Tyrone Shoelaces

The usual vote of thanks Tony. As you say, an embarrassing game all around. We looked scared to really take Bournemouth on. When we needed to play with more urgency we were passing it back and forth along the back four again. It could have been a game were a back 5 again would have been the better bet. Our two centre halves had a busy afternoon against the pace of Bournemouth’s strikers. I’m surprised you had Pickering down as MOM I thought nobody in the team came out with much credit and he was no exception.

Being fair to him this is true. Plus Wharton on his inside seemed to be struggling with either season end fatigue or he’s struggling to come to terms with playing in a back 4 instead of a 5. When Brererton is in front of him runs about a bit but he’s not really a defensive minded player. Having said all that these factors don’t affect an individuals running speed, passing ability, heading ability or effectiveness in the tackle.

Anybody else underwhelmed that Park is leaving. He hasn’t exactly been a success story in my book.

The new Paul Ince ?

I think Johnno’s ship has sailed, unfortunately he’s now been tarred with the Mowbray brush.

He had a good football brain even as a young player. He took up good positions and he was a bit Rhodes like in his finishing, he never panicked and he took his time in front of goal. Like Rhodes he wasn’t the quickest.

It’s going to be very close. I thought Leeds were out of it a while ago, now they’re back in it.

That wouldn’t surprise me.

That’s all that let Gally down, he wasn’t quick enough to play up front at top level. He had everything else though.

I remember one early cross he put in that went out for a throw in.

I get the feeling the players thought as long as we beat Preston we’ll be forgiven for playing like drains for the last two months. Win that and we can get the deck chairs out. We never needed that bonus anyway.

Pickering just isn’t good enough. He’s an easy touch on that left hand side. He doesn’t know when to stick or twist. Maybe the injury has affected him. Compare his ability in one on one’s with Nyambe. .

I’m not sure that’s true. He’d had a longish barren spell before he went abroad.

I’ve had a long think about this and I came to the conclusion that we were scared of Bournemouth and we didn’t fancy our chances at any point.

I like playing with a back four but for that to work you need two pacey fullbacks who are excellent defensive players but can also get forward to a certain extent and who are good passers of the ball . You need two centre halves, one who is absolutely dominant in the air and the other is really quick across the ground and who is a good tackler. One of those two needs to be a decent passer of the ball. Both centre halves need to be good readers of the game and they must combine well together. Right footer and Left footer is ideal. When we have those players in place we’ll be set up to play 4 at the back. Branaghan, Keeley, Fazackerley, Rathbone wasn’t a bad example at this level Bournemouth would have had a harder time against those four yesterday.

I agree with all of that, especially about the back 4 versus a back 5. We changed to a back 5 because the back 4 were getting dicked.

I was more on about bringing players in.

Cheapskates. When will they realise the most important person at the club is the manager ?

Yeah, could be Brian Kidd all over again.

If “ good things “ are coming why wait whilst now ? January was the time for “ good things “ to happen. We signed 5 make weights.

The lad’s a good defender, no doubt about that. Best one on one defender we have.

Brexit’s stymied that line of thought.

Yeah crazy ones. He spent loads of time and money at unfair dismissal tribunals trying to defend his actions. He lost every one. It cost a fortune.

Rovers at the moment is like the last engineering company I worked at. Nut case of an owner making crazy decisions all the time, it was like a bath with both taps on full but somebody had left the plug out. It should, and could, have been a gold mine. In the end it went bang.

Nobody who isn’t desperate to pay the mortgage will be looking at Rovers. Who want’s to work for The Chicken Chokers if they have a choice.