Tyrone Shoelaces

I’ve been following Carters progress at Portsmouth. He seems to be doing really well there. He’s played on the right hand side of a back three and at right back in a back four. He’s getting good experience in both positions. Playing at right back says to me he’s got decent pace. Next years Scott Wharton ?

I spy a young Paul Young.

As my dad would say - “ They all piss in the same pot “.

Thanks Tony, I’ve been looking forward to this report. I’m glad your scores bear out my feelings that Hedges and Pickering were our weakest players on the night. Hedges got on my nerves right away with what you rightly describe as a “ dumb foul “. When your opponent is running away from goal towards the touchline the one thing you don’t do is get near enough to them for them to buy a foul. A little message should be going off in your brain as you move towards them “ Don’t get too close “. That’s exactly what he did. Lay a hand on an opponents shoulder and they’ll go down like a shot to get a free kick in s dangerous area. I agree with you about Preston trying to get Brererton a yellow card when he jumped up to catch the ball, pathetic. Same with our players surrounding the ref, although they did have a bit of a case on Monday night. The ref didn’t help himself with that early booking but to hand out five cards in a game were there wasn’t a bad foul in the whole game was pretty poor. The two worst fouls, that Whiteman committed, didn’t get a booking. As you say it used to be a man’s game, it’s certainly not now. As you know I watch semi pro rugby league and the difference in attitude of the players is like chalk and cheese. It’s like it was when I played football. If another player hurt you you did your best not to show it, todays footballers make an absolute meal of the slightest foul. Just one question, do you write your report as the game is going on or do you watch a recording of the game later ?

He did ok but he wasn’t up against a winger, he only had Cunningham to deal with who he could match for pace. I’d be worried if the opposition had an out and out pace merchant on the wing. Also he’s prone to getting drawn into a false position in the middle.

Well there’s a No2 shirt waiting for somebody next season.

The Travis goal was the best for me. Super diagonal run in possession from Diaz. Always looking to play somebody in. Intelligent play from Travis to get into a good position to receive the pass. The pass was spot on. Travis - cool as you like , knew what he was going to do before the ball arrived. Opened his body up and made the finish look easy. Cherry on the cake. Just when they thought they might have a chance. Extinguished.

Just watched the highlights again. Travis did really well to shape his body for the side foot finish. We need to get him in there more often. Brererton a bit unlucky hitting the post and skimming the bar with those two headers. He’s definitely improving that side of his game.

What does that very last sentence actually mean ? I’ve read it and re-read it and I’m none the wiser. Is it “ But we didn’t miss him, did we ? “

Unfortunately I can’t see us getting anybody better in.

Mm, at the start of the season I would have been very happy with where we are now. I had us down to be somewhere in the last third of the league.

Teams that want to play football we have a chance against. Preston tried playing us at football and came seriously unstuck. That’s why I think we’ll give Bournemouth a game. It’s the “ yard dogs “ , the teams down at the bottom, and the likes of Luton we don’t like playing against.

He gets an awful lot of bookings for a player who isn’t particularly physical. Last night being a case in point.

My criticism of him is he’s always on his heels when balls fly into the box but he was first to that header last night to open the scoring. Brererton had two very good headed chances last night. One hit the post and the other skimmed the bar.

I once saw a tribute band called “ The Jamm “ at the Liverpool August bank holiday music festival. They were honestly better than “ The Jam” because all three of them could really sing as well as play. I’m not in the slightest bit interested in “ Queen “ but a mate dragged me to see a “ Queen “ tribute band at the same festival a year or two later. They were bloody fantastic. They were from Argentina and called the Spanish for “ God Save The Queen “ - “ Dios Salve A La Reina “ I think. The funny thing was when they were playing their English was perfect but when they were announcing the songs it was very broken. The two best bands I saw there over the years were “ The Undertakers “ , scouse rockers from the 1960’s with Jackie Lomax and “ The Maximum Who “ . I took a mate who was a real gigger, he went to gigs most weeks, to see them at “ The Pen And Whig “ a pub in the town centre. I could see him pogoing down the front. When we got outside later he looked like he’d just got out of the shower. He said “ Tyrone, that’s the best thing I’ve seen all year “.

You should never give players a reason not to perform. Do that and most of the time they take it.

Nobody played well for Preston, they had a bad night all round. We managed to out enthuse a team for once and we played for more than 45 minutes.

I thought your pal had a game to forget. He was playing too deep with no support. Too many opponents to mark. That’s not his game. You want your playmaker further forward. Frustration crept in at the end.

I don’t think it matters much what sell on clause Forest have. The transfer fee money will go where the Armstrong money went I suspect. You either play Gallagher down the middle or you don’t play him at all. He’ll never be a winger. He’s better running after the ball than running with it.

Nah Jim, it’s Rovers style to crush Bournemouth on Saturday and then lose away at Big Club.

How many would have been happy missing out on the top six at Christmas ……… I’m not joking.

It’s galling that it’s taken whilst now before we get the show on the road but I really enjoyed that game. Play like that on Saturday and we’ll give Bournemouth a game without a doubt. Negatives for me ( the positives take care of themselves ) I’ve already mentioned Hedges, I wasn’t impressed with Pickering. Poor control in the first place then a lack of pace to recover led to the quickest booking I can remember for a long while. Most of the first half Preston threat came down his side. Incidentally the referee made a rod for his own back with that booking. After that every heavy tackle in theory should have seen a card. Obviously that didn’t happen and Rovers weren’t happy with him from then on. I’d be interested to hear Arbitro’s views on the cards. Whiteman could have had 3 in my opinion. Lenihan at right back. He played pretty well overall but in the heat of the moment a couple of times he found himself back playing centre half and leaving the right back area wide open. The incident in the first half were Cunningham got right in un marked on the back post and made a hash of a very dangerous position is one that comes to mind. He made a typical centre halves balls up of a good shooting chance in the second half. Discipline. As a team we do like a soft yellow card, Buckley especially. That has to improve next season. We can’t come bottom of the discipline league again.

I agree, I thought Hedges was our worst player. I can’t see what he brings to the party.

Right.

We played well tonight for a change. Preston looked very ordinary, I wouldn’t be preferring any of their players to ours on tonight’s showing. I’d give everybody a 7/10 bar Pickering and Hedges. I wasn’t impressed with either of those two. Pickering’s not quick enough for fullback and what did Hedges actually do ?