garnersfags

What's your honest take on our away performances since 6th August? And our ability to make changes both between and during games, to improve our chances?

I didn't see a single comment on here tonight, agreeing with or praising the selection of Hirst, but you can be sure that there will be criticism of those of us daring to venture that we haven't yet seen a player in him. No-one knows whether he will make it at this level (although most of us think it looks unlikely), but what we do know is that to play him in the starting eleven right now is not a footballing decision, or at least not one that has much interest in whether we win games or not.

What's your honest take on our away performances since 6th August? And our ability to make changes both between and during games, to improve our chances?

The end of the Dack era is not just a footballing decision, JDT desperately wants his wages to fund an already earmarked purchase in Jan. Dack will only go if he feels unwanted, so JDT must make him feel lonely and belittled, to make the deal happen in Jan. We will have lost quite a number of away games due to this little feud/stand-off before Brad is sold for £750,000. JDT will play literally anyone ahead of BD, to ensure he's not here in Feb.

Anyone asking for Dack, didn't see how he walked off the pitch on Saturday. That was the end of the road for our former hero. Very sad.

Gally looks a good player...........until he gets the ball.

We just can't get near their box, never mind in it....its just not a priority for us. Why?????

Depends what week it is...

That's the only time tonight any of our midfielders have even thought of approaching the penalty area. Poor Tyler...

Really good game now, still no quality, tho. Morton, Brittain or Diaz to unlock the prize? Oops, no, it's a gift.....

We are soooooo shot-shy for some reason... Much better intent, tho

Brittain brilliant!

JDT was very critical of our performance at Cardiff, but it is down to him to find a slight change to formation or personnel, to get at least one shot on target in the 2nd half. Literally any team can render up totally impotent, just by turning up. Doesn't matter how they play, who they play, whether they play. It's unfathomable. Brittain and Dolan to the rescue. I really hope they allow Brittain to play as creatively as we know he wants to. Let's go for it!

I think we need to give Szmodics more time to learn how not to trap it further than I can kick it. Not sure back to goal is his preferred position.

It's as if Saturday didn't happen, but what I can't understand is how we suddenly lose all ability to control or pass the ball as soon as we leave the environs of Blackburn. Wigan are working harder than us, that's the issue so far. At least BBD is up for it, thank God....

My view, without upsetting anyone, is that we can get away with blooding new, young inconsistent talent at Ewood, where the supportive crowd, and defensive opposition allow the odd poor performance, and mistake, but statistically we can't usually get away with it away from Ewood. This is my concern about playing Hirst. I understand that JDT is searching for the secret, the missing link, but surely tonight was about breaking the cycle of depressingly poor away performances, not keeping Leicester City happy. I hope my misgivings are unfounded, but the other 10 may now have to work 10% harder for the win. I'm nervous. Remind me I was wrong at 10pm please. COYB!!!!!

Ha ha, that takes me back to a blustery Tuesday night at Vale Park, March '92. Awful performance and Sherwood took the brunt of my disappointment. I was fuming by the end of the game. 5 million spent, and 1 win in 9. A tough night, but made Home Park, then the Baseball ground, and Wembley all the sweeter....

Yes, attendances are a concern. Our confidence and loyalty is paper thin after last season's debacle, and some of the performances this season. Our home form is actually very good, and the atmosphere is positive and often joyous. We need the 1000 floating fans to return, but only results will do that. I really enjoyed yesterday, from start to finish. Now for Wigan....

I think the reason the comments have expressed such disappointment is quite how low we have sunk in terms of our inability to pass and retain the ball effectively for 90 minutes in a high number of games, therefore restricting our strikers to minimal reasonable chances. And our inability to remedy this during the game... I said, admittedly emotionally, on Tuesday night that it was the poorest 90 minutes passing and ball retaining performance I could remember for a long time, so therefore that's what I shared on here. It genuinely was worse than the end of last season, and no, I didn't want TM to stay, and no, I don't want JDT to go, but the fact remains it was as poor as many of us have seen, and therefore, as 'knowledgeable, dyed in th wool types', we say what we see and say that it is worrying, whilst acknowledging that it is a new era and will hopefully improve. Yesterday was better, but a decent opposition strike force would have been 2 or 3-1 up at half-time. We just say what we see. Good and bad, and 3 points off the top is a good place to be when you have lost 6 out of 13 games.

Sorry Jim, my comment was ironic, but I totally agree with you.

Literally any result possible. If we are confident and assured on the ball, we will win, but that's a massive IF. Hope Sky coverage doesn't put too many off the short journey down the M6.

My thoughts on SS are that he is inconsistent at Championship level, and that he will produce the odd decent performance, such as 2nd half against a tiring Rotherham. Similar to Gally's record over 5 years. He was feathered off the ball much too easily in the 1st 60 minutes of the game, and contributed little(similar to most of his performances), so hope JDT can improve his consistency. He certainly shows quality, in flashes.

This reminds me that Dack shook very few hands at full-time, did a very quick solo sweet caroline clap to the BB End, then walked straight down the tunnel, head-down, alone, before the others had even shook hands with the opposition and officials. Apols if this was mentioned last night. It's not a big shock, but for me that's effectively the end of Dack at Ewood, and I think he'll be remembered in the same way Jansen is remembered, in terms of what might have been after such a promising start to his Rovers career. It was sad to watch. Hope I'm wrong, and he suddenly becomes the hard working box to box midfielder that JDT wants him to be, but not holding my breath....

Interesting thoughts around how critical we were on Tuesday night compared to today. I think most of the criticism following the Cardiff performance was justified. We just looked so uncomfortable on the ball, for 90 minutes. Our passing and ball retention was very very poor, and many of us worry that our consistently poor away performances may derail our play-off chances. Calling for JDT's head was of course over the top, based on genuine emotional disappointment. The Rotherham performance was positive and continued the run of one decent 90 min home performance every 3 or 4 games, the last one was against a v poor Watford. We have yet to dominate and beat a settled side with a decent manager. Our good performances have been against teams with new young managers, or teams who's managers are under real pressure. If JDT can overcome his inability to select an eleven and tactics to consistently retain and pass the ball effectively away from home, we will be on track for a good season. This for me, is a big IF though, purely based on away performances so far. One issue I have, even at home, is that Morton(or Wharton, or Dack) is our only real creative passing force, with the impressive work-rate(but more limited passing ability) of Hedges, Gallacher, and Travis around him. For me, whoever plays in the Szmodics role really needs to be more creative and more involved in the game, and hopefully Szmodics's improved 2nd half showing bodes well, but I'm yet to be convinced. Whoever is in this position needs to score 12-16 goals a season for us to be promoted, as we score very few goals from any other position. All this may sound critical after a really good win, but we're now talking the detail of what it takes to nail the consistency to achieve promotion, and I think that's what this forum is here for. The full league table below, with both home and away stats, shows how our away form needs to improve. If we lose on Tuesday, our away form, in terms of results, will be the opposite of our home form, which would leave us around the bottom of the top half at the end of the season. https://thefishy.co.uk/leaguetable.php?table=2 Here's hoping we break the cycle at Wigan!

All good points. I just keep coming back to our inability to keep the ball long enough to set up any type of attack. Especially away from home. Our main issue has been putting in 2 good performances in a row, which for me, seems to mean JDT doesn't know his best 11 on any given matchday. I find it really hard to watch.