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Rovers v Villa - 15th September 2018


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9 hours ago, LDRover said:

Hope I'm wrong on this but I think we've been sold a pup in Brereton. Movement was poor, ball retention poor and was lacking in pace and strength. Got to hope he improves..and fast.

We had three central strikers on at once when Brereton came on. He's 6ft 3in, and played on the right wing! If we needed a winger, why not sign one? Why try to make Brereton what he isn't and never will be? What's the use of Armstrong a central striker with his right foot on the left wing?

I'm sick of hearing that TM doesn't like wingers but prefers "wide forwards". We have a disjointed set-up and it isn't working. Back to basics for me and to hell with daft theories.

Agree Brereton did not impress but can't judge him till he plays in the position he was bought for.

Also, while I'm in the mood---why isn't Rothwell picked?

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I'm happy with a point but one surprising aspect for me was Brereton not replacing Graham. I don't think anybody foresaw him coming on for Evans to play wide right where in my opinion he was ineffective. I thought the idea of giving Conway a new deal was to come on as a substitute in situations like yesterday. And contrary to a few posts I thought we played a back five when Williams came on rather than a three to combative threat of Kodjia, Bolasie and Abraham.

I quite enjoyed the game and in the cold light of day thought the draw was fair despite the referee (with his kit two sizes too small) wanting to be centre stage with his errant decision making for both teams.

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29 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

There would have been ten Villa players in the six yard box... with their height and strength you have to play the percentages - the free kick was excellent and pretty much unstoppable.

Enjoyed the game though - if Villa are meant to be up there at the end of the season then surely we won’t be too far behind. Thought they were bang average and bloody lucky.

Liked Reed, he will give the out ball option better than Smallwood/Evans and should help cut out some of the Lenihan mistakes. 

Not sure DG is a starter, but was great second half.

Dack is an impudent genius and I bloody love him.

Roll on Tuesday - think it will be tougher.

Not on that side of goal there weren't and seeing as the wall is in that line of sight for the keeper it makes no difference whatsoever. Was a decent free kick of course but makes no logical sense to give him one whole side of goal to aim at when as soon as ref blows you could just drop someone in there... If anything, it will make his mind up that he will have to cross it instead... Which is what our defenders and keeper would prefer. I just don't get it.

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  • Backroom

May be harsh but thought Brereton had a bit of a Gallagher / Derbyshire moment  jusy before their goal.

Had the ball out wide and ran into danger then failed to win it back.

 

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12 hours ago, Stuart said:

You talk about a “disappointing goal” but fail to notice that it was coming because we invited pressure. Pressure that Mowbray brought on himself by asking attack minded players to drop deep and defend a lead for 20 minutes.

Not surprisingly I see it very differently, we changed shape prior to scoring the goal and I don’t think any manager would specifically set up a team to drop deep when winning by a small margin.

Its a reaction to the opposition moving further up the pitch. I sometimes think posters/viewers completely ignore that there are 2 teams in a match, not one.

Other observations, I thought Bell improved (flys in the face of your “picks his mates” comment or what ever that was) I thought Darragh and Mulgrew played well bar a couple of mistakes in a short spell first half. I also thought Smallwood was a one of the best players on the pitch for 60 minutes yesterday, and by his standing ovation - I don’t think I’m the only one.

If he’s not good enough at this level, what does that say about Villas lads who could barely compete with us in the centre?

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Sadly I couldn't make yesterday's match nor watch it live on TV due to family commitments. Itss a shame as I clearly missed a cracker, but here's my thoughts on the main issues after watching the quest highlights.

Dack's "goal" should've stood, was level with Hutton.

McGinn was already going down, but got caught by Smallwood's outstretched leg as he did. I think ref got it right, but we were v lucky.

Mulgrew lucky not to have a pen given against him for holding onto Jedinak, but I guess that type of thing happens half a dozen times a match. Now Mulgrew has been highlighted he will be a watched man so needs to be careful.

Mulgrew and Reed did brilliantly for Dack's goal. Mulgrew showed a couple of nice turns actually, and great freekick for Dack's "goal".

Think Grealish was fouled for their free kick. Naive from Reed, gave ref an easy decision to make.

Wall was too far over or short of a man or 2.  Can't tell from highlights if Raya tried to do more & wall ignored his instructions.

What a free kick it was. Fair play. Not sure if 2 more men in the wall could've stopped it, might've made the strike look even better.

That said, Nyambe ducked, should've done better.

Overall a good point, but the circumstances of it are a kick in the nads.

 

Some general points:

1 calendar year unbeaten at home. Wow. Wish I'd put a fiver on that! Well done all concerned.

Raya's a great young keeper; long way from finished article, but which keepers ever were at his age?

Nyambe & Bell progressing well.

Reed sounds like a cracking acquisition.

Brereton needs time. Hope fans give it him, and that he gets chances in his favoured central role. Only probably had half a dozen training sessions with the squad due to England involvement.  He celebrated the goal as hard as everyone else, which hopefully is a sign he's bought into Mowbray's ethos.

