JCRovers

Cantwell in my opinion is a 10, not an 8. I agree regarding Tronstad that we lack a proper backup in the holding midfield department after Travis left, however. Holding midfielder coupled with a playmaker and box-to-box player is in my view a good combination in central midfield. We've lacked a central midfielder who can drive forward and attack opposition box for so many years. JDT experimented with Travis at one point but it failed. Baradji has potential to become good but I feel we need another one in case he gets injured again.

I would say we need 4-5 signings this window: - 1 center back to cover for the two who's currently injured (Carter, Wharton). O'Riordan will be recalled but I would still go for another one on a permanent. - 2 wing backs, one to compete for Hedges' position and the other to provide cover for Alebiosu. Litherland did well on his debut but it's still too early to make a call and rely on him as backup. - 1 central midfielder, preferably a box-to-box type - 1 striker to compete with Gudjohnsen / Ohashi Offload: Gueye (almost a certainty by now), De Neve (loan or permanent), Tavares (loan or permanent) Left wing back, central midfielder and striker are key areas. If we get those three right, then we might have a team capable of picking up points and wins on a more consistent level. Some other notes: Great to see academy players taking their chances and show their worth. Pratt and Atcheson looks very physical and capable of handling Championship football in that sense. Litherland at right wing back was a surprise package vs Millwall and was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet. Montgomery looked out of depth early in the season but made some decent progress before getting injured. Too bad about Tyjon's contractual situation as he's talented, would've liked to see him go out on loan to a L1 or L2 side to gain valuable experience. Our summer recruitment has really been a hit & miss so far. De Neve and Tavares biggest disappointments while Alebiosu has been our best player this season. Think Baradji will be really good as a powerful box-to-box midfielder once fully match fit.

Manager has to take his fair share of blame for the loss. Horrible starting lineup and subs came too late. De Neve has shown repeatedly that he doesn't understand the concept of defending, a liability at left wing-back if he needs to track back. We have a weak squad but the manager has to do better, especially in games like this and Oxford the other day. With Alebiosu gone to AFCON for the next couple of matches, we'll be completely devoid of any attacking threat on either flank. Doesn't look good at all.

What the f* is that central midfield? Gonna win exactly zero balls back and will be completely overrun during transition moments. Better hope we get the first goal or this will end badly...

That lineup is unbalanced in central midfield and Ribeiro is unable to cover an entire flank on his own, as shown in the last few matches where Ismael has changed his position in-game from wing-back to left center back. Sorry to say this but Ismael is more or less forced to make a formation switch here to make it work somewhat with Hedges out injured. Either Ohashi drops to become a secondary striker behind Gudjohnsen or Cantwell starts. Central midfield is a f*ing mess right now; risky to start Baradji as well due to lack of match fitness but I would give him at least 45-60 minutes here if he can manage it. Tronstad will probably not be able to play more than 30 minutes or so. 4-2-3-1 Pears Alebiosu Miller McLoughlin Ribeiro Baradji TGH Morishita Ohashi De Neve Gudjohnsen Subs: Cantwell, Tronstad, Tavares In possession (final third): 3-2-5 with Alebiosu moving forward, Morishita cutting inside from the wing and Ribeiro staying in a back three. Out of possession: perhaps a standard 4-4-2 with Ohashi leading the press with Gudjohnsen?

I would agree in principle due to De Neve's poor game intelligence and positioning. However, I don't think Ismael sees neither Ribeiro nor Pickering as viable options for left wing-back since none of them are athletic enough to play there. Ribeiro also made his fair share of mistakes before getting dropped earlier in the season. We have a weak squad that lacks depth, simple as that. Our pressing out of possession and overall fitness level/sharpness has improved during the last few games but we need signings in January to avoid lowering the standards whenever injuries, fatigue and suspensions starts kicking in again.

