v Southampton (h) - 25/10/25

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1 minute ago, wilsdenrover said:

How do you score 0.57 of a goal?

You don't lol that's the stat😄

[wilsdenrover]

7 minutes ago, ... said:

You don't lol that's the stat😄

I did realise that 😁

I know stats can show anything but it still looks bizarre 😁

[arbitro]

3 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Alebiosu is attacking full back anyway. You are correct in saying both Alebiosu and De Neve. Thought Montgomery and Hedges had a massive impact when they come on. 

I would like one more player in attacking area that's all. Maybe one of the centre back could do this instead 

Thought Gudjohnsen looked a different player second half compare to first half? You agree thers

When Alebiosu is bombing on (in or out of possession) Miller shifts over to cover, likewise McLoughlin on the left. In a four this might not happen and render our attacking full backs less effective.

There will be times to change formations in game depending on the circumstances and I like this flexibility.

Gudjohnsen improved massively in the second half from his recent form. I have thought at times he looked last and one paced but latterly in today's game he really out it in and hopefully his goal improves his confidence as I thought this was waning.

[Herbie6590]

9 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

How do you score 0.57 of a goal?

There’s a high probability you understand this stat…

[Ossydave]

10 hours ago, 47er said:

Toth! Such an improvement on Pears.

I dare say both Toth and Alebiosu will be our next player sales....possibly Cantwell too. As we know, much like with Brittain last season, any player having a solid season will be sold.

Didn't watch yesterday for the first time in a while as car shopping took priority and I was that deflated after midweek. Maybe I should do it more often 🤔 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Its a sobering thought that we could well be back in the bottom three come next Saturday evening.We need to put a run of wins together to get out of this mess,are we capable?🤔

The current we've managed to win a game euphoria will quickly evaporate.

Edited 20 minutes ago by SIMON GARNERS 194

[chaddyrovers]

19 minutes ago, Ricky said:

It is when you’re usually on here 95% of your non working time. If we’d been winning loads of games and the new signings performing then I’m sure you would have been here with a few ‘I told you so’s’ 😄 

Deffo not the case Ricky. Other people on other sites have noticed I wasnt online for a few days. Hardly breaking a record is it. 

I did the odd twitter post but I'm far too busy with other non Rovers/football things

[Dreams of 1995]

Luck or judgement - who cares. That’s a really important 3 pts

Will Still came to England with a very good reputation following his time in France. Can’t see that myself. I was shocked to see Stephen’s coming on in defensive midfield

Overall thought we looked good value for the points. We have a couple of players who aren’t good enough - Miller being one. I don’t feel confident with him on the ball. We were told he was a real athlete as well but we aren’t seeing that

Gudjohnson is a really good player. When he receives the ball with his back to goal his link up play to hold it and knock it back is always very good. What he has to learn is to then make the run after. Too often he takes a fraction too long admiring the pass. This will come with better attacking coaching. If we can feed him and Ohashi with better chances we can get goals

Still think Ismael is too limited. We are fortunate to have met Southampton in this form. Their defence is shocking and we managed to take advantage

A big 3 pts in what will be a long, tough season

Gardner-Hickman had a good game for me. De Neve anonymous but worked hard

I have seen a couple of posts talk about Armstrongs misses. Can we call them what they are please? Toth saves. He saved us the 3 pts today and for me he’s got man of the match 

Edited 3 hours ago by Dreams of 1995

[BankEnd Rover]

I like Alebiosu, give him space and he will cause any full back problems.

However to be critical of him, he does look clumsy and his final ball can be awful...Him being one of our star players says how low this squad has fallen. He would be an average Joe in any other championship team.

