Also highlights what I thought I saw which was how few touches Dack had after his goal.

Anatomy of a fuck up.

1) As the cross is hit, no danger whatsoever: small bloke at back post tightly marked

2) Uh-ohh…Gallagher, as ever, back on his heels and slow to react to a ball that should’ve been his. Nyambe, who had been ball-watching, gets barged when he should’ve been the one barging, injury or not.

3) It’s all over: Gallagher a useless spectator, Nyambe falling over, no idea where the ball is

4) The one determined player involved gets his just rewards.

We’ve never looked solid with a back 4, and I believe that’s due to the gaping hole in front of them that is Joe Rothwell, who does nothing defensively. Travis can’t be everywhere, though he tries to be. Rothwell should’ve been where the guy who put the cross in was but miles away as usual. Then, not for the first time, Nyambe gets done at the back post, nowhere near getting a strong challenge in.

My Hail Mary for the last six games is 4-3-3:

Whoever is fit in the back 4, Travis Johnson and Buckley in the middle; Brereton, Dack and Dolan up front. If we keep playing Gallagher and Rothwell we have no chance.

4 minutes ago, OldEwoodBlue said:

That goal came about by basically getting someone in the box. Simple.

Someone who anticipates play and makes the run to get in front of his man - that’s the real difference.

I find it hard to get mad at JRC and Pickering, they are limited players and aren’t the reason we just cannot score. Rothwell and Gallagher have made my blood boil this half though. 

Best three chances of nicking a goal all sat on the bench

1 hour ago, rigger said:

Not for 27 games in the second division.

And not for someone who takes every free kick and corner.

First three months playing 4-3-3 we were a midtable team even with Diaz scoring for fun, because we were vulnerable at the back, which I felt was because our centre midfield is defensively weak: Travis does his best work off the ball so, if someone screws up, he’s not close enough to rectify, plus Rothwell I think is nigh on useless defensively.

So we went to five at the back which makes us very solid. Our great run I felt was fuelled by the combo of Buckley’s ability to make intelligent early through passes and Diaz’s ability to anticipate them plus his unsustainably high % conversion rate. Without Diaz’s early runs Buckley holds onto the ball and is much less effective, because Gallagher hasn’t the nous to anticipate his passes and make the right runs.

I always thought when we got to 2nd, that was a high water mark and clinging onto a top 6 place depended on avoiding injuries and loss of form, but we avoided neither. Today for me just summed up how fragile was our capability to compete.

The usual suspects not turning up again: Rothwell cruising to the end of his contract exchanging backward and sideways passes; Dolan and Buckley schoolboys; Gallagher back to his soft pansy, back on his heels best, despite playing much more centrally. But for Kaminski we’d be 0-4 down.

12 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

You think we're playing 4 at the back?!

Yes. Who do you think is defending to the right of Lenihan?

2 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

we are  set up exactly the same as the first half against derby,though with different players,we don`t look like scoring at all

Except for it being 4-2-3-1 with Gallagher in the middle.

1 hour ago, AllRoverAsia said:

Meanwhile on RoversTV (there for all to see and hear before anyone denies it!) Mowbray says that there was player 'aggression' in the dressing room at HT and he wished a couple of them had shown the same aggression on the pitch .......

I got the impression from the full interview that the aggression was between the players, and I would have expected no less, especially given Lenihan/JRCs pushing match.

58 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

That was a decent header but did you notice how tall the guy he was jumping against was ? Gallagher must have been a foot taller.

He needs to do it against a couple of strapping centre halves before I’ll start believing.

So what was said by who at half-time isn’t out there anywhere - or have I missed it?

Rather a lot being made of Gallagher scoring from a perfect cross against ten men of a bottom 3 team who’d pushed up in the 98th minute desperately seeking an equalizer. Let’s hope he is equally deadly on Saturday.

Three headers from a team I thought would never score a header again. Best thing that happened tonight was Lawrence finding a way to finally get Gallagher throwing his weight around. Three really class headers just when we needed them, but kudos for Kaminski for keeping us in it first half. A season-defining second half hopefully.

Back to the penalty: actually half their team were encroaching, but the ref was clearly unsighted…

6 hours ago, Claytons Left Boot said:

Enjoy the game, John. You’re in luck because Bambi Gallagher will net a brace. You heard it from me first. 

More chance of me swimming back to Canada, Mark!

So it looks like not all academy graduates get offered derisory wages then.

First actual must win game of the season for me. So much so, I shall be there to cheer them on.

1 hour ago, booth said:

Watching the highlights.

For JRC's effort why wasn't Gallagher running in and taking a chance of poking that in? If you watch it he stops running. Then he stands there head in hands at JRC's miss.

If I was his manager I'd be saying why did you stop running you stupid bloody lump?! Earn your keep.

That was the first offence.

Second offence, missing a toe poke into the goal. And his reaction to that wasn't one of frustration, just "oh well."

Third offence, the motherf**cker knocks the ball away from their goal when he's right next to it. Which striker in any league has the instinct to knock it back across goal when the gaping net is an inch from them, with goalie nowhere near them?

That's what you get from spending £5m donkeys. You can't get rid, you have to play them, you have to re-sign them to save face and they waste valuable opportunies week after week.

What an awful and uncommitted player he is. I'm more angry now than watching the game.

I felt the same watching replays of each incident - absolutely no striker’s instinct at all. Add poor technique and movement and we have a total donkey.

I think the bracketing of Buckley with him by others on here as a major culprit in our failure is ludicrous. Bucko set up two sitters, hit the post and made the keeper make a save - more than everyone else combined. Has Rothwell even had a shot or set anyone up this year? His three “off your seat” runs all ended in lost possession.

Buckley better than the other 21 players put together; Gallagher - playing almost entirely in his “square peg” position - has been totally pathetic. Three decent shots came in from angles, back on his heels for all of them; missed a sitter, crap control, crap passing, crap movement. We aren’t getting in the playoffs with him in the side IMO.

Wtf is Buckley doing in a long sleeved undershirt and gloves!

4 minutes ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

Some very sad news. Everton reporting that Gordon Lee has passed away.

A very good manager for us.

As are Rovers. Less flash than his predecessor, Ken Furphy, but gave us a fantastic promotion season.