v WBA (a) - 9/8/2025 - The Big Kick-Off!

[London blue]

I don't post the following to be controversial or make a point, but I was busy today and where I would usually check the score every 5 minutes I saw us losing after 20 and checked result after 90.

I've stopped caring. If you haven't, then that's great, but I honestly have started to lose interest. 

I also don't post this as a response to us losing, we could have won 4 zip and I think I would have had the same level of reaction. I'll probably attend 3 or 4 away games again this year but my interest in the club is waning.

[LDRover]

4 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Amidst talk about everything else, owners, board, signings, sales and contracts. The one variable that seems to have just been assumed as ok is Ismael himself.

The way he speaks seems to have charmed many. His previous spells at this level were failure and although we ended last season well, his first 7 or 8 games were obviously a disaster.

A lot of neutrals seem to cite him as the main reason why they think we will struggle.

He has a hard job, and I am not sure either way yet. But I am certainly not convinced. Yet.

Just noted that Gerhard Struber is the new manager at Bristol City who have just walloped Sheff Utd 4-1 away. Did them on the break with quick incisive football where everyone was on the same page.

Ismael is often revered because of what he did at Barnsley but he was the successor of Struber who had built that team and mentality prior before moving on to New York Red Bulls. Bristol have done well to get him, they could do very well this season.

[desrover]

3 hours ago, Waggy76 said:

I have just finished watching the first half .

2 things spring to mind .

I think it was penalty but playing away , you don't get it !

This squad of players have the least amount of footballing talent , that I have seen in a blue n white shirts for many years.

I doubt , we will get more than 30 points this season (a record for a 3 point win ?) , dreadful signings !

Listening to the manager after game , he won't see February 1st 2026 !

It is time to turn the heat up on Pasha ,Gestede and the Venkys !!!

Venkys Out is all that matters !

Another noticeable absence is the lack of We Want Venkys Out from the fans ..

Dont think you were there fella!

Plenty of anti-Venkys chants!

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

3 hours ago, Hasta said:

As surely does saying if we had got the penalty we would have got at least a point.

We might have missed it or they might have started attacking again.

I wasn't arguing that point. Nobody knows the outcome if we get the penalty. Only thing that is certain  - if we had got and scored the penalty it would have been a better second half (it couldn't have been much worse)

[LDRover]

1 hour ago, bazza said:

I watched our game and afterwards the Sheff Utd v Bristol City game.

City were excellent, playing as a team; no stars, just good team players.

Their keeper could catch crosses and shots. He's on loan from Man Utd.

Of course, Bristol City are a well-run club. I'm envious.

A very good managerial appointment as well. They will surprise a few this year.

[Waggy76]

24 minutes ago, desrover said:

Dont think you were there fella!

Plenty of anti-Venkys chants!

I know I wasn't, I watched the first half on Sky at 7.30pm last night, I recorded the whole game, I have not watched the second half yet. I could not hear any anti Venky chants... 

Edited 9 hours ago by Waggy76

[roversfan99]

33 minutes ago, LDRover said:

Just noted that Gerhard Struber is the new manager at Bristol City who have just walloped Sheff Utd 4-1 away. Did them on the break with quick incisive football where everyone was on the same page.

Ismael is often revered because of what he did at Barnsley but he was the successor of Struber who had built that team and mentality prior before moving on to New York Red Bulls. Bristol have done well to get him, they could do very well this season.

To be fair, although some of the foundations may have been in place, Ismael certainly did an excellent job at Barnsley to finish 5th.

He had a very direct style there and it was really effective. He also was a trendsetter in using the newly allowed 5 subs during covid really aggressively, he would burn out the starters for 60 and always make wholesale changes.

He seems to have totally moved away from those successful traits though. Whether its the higher expectations at the clubs since, or the fact that it feels like results are almost becoming secondary in how managers are judged/how likely they are to be employed. It feels nowadays that youd be more attractive to a chairman and a club if you finished 14th but playing "pretty" high possession football over rough housing your way to 5th.

Today we dominated the ball but didnt create a single decent chance. Boring to watch and ineffective.