[BankEnd Rover]

3 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

Luck or judgement - who cares. That’s a really important 3 pts

Will Still came to England with a very good reputation following his time in France. Can’t see that myself. I was shocked to see Stephen’s coming on in defensive midfield

Overall thought we looked good value for the points. We have a couple of players who aren’t good enough - Miller being one. I don’t feel confident with him on the ball. We were told he was a real athlete as well but we aren’t seeing that

Gudjohnson is a really good player. When he receives the ball with his back to goal his link up play to hold it and knock it back is always very good. What he has to learn is to then make the run after. Too often he takes a fraction too long admiring the pass. This will come with better attacking coaching. If we can feed him and Ohashi with better chances we can get goals

Still think Ismael is too limited. We are fortunate to have met Southampton in this form. Their defence is shocking and we managed to take advantage

A big 3 pts in what will be a long, tough season

Gardner-Hickman had a good game for me. De Neve anonymous but worked hard

I have seen a couple of posts talk about Armstrongs misses. Can we call them what they are please? Toth saves. He saved us the 3 pts today and for me he’s got man of the match 

They missed 2 sitters, we missed 2 sitters and scored 2...Think we deserved the win really. 

[jodrell]

10 hours ago, 47er said:

Toth! Such an improvement on Pears.

I got told yesterday that Toth is on less money than Pears and won't give him a wage rise. So I can see him going and the reason is he wants to leave.

[KentExile]

22 minutes ago, jodrell said:

I got told yesterday that Toth is on less money than Pears and won't give him a wage rise. So I can see him going and the reason is he wants to leave.

He was originally brought in as Pears understudy, so that is certainly true

I said during the summer this is why they were hell bent on trying to get Pears out of the club, as it would then leave Toth as the highest paid keeper on our books and mean that Toth could not then cite wanting to be paid at least as much as his understudy during any contract negotiations.  The fact that Pears was straight back in the squad as soon as the window closed, only confirms this was the case

Pears is a decent reserve keeper at this level, Toth is obviously better, any normal club would be giving Toth a contract on what he is worth and keeping Pears as back up.  Rovers will probably end up selling Toth (or maybe even both of them) & bringing in a cheap guy from overseas (coin flip if that will be another Toth or another Wahlstedt) and Michalski/Goddard as his back up

Edited 2 hours ago by KentExile

[Ossydave]

24 minutes ago, BankEnd Rover said:

I like Alebiosu, give him space and he will cause any full back problems.

However to be critical of him, he does look clumsy and his final ball can be awful...Him being one of our star players says how low this squad has fallen. He would be an average Joe in any other championship team.

Similar to Nyambe was in that respect, although at least he's got a goal to his name now! When you have his pace you tend to 'get away' with clumsiness a little bit as you can recover from mistakes. Agree on the final ball though, some are rather erratic and the main reason he's not quite at Brittain standards. You'd argue a decent coaching setup could improve that aspect of his game, here, not so sure.

[chaddyrovers]

30 minutes ago, arbitro said:

When Alebiosu is bombing on (in or out of possession) Miller shifts over to cover, likewise McLoughlin on the left. In a four this might not happen and render our attacking full backs less effective.

There will be times to change formations in game depending on the circumstances and I like this flexibility.

Gudjohnsen improved massively in the second half from his recent form. I have thought at times he looked last and one paced but latterly in today's game he really out it in and hopefully his goal improves his confidence as I thought this was waning.

I fully appreciate and respect that. I just feel we yesterday needed another attacking option on there as I tweet at half time. But what do I know. I just feel we need an extra centre back if we are going to stick with this 3 at the back long term. 

Maybe that goal will set his season off now. That's was best game for Rovers. Him and Ohashi look like it could work as partnership long term but after those 2 we have Gueye who isnt in favour and I expect will go in January so we need another option there

[arbitro]

2 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

I fully appreciate and respect that. I just feel we yesterday needed another attacking option on there as I tweet at half time. But what do I know. I just feel we need an extra centre back if we are going to stick with this 3 at the back long term. 

Maybe that goal will set his season off now. That's was best game for Rovers. Him and Ohashi look like it could work as partnership long term but after those 2 we have Gueye who isnt in favour and I expect will go in January so we need another option there

We do.

This is exactly why so many of us were critical of the timing of the Hyam sale and not giving us time to bring anyone in. There seems to be a great reluctance too from Ismael to at least have one of the young centre halves on the bench as cover.

We have four senior players who can play there but two are injury prone and one has played more as a right back.

[RevidgeBlue]

32 minutes ago, jodrell said:

I got told yesterday that Toth is on less money than Pears and won't give him a wage rise. So I can see him going and the reason is he wants to leave.

