9 hours ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

I can't see anybody on her agreeing with me🙈 but if tommason was to leave I think Solskjaer would be a great fit for us

Just hope that if jdt does go that it's all done and dusted with a new man in before the transfer window opens up next month and for the love of god well before pre season starts, otherwise it's just going to be a rinse and repeat of last summer constantly trying to catch up.

 

P.s. i dont think tommason is good enough to manage in the english prem, he's a bit of a 3rd rate klopp/ten hag/etc... Just doesn't have the leadership qualities of those guys(amongst other things) a very average European clup in a relitvely weak league like feyenhord is probably his level at best.

All that said!!! I would be happy if he just committed to us and signed a new improved contract extension and finish what he started!

I'll agree with you, I made the same suggestion back on page 180(had to look up the spelling mind😁). 

He was on  TV at United the other day, first time he's been back in 2 years. Could well be putting himself in the shop window. I thought the same, could be a good fit for Rovers. 

10 hours ago, Rochdale_rover said:

This has to be a joke

In which respect, no chance of getting him, or he isn't good enough? 

Can't really see Tomasson leaving, but if he did, I'd certainly be asking Solskjaer if he fancied a bash. 

You don't know the answer unless you ask the question. Quality manager, top bloke. 

I ticked the bottom box, I realise some people have other priorities, but for me it's the best value purchase of the year.

The poll is a good idea, it's easy to read a lot of comments from a small number of posters and see their comments as the common concensus.

There are also a lot of overseas fans who can't go, I'm assuming they will have to pass on this one.

You could be right there

8 hours ago, superniko said:

Surely Boro would be the best result for our interest next year I.E. the best team and best run club out of the division 

You could be right there, if Carrick can avoid the second season slump.

9 minutes ago, booth said:

Coventry who should have had a points deduction, and robbed 3 important points off us by cheating? Coventry can get relegated for all I care.

Robbins has done a brilliant job at a club whose fans have been put through the wringer for year after year. 

I wouldn't mind if Sunderland do it,I think Mowbray did a decent job and left a perfect squad for Tomasson to work with, but to be honest, i don't particularly care. 

I don't think of Mowbray every waking second, he's nothing to do with Rovers any more, the obsession with some people on here is just weird. 

Glad Sunderland beat The Harlem Globetrotters a win for football. 

Hope Coventry go up, but if not, Sunderland. 

39 minutes ago, Groundhog said:

This must be between Hyam, Carter and Pears surely...
 

 

I'm only joking though - I agree I get why we're doing it, hearing the boos is frustrating and just ramps up the pressure for me. if people could put aside their knee jerk reactions and stop heckling and just see what we're they're trying to do it might help, but it is understandable when you're desperate to see us move up the pitch and the opposition are just bearing down on us. I think people get frustrated as you can see that the lads doing it maybe aren't 100% sure of it and their own ability. Allardyce's tactic to make sure a team is always in the opponent's third as much as possible helps bring the average up for the amount of chances created, we almost do the opposite...

Hyam does like a square pass maybe a tad more than others, but it's mainly down to having nothing in front of him to pick it up. Now that A. Wharton is back in, we have someone finally to pick it up from the defence. 

It's my one query about JDT, is he playing this system regardless of player, wanting to imprint this style on the club as a whole? The other approach is for a manager to come in and review what players he has and create a system that works with what he's got, not the other way round. I think that's where our inconsistencies lie and hence it being a transition season. 

It's funny how football has evolved, one manager starts to develop it (the German clubs, City etc) and it filters down through the leagues, albeit with a lower standard of player to carry it off (Russell Martin's Swansea for example), we're starting to see teams counter acting it through hard work and nouse, see Luton. 

Watching this, there's similarities between us and Brighton in the way JDT has us setup, and also how many times have we seen this done to us this season: 

 

I agree it was infuriating earlier in the season when there didn't seem any point to it, but the longer the season has gone on, we're making chances from it, and it's really easy on the eye. 

The Brighton comparison is interesting, it brings into focus Tomasson's comments regarding his remit. That remit being that the club has to play in such a way as to show our young players can make the step up(it's almost as if there's a plan). 

