Groundhog

🤣 Correct me if I'm wrong but they didn't mention Dolan's offside, hardly a review. Funny that. - - - - But, great review from the Second Tier pod - surprisingly pro-Rovers, criticise the officials, the offside decision, and didn't think Big Mak deserved to go: https://www.secondtierpod.co.uk/podcast/episode/72dfa2ad/taking-le-bris-second-tier-weekend-show

You can hear the Burnley fans jeering thinking that it's gone over in real time too. The shot from behind him as he cuts across is amazing. Burnley fans calling it a "hit and hope". Give it up.

I felt like we were a rabbit in the headlights. It's why I'm proud of the team. They've got 14 years of pressure weighing on them and Burnley's players were faster, stronger and scarier and desperate to start well. For me it all stemmed from the little shove that Beck got, and we got stuck in then, 1-0 down, under the cosh, possibly on the end of another embarrassment, and a case of reaching rock bottom before you can crawl out of it. Wiemann's goal calmed us down and we started fighting. Unfortunately I live and work in Burnley territory, and due to some penance, possibly in a former life, I've married into a Burnley family (In my defence, I was part of some government scheme to try and improve the gene pool and reduce hospital admissions so go easy). I do the school run and the Burnley dads were quiet this morning. Last time after the 3-0 they all came out of the woodwork gloating, (even someone I'd never met, in front of my kid, called me a "fucking bastard"). Not so sure this morning, all I got was "you created nothing" which is what I've heard all over the internet too, I don't know where they are getting this from. Apart from the first 15-20 where they looked frightening, Burnley were totally toothless and created nothing in the second half. 3 shots on target each, and none of those from Burnley came after we went down to 10. We had the better chances to win it, and had the ball in the net twice. Great post. Sums it up perfectly. It's really very odd. These guys are crying over the toughness of the Championship, like you said, I thought they were proud of the their roots and supposed "little old Burnley status" and toughness. They also seem to be glowing about their performance, the football they played. Before Big Mak got sent off, the game was open, we may have lost 3-1, 3-2 but some parity was being reached. Teams are allowed to soak up pressure and hit teams at home on the break, it's a normal thing to do and not something to be ashamed of, you can't gloat about your team being the Championship Barca and then accuse the opposition of sitting deep. Accusing us of parking the buss and falling over, and "if that was us I'd be embarrassed". An absolute joke this and sums up their smugness: If Burnley in the Prem were a force to be reckoned with, rather than one 7th placed finish and a load of toil and struggle, they would have some right to class themselves as some sort of footballing cultural elite, but they're just not, sorry. One season of wonder under Kompany, signing a load of tricky Belgian lads, has gone to their heads. I do fully expect them to improve and start putting teams to the sword however, just by default with the level of player they have, but we'll see how the signings bed-in during the bleak West Yorkshire winter. To assume that they'll walk the league, and take the piss out of our little side for our tactics, with both clubs now teetering on the edge of financial issues is foolish - it could come back to bite them.

Great stuff I hope you thanked him for his touchline coaching / shithousery antics on Saturday! Hard to see on the TV but can anyone who went tell us a bit more what he was up to? I saw him "accidently" kick the ball away, good stuff. Edit: just found some full match highlights - I missed him stood there whilst watching as was so f****** sick and nervous pacing about, he's basically stood in line with our defence barking orders. Makes a mockery of the technical area but bollocks to it. Good lad Fadz. Love it. I know it doesn't seem like much but it's such a relief to have some normal, experienced championship heads at the club for once.

Inject that into my veins Priceless

Anyone up for an East Lancs play-off battle? That would be fun wouldn't it? 🤣 (I want to caveat this by saying I think anything above mid table is a good season for us in the circumstances, but we can all dream, not getting carried away - our small squad will put paid to any of that)

Yeah you just need to read this thread to see the true level of disillusionment: https://www.uptheclarets.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=77292&sid=761fea8b59e3f4110386cdc1e37e9e7d There's also talk of how dominant they were, we had the most clear cut chances in the 2nd half, and after the sending off weren't we the ones to actually register a shot on target? They were completely blunt up front. Benson falling over on the touchline on 96mins summed it up. All the talk too of how their players needed to settle, our best performance came from a player who had been at the club for 2 days... Lots of them seem to think we're tinpot for celebrating a draw. If you can't celebrate a hard point with 10 men away from home, after all the talk that they were going to hammer us, after being 2nd best for 10 years, with a bench that cost more than our squad - then maybe try a different sport... any Rovers fan under 30 won't have known a time when we were on top. Football comes in waves and it needs some perspective. It was more of an outpouring of relief that the team turned up and fought more than anything. We all want a competitive derby in East Lancashire. On the game, I'm really surprised they didn't do more to overlap down our flanks, to really get in behind, they never doubled up on us and kept going at Hedges and Beck - I thought they'd pass us to death and switch it about more. After the first 15 minutes it looked as if the game would only go one way, Brittain didn't bust that extra gut to get close, like a hot knife through butter, but after that, we suddenly showed some real steel and harried everything. Their goal typifies our big weakness this season, we are guilty of being too relaxed and capable of falling asleep at the back - Hyam actually ran with Foster for a bit then just marked the space, frustrating. He recovered well though and I hope that puts to bed the nightmare of the last encounter down there.

