisgod]

6 minutes ago, SuperBrfc said:

The wider fanbase needs to cotton on to what's going on pretty damn quick. This place is on the money and sees through the bullshit. If only large sections of the Ewood crowd could realise what is happening.

it will all come to fore next season,which will be horrendous results wise,hence eustace jumping ship to a side in the bottom three,nothing like being in the bottom three and adrift to get the fans uppity

[onlyonejackwalker]

20 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

As the Chief critic of Eustace's decision to up sticks and leave for Derby, what do you make of our Club's decision not to offer him an extension on his deal which ran out at the end of next season, but to give the current bloke a 3 and a half year deal?

Eustace was more than happy to sign his 12k a week contract at Rovers. He was then very happy to sign his 20k a week Derby contract. Should a PL team come in for him he will be more than happy to sign his 40k a week contract. 

You know I didn't want Valerian. I don"t know of any Rovers fan that did. Offering him a 3.5 year deal mid season was foolhardy in the extreme. Logic defying appointment.

I know you were sad to see Eustace leave, but don't kid yourself he has any loyalty to Derby. He will leave them just as quickly as he left us as and when it suits him.

[StHelensRover]

1 hour ago, rigger said:

My answer was to the statement that we never troubled Stoke

In the grand scheme of things, we didn't trouble them, he made a great stop at the end, but he and the other 10 Stoke players watched us pass it round the back and sideways for most of the 99 minutes. He won't have even needed a shower at full-time, none of their defenders will have. 

[London blue]

5 minutes ago, onlyonejackwalker said:

I know you were sad to see Eustace leave, but don't kid yourself he has any loyalty to Derby. He will leave them just as quickly as he left us as and when it suits him.

I don't know what Eustace's supposed lack of loyalty to his new employers has to do with the question.

I think we can all agree he displayed a lack of loyalty, but the majority of posters are in agreement that he was justifiably pissed off with the situation here. I would have left too, and ideally with a pay rise.

[SuperBrfc]

9 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

it will all come to fore next season,which will be horrendous results wise,hence eustace jumping ship to a side in the bottom three,nothing like being in the bottom three and adrift to get the fans uppity

I think you're right. That's the only way the majority will turn. If results take a serious nosedive.

The fact there were a couple of banners tonight aimed in the right direction is a good start. No surprise to hear that they were taken down, but they were seen and will have got to certain people in the Director's Box. Good.

[StHelensRover]

Has anyone seen or heard Ismael's post match? Able to share a link or just the gist of it? Just got home from Stoke so haven't heard it myself 

[Ghost7]

24 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

 

Fans were aghast at tonight's starting line-up - what do you think the players were saying? It looked all wrong and it turned out exactly that way. Players aren't stupid and they talk amongst themselves: they'll have decided already Ismael is a dud and doesn't know what he's doing.  

 

Completely agree, particularly when a formation has got them into such a good position, it would be natural to lack confidence in a new one. That change created a number of early mistakes, cost us a goal and ultimately threw another game away. The players do not look connected with the new manager and are IMO beaten. Waggott and the owners have hampered, derailed, whatever you want to call it YET ANOTHER season through more incompetence off the field.

The major concern now is we appear to have offered a 3 year contract to a manager who has come in and disrupted a very well organised side. Disorganised, badly executed tactics and a low budget can only equal one thing....... and it isn't a surprise promotion.