A must-win game. Have to kill the game off early by leading two or three goals heading into final 20-30 minutes. Last two matches have been good performances but game management final few minutes leading by a single has to improve vastly. Don't want to see Gueye on the pitch again; looks so uninterested and uninspired with his lack of running. Ohashi runs his socks off every game but is so wasteful in front of goal. Would rather that he comes in during second half when Gudjohnsen tires instead of playing with a front two. Pears Miller McLoughlin Pratt Alebiosu TGH Forshaw Hedges Morishita Baradji Gudjohnsen Second half subs: Ohashi, Cantwell, Tavares, De Neve

QPR deserved the win, no question about that. They played with a higher tempo, were able to string a few passes together and had an attacking midfield trio (Chair, Dembele, Saito) who could carry the ball forward and cause problems. We looked devoid of any ideas other than utilising Alebiosu's pace on the right hand side to break through lines and put crosses into the box. Some other takeaways from our 'gameplan': - Doesn't work playing with two strikers at the moment. Ismael wants to be more direct but it comes at the expense of giving up control in midfield. Morishita likes to drift to the right hand side but Hedges becomes isolated on the left once first line of press from Ohashi and Gudjohnsen is played through. - We barely got any momentum throughout the whole game. A lot of clearances, long balls, misplaced passes and low tempo whenever in possession. Miller was particularly wasteful. Transfer worries: - New signings De Neve and Morishita lacks game intelligence. De Neve missed to pick up Smyth twice inside the box, one led to the winning goal and the other resulted in an effort that hit the post. Morishita keeps blocking Alebiosu's path forward when in possession. - Gudjohnsen missed two good chances to score. Weak in the challenges otherwise, need to 'bulk up' and add a few more pounds of muscle in the gym. - Tavares is now apparently behind both Montgomery and Forshaw in the pecking order. Money wasted if he doesn't improve. - Miller needs to improve his technique and passing game. - Our 'spine' (goalkeeper, central defence, central midfield) is weak at the moment. Small part of it can be excused due to injuries but failed recruitment strategy in the transfer market is the main culprit here.

I'm surprised at our inability to defend high crosses / set pieces given our recruitment plan was to get tall, physical players into the team who wouldn't be 'bullied' so easily. 1st goal: Gudjohnsen completely misses to mark Morris for the corner. Gets a shove from Pears to shift focus from Sanderson to Morris right before the corner was taken and didn't manage to block Morris' run into the space. There's 10(!) vs 6 outfield players inside the box yet we can't defend properly. Man-marking is pretty much non-existent here; Alebiosu is zonal-marking near post and then you have Miller, McLoughlin and Hedges zonal-marking near, central and back post. Absolute garbage. Maybe not commit all your tall players to do zonal marking next time or tell the other players to better screen/block runs into space? 2nd goal: This is where the problem with playing two strikers comes in when you have a back three. Morishita (the only attacking midfielder) doesn't pick up Ward who has all the time in the world to make a pin-point cross to Agyemang. De Neve (wing-back) is helping Hedges out to double up against Morris on the wing which is completely fine but then there's a huge gap between wing-back and central/attacking midfielders when Ward receives the ball. In the second situation, Alebiosu either doesn't check his back or decides not to seek up Agyemang before the cross comes in which is poor defending.

4 maybe is bit harsh but he definitely underperformed together with McLoughlin. Had they equalised from that big chance in second half it would've brought momentum to their side and a completely different game all of a sudden. Main problem is that he's slow to react in many situations. Need to raise his standard, simple as that.