We missed out last season and it was a real disappointment. This season, with a much weaker Championship, it should be even more galling, yet I'm really upbeat for next season. 

Thankfully the Tomasson leaving rumours seem to have been knee jerk and unfounded, it's the last thing we need. 

The boos when passing out from the back all but disappeared for the last few games, because everyone(almost) could see the reward for doing it. 

We played some really nice stuff towards the end of the season but the  shortcomings were obvious. 

Put Gelhardt and Diallo in our squad and we walk into the play offs and Sunderland miss out. 

The recruitment department have a lot of making up to do. 

1 minute ago, den said:

To add to the last few positive posts, I think this season we’ve played, at times, some of the best football since we were relegated from the Premier League. That’s a massive plus.

Without doubt, especially the last few weeks. 

The shortcomings are obvious,but with Buckley back and if the recruitment dept get their fingers out and add to the forward line, we can look ahead with plenty optimism

53 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Yes, that Sunderland squad is more talented than the squad Mowbray left behind.

The squad Mowbray left behind has been top 6 virtually all season,with hardly any help from incoming transfers. 

It fell short because our recruitment team did a pathetic job, and Sunderland's showed them how to do it. 

Put their loan players in our squad and we make the top 6 without doubt. 

The passing game has gradually come together over the past few weeks, the boos have all but subsided. We've started playing some really good stuff, without the obvious cutting edge that is obviously needed.

We need the recruitment team to earn their money and sign game changing players over the summer.

Ultimately, it's probably Sunderland's use of the loan market that's probably made the difference. Ours was a pathetic effort.

Just now, simongarnerisgod said:

his legs look like they are moving quickly

As Tommy Doc said to Leighton James, you're very deceptive Leighton, you're slower than you look. 

The scenario feels a lot more relaxed than if we'd beaten Luton and it was all in our hands. It may yet play into our hands and pile pressure on the others. 

We had to beat Millwall anyway, so that hasn't changed, I just feel we're more likely to beat them in this situation than the other. 

I agree, if we could add to that every week it would be a good start. But the Reading, Coventry, Hull and even Burnley gates were poor. 

The pricing is always going to be subjective, I think it's an absolute bargain, but let's have a discussion, rather than being accused of being a Waggott supporter the second someone points out the difficulty of the situation. 

1 minute ago, Mattyblue said:

The sales were up significantly. Literally more than double the usual amount of walk ons. You are miles off here.

What were the gates, I can't remember. 

10 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I saw that Bolton have already sold 15000 which is similar to last season despite them not knowing which league they will be in. I think Preston had around 12000 without checking. It's down largely to price. If you check their message boards that will be reiterated. We simply don't know if we would get to them numbers because we just haven't tried. Swag is lazy in my view, he doesn't have any imagination and shows little inclination to increase season ticket sales. He met his financial target for this season and was almost boastful about it which sums him up. 

We are on course for our best placed finish for years and progressed really well in both cups. We have some exciting young players coming through and a manager who is the best we have had for some time. Far from being in the doldrums we are moving in the right direction on the field. It's off the field where the club is incredibly poor.

Your last sentence is nonsense and reads like you are exonerating Waggott using an expression like 'sums up the job in hand'.

I'm not exonerating anybody,  that lazy argument is always thrown out the minute anybody has  any kind of conversation regarding ticket sales. 

As I said, the tickets were reduced and the attendances were up, but not significantly. The correlation between the two isn't evident. 

I've enjoyed this season, and had no hesitation in renewing,it was never in question and never is. But it isn't me they're trying to convince. 

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

How do you explain Bolton and Preston hugely out selling us then.

I don't know the figures, or the prices,or what constitutes "hugely".

The club is in the doldrums, it's suffering from having virtually a generation of "fans" who only got on board because of the obvious. The same people compare the club now to how it was in the 90's, I hear it from customers all the time,using the same old excuse of Venkys for not attending.

I've no proof, but from the outside it looks like Blackpool suffer from the same, as do many others. That's why our support is poor, and it's the job of Waggott and Co to reignite some passion into the club and get people believing again, but the poor turnouts over the last few weeks, despite a play off chance and discounted tickets, shows how difficult the job in hand is. 