[Hasta]

1 hour ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

I wasn't arguing that point. Nobody knows the outcome if we get the penalty. Only thing that is certain  - if we had got and scored the penalty it would have been a better second half (it couldn't have been much worse)

Ok, but that was exactly the point I was arguing when you initially quoted me.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Just watching Sky highlights - WBA player basically threw Alebiouse to the ground in the lead up to their goal. Amazed the goal stood.

[ageoftherover]

For all the moaning about VAR, the scoreline is probably reversed today if we had access to it.

[Crimpshrine]

12 minutes ago, ageoftherover said:

For all the moaning about VAR, the scoreline is probably reversed today if we had access to it.

It's not as simple as that is it? If we went 1 nil up just before half time, the second half could have been totally different to the way it played out with us being 1 nil down.

[Fraserkirky]

I thought we did okay today. Hendrickson should have been off after 15mins, got lucky there. 
I think the most disappointing part is that we chased the game for a long time and were pretty pathetic creating chances. 
We need a right winger and another striker Monday morning. Missing Cantwell hurt.

When are we going to stop pretending that Kargbo isn’t our best player. Seriously. Total embarrassment bringing him on at half time every week when we have no punch. You carry a player like that. 

[ageoftherover]

2 hours ago, Crimpshrine said:

It's not as simple as that is it? If we went 1 nil up just before half time, the second half could have been totally different to the way it played out with us being 1 nil down.

Yeah I know. Just highlighting that both poor decisions probably get overturned.

[Moptop1]

6 hours ago, London blue said:

I don't post the following to be controversial or make a point, but I was busy today and where I would usually check the score every 5 minutes I saw us losing after 20 and checked result after 90.

I've stopped caring. If you haven't, then that's great, but I honestly have started to lose interest. 

I also don't post this as a response to us losing, we could have won 4 zip and I think I would have had the same level of reaction. I'll probably attend 3 or 4 away games again this year but my interest in the club is waning.

Believe me, after 48 years of supporting Rovers, it’s becoming more difficult to put the effort in. 

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

6 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

To be fair, although some of the foundations may have been in place, Ismael certainly did an excellent job at Barnsley to finish 5th.

He had a very direct style there and it was really effective. He also was a trendsetter in using the newly allowed 5 subs during covid really aggressively, he would burn out the starters for 60 and always make wholesale changes.

He seems to have totally moved away from those successful traits though. Whether its the higher expectations at the clubs since, or the fact that it feels like results are almost becoming secondary in how managers are judged/how likely they are to be employed. It feels nowadays that youd be more attractive to a chairman and a club if you finished 14th but playing "pretty" high possession football over rough housing your way to 5th.

Today we dominated the ball but didnt create a single decent chance. Boring to watch and ineffective.

This is why I don't understand what Ismael's plani is in games.  I was expecting very direct and down the channels not playing out from the back.  

[KentExile]

33 minutes ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

This is why I don't understand what Ismael's plani is in games.  I was expecting very direct and down the channels not playing out from the back.  

He was direct at Barnsley, sightly less so at West Brom & by the time he was at Watford he was very much playing out from the back

Edited 2 hours ago by KentExile

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

59 minutes ago, Moptop1 said:

Believe me, after 48 years of supporting Rovers, it’s becoming more difficult to put the effort in. 

New season and despite expecting defeat and us to have no attacking threat whatsoever, losing still hurt.   Football still makes or ruins a Saturday night. 

Something you'll never understand Venkys. 

 

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

2 minutes ago, KentExile said:

He was direct at Barnsley, less so at West Brom & by the time he was at Watford he was very much playing out from the back

Probably why he didn't last long at those then.  Nor is he implementing this relentless press that he was apparently known for.  Probably down to lack of attacking players to bring on. Which is down to lack of attacking signings.  Which is down to a lack of plan/money/organisation. 

[KentExile]

4 minutes ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Probably why he didn't last long at those then.  Nor is he implementing this relentless press that he was apparently known for.  Probably down to lack of attacking players to bring on. Which is down to lack of attacking signings.  Which is down to a lack of plan/money/organisation. 

