Bethnal

Feel dreadful for the 9k or so if ours who turned up on a Weds eve before Christmas for that. can’t believe Trav’s trajectory from being made captain to most people thinking he’s not for the first team. No insight into Brockhall at all, but we look an unhappy bunch. Something definitely not clicking.

Do we know what’s going on?

Scott Wharton has had a fucking shocker, what’s going on with him?

And fair enough, if that’s what you want. It’s a hell of a way to make a lot of money and a job is sometimes just a job to some people.

He’s basically on holiday. Is it a one-year deal? He’ll miraculously slim down and hit some sort of form towards the end of the year, to secure another money move. He’d do well abroad, to be fair, but I think he loves the sesh a bit too much.

Lingard celebrating a free kick that ricochets twice on its way in, like THAT, is why he’s absolute finished. Never mind the 5kg he’s visibly put on in Nottingham. I hear the wings at Hooters are quite moreish, but Christ alive…

While we’re notionally “similar” levels in terms of the table, Forest spent like it was going out of fashion in the summer and haven’t got as weak of a team out as we have, really. I’ll take that performance for a first half. Unlucky with A Wharton’s effort hitting Markanday as it looked like it was going in and some haphazard defending/organisation, we’ve taken it to them a bit in the last 10 or so and got a reward. A victory here would be a really good result, but it’s fully achievable. They look poor at the back under pressure.

That’s how to recover from giving a penalty away!

Yeah, he looks like someone who is quite deep into the reserves league. Low-stakes, more casual feel to it at times. Not a slight on that level, just a reality.

He’s got something of an anonymous face, so I’ll give you that

Not quick enough for a full back.

Hyam?

Only 20 minutes but I fail to see what Markanday’s doing wrong. Why can’t he get a chance in the league?

Bit of a gulf in quality. Not expecting a lot here, but would like to see a few of the fringe players seize an opportunity and give this lot something to think about.

Norwich heads have dropped. Couple of them still trying to make something happen but we just need to keep it very sensible here. and just as I say that, there’s a fracas.

Pukki doesn’t stop running or grafting, he’s had our back four under pressure the whole game.

JRC looking a lot more confident than I’ve seen him and not playing bad at all. Good to see.

Frankly bizarre subs. Arguably our two best performers. Wharton not up to speed and nearly caught out twice.

Odd half of football that. Norwich look a good side (for this level) but - Ayala tactical foul aside - we haven’t seemed too troubled. We appear better when reactive (defensively-minded, direct) than proactive (play out from the back, break opposition down). This tracks closely with the “win when scoring first, lose when conceding first” stat and also with the age of the squad on the average. At a younger age, against experienced sides who are fine to defend, it’s a lot of mental acuity you need to break a team down that are determined not to be. I think if we are to break teams down, there needs to be a wholly different approach in midfield and a different composition up front. We would have to be making the opposition camp out in their own half and denying every attempt at a break (3 battlers in the middle) and be able to stretch play in the final third. It needs players gambling and creating space.

Not used the app before, but good to know. Is it just ‘RoversTV’ or something?

Riding our luck a bit, but not without effort and application, which has been missing for the last two. More to do, but we work better playing more direct.

Aye, I just wonder if they’ve tweaked the settings for whatever reason and we’re not able to watch Sky games now.

I noticed my subscription has changed to a half season video pass from the Int’l one I bought at the beginning of the year… unsure what the next move is. Was fine for PNE.

Anyone else unable to watch this via rovers player from abroad?

Granted, “good” is absolutely not where I’d place the performance, just the fact he got a goal as he generally used to. First at Ewood in over 18 months.