Burnley v. Watford and Sheff Utd v. Boro play today and tomorrow.

Threadbare Rovers are still in the playoff hunt (it may be a different story in April) so I'd go for the home teams to win both games.

Burnley aren't getting caught, and I doubt Sheff Utd are either. 

Carrick has Boro playing like a promotion team though. 

24 minutes ago, DE. said:

Will never understand why they didn't stick to the original initiative of using it for clear and obvious errors. They're making things unnecessarily complicated by checking to see if the hair on a player's kneecap has strayed offside. 

If there's human error with VAR as well then you might as well scrap it. That's literally what it's supposed to be eliminating. 

They have gone so far away from "clear and obvious". I've said this before but if it takes minutes to adjudicate it's neither clear or obvious.

On 12/02/2023 at 03:15, Gav said:

The biggest showcase on earth is taking place in Arizona tonight between Chiefs and Eagles.

Rihanna is doing the HT/Show with rumours we'll see Jay-Z too.

Both teams come into the game with identical records, 16 wins and 3 loses this season, I think despite the superb Patrick Mahomes for the Chiefs, the Eagles win this one with a much better defence, but what do I know, it really is a toss of a coin this one. 

Get the popcorn in, the chicken wings out of the freezer and the hot sauce in the fridge, its Superbowl night. 

 

A good prediction Gav.

The Chiefs won it 38-35. They played really well in the second half but were helped by 2 Eagles turnovers that resulted in touchdowns, and a very questionable refereeing decision giving the Chiefs a first down which allowed them to run the clock down and kick the winning field goal.

I had plenty of chicken wings too.

The VAR team had a bad weekend; ESPN - VAR mistakes

The only one I saw live was West-Ham v. Chelsea. How Soucek wasn't called for handball is beyond me.

We've had lots of discussion on here on how to improve the VAR system. I'd have more than one person in the room, and rather than a central clearing house why don't they have a VAR official at each game?

21 hours ago, Gav said:

I’ve just been sat here, chest stuck out, proudly watching Alan Shearer demolish every defence away sides put in front of him, what a player, Sky 100 - Shearer.

But the reason for the post and far be it from me to absolve blame today, but the Ewood pitch at times was 100% worse than we see today, no grass in each penalty area against Ipswich at home. I remember local company Netlon destroying the pitch one year and it took many to get it back to its former glory.

 

Post Hillsborough stadium improvements started teams thinking paying real attention to their pitches.

Rovers reserves played on Ewood, as did almost all other teams second side. This started fading out around 1995, and now it's rare that a reserve side plays at the ground (I'm sure there are exceptions as you go down the leagues).

Technology and education also improved. Hybrid grasses, sand and soil compositions, and better qualified ground staff all contributed to making pitches what they are today.

I read an article in the Guardian during the Euro's (I think I posted it on here too) about how Britain is at the forefront of football turf development. Mower blade sharpness, wheel weight, pitch bounce calculations are all now commonplace. Plenty of British companies travel the globe working on and fixing up pitches. Myerscough college has become world renowned for teaching it all too.

To tangent; how in the world was that a penalty for City? If anything Quinn fouled Flowers. I was at the game and I walked off at the end thinking that City were the better side, in spite of that gift.

3 hours ago, wilsdenrover said:

I don’t think it was the only reason either but 99 goals in the league doesn’t sound like they were crying out for him  - or do you mean in regard to the Champions League?

The article surmises that they need him for tight Champs League games as he can grab a goal when other avenues are blocked. 

Whether it works only time will tell. 

City had one of the best around for getting a goal in Aguero but I'm sure Guardiola played him in midfield - or at least not in his favoured position - in a big European game a few years back. Aguero looked bewildered. 

2 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

Just my view, but a lot of people saying that we played terribly today. I don't think we did really, controlled the game largely, created a lot of opportunities. I thought it was a pretty watchable game for the first sixty minutes or so. A lot more direct than we have been playing. Quite a few players had good games - Travis, Thomas, JRC, Dack, Carter. It seemed a better all round performance than what we were managing in December anyway - albeit against the team rock bottom.

But... looking across the next half of the season I just can't see where the goals are coming from. If BBD is going to coast in we are truly fooked. We have to find a decent out of contract striker from somewhere. If we don't we maybe have 20 goals in this team for the rest of the season. We'll be reduced to giving Leonard a go just to try something.

This is my take too. 

I said that Brereton's early miss was a big one, and it proved to be. Set pieces were awful too. I can't see many goals coming from those either.

