Blue blood
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Posts posted by Blue blood
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5 hours ago, Sweaty Gussets said:
I think Mowbray said if he had sold Rothwell he had a couple of players lined up - Dembele and Wallace (Millwall) from memory.
Blimey! That is a swap I would do! Dembele is decent, and Wallace was excellent at Millwall and a good swap in itself. Aside from the eggs being in more baskets that's improving the squad. Mare to miss out on this alone.
Mind you with Giles whacked onto the right I dare say they would have been rendered pointless by Dembele being in net and Wallace at centre back...
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1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:
😂 Now 99, that's not fair as it doesn't provide any context to what Lampard has achieved.
It makes no reference to the fact he had a ton of Chelsea's promising youth at Derby or that Chelsea won the CL the season he was sacked. He just sounds pretty average according to this.
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I don't think my previous post conveyed how weak I think the PL is this year. Look at the bottom 7.
Southampton - after years of doing nothing with average players and managers it's no surprise they are bottom.
Wolves - seem to have lost their way. Without getting the manager right and some Portuguese talent through their connections (harder when slipping down the league) they're going to struggle.
Forest - impressive to be promoted but you can't whack in that many players and expect success. Like with QPR before mass change never does well.
West Ham - surprising given the talent they have but maybe Moyes, like so many managers at so many clubs, has overstayed his welcome and gone stale.
Everton - years of mismanagement has left a weak squad and they've a manager who struggles to be mediocre. No surprise they are struggling.
Bournmouth - championship level squad and manager.
Leeds - living in the shadow of Bielsa-ball which when the novelty has worn off isn't that effective.
Leicester - when you see your best players go or continue to age and don't improve the squad you are going to have issues.
Picking 3 from that lot to go down is a tough ask. All like they seem to be trying to get relegated. I imagine west ham have the quality to stay up, especially with a freshening in the managerial hottest, l but for the rest? They all should be very nervous.
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Having looked at the prem table I was shocked by how poorly so many teams are doing and how many relegation candidates there are. My word what a time to go up. So many of the big clubs struggling, half a dozen teams striving to get relegated. It's a great time to get yourselves established. And shocking how poor the lower half of the prem is.
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3 hours ago, yellowsubmarine said:
Don't think we will finish 3rd. Happy with a playoff spot.
The points needed for 6th place in the last 5 seasons are around >70 points. We are still about 30 points away, which means we need 10 wins from the last 20. The fastest we get to that the better. I don't believe our football philosophy will change drastically now, so let's just scrape as many points as we can. We definitely need Diaz to start firing again or JDT to bring in a striker who can score goals.
Looking at the last half dozen games I think our win rate of late is more like 1 in 3. That would see us with 7 wins and short of what's needed.
I appreciate that's a bit of an arbitrary place to slice the cake so to speak, 6 games, but it is a worrying niggle I have.
What makes it more challenging is there a load of sides with momentum, who it seems will pick up a lot of points. Boro and WBA spring to mind. After that there are a lot of others that are pushing hard too - clubs with good budgets who are inconsistent like Watford and Norwich, as well as some canny teams making the most of their resources like Millwall, PNE and Luton.
One positive of late is that we have beaten weaker/out of form teams. So with the fixtures we have over the next few games (Rotherham and Blackpool I think?) we could really give ourselves a boost and ease the pressure for later on in the season.
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2 hours ago, Hasta said:
Brittain has been decent when he plays. Not sure he’s an upgrade on Nyambe but in the position the new team found themselves in he was a good signing.
Hyam has been a good signing when we needed a solid Championship defender. I’d rather have managed to grab JPVH as I think he is a level above and could improve. Had we got him it would have been an investment, which Hyam isn’t. However he is an upgrade on Lenihan so that can be seen as a good signing.
Morton is a funny one. Started off looking a good loan signing, but during this terrible run starting with the Burnley game is has been poor. Teams seem to play past him easily and he gets drawn to the ball instead of his man often. He’s ok, but I’d rather the loans either filled gaps or added something special. In this case he may well be blocking what we already have who may well be as good. Probably needs a spell out the side.