The press was impressive in the early pre season games.  Hopefully given a full week with Henriksson working with the rest of the  advanced midfielders & forwards, that can come together a bit more.   It certainly needs to

[Old Codger]

8 hours ago, Polky said:

Didn’t see the game as I was in Manchester today, 
 

Games like these will be the story of our season, lacking any genuine quality in the final third and hoping for a miracle.

Yes, I think that was our game plan... hit and hope. But sadly there wasn't a single player in our team who made me feel that he was capable of hurting the opposition with the ball at his feet. Oh for a Garner, Shearer, Wegerle, Tugay, Bellamy, Roberts (haha!), Duff, Le Saux, Olssen, Hendry, Samba... you know what I'm saying - someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck, a game changer. As it stands it was all just a bit too kick and rush for me..

On the plus side, Toth looks like the real deal - good hands and positioning, dominant (punching) on crosses, some very sharp saves to keep the score down.

I think Axel will adjust to the Championship and become a cult figure (it's a tallest dwarf contest at the moment) and stop his silly schoolboy kickabout nonsense once he understands the level.

Someone needs to stand up and be a leader, or else we will be watching with our heads in our hands for a lot this season.

Candidates??

Edited 2 hours ago by Old Codger
Can't spell for toffee, can't be arsed to spell check.

[chaddyrovers]

12 hours ago, Jimmy612 said:

Do we need a striker, Chaddy? 

You’re 0 for 1 on the predictions front as well. Plenty of time, BUT, might be time to evaluate the ‘never bet against Rovers’ approach. 

I've answered the striker question in the transfer thread yesterday and my reply hasn't changed based on our first game where many fans will over reacted to a narrow defeat or come out with crap about all the new signings were shit cos they already previously said that. 

For my prediction, its abit fun predicting the score but I WILL NEVER BET AGAINST ROVERS EVER. 

[The Gull]

Only just posting as I was fuming during and after the game, and needed to calm down a bit. 
 

We had a lot of possession and did nothing with it, the forwards had no service or creativity to give us any real opportunity of scoring. 
 

Our set pieces were terrible, and we had a lot of big bodies to target, what do they do on the training ground?

Player wise, Trondstad was very disappointing, nowhere near his levels, De Neve has lots of heart but showed little ability, Henriksen was poor the few times the team actually tried to use him, Hedges ineffective. 
 

David Webb is a disgrace, not the reason we lost the game at all, but when their players collided and ball fell to us, he stopped the game and gave them the ball, when Miller was caught he didn’t stop the game until our players and manager were screaming at him, he allowed them to get away with far too much. 

I was pleased we were looking more comfortable on the ball from the back, just disappointing that when it went to the midfield and wide players we were out of ideas. 
 

Oh, and if I hear the word transition again……

[MarkBRFC]

Henriksson isnt a number 10, that much is clear.

I'd try him further back when Trav goes, seems like his strengths are energy and arriving late in the box. 

Doesn't have the guile to play behind the striker.

[NeilInBristol]

9 hours ago, bazza said:

I watched our game and afterwards the Sheff Utd v Bristol City game.

City were excellent, playing as a team; no stars, just good team players.

Their keeper could catch crosses and shots. He's on loan from Man Utd.

Of course, Bristol City are a well-run club. I'm envious.

It hurts so much

i get so much grief down here about being a Rovers fan especially these days 

[Uddersfelt Blue]

5 hours ago, Fraserkirky said:

I thought we did okay today. Hendrickson should have been off after 15mins, got lucky there. 
I think the most disappointing part is that we chased the game for a long time and were pretty pathetic creating chances. 
We need a right winger and another striker Monday morning. Missing Cantwell hurt.

When are we going to stop pretending that Kargbo isn’t our best player. Seriously. Total embarrassment bringing him on at half time every week when we have no punch. You carry a player like that. 

If Kargbo is considered to be our best player we need to understand how to benefit from his pace and crossing (which was awful yesterday). Maybe play him on the right wing to get to the byline and pull the ball back rather than beating the right back and cutting back in?