Rovers never looked like they were going to lose the game. 

As a side Wigan brought in 6 players during the January window. 

11 minutes ago, booth said:

Should be 2-0 up at least.

Squandered chances and several moments when a shot should have been a pass to a better placed player. When Travis shot Dack was in a perfect place to score, unmarked.

And this is why we fail.

Brereton's miss was a bad one. The others, as you said, could have passed to others in better positions to score. 

Wigan have had more of the ball but haven't looked like scoring. 

Vale has been quiet, without much service. 

Thomas has been OK in parts. I thought he was a dead ball specialist? I've not seen anything of that yet. He had one corner that ended up going straight out near the other corner flag.

More Man City but football related. 

Haaland is getting a bit of stick after his performance yesterday; ESPN - Haaland helps City?

He was utterly woeful against Spurs. He got nowhere near the ball, and was on the periphery all game. 

He is an undoubted talent, but are teams figuring him out? The article points out that City have scored the same amount of goals at this stage of the season as they did last season, 53 but this round Haaland has scored almost half of their total goals. Stop him and stop City?

1 hour ago, DE. said:

There were the same comments when UEFA tried to do this. City will be able to hire the most expensive lawyers available and drag this out for years, scrutinising every word to the finest of details. Much like with UEFA, my guess is that they burn through a ton of cash in legal fees but ultimately get off the hook, or with a slapped wrist. 

It was an open and shut case for UEFA yet City got away with it. I heard that too. City's owners said to UEFA that they have enough money to sue UEFA forever so go for it. UEFA backed off and fined them instead.

My guess is it will create lots of news stories then fizzle into a fine. 

Thanks to ESPN I'll be watching tomorrow. Rovers haven't had much luck against Wigan over the years. I've seen some abject performances going back to Ince's demise. 

I have no idea what Rovers team will turn up, hopefully the good one.

To add to the striker debate; Gallagher's goal scoring average for Rovers is 1 goal every 5 games. That's not good enough for a forward player. His size makes him out to be a target man, but he is rarely played there. He works extremely hard, but is missing something. 

I've not seen much of Vale, but from what I've seen so far he has a long way to go. 

43 minutes ago, DE. said:

Doesn't matter, I'm not talking about whether he'll be sacked or not, only how difficult it'll be for Klopp to reintegrate the players into his style now that they've lost confidence in it. This has happened at every club he's been at and he's never been able to recover from it. He should obviously be given the chance to do so, but don't be surprised if it simply doesn't turn around. 

Danny Higginbotham's take on US TV was that Mane leaving has caused lot of the issues. In his opinion Mane set the press and everybody followed. He's gone and his replacements can't do it leaving them all at sea. 

I think that is one of many problems Klopp has. They are conceding easy goals and missing easy chances, which is a bad combination. They do have a lot of injuries which has forced chopping and changing but that does not excuse the individual errors littering each game. 

Salah is a passenger. TAA's lack of defensive nous is getting worse. Any of their midfielders operate too slowly. Their strikers can't finish.

They are also very easy to play against. All teams are doing is sitting deep, playing narrow, and letting Liverpool pass it in front of them without any penetration. 

Barring an instant upturn in form it's hard to see that they'll be a Champs League team next season.

Is the prospect of them being sold causing strife? 

Mason Greenwood's criminal proceedings have been discontinued; ESPN - Greenwood case dropped

Now what? More charges later? A free man? Will he play again?

1 minute ago, WacoRover said:

BBC says to click on audio icon, I don’t see one. Must not be available in U.S.

It isn't. I'll guess that it's because ESPN have the FA cup rights. Although I went to ESPN+ hoping for the game, but it's not on their either. Saturday's was.

The Kansas City Chiefs will play the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.

The Eagles easily beat San Fransisco, and KC scraped by the Bengals. 

There was some dodgy refereeing in both games. I don't think that it would have changed the result of the 49'ers-Eagles game, but I'd be a bit fed up if I was a Bengals fan. 

I thought that it wasn't a bad performance. There have certainly been a lot worse. Rovers should have won it. 2 mistakes cost 2 goals. Unfortunate but at least there was no capitulation after conceding so early. 

Having Dack scoring is a lifeline. If you ask me injuries robbed hm of a chance to play in the Premier League. I hope that he signs a contract extension. 

There are strong rumours that Caicedo is going to Arsenal from Brighton for a big fee. 

Gregg Broughton needs to do some research on how Brighton operate. They've made big money on players whilst also improving their league position over the past few seasons. They are doing something right.