Szmodics looks a good league one player to me who struggles to have an impact at this level. At £1.8million plus any add ones I’m not sure it was the best use of resources.
Mola has gradually been exposed as pretty terrible.
George Hirst has also looked terrible. If you watch his Portsmouth highlights you’d be surprised it’s the same player, but he just cannot do anything on or off the ball to create anything. At least I’ve seen glimpses from Vale. I’ve seen nothing from Hirst. One thing that isn’t his fault was the “he was our number one target” quote. Can’t remember if it was GB or JDT who said it, but I bet they wished they hadn’t as it doesn’t reflect well on their summer efforts.
Therefore I’d say from the summer two good, one ok, one underwhelming and 2 poor.
An excellent summary which I think most would struggle to argue with. Only things I would add are:
Brittain being able to play lb in our squad is another plus for him. I always say we can't afford to carry injury prone players and his appearance record is hovering just above making him not worth the money. Like Ayala a club like ours cannot afford numerous players, with long layoffs even for top quality. However as it's hovering above that I'd say it's a good signing, albeit one which was unnecessary if we had treated Nayambe better but that's not on the player.
Szmodics I think will be judged in light of how much is spent (by us and other teams) over the next couple of transfer windows. If we don't spend much in Jan or next summer than it looks a poor transfer. Certainly if we say had picked up £6 million for Bereton and Szmodics was a third of that you'd feel it's not been reinvested that well. However he's done ok, shown some promise and from the comments when he signed seems to fit the blueprint. So lots of reasons to be optimistic too.
Morton imo is a waste as he's not good enough to really enhance the team so just blocks out own players progression. Hard to measure but I feel the missed opportunity costs with him are going to be huge. Plus we all know we needed a hard man with experience in there.
I think when you consider what resources we have available then it looks not that well spent. To have only 2 qualified successes in there is a poor return. A bit of leeway is given for the paper thin squad inherited and the late appointment, but still...
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14 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:
BBD wasn't unusual case but he was barely starting and playing. after Covid he was a different player and one who has become a fan favourite and proven he has quality for this level.
Sorry Chaddy but this simply isn't true. There has never been a player in Rovers history, and I suspect any other club too, where a player has cost a huge amount of the budget, done nothing for 2 seasons, not come good till the 4th, all at the same club. I cannot think of a single example. Often the player is shipped out, sometimes the manager carries the can. Never can I think of someone breaking the bank and taking 4 seasons to come good, and a club in waiting that long.
Even if there is a case or two (and I'm pretty certain there aren't) the fact it's not commonplace shows it is unusual. And you can't build a case on the exception not the rule.
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Blimey. In this league alone we have had Rhodes, Gestede and Graham, and even Armstrong, and yet there's satisfaction at the performance and ability of Hirst. No wonder the club is going backwards.
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45 minutes ago, davulsukur said:
Possibly, a quick Google shows this guy to be a 32 year old Norwegian striker.
Had his contract cancelled at Cardiff after just 1 year (6 months of which were on loan at Celtic).
Assume he has more about him than goals, as his record looks reasonably poor.
Some players are. Jason Roberts springs to mind. Made such a pest of himself he was worth another 5-10 goals to the team on top of what he got himself.
Wouldn't mind if some of our forwards were of that ilk. Problem is the likes of Hirst and Vale don't score or contribute to others scoring either.
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30 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:
He has played 14 games in 24 games is hardly always injured it. His last injury was unfortunate
That's about a 60% availability rate. That's really not good at all. It's definitely injury prone especially when you consider it's lots of little injuries rather than one long layoff.
30 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:Our right back JRC today was our best player and he kept Jack Clarke in his pocket all game
A huge positive from a crap result. Surprised as thought the lad had lost his way. Here's hoping he can start to reach some of the potential he showed.
30 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:I don't think you will sign better full backs than we already have. Of course we should improved the quality of the squad all the time season after season
You can always with effort find better quality. Certainly as a mid table championship club. Takes work and nous mind. Whether we have enough of that is another debate but the potential is always there to improve.
