Tyrone Shoelaces

They offer for the pass from the central defence ok but then they give them the ball back straight away. I was sat there yesterday watching both teams either put ball after ball out of play or to an opponent and the thought came into my head - the increase in the level of athleticism in modern football has not been matched by an increase in the level of footballing ability. That’s in spite of the modern pitches being like bowling greens, the ball being lighter, the refs protecting the skilful players etc. Now that “ playing out from the back “ appears to have fallen out of fashion we’ve no coherent plans to replace it.

He was really easy to ignore. He looked like a fish riding a bike for two seasons at least.

It was a low bar today mate.

Today wasn’t much of an advertisement for championship level football. If I had a £1 for every miss placed pass by both teams I’d be rich. A game of two halves. We hardly turned up in the first half. No pace, no tempo, too much walking football. We were getting bullied all over the pitch, the ref was partly responsible for that. Apart from the pen he gave us next to nothing. 4 minutes added time ? Really ? For the first goal - the one player that shouldn’t be getting a free header is Morris. Did somebody say we’ve just signed a set piece coach ? I thought playing Hedges as a centre half was a really really strange move. Has he ever played there before in his life ? Playing either of Pickering or Ribeiro there would have been a better bet in my opinion. Nobody played well but some were better than others, Ohashi never gave up and scored a well taken penalty. Alebioso kept trying without much joy. After that I’m struggling. Of course a team with a fit and available Toth, Wharton, Carter, Tronstad and Cantwell would look much stronger and would allow some of the starters today to be on the bench. Let’s not forget that. However 2 of those players will not play again this year and how long Carter lasts this time is anybodies guess. Pears looked nervous without making any real clangers. To be honest I don’t think either keeper had to make a serious save all game. DeNeve ? Playing at a level beyond his ability. Don’t let him take another corner. Same with Henriksson, not at this level as a starting player. Nobody in centre mid impressed, nobody was capable of carrying the ball forward and committing opponents. Morishita ? Better than Dolan ? Not for me. Too lightweight in a bruisers league. Gudjohnsen ? He was Badjohnsen today. I know he got next to no service but you’ve get to get involved more than that today. None of the subs made much of impression. I got the feeling we could have played whilst midnight and not got an equaliser. At least the Rovers book I bought before the game looks like money well spent.

Has anybody bought or even seen the new book ? Is it worth buying ?

The other downer is him getting tapped up players from other clubs whilst he’s away. Apart from during the Jack Walker era Rovers players getting international recognition has been great for the players involved, not so good for the club.

The Supremes - Come See About Me

I was down that end when it happened. I think he kicked the hoardings.

There’s a reason why he’s behind those players.

I’m not a fan of his as an out and out winger. He isn’t particularly quick, he doesn’t seem to have a trick or two in his locker, he’s not particularly aggressive, he doesn’t have many assists and he certainly doesn’t score enough goals. Where he’s playing now gets the best out of him,. He’s diligent in regards to positional play, he’ll do all the running that is required for that position, his passing is fairly good, he doesn’t get on the wrong side of the officials so he doesn’t have to worry about yellow cards reducing his effectiveness. The left wing back shirt is his at the moment as far as I can see.

But would Ismael have changed the system if the Cantwell injury hadn’t have forced his hand ?

You don’t take your captain and your goalkeeper off with “ fake injuries “.

If both Wharton and Toth are unavailable I’d be happy with that starting line up. Who would be captain in those circumstances ? I thought Wharton was doing a good job in the role incidentally.

Or Ribeiro. We need to stick to the same formation in my opinion. I hope he doesn’t got to a back 4 because we are short on numbers. It’s just showing how foolish it was to let Hyam go as well as O’Riordan when we knew Carter was so injury prone. it’s noticeable Pickering wasn’t even on the bench tonight.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Down On The Corner

Bringing Hedges on who played more as a conventional left back sorted the problem out.

“ A lot of players play better in their position “ Really , colour me shocked. I should have taken my coaching badges then. Going back when you had to clear the dinosaur shit off the pitch before you could kick off the plan was always to find out the players strengths and weaknesses pre-season and design your system around them. Too many managers come into a club with pre-conceived ideas of how to play with predictable outcomes. It looks like Ismael got lucky, but for Cantwell’s injury it sounds like we would have been flogging away at his old system and going nowhere. Anyway I don’t see a problem, just play Cantwell in Henrikson’s place, simple.

It wasn’t Chaddy was it ?

I believe they’re still looking for the ball from the one he put yards over the bar. He was pointing to where he wanted the pass to go, it was a perfect pass, and leathered it out of sight.

He was fast asleep there but he wasn’t on his own at that moment. Luckily we have a good goalkeeper who came to the rescue.

Listening to the voices in his head.

I look at it like this - is he better than the player he’s replacing ? Is he better than Travis ? - no, in my opinion. Is he better than Tronstad, even allowing for the fact Tronstad isn’t at his best ? - no, in my opinion. How you get up this league is replacing existing players with better players, not players that are worse. It can be done, even at Rovers. It’s looking like we’ve replaced Brittain with a better all round player

I agree with most of what you’ve posted but 4 for Wharton ? I’d reserve that for a really disastrous performance in a hammering. Hyam at Bristol City springs to mind. We won 2-0 on Saturday with a decent performance from the team.

I’d be hoping for player that is better myself. If we have any ambition at all . If we intend to hang around the bottom third of the table for ever he’d do. That’s his level.

Or Pickering. He looked comfortable there when he played as an emergency centre half. His passing out of defence was good and he’s tall enough to cope with headed challenges.