Tyrone Shoelaces

He did the square root of nothing playing there yesterday. His lack of pace is surprising for a pro player. He’s slow off the mark and he’s slow over a distance. It’s central midfield or nowhere for me. I’d have subbed him off at half time and brought Baker on in his place.

I like Eustace but he got that team selection badly wrong. I’m not saying that with the benefit of hindsight, I thought that at 3-00 pm. He could have changed it at half time but he didn’t. We needed more bodies in central midfield where we were getting over run. We should have started with either of Gueye or Ohashi up front with Cantwell behind the striker. Cantwell will never be a wide player as long as he lives, he must be the slowest player in the squad. As you say if Beck isn’t capable of 90 minutes Hedges was the obvious replacement.

I said to my son before the kick off I wouldn’t have started with that team. Ohashi and Gueye up front together meant the midfield would have their hands full. We started off poorly and let them build confidence. The first half was as bad a half as I can remember. We were second to too many balls and we were getting out muscled all over the pitch. We got sucked into an ale house football battle. Travis getting booked early on didn’t help in that respect. Second half wasn’t much better but at least we created two guilt edged chances. I thought we’d just about done enough to get a point but the subs let us down, Dolan in particular. Bottom line - We were outenthused again today. Scores- Pears 7 - Made some good saves but I need to see the goal back, I’m never happy with conceding headed goals from in and around the 6 yard box. JRC 6 - I thought he got better as the game went on but didn’t get forward enough. Hyam 7 - Defended stoutly under a ton of pressure. Batth 8* - A colossus under tremendous pressure hardly put a foot wrong Pickering 6- See JRC, could be missing for a while now. ACD 5 - From hero to zero. Missed a really guilt edged chance, no awareness of what was going on around him. Consistently out muscled today. A boy playing against men. Travis 7 - Did his best until his injury. The early booking handicapped him, his injury must be bad for him not to attempt to continue. Tronstad 6- His usual tidy self but never got over the half way line. Cantwell 5- Really poor today, he obviously didn’t fancy it. I’d have subbed him off at half time. Gueye 5- Nobody knows what he’s going to do next, possibly because he doesn’t. Ohashi 6 - Never stopped running as usual. I thought he was a bit unlucky with the bounce for the chance he had. Subs Dolan 5- Really poor effort. Caused us more trouble than he did Millwall. Beck 7 - The usual all out effort from the lad. Weimann 5 - Ineffectual. Hedges 5 - Ineffectual, should have taken the shot instead of passing to Weimann.

JDT had the benefit of the best midfield player in the league. Our form fell off a cliff once he was sold. He also managed to off load the midfield player who has been our best player this season for no apparent reason. Having Travis and Wharton running the midfield would have been a massive improvement on what Eustace had to work with.

The Rochdale game is off again ! Why did my mum and dad choose to move to the town with the greatest average rainfall in England !

In the way that form and results were terrible at the end of JDT’s time here but Eustace was expected to improve things as soon he set foot through the door.

George Eastham, one of the last surviving members of the 1966 England World Cup squad. George was a very skilful, ball playing, inside forward. Although he didn’t play in any games, if anything would have happened to Bobby Charlton, George would have been his stand in. If he was playing today he would have definitely got on as a sub. For younger Rovers fans he was in the style of Lsrs Bohinen or Eyal Berkovic. Not very big but he had a good engine and a great eye for a pass. My first memory of him was him scoring the last minute equaliser for Arsenal at Ewood in a famous 5-5 draw. I can still see him now knocking the ball in after a Bob Jones fumble in the Darwen End goalmouth. RIP George.

It’s just too obvious.

If he’s not the worst of the regular squad, who do you think is ?

Me too. That season was over. My view was let’s see what he can do with a his own pre-season and maybe even a new player or two. I think what got on my nerves previously is that he seemed to be judged in a way the JDT never was by some sections of this board.

Rockpile - If Sugar Was As Sweet As You

Get rid of 6 players from the scrum around the goalkeeper and he might have a chance of actually catching the ball.

Too easy !

I read earlier in an article about set piece coaches that - “ In the Carabao Cup on Wednesday Crystal Palace left three men on the half way line to stop Arsenal having all their players in the box “ ( for an Arsenal corner ). That’s how it was when I first started playing.

I sort of understand it in a way. I have a second team. My local Rugby League team i could have gone watching Wigan or St Helens but I chose a struggling team. The atmosphere is totally different. It’s really friendly, the players aren’t great “ I am’s “ , they stop and chat with you. You can buy them a pint. Everybody is in the bar after the game mixing together. That’s the upside of supporting a small club. The down side is you’re always struggling. I can’t understand swapping football teams though. That’s a no-no.

The Valentino’s - Lookin’ For A Love

Did you really think we were “ nowhere near a relegation battle “ when Eustace was appointed ? I thought we were nailed on, the club was a shambles on and off the pitch.

It will be if we go out expecting an easy ride.

He didn’t have much of a smile either.

There were guys on here who were on his case after about three games. Ridiculous.

There’s very interesting article in today’s paper regarding Sam Smiths brewery and pubs. He’s the autocrat who closes pubs on a whim. The two pubs closest to me, two minutes walk away in each case, are Sam Smiths pubs ( The Rifleman’s and The Alpine ) and they are both shuttered up and have been so for years. What’s the situation in Blackburn ?

I watched him against Rovers and I watched him against Preston last week. Not for me, he’s going through the motions now. If Leeds, who are really desperate for a goalscorer, are prepared to let him go, that tells me all I need to know.

Mm, I only saw the second half as well but Joseph’s body language looked poor to me. He looked like he’d had to walk to York to get a game. I thought the new throw in rules were a vast improvement. Take it from wherever you like as long as it’s in the correct half of the pitch !

Sounds like he could be another Harry Chapman. I’d maintain a watching brief at the moment.

Yeah, MOM for me in that game.