Mind you when the guy is missing so many games it's not hard to improve on not being on the pitch.
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1 hour ago, Dreams of 1995 said:
Woahhhh, just pulling the agent card here. At 29 I’ve got plenty of playing days ahead of me 😉
All jokes aside it is a tad insulting to be talking about him like that but like you I struggle to see what Hirst offers. I have genuinely seen better movement and forward play at much lower levels of football than he is at
That £5m seems like £500m comparatively. It absolutely cannot be spent - unless he has a storming end of season but I can’t see it myself.
I think part of our frustration is that he's clearly not at the level the club are pitching him to be at, whether that's our number 1 strike target, £5 million of talent, or even potential, or even just championship ready.
I know it was a few years ago but Gally cost £5 million. I don't think Gally is all that but he is streets ahead of Hirst. Comparatively even taking inflation into account, it shows we could, no should, do much better than Hirst for £5 million.
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3 hours ago, Dreams of 1995 said:
If we can't send Hirst back to Leicester do you think we could take over his loan for my Sunday morning team?
Our current striker - 14 goals in 6 league games now - has decided he's better off travelling Thailand for 4 weeks in January. Selfish prick.
As a result, our extremely good but not-so-committed substitute striker, has been forced to sign a 4 week compulsory attendance contract and so we will need a substitute striker to replace him
We have options, but Hirst might just do a job in the last 10 or 15
That's about all I have for him
Maybe your star striker's Thailand trip is an excuse? Perhaps he is questioning your managerial ability, if you think Hirst is up to a cameo appearance? 😉
Seriously though not sure of any redeeming features of the lad and I worry for anyone in the club who thinks he can be one of our strikers.
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9 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:
How do these players get from being untested to being test unless we play them?
A few ideas:
1) Loans - the right loan can make a player, look at Wharton.
2) Gradual introduction - if they are expected to be stepping up immediately to fill places like a seasoned pro that's a lot of pressure and expectation. In many cases too it can be unrealistic. I think introducing them slowly with less pressure and expectation, where less is dependant on them will help ease them in more.
3) Don't do it all at once. My biggest gripe with our youth is all of them are expected to step up at once. That's never going to happen and adds more pressure to the youngsters and more demands as they are all trying to adjust at the same time. I'd just try blooding in a couple each half season. Otherwise you are making it way more difficult for them.
We have to use youth. It's out biggest USP imo. However I think it's equally vital we have to do it correctly.
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26 minutes ago, Mr. E said:
I feel as disillusioned with football as I have ever been. Only oil money and billionaires win club football. And with the success of Argentina, Italy, Portugal it seems mostly just lying, diving, cheating football wins international competitions. That's the true key to success.
What's the point?
Agree. Ruins the game when the team best at cheating wins. Sure Messi is amazing but a big part of their win is their cheating ways. Gutted.
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It's an odd one. You don't get 3rd after 20+ games by fluke. That just doesn't happen. And even if it's a false position/fortuitous it won't be wildly inaccurate, we'd probably be looking top 6 or 8.
That said the amount of wallopings we have had isn't a fluke either. That's not a bad day at the office, that's a repeated pattern of woeful performances. That cannot be ignored either.
So where does that leave us? A bit like concentrated Mowbray imo, we've gone from inconsistent WDL to more WLWL. Same stubbornness as well, albeit to play a certain style of suicidal football as oppose to the tombola and players out of position. Without the league 1 promotion and with the defeats being bigger it seems to put this in a more painful light.
My big worries are that it's more likely the fine margins of the wins leave before the hammerings change to draws (or even wins). Add in any team can get a fluke goal and we haven't come back from going behind once and I feel if the margins are to swing, they are going to swing negatively for us. Factor in as well the squad is still worryingly thin and over reliant on youth and you feel the wheels could come off very quickly. Time will tell and 3rd earns JDT enough time to rectify things but I feel we may be seeing a repeat of TMs possession football season, only this time with a much weaker squad. Like last time it'll probably end with mid table and regrets over what might have been.