Lenihan needs longer studs.

Dack needs new boots; maybe spangly sparkly ones to show off his twinkle toes even brighter. That Cruyff turn (when off balance) then nutmeg were stunning, shame about the cross. Not to mention the cheeky click for his goal.

Mowbray - far from a tactical genius or a maverick, but has proved to be a perfect fit for the club. Brought humility, decency & pragmatism to the club when we most needed it, and has pleasantly surprised me in doing so as I confess I was underwhelmed when he was announced. Knows how to build a team / squad to grow for the longer term, and get players to gel and fight for each other. It's a great environment to grow a team in & for young players to develop.

I've really enjoyed this season so far, and am looking forward to seeing how far we can go in the coming 2-3 years. 

COYB!!!

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  • Backroom

People are too quick to blame Raya for that free kick imo. Watch it again.

Aside from being a great strike, Raya was telling Charlie where to position that wall and was being ignored. Then when it was being taken, you can see Charlie leaning into the wall (away from the flight of the ball).

If I were Mowbray I'd be asking what the hell Captain Fantastic was thinking. He cost us those points imo.

If he'd been where Raya tried to put him, that ball couldn't have gone where it did 

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11 minutes ago, Atko's Engine said:

Sadly I couldn't make yesterday's match nor watch it live on TV due to family commitments. Itss a shame as I clearly missed a cracker, but here's my thoughts on the main issues after watching the quest highlights.

Dack's "goal" should've stood, was level with Hutton.

McGinn was already going down, but got caught by Smallwood's outstretched leg as he did. I think ref got it right, but we were v lucky.

Mulgrew lucky not to have a pen given against him for holding onto Jedinak, but I guess that type of thing happens half a dozen times a match. Now Mulgrew has been highlighted he will be a watched man so needs to be careful.

Mulgrew and Reed did brilliantly for Dack's goal. Mulgrew showed a couple of nice turns actually, and great freekick for Dack's "goal".

Think Grealish was fouled for their free kick. Naive from Reed, gave ref an easy decision to make.

Wall was too far over or short of a man or 2.  Can't tell from highlights if Raya tried to do more & wall ignored his instructions.

What a free kick it was. Fair play. Not sure if 2 more men in the wall could've stopped it, might've made the strike look even better.

That said, Nyambe ducked, should've done better.

Overall a good point, but the circumstances of it are a kick in the nads.

 

Some general points:

1 calendar year unbeaten at home. Wow. Wish I'd put a fiver on that! Well done all concerned.

Raya's a great young keeper; long way from finished article, but which keepers ever were at his age?

Nyambe & Bell progressing well.

Reed sounds like a cracking acquisition.

Brereton needs time. Hope fans give it him, and that he gets chances in his favoured central role. Only probably had half a dozen training sessions with the squad due to England involvement.  He celebrated the goal as hard as everyone else, which hopefully is a sign he's bought into Mowbray's ethos.

Lenihan needs longer studs.

Dack needs new boots; maybe spangly sparkly ones to show off his twinkle toes even brighter. That Cruyff turn (when off balance) then nutmeg were stunning, shame about the cross. Not to mention the cheeky click for his goal.

Mowbray - far from a tactical genius or a maverick, but has proved to be a perfect fit for the club. Brought humility, decency & pragmatism to the club when we most needed it, and has pleasantly surprised me in doing so as I confess I was underwhelmed when he was announced. Knows how to build a team / squad to grow for the longer term, and get players to gel and fight for each other. It's a great environment to grow a team in & for young players to develop.

I've really enjoyed this season so far, and am looking forward to seeing how far we can go in the coming 2-3 years. 

COYB!!!

I would add that it is enjoyable to watch the Rovers again.

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Can only echo a few points covered by others, an enjoyable watch at Ewood yesterday. We played out a good game against a team that should have realistically walked all over us, but the tenacity and fight we have instilled in us meant that didn't happen, we are certainly far more LABORE than ARTE but by god it feels great to have at least one of those after the hell of the previous years.

Things can obviously improve, we have 3 strikers trying to fit into 1 position and it is a real dilemma as none of them hold the ball up as well as Graham but they both have attributes that Graham doesn't have. We could probably all agree that playing them on the wing isn't the answer, the first half particularly Bell was regularly left two on one after Armstrong gave the ball away cheaply. Mowbray is paid the money to come up with the answer to that problem though.

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1 hour ago, arbitro said:

I'm happy with a point but one surprising aspect for me was Brereton not replacing Graham. I don't think anybody foresaw him coming on for Evans to play wide right where in my opinion he was ineffective. I thought the idea of giving Conway a new deal was to come on as a substitute in situations like yesterday. And contrary to a few posts I thought we played a back five when Williams came on rather than a three to combative threat of Kodjia, Bolasie and Abraham.

I quite enjoyed the game and in the cold light of day thought the draw was fair despite the referee (with his kit two sizes too small) wanting to be centre stage with his errant decision making for both teams.

