There’s a big difference between playing for a point and taking a point. Play to win then take a point if the circumstances dictate. Stood in the concourse right now heart beating ten to the dozen with nerves…would I take a point….100% yes! Let’s be honest, since Christmas we’ve got bloody used to it!!!

After Tuesday I just can’t see how we’re going to win another game this season. The only time we’ve won since Christmas it took a team to basically not turn up for 30 minutes (Stoke)…in other words we can only beat opponents who roll over…and that ain’t happening in our final fixtures. The only bright spark in the recent gloom (apart from the continued scoring exploits of Sammy) is Buckley’s return to the side. I think he’d work well alongside Tronstad but alas (like half the squad) he’s made of glass and out for a few weeks so it’s a pairing with Garrett or Ayari which fills me with as much enthusiasm as a kick in the cojones. Dolan’s had his one good game for the second half of the season so he’ll just spin in endless circles achieving the square root of diddly squat before trotting off on 70 minutes to be replaced by another vertically challenged candyfloss PL2 demon who I’m sure must be legendary in 5-a-side but not for one second in the trenches. Basically we’re fucked. I’ve wasted a lot of words trying to say that. 

I’m not sure if this has already been mentioned but I thought many of our younger, technical players shone last night as a result of playing a Premier League team that wasn’t packed full of gnarly Championship shithouses….in other words, that type of performance will not pass muster in our division given the higher levels of physicality. Watching Bucko, Moran and latterly Ayari and Markandy put in fantastic showings I’m sure, was down to Newcastle allowing them to play their natural games. Swansea on Saturday will be a very different test. I vacated the JW last night and sat (or should I say stood) in the Blackburn End for the first time in years…and I’m glad I did! A brilliant atmosphere and a very hoarse voice this morning. 

Norwich have become a bit of a bogey side for us at Ewood…I can’t think of a Rovers’ victory in the fixture since the dying throes of our Prem days??? In 2024 we’ve won 3, drawn 2 and lost 1 at home (admittedly 2 easy cup wins against lower league opposition amongst that)…but it’s still a sign of greater solidity on our own patch. Of all 7 games at Ewood this year, Norwich will be by far the toughest but not insurmountable. I think we’ve got to target a win even though the odds are against one….maybe time for the Tronstad/Buckley axis to flourish. Let’s hope so as there’s little else!!!

3 minutes ago, roverandout said:

His biggest mistake was signing an over the hill Martin dahlin. Overweight and disinterested 

And Kevin Davies sticking on the overweight theme!!!

Over on the FA Cup thread there’s a discussion about rules that are rarely enforced…well, did anyone else notice how far out of the area the Cambridge keeper was when he released the ball from his hands? There was one in the second half when he was practically out of his D before releasing it!!! I sit pretty much level with the 18 yard line so I often notice this but yesterday was an extreme case. Pepe Reina used to push the boundaries…it’s years since I’ve seen a keeper pulled up for it. Maybe when we get a microchip in the ball then this might become a thing 

With Gallagher, Hedges, Dolan, JRC and others in the team then I don’t think we lose all the games we have done recently. Every club has injuries but this season, ours have been to experienced players who we badly miss (regardless of how inconsistent some of them may be!!!). Up until December we had continued to pull results out of the bag even when we were seriously depleted (the string of away wins leap to mind) but things have now caught up with us. Is this JDT’s fault? No. I think we can say goodbye to the play offs (not that we often said hello to them!!!) and just hope that (as key players return) we can win the requisite number of points to have a comfortable second half of the season. Beating Rotherham would be a good start but it isn’t the end of the world if we don’t. In possession we play some of the best football in the division…it is enjoyable to watch. Conversely it’s bloody frustrating that we don’t capitalise on dominant spells and put teams to bed (as seen in various home games this season). That’s the area of improvement I want to see going into 2024. Until we are actually slipping into the bottom three I’m keeping faith with JDT. 

At present, Pears goes straight back in when fit…personally I’d be looking at second and third choice Prem keepers on loan until the end of the season. With a fully fit back four (and for me that’s Hill at RB with Carter, Hyam  and Pickering) and Tronstad in front of them, we should be fairly solid with a decent stopper behind them. As for tomorrow…keep the score down and move onto Rotherham or a big Digital Day win against Cambridge. It’s all feeling very downward doom loop at the moment. 