7 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

‘Unrecognisable’.

Yep, glad I clicked it as that photo gave nothing away.

I thought the same. A bloke looking exactly like Garry Flitctoft posing for a picture with a sign behind him saying "Flitcraft" really had me struggling to figure out who it was.

I'm glad that Dunn has seen sense and seemingly given up on trying to be a football manager. He was a bit of a plank for thinking that his past efforts "wood" have led to a sustainable future for him. 

23 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

I haven't mentioned Lampard in my posts tho only others are doing so

I'm not going to go back through your posts but you have defended Lampard over and over since he was appointed at Everton. I (others too) have continually pulled you up on it.

You've gone from explicitly stating that he was the man for the job, to give him time, and now that he's been fired your stance is that it's the club that's in a mess, therefore not Lampard's fault as nobody would do a good job. 

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Until this is sorted out you could appoint any manager but no one is going to achieve much there. 

They have plenty of managers including Ancelotti who is one of the best managers ever struggled to make much an impact on. Its now day 5 and they seen one signing who had a medical last week there gone elsewhere now Lampard has been sacked. 

The entire club is a mess there from top to bottom 

Everton is a mess and Lampard is not good enough. Both can be true at the same time.

Ownership issues + bad manager = trouble. Rovers fans are all too aware of this calculation.

I struggle to understand your continued defence of Lampard. 

1 hour ago, RoverDom said:

Ancelotti got them to 8th didn't he? Its a low finish for a manager of his quality but if he underachieved he underachieverd a damn sight better than frank

They finished 10th in Ancelotti's only full season; BBC - Ancelotti leaves Everton

His win % was still better than the 5 previous managers at over 40%. In contrast, Lampard won 9 games giving him a less than 25% win rate. 

1 hour ago, davulsukur said:

In the least surprising news ever, Lampard has been sacked.

So he has; BBC - Lampard sacked

The article is some grim reading. 38 games in charge 35 points. That points total usually buys relegation. 

The club has its issues which will be trotted out in his defence, however, he shouldn't get another top job in football. He doesn't have the necessary talent to succeed. 

Would he improve if he dropped down to league 1 for a few years? 

No live Rovers for me to watch this past weekend so I had to make do with Prem football. 

Liverpool-Chelsea was terrible. Two teams shorn of confidence playing not to lose. I think that Liverpool have a hangover from their close attempt at the quadruple last year. Chelsea are a hodgepodge of expensive players, not a team. I think that Potter will get them organised but it won't be until next season. Mudryk looked a player.

Everton were woeful, but they have been for a while. I've been consistent in saying that Lampard isn't up to it and each week he continues to confirm my opinion. I see that BRFCS's resident Evertonian thinks a few signings will help Lampard turn it around. He bought 3 new defenders last summer - 2 of them with England caps - yet they still can't keep a clean sheet.

Arsenal-Man U was a very good game. Ten Hag has surprised me. He is getting a tune out of what was a bad bunch. Arsenal keep on trucking. 

6 minutes ago, rover23 said:

James Brown off to Doncaster on loan. 

I bet that he feels good about that move. 😁

14 hours ago, ben_the_beast said:

Crazy decision to allow the Fernandes goal. 

On the initial pass, Akanji actually slows to play him offside. Then speeds up again once the ball is played. So he wasn't in position. Then there's no way Ederson wasn't impeded by Rashford being there. He was facing someone shootint either to his left or his right by Rashford being there. If Rashford wasn't involved the Fernandes shot would have been far easier to read.

An awful decision.

The opposite happened in the Brighton-Liverpool game. TAA was in an offside position. A Liverpool player shot, it deflected off a Brighton defender, and TAA without touching it shepherded it out for a throw. Linesman flagged, offside given. Zero consistency.

1 minute ago, DE. said:

Surely even the most blue and white tinted specs supporters now have to admit we have a major problem within the squad in terms of mentality? A loss every single time we go behind and, unless I'm mistaken, not a single goal scored in those defeats either. We can't just keep putting it down to bad luck. 

I should have switched it over to the Manchester derby after the first minute. Concede first and Rovers lose. I think the only blip in that statistic is Sunderland away, and Rovers lost that one too.

An awful performance from first minute to the last. 

Are Rovers in a false position? 

a, no because after 20 odd games the table doesn't lie.

b, yes because teams challenging for the play offs don't routinely get beat by 3 or 4 goals. 

Last season's post Christmas death spiral is fresh in the minds of many. JDT needs to change some of what he's doing.