Bit late but here's my ratings: Starting XI: Toth (8) - pulled off a fantastic save to deny Mavididi in second half. Has been a vital factor in securing our last two wins. Has the potential to become a top-end Championship goalie if he improves his left foot and distribution. De Neve (6) - did OK before getting substituted at half-time for tactical reasons. Provides athleticism on the left hand side but still struggles with the physical aspect of the game. McLoughlin (5) - thought he was quite poor and struggled to contain Fatawu at times. Doesn't look assured on the ball. Wharton (4) - played poorly in my opinion. Was caught on the wrong side and didn't put his body behind the ball which gave Mavididi a great chance to score early in the second half. Later lost out on pace to Daka during a transition moment and had to be saved by Miller. Sorry to say this but he has become worse since the lengthy spell on the sidelines last season due to the serious injury. Winning a couple of headers isn't enough. We need to sign a center back in January if Carter can't be trusted to come back into full fitness and play regularly. Miller (8) - has improved vastly over the past few weeks and stood for a commanding performance with his battling attitude. Tackled, intercepted, tracked back and even helped his teammates to recover the ball when they struggled. Alebiosu (9) - man of the match for me. Signing of the season so far and an absolute steal for £500K. Not only does he have pace but his ability to read defensive situations and block/screen opposing players from getting to the ball inside the box is impressive to see. The run he made to skip past two Leicester players, bombing down to the byline inside the box and finally square it to Gudjohnsen for 2-0 was the icing on the cake. Will be a Premier League player by next season or so if he keeps this up. Tronstad (5) - have no idea what has happened to him other than the contract situation. So wasteful in possession. TGH (4) - really poor performance from a technical standpoint. Provides a bit of athleticism in the middle of the park but is causing problems for his teammates with his poor passing decisions. Squandered a great chance early in the second by skying it with his weaker left foot. Also has problems in the defensive department as he fails to track his runner at times. Henriksson (5) - likes to press but is overly aggressive trying to win the ball with sliding tackles. Right decision to pull him off at half-time as he was already booked. Ohashi (7) - really good at pressing and forcing the opponent to make mistakes and win the ball high up the pitch, especially in the first half. Gudjohnsen (8) - the goal against Southampton last week gave a real confidence boost. Poacher's instinct to be on the end of the first one and resolutely fired home the second from close range. Has also improved somewhat in keeping hold of the ball and link play, albeit looking a bit weak in the challenges at times. Subs: Montgomery (6), Morishita (5 - wasteful in front of goal/ final third, needs to improve his decision-making), Hedges (6), Forshaw (N/A), Gueye (N/A) Coach: Ismael (7) - got it right with pressing high up the pitch and making it difficult for Leicester to play out from the back. Correct substitutions at half time as well. Match summary: thought we did really well at times by creating some momentum whenever we won back the ball high up on the pitch. Our right hand side in defence looks really strong at the moment with Miller and Alebiosu. The problems we faced came mainly from the left side and Fatawu in particular. Have to say that our central midfield is shockingly bad when in possession and is often the main cause to attacks/transitions breaking down early. Hopefully Baradji can make a real difference here when he gets fit because the current level of our midfield is sub-standard for Championship. Thought otherwise that our running capacity and willingness to press was impressive to see. Leicester didn't really manage put any substantial pressure on our goal after our second.

Seen the game now; have to say that this Rovers team is some the worst sides I've seen for many years when it comes to technique and game intelligence. The amount of misplaced passes and poor first touches are off the charts to be honest. First XI: Toth (6) - nothing to say here really. neither good nor bad. Opted to play long at almost every occasion, many towards Ohashi who doesn't exactly win many of those aerial challenges. McLoughlin (4) - displayed poor technique on several instances in this game. Caught out of position when Sheffield Utd scored their second. Wharton (5) - failed to win the header for their equaliser. Never looked confident on the ball. Miller (4) - don't know whether he played with pain in this match. Looked rather clumsy on the ball. Didn't track the runner for their third. De Neve (5) - willing runner down the left flank but had several misplaced passes and crosses. poor first touch/shot attempt that luckily led to an assist for the opening goal. Missed a great chance to put Ohashi through on goal in a 3 v 1 situation but opted to drift out wide and put an awful cross straight towards the keeper. Alebiosu (7) - only one who had a good game. ran up and down the right flank but no one was on the end of his crosses. Tronstad (4) - didn't track his runner for their second; gave up in an uncharacteristic manner and decided to make a little jump instead before stopping. Several misplaced passes as well. Hasn't been up to his usual standard this season. TGH (5) - had a bit of a tussle with Peck in second half which led to a booking. didn't show much otherwise. Henriksson (6) - had brief spells in the first half where he made some good runs into the box as well as finding space with his passes. Was directly at fault however for their equaliser as he had his back towards the ball and was more interested in wrestling with Soumare instead of clearing the ball away from the box. Ohashi (5) - not good enough technically. was in the right place to slot in the opening goal but had several instances where he didn't connect with the ball inside the box. Gudjohnsen (5) - For me, this guy is a bit of an enigma. I barely saw him being involved at all in the game, winning any challenges or making any runs. He did however put in a good cross that De Neve missed completely and ultimately fell for Ohashi to score. Subs: Montgomery (N/A) Kargbo (5) - managed to put himself offside once or twice and that's about it Gueye (5) - looks bereft of confidence. probably wants to leave. Ismael's comments earlier this week wasn't exactly motivating either. Hedges (4) - Rovers' own Pirlo with a fantastic volley strike when switching play to the other side. Too bad Alebiosu didn't stand a chance as it landed outside the sidelines some 30 yards ahead of him for a throw-in. Suited to perfection in a number 10 role from now on, right? Morishita (4) - Had a brilliant start by immediately failing to track Burrows' run at the far end of the box for their second goal. didn't show anything after that besides a hopeful attempt with his weaker foot that went well outside the post. Head coach: Ismael (1) - braindead second-half substitutions that flipped the game in a negative fashion for Rovers. Dragged both Ohashi and Gudjohnsen off but didn't sub Gueye on until three minutes left of normal time, leaving the team with no recognized striker for some ten minutes despite trailing by a goal. This is also the second time in a row where opposition manager has found a weakness / tweaked their tactics during half-time talks and capitalised on it in second half without us even finding a response or a way back into the game. Poor game management, poor motivator, poor tactician. Needs to go but won't get sacked anytime soon.