This one has really taken the biscuit. I attended the Cardiff game (sitting in my season ticket) only to be lumbered with a monosyllabic oaf who thought it conducive to our chances to shout visceral abuse at our excellent young players for misplacing an ambitious pass (or just breathing for that matter). Now I can’t even guarantee my own seat for Cambridge unless I buy it pronto and then once again I could be subjecting myself to an afternoon shackled to a random Neanderthal with as much knowledge of football as a comatose gerbil! I’m going to buy the whole row with £2 tickets…that’ll sort it. In all seriousness I’m annoyed. I’m going to call the ticket office in the morning and ask for my ticket to be uploaded onto my season ticket card. They’ve got the tech to do it and have done it many times before. If they refuse then so will I…and some other spoon can have my place for the afternoon. 

By my reckoning we haven’t won an away league game in Coventry since 1992 (2-0 Shearer and Atkins). We hammered them 4-0 a few years back but that was played at Brum. Even at our peak we struggled down there, including my first ever away game in 1995 (a disappointing but ultimately crucial 1-1 draw)…the following season we were trounced 5-0 in the snow by Peter Ndluvo and co. Throw in the 99th minute equaliser fiasco a few years back and I feel I can justify my pessimism about tonight. Here’s hoping we can banish the hoodoo tonight! 

I’ve had enough. Get him out 

This has to change. We can’t keep doing this. It doesn’t matter if the opposition score after 30 seconds or 30 minutes…we’re not coming back from it. Rotherham are a poor side, just like Wigan, just like Cardiff…rinse and repeat. We have to bring in a forward who can hold the ball up and act as a central target. Gallagher is good once every ten games at best. He’s having another shocker today. Too much meaningless possession. This game will end 1 or 2-0 and JDT seems clueless how to change these situations around. 

Game over 

Keith Cooper MOTM 

Mola is awful 

After 23 games last season we were third with 42 points. After 23 games this season we are third with 39 points. Which 23 games did we prefer? 

Well that was crying out for Adam Wharton. The number of sideways and backwards passes was excruciating at times and I’m going to be bold and say that was the least satisfying victory I can remember witnessing. The last 15 minutes were purgatory. JDT is getting away with the sit back and hold what we have tactic…Birmingham last time out and again today have seen sides leave Ewood wondering how they’ve lost. The luck will run out at some point. You can keep trying for the second goal without compromising your defensive structure…today was pure inertia and frankly awful to watch. Happy, not happy. 

Just an observation on the lack of ‘bouncebackability’ in this Rovers side (in the profound hope that Huddersfield don’t score first today!). The last time we scored a goal in the 90th minute or beyond that actually influenced the result of a match was on the 10th April 2021 in a 2-2 draw at Cardiff (Armstrong scoring in the 90th minute). The last time we scored in stoppage time to win a game was on the 16th December 2020 as again, Armstrong netted a 98th minute winner against Rotherham at Ewood. Since his Cardiff goal we have conceded four stoppage time goals that have cost us points (Luton, Sheffield U, Coventry, Bristol City last season) plus numerous goals past the 85th minute that have cost us as well. The last time we actually witnessed a Rovers player score a late late goal at Ewood was Bradley Johnson’s 95th minute leveller against Swansea in the last match before lockdown. My point is…in the last week we have seen Charlton and Burnley score 2 goals apiece in stoppage time…a feat unimaginable for the Rovers. I don’t have the stats to hand but surely we must be the worst team in the football league for scoring late influential goals…and given that stats play such a big part in the professional game today, why hasn’t someone at Rovers done something about this!!!!

Regarding Vale, for me, it all comes down to confidence. In the PL2 he knows he can score, his record is great and he must go into every game with that confidence influencing his decisions and overall contribution. For the first team he hasn’t managed to score yet and despite showing some good signs in a few of his cameos, he hasn’t yet got the confidence to look the part. With young strikers in his position a lot comes down to luck and how soon you score your first goal. I remember being at Wigan when Matt Derbyshire scored in one of his early appearances…his celebration said it all; unbridled joy that knocked the confidence levels up to eleven. Dolan achieved something similar a few years back against Wycombe. Vale will hopefully get that first goal soon (he was unlucky not to at Brum on the last day of the season and against Hartlepool this) and then we’ll see what confidence does to a player…just ask BBD! 

Birmingham were the best attacking side I’ve seen at Ewood this season but defensively they were there to be got at. My preference when going 2-0 up is to always push for a third and kill the game off, JDT seems to favour a more prosaic path and credit to him, in recent weeks it’s worked. For me it’s no coincidence that we lost our ability to keep the ball for any length of time when Wharton went off. That handed a bit too much initiative to Brum and with their attacking substitutions I would have countered that with a more attacking one of our own…Buckley perhaps. Kaminski saved us yesterday and he will need to continue this rich vein of form if we continue to sit back on leads. Very happy though