It was a tenner against Reading, yet the turnout was pathetic, yet the usual excuses were rolled out, on Sky, night match and the rest. If it was all about pricing, it should have been heaving. 

In short, you could give season tickets away and it still wouldn't be full, that sums up the job in hand. 

I don't see it as prices going up, it was the same argument last season. The price was lowered as a bonus for existing ticket holders, I renewed mine yesterday. 

If they halved the prices, there isn't a chance we'd get twice as many in, we wouldn't "sell" out if they literally gave them away. 

There have been poor attendances over the last few weeks, despite the team being in the play offs virtually all season. That's despite the club nigh on giving them away. 

Waggott is scratting around for a couple more thousand who may or may not buy a season ticket,those people won't come flooding back until the club delivers the Premier league football that enticed them years ago. 

Then they can all sing "Rovers till I die" like they did against United in the Cup a few years back. 

3 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

So they are still planning to hike prices by £50 tomorrow.

This club 🤦‍♂️

Have they not lowered prices up until tomorrow, I got mine for £20 cheaper yesterday? 

Ask Huddersfield who did their p a system and get the same one, it's clear as a bell. 

It's simple enough 

11 hours ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

I think it's slightly more nuanced than that.

Up to about January we would play out from the back and run out of ideas on halfway. It was embarrassing to watch at times and I commented on it on here before Christmas. 

We now cut through teams quite easily and get to the edge of their box and then run out of idea...or try to walk it in. The improvement in how well we 'play through the lines', to use that awful term, is quite stark. JRC has been a massive part of that improvement because he's very good at dropping into space where a RCM would normally be and spraying passes out wide or playing through the oppositions midfield. Wharton will also become central to that when he finds more consistency.  

So, I think comparisons with Mowbray's possession football are a long way wide of the mark. The football is much quicker now. If you compare the teams yesterday we were like Barcelona compared to them in the way we moved the ball around. They looked like a pub side in that first half. 

As for counter-attacking, that's also improved. We'd have never scored the goal at home to Sheff Utd under Mowbray. 

JDT doesn't get the credit he deserves for the way he's transformed the way the team plays. The fitness levels are also frightening. 

He knows where the problems are. His constant remarks about missed opportunities and quality in the final third tell you where he knows the team needs to improve.

Nothing is certain, but I'm excited about next season.

The booing when passing it around at the back has all but stopped, because we are now seeing reward for the risk. It's a shame Morton got injured, he was linking up well with Wharton, and his injury has also meant that Szmodics has had to drop deeper to fill in. 

Last few games I think we've played well, it's the obvious lack up front that has let us down. Put Armstrong up there, and we're a dangerous team. 

7 minutes ago, roverandout said:

For Millwall Gallagher is a huge upgrade and by god I never thought I would say that.  But long term he's pants

I've seen calls to get rid of him, I wouldn't do that,he's an important squad member and can do a good job. 

He needs adding to. 

4 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Imo, if the manager is to have any chance whatsoever of success here, he has to lose his seeming obsession with Gallagher and ditch him forthwith.

If we're to succeed he has to get everyone playing to their maximum, and get the team playing better than the sum of it's parts. You can't afford to carry any passengers, certainly not one as bad as that lummox.

With the current squad, it still remains a fact that we're much more likely to win with Gallagher in the team. I don't know what part of the facts that people have trouble with. 

If you were Tomasson, and had Gallagher fit for Millwall, would you lessen our chance of winning by not playing him? I know I wouldn't. 

Longterm, maybe, but right now the stats say he's our best chance. 

Just now, Penwortham Blue said:

I’ve stated this already, 5 points from 24 isn’t good enough and JDT has made mistakes and we have had wretched luck. However, I think the worse possible outcome is for us to lose the Manager. He will have learnt a lot this year, back him and we could have a decent chance next year.

Totally agree, I think we are starting to look a good team, it's just the obvious lack of a forward(s) that is letting us down. 

Ironically, the loss of Morton has probably impacted more than some would admit. We'll see if he gambles with playing Garrett In midfield to get Szmodics further forward. 

Even better if Gallagher is fit and Szmodics can play behind him.