Fair point. But then again, it was the owners who started "bragging" how they were gonna sign players like Ronaldinho and Beckham and made a ridiculous bid for Raúl when he was at Schalke. They were the ones trying to show "ambition" at first but for any supporter, it was embarrasing to see. They had three transfer windows during the stint in PL to demonstrate their financial muscles yet their biggest signing was Scott Dann for a measly £5.5 million. Only after relegation was confirmed and the realization of sudden loss of revenue did they panic and bought Jordan Rhodes for £8 million in an attempt to go straight back up. First visible crack of their vision of the club and lack of knowledge was the sacking of Sam Allardyce and somehow appointing Steve Kean of all people as replacement. They thought owning an English football club was "easy" (no relegation), good for expanding their brand to a new audience and make a couple of high-profile signings to boost revenue. Scummy advisors and agents operating behind the scenes (SEM/Kentaro/Jerome Anderson etc.) were rubbing their hands at the prospect of using the club for their own ends, banking ridiculous agent fees for mediocre/ low level players coming in. It's fair to say that Venky's didn't do their due dilligence before buying the club and they don't really have any business operating within the football world if they don't have any knowledge of it. It's their fault entirely that they've made such a big loss over the past 15 years and the refusal to own up to it and just sell is only going to make it worse.

This one is brutal but could be a very powerful message: boycott the 150th anniversary game vs. Derby on November 8 and have season ticket holders/supporters, livestreaming on social media, a protest outside of Ewood for an hour or so before kickoff. Here are some suggestions/ protest ideas: - Make a copy of a season ticket and rip it in half in front of the camera/mobile phone. - Use protest signs like '15 years of mismanagement', 'Venky's are killing our club', '150 years old but last 15 has been stolen from us', 'We want our club back', 'Venky's are stealing our club's future', 'Venky's don't care about us', 'Venky's out', 'Venky's + Rovers = Failure by design', 'We ain't celebrating with you Venky's', 'Own up and sell up' etc. - Stand beside the Jack Walker statue with a sign that says: 'This is what a real owner looks like. Shame on you Venky's'. - Interview people from perhaps the coalition and have them summarize what has gone wrong for the past 15 years, name Venky's biggest mistakes or misjudgements, and post it on social media as well before this fixture. Can imagine that would generate significant media attention nationwide...

When taken last season's results into account as well, his record is crap: 22 matches - 6 wins, 4 draws 12 losses, goal difference: 22-30, total points: 22 Points per game (PPG): 1,00 Win percentage: 27 % Home record (total): 11 matches - 2 wins, 3 draws, 6 losses, goal difference: 14-19, total points: 9 Sidenotes: two of the wins from last season came against teams with nothing to play for at that stage (Sunderland and Watford). It took him five matches last season before first home win came against Millwall. This season, we're still without a win in five. This is definitely relegation-type stats at display here. I feel his game management is really poor as well making some rather strange second-half substitutions and having lost three home games already this season from a winning position. That combined with players coming into the squad lacking in Championship experience and you will probably see the team drop even more points from winning positions as the season carries on. Also, being poor at home is often devastating for teams, especially when you're fighting at the bottom end of the table. Does he deserve to get sacked? Yes Will he get sacked any time soon? No, because he accepted being brought into the club's "mission" of managing a team that's in a "transitional" period and taking a salary to become the club's new PR guy in front of the cameras.