Without doubt we went 5-4-1 for the last 10 minutes. The strange thing was we put Bennett wide left and left Dack and Reed in the middle of the park. It was at that point we started conceding possession in midfield and dropping deeper. I know it's not allowed as an opinion but I think Mowbray got it wrong. He'd have been better sticking Brereton up front with Graham and at least offering an 'out' ball. Brereton did literally nothing but lose the ball, he also offered nothing defensively. It was Nyambe who had to keep going out to close Taylor down. 

 

That's how I saw it anyway but I may be wrong?

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1 hour ago, Biz said:

If he’s not good enough at this level, what does that say about Villas lads who could barely compete with us in the centre?

I'm not sure that's accurate. I thought McGinn played well for them and Grealish had a lot of the ball. I also Jedinak was very good..... but I do agree Smallwood played well and does a lot more than people credit him with. The gaps started opening up when he went off knackered after running himself into the ground. He offer so much protection to the defence. Abraham started picking the ball up deep when Smallwood went off because there was a lot of space there. According to Sharpe he also made more tackles and had the highest pass completion on the pitch bar Grealish. He was dreadful against Reading but I think he's been good in the two other home games. Unfortunately he's turning into the pantomime villain at the moment on here.  

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4 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Without doubt we went 5-4-1 for the last 10 minutes. The strange thing was we put Bennett wide left and left Dack and Reed in the middle of the park. It was at that point we started conceding possession in midfield and dropping deeper. I know it's not allowed as an opinion but I think Mowbray got it wrong. He'd have been better sticking Brereton up front with Graham and at least offering an 'out' ball. Brereton did literally nothing but lose the ball, he also offered nothing defensively. It was Nyambe who had to keep going out to close Taylor down. 

 

That's how I saw it anyway but I may be wrong?

That was pretty much the concencus of the people I go with and the fans on the bus going home. As we dropped deeper we gave Villa the initiative to get at us. Grealish started to find more room and we were under the cosh. I would rather have packed midfield during this period than the defence to deny the likes of Hourahane and Grealish any space,

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12 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Without doubt we went 5-4-1 for the last 10 minutes. The strange thing was we put Bennett wide left and left Dack and Reed in the middle of the park. It was at that point we started conceding possession in midfield and dropping deeper. I know it's not allowed as an opinion but I think Mowbray got it wrong. He'd have been better sticking Brereton up front with Graham and at least offering an 'out' ball. Brereton did literally nothing but lose the ball, he also offered nothing defensively. It was Nyambe who had to keep going out to close Taylor down. 

 

That's how I saw it anyway but I may be wrong?

When I saw Williams coming on I feared the worst.

Personally, I'd have taken DG off, Brereton replace him up top and brought Rothwell on.

Edited by Doug
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For me Reed highlighted a big problem we have had for years. When he came on he offered the back four protection but also offered the attack support. Evans, Smallwood and many before have done the defensive side but don't offer anywhere near enough attacking threat. At this level I think you have to be able to offer both consistently. I thought rothwell showed in the games I have seen he has the capability to do both and Reed looks like the addition we have been missing for quite some time

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1 hour ago, Mike E said:

People are too quick to blame Raya for that free kick imo. Watch it again.

Aside from being a great strike, Raya was telling Charlie where to position that wall and was being ignored. Then when it was being taken, you can see Charlie leaning into the wall (away from the flight of the ball).

If I were Mowbray I'd be asking what the hell Captain Fantastic was thinking. He cost us those points imo.

If he'd been where Raya tried to put him, that ball couldn't have gone where it did 

Sorry Mike, shifting any blame onto Mulgrew for the position of the wall doesn’t really stand up. Raya is responsible for the position of the wall because only he can line it up properly. The ref wouldn’t have allowed the free kick to be taken until Raya was ready.  I’d bet my bottom dollar the keeper and defence will work on the positioning of the wall in training over the next few days. Yes,  it was a great strike, but it was preventable that’s the point.

Other than that, I can only say this current rovers side should be very capable of competing in this league against any club. I doubt any side will relish coming here. 

 

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Raya was caught flat footed. You could see by his body language that the shot took him by surprise. I think he will learn from it. He just didn't come up against players who could do that in league 1. The wall was fine, Raya should have been a foot to his right. Hourihane could only put it in that corner. I wasnt expected the shot either to be honest 

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At the end of the day we were done yesterday. Dacks first goal was well onside. If we scored then we would have went on to score again I reckon. We were dominating the game. 

Their penalty claim extremely dodgy. Mcginn lost his own balance before he fell into Smallwood

In fairness, the ref and linesmen were shite. Let's not call it anything else 

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Was at a wedding yesterday and the internet signal was poor. I managed to get a few updates, saw that we went 1-0 and then saw the full time result. 

Disappointing but Villa are a strong team (on paper at least), it was a good free kick from them to be fair.

Got to make sure it doesn’t deflate us too much and we can pick ourselves up and go again. 

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