Someone said Toth was on 10kp.w. a while ago when he was warming the bench so Pears must be on a fair old wedge relative to his ability if that's true.

[KentExile]

8 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Someone said Toth was on 10kp.w. a while ago when he was warming the bench so Pears must be on a fair old wedge relative to his ability if that's true.

£10K/week in Championship terms is a "squad player" level salary, even when ignoring outliers (parachute payment teams) 

This is why Rovers refuse to compete for established Championship players, and instead look for cheap punts from overseas, and is also why ultimately we are only heading in one direction

Edited 2 hours ago by KentExile

[norwichblue]

What a win.

Looks like Hedges meant to do that? Footballing genius.

[RevidgeBlue]

2 minutes ago, KentExile said:

£10K/week in Championship terms is a "squad player" level salary, even when ignoring outliers (parachute payment teams) 

This is why Rovers refuse to compete for established Championship players, and instead look for cheap punts from overseas, and is also why ultimate;y we are only heading in one direction

Im aware of all that, do you think Pears is worth well in excess of £10k p.w. though?

[KentExile]

8 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Im aware of all that, do you think Pears is worth well in excess of £10k p.w. though?

If he is on circa £10K/week (give or take a grand or 2), then as mad as it sounds, he is probably being paid relative to his ability by Championship standards (ie squad player), however, at the same time that would mean that he is also being paid far more than he is worth when compared to his teammates, as we have the ridiculous £10K/wek self imposed pay cap

Edited 2 hours ago by KentExile

[RevidgeBlue]

2 minutes ago, KentExile said:

If he is on circa £10K/week (give or take a grand or 2), then he is probably being paid relative to his ability by Championship standards (ie squad player), however, at the same time that would mean that he is also being paid far more than he is worth when compared to his teammates, as we have the ridiculous £10K/wek self imposed pay cap

For me the back up keeper situation is a bit of a special case. These guys typically never get on the pitch so if our top wage going forward is (say) £10k p.w. then Im a bit uncomfortable with the reserve keeper earning that not to play (or even more if he got a new deal before the wage cap was imposed). Id have said the same about Toth if Pears had never been dropped.

 

[TimmyJimmy]

For me this game showed that we do too much on the wings. We need players to be more central affecting the game and pulling oppo players inwards to give cover.

We play wing backs so they need midfield cover when they bomb forward but they don't want wingers in front of them getting in their way. That just adds up to tippy tappy triangle play in the corner with the striker checking out his nail manicure waiting for the ball to arrive.

Clearly I'm just an average joe from the crowd and not a badge carrying coach but that sounds sensible to me and was my observation yesterday.

Trust the player on the ball and find your own space, stop crowding each other just in case shit happens.

Creating an overload? Why? You come out with the ball at your feet ready to cross and there's no one there to take it.  We don't have an Erling Haaland who can do it on his own, we need several players in there to make something happen.

IMO.

Anyhow, good 3 points, very welcome.

[KentExile]

10 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

For me the back up keeper situation is a bit of a special case. These guys typically never get on the pitch so if our top wage going forward is (say) £10k p.w. then Im a bit uncomfortable with the reserve keeper earning that not to play (or even more if he got a new deal before the wage cap was imposed). Id have said the same about Toth if Pears had never been dropped.

 

Your reasoning is sound, obviously with that pay cap we cannot and will not be paying a reserve (keeper or otherwise) £10K/week

Which is why we will end up with a cheap foreign punt (once Toth goes elsewhere for double his current wage, as he will not be signing for longer on £10K/week) with Goddard/Michalski as backup.

Pears will obviously need to be sold too, in case the cheap foreign punt is any good, so that he doesn't ask for a wage rise quite so soon

Edited 1 hour ago by KentExile

[KentExile]

14 minutes ago, TimmyJimmy said:

Creating an overload? Why? You come out with the ball at your feet ready to cross and there's no one there to take it.  We don't have an Erling Haaland who can do it on his own, we need several players in there to make something happen.

IMO.

Anyhow, good 3 points, very welcome.

We could always try to create an overload in the opposition box 😉