I'm sorry I can't find the post to quote but someone said that although Gueye should know the rules, it's ok for the opposition to crowd the ref and verbally express they'd like a booking, and for someone else to do it with a hand gesture - frustrating, especially as the first wasn't anywhere near a yellow. And also I read another post re Beck that I agree with - after a soft 10 minutes for the whole side, a Burnley player gave a little shove to Beck into the advertising hoardings, it seemed to trigger something and after that he started fighting, he rose to it. Well played Owen 👏

Haha Dingles complaining we parked the bus - get over yourselves, they've turned into a right smug bench, entitled or what. Also seen comments the ref let us get away with certain antics, my oh my how deluded. We needed that goal, calmed our nerves, started doing the basics better after that. Parker complaining players had no chance to train: may I present Owen Beck...

Very, very proud of the lads, that's all we wanted - Eustace will have loved digging that one out. Could have won it. Owen Beck take a bow, Warnock MK2. Surprised how toothless them lot were. Delighted we got stuck in. Build on this lads. COYB

I'm glad we're getting stuck in - get into these soft bastards

If we get the two pacey wingers this window then I think that's a real positive, and I'm finally glad that Eustace, Park, Rudy whoever, has recognised we need pace in the team. Until we signed Maktar there was no one in that team that would scare me as an opposition player. I love Dolan, JRC, and they have their role - almost feel like family now after so many years of watching them, but we need players who can tear apart the opposition, no one has pace. I'm fed up of watching it done to us! When Maktar is on we've seen that teams naturally start retreating and facing the wrong way. If we can get some danger in this team then our backline can only improve as a result too.

Yeah me too, think he would have been a flop in all honesty.

That game was an utter disgrace, one which many will never forget. JDT totally downplayed it, VK didn't. I had to look at the team the other to remind myself and time away hasn't made it any better. Morton. Ayala. Mola. Throw in an ineffective Diaz, a powderpuff Hyam and it was a recipe for disaster (I'll never forgive Diaz for some of those phoned-in performances that season).

Listen you Dingles, the daughter of the chairman has told all you to be kind. That starts on Saturday with an easy 3 points to us, thanks in advance. Love thy neighbours and all that.

It isn't a stretch of the imagination to say that Rovers will have at least 4-5 hours between the window shutting 11pm tomorrow night and the build up to the game to work out who the hell is starting for you and prepare accordingly. But yes I get what you mean. Of course, I hope we just turn up, keep it tight and defend well regardless of who you have left. It looked like you might lose Koleosho and Foster at one point, but I imagine they will start now, unless there's late bids. We are a known quantity, big lad and a little lad up front, semi-broken Welsh lad on wing, Icelandic lad who may nor may not turn up. Petulant lad in middle who is ineffective on a booking. Dodgy keeper and powder puff centre half. No pace. Easy peasy. To have a chance we need 8 or 9/10 performances across the board and some sort of game plan to stop you. Eustace did it last season against bigger teams. Whoever is left after the window is shut will want to kick on presumably, unless there in a massive sulk, and the derby game is as good as any.

Sensible signing, not going to set the world alight but adds experience and cover. Cannot expect Trav and Sonny to last a whole season. Just need bodies in there.

Eustace always downplays this stuff. I think he just wants to get on with his job, but as fans though we're so starved of any decent communication that we hang on every word, just want someone from the club to actually tell us what the hell is going on.