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5 hours ago, Upside Down said:
So in January we need to bring in a couple of decent midfielders, some cover for the fullbacks, a decent target man who can hold up the ball, a new marketing team, a new manager, a new CEO and hopefully some new owners.
Get new owners and the rest will sort itself out by shaping up or shipping out.
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On 11/12/2022 at 22:00, Wheelton Blue said:
Tell that to the Lionesses.
On 11/12/2022 at 22:03, chaddyrovers said:has a foreign coach ever won the world cup of a country?
Chaddy you can't just ignore evidence that contradicts your points! It's poor etiquette.
Also you are contradicting yourself as part of your championing of Southgate was him getting us to the finals of the Euros! It looks a bit daft to have the Euros count as part of your pro Southgate stance, but not for the Lionesses.
Also whilst the answer to your question is no, a foreign coach has won the Euros in the men's with Greece.
Edit - Fwiw I think there is an interesting point in there. Most success has come from countries having managers of the same nationality. Of course that has to be balanced out with most of the times the winners are the best footballing nations and therefore have the best players and managers available but it's food for thought. Maybe we should be looking at how weaker nations do with foreign coaches va same nation? There's an interesting discussion here, so no need to ignore the other side of it 🙂
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It's the lack of consistency that gets me. VAR have given softer penalties than that this tournament. When there's no consistency it's a pointless exercise having it.
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7 minutes ago, arbitro said:
Every league match we have gone behind we have lost. When Nobbers scored their opening goal today the conversation around where I sit was it was game over.
That is utterly appalling and simply shouldn't happen. Speaks volumes about the team and manager.
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On the warm weather training debate, we just got back from NZ today and my word I've never been so cold. It's been a heck of a contrast shifting from sun to snow/sleet. Makes me think that probably the cold is noticed more when you've had a very recent contrast.
As for the game itself it's the batterings when we lose that worry me. Fine margins can swing either way but when you are battered each time you lose, that's a very challenging one to turn around. We are as a team a one trick pony, which is only going to get increasingly found out. I'm worried too how often we lose when we go behind. Haven't got the stats but general recollection tells me they are pretty appalling. This suggests we lack mental resiliance as well as anything remotely resembling plan B.
A couple of other random thoughts:
Is Brittan.an injury prone player? He seems to be out a lot of is that just my random assumption.
Secondly I think we have too many points already on the board combined with a very tight league meaning that we are safe regardless of JDTs aversion to alternative plans.
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16 hours ago, K-Hod said:
I’m not sure they’d be as keen, but they will probably be swayed if they’re struggling for coin in the same way as the others.
And struggling for trophies. Only bit of prestige manure and spurs will get for starters. And Arsenal.havent had much either of late, although that might change this year.
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7 minutes ago, AllRoverAsia said:
It's not so much that VAR gets decisions wrong but rather that those decisions are 'manufactured', I would say corrupt but I'm far too polite.
I did wonder this. Had it not been 6-1 I do wonder would it have been looked at.
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2 minutes ago, RoverDom said:
That is outrageous use of VAR
It's a consistency thing. How on earth that's a penalty but the first one isn't is beyond me. I don't mind what the standard is as long as it consistent. Honestly not sure how VAR officials can look people in the eye. Terrible decisions.
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Maguire lost his man for the goal. Goodness knows what he will be like against better opposition.
Team has looked pretty bright going forward. Can only beat what's Infront of you.
Fútbol, Le Foot, Voetbal, ποδόσφαιρο
in Blackburn Rovers Fans Messageboard
Posted
Yes I read this, and it all seems rather crazy.
The more I read on it the more it seems the senior Reynas are a lot of trouble. Domestic violence is totally wrong and I deplore it. This two issues however seem to me to be separate.
I mean their son was badly behaved at the tournament. His fault he didn't get in the team and maybe they should have looked closer to home as to the issue he wasn't in the team. Revealing this now is just an act of spite rather than any moral justification for it. And it's probably - given the severity of the issue - cost the coach his career. It's unpleasant and vindictive.
Mind you Reyna jr won't have an easy time either. It's drawn more attention both to his poor attitude and the baggage that comes with his interfering parents.
What a circus.