I can't relax knowing we've got the ability to concede 2 goals in the game. We have a special ability to gift goals out of nowhere, and we seem to switch off really easily. We need a few 6/10s to become 8, 9/10s fast. We're going to have see a monumental improvement of our backline to get a result. What concerns me is the wildcard nature of their team, I feel Eustace could have prepared against a settled "known quantity" Burnley side, we might have possibly pulled a Leeds or Leicester result out of the hat by riding our luck, but who knows what side they'll put out. Any new signings will want to impress, enthusiastically encouraged by a boisterous home crowd. However, those backs-against-the-wall performances last season weirdly seem a million miles away and we seemed to have lost discipline at the back. If the game is open we may end up committing men forward and leaving our slow defence exposed, but conversely I hope that makes for a total free-for-all and a wide open game, as I don't think our nerves can hack a cat and mouse affair. All I know is we've got to give Gueye something to work with in the air, keep their centre halves busy and pushed back, and we may have a foothold in the game. I hope that our lads who experienced the last game at Ewood are really hurting and are wanting to prove a point, and also, are they even those kinds of players? Do they hurt? Do they care about it? Only time will tell. It will be really interesting to see how we react, we'll know a lot more about them. I also weirdly hope that on the flip side, that the new players like Ohashi don't give a flying fuck about the crowd, the occasion and the pressure, and just play with all the vigour and verve they've shown so far. It's the hope that kills you. COYB. Do us proud.

Gueye is bonkers, one minute clearly frustrated at the lack of service then next high-fiving with a beaming smile after Wiemann put it narrowly wide. Love it, but please Buckley, try and bend one through to him...

I think playing the new boys early on is tough, the worst time to play them - their tails are up, they have nothing to lose and they haven't been mired by the slog through January that drags all the teams with thin squads down. I was dreading these two fixtures if I'm honest, actually felt sick with nerves on Saturday knowing what a defeat meant in the build up to the derby.

He's probably one of our most mysterious players of recent times. I get the feeling, and this is pure conjecture, that JE has said to Arnor that he has to play a certain way and reach a certain standard and he'll have a part to play. I don't think tracking back and being positionally perfect is in his locker, but he makes up for it with natural talent on the ball. I get the impression he has a great attitude though, he's suffered with injury and also perhaps has had to adapt his body, many times he seems to be playing "within himself". I think it's taken time for him to also adaprt to the rough and tumble of the league. But not once has he seemed to have ever moaned or downed tools. We take him for granted, but if you're an Oxford fan on Saturday you're putting the defeat down to the fact that Rovers can bring an Icelandic international off the bench.

We're one deep winter injury crisis from disaster - and we don't have any pace. The only difference with the bench is with options, not necessarily cover. We're also relying on Pickering and Brittain heavily, with only Duru as a like for like backup, and then needing to use JRC and Wiemann to cover all sorts of eventualities. We're just about scraping by, JE knows it.

First time seeing him play on Saturday. His enthusiasm and smile are infectious, can't help thinking that his very presence within the squad is worth it alone, regardless of first touch or shooting ability. Loved the way he was on Brittain's case after 2 minutes for a crap cross. Get it on his head, he seems to back himself. He feels like a player who I've seen play against us, making me say "wish we had someone like that". I feel like we've signed very similar players over the last 5 years due to our predicament, similar stage in their careers, similar temperament etc, similar backgrounds even - don't know about anyone else, but it's all about group dynamics - a character or someone from another country like Pape and Yuki can often give the others something to unite around, even take the piss out of when they pronounce words wrong in a friendly way and lighten the mood, take the pressure off. It probably sounds daft, but from my experience in working around Europe etc the best times have come from being around all sorts of people, backgrounds and nationalities, I've wanted to treat them better and impress them, rather than the same boring lot I see every day! Possibly a load of romantic bullshit but I feel it's true, you just need characters, a good dynamic and sometimes the team can manage itself... Time will tell, but so far so good. Just needs that league goal. I'm sure we'll have some dire games and some sublime ones. In a way JE has it easy - just tell him go to Turf Moor and score the winner and you'll basically be regarded as an utter legend by 30 odd thousand plus people for the rest of your life. Up there with the likes of Lee Williamson 🤣

I know it wasn't perfect on Saturday, but it dawned on me how long it had been since experiencing these once "normal" things: Going a goal behind and feeling like we could get back into this Actually standing up and cheering multiple subs on A sub coming on with experience, leaving me reassured "he'll know what to do with it" (Weimann) A winner, for us, in the last 10 minutes of a match, at Ewood Players looking like they might actually enjoy their jobs (Gueye & Yuki) A playing demanding a cross A headed flick on from a free kick or corner Madness. Though I admit our crossing was absolute shite, and good to see Big Mak haranguing Brittain after barely being on 2 minutes. My main concern was Dolan, I'm a fan of his, but having to cut in onto his right when he's got their fullback on toast kept holding up our attacks allowing their well drilled defense to get back - I would love to see him get to the by line and stand it up for Gueye. A lot of credit to Oxford, they got forward well and overan us in midfield, Tronstadt had a great game in terms of workrate, he's a real unsung hero but at times him and Travis were left marooned - it's been the one constant ever since AW left, we seem to get dominated in there.