Graham just fluffed a glorious chance... uggghhh! Dack has been very lively since their goal.

This is horrible to watch so far...

4 hours ago, blueboy3333 said:

What has stood out for me in the last 2 years under Mowbray is  that the passing is very poor. Eventually that will catch up with you. The defending is also poor. We get the basics wrong. Looking for reasons beyond that for our rece t results is to excuse the quality of the coaching. 

 

 

When has our passing been good? 

Disappointing result and performance. Season well and truly over now.

I think it's been easy to forget this season because we were doing so well early on, but this is a side that primarily consists of players playing in the Championship for the 1st or 2nd season. Our only players with any Premier League experience are Graham, Bennett and Rodwell. 

Compare that with Boro's team, which is filled with players that either have Premier League experience or are seasoned Championship players (like Assambalonga).

We've done okay this season, but this was never a promotion-winning team.

Just now, USABlue said:

We are 2 down?

My bad... it's late over here. I meant the goal and red card incident.

Not much to say.. that was one of the worst 45 minutes I've seen us play so far this season. We looked to be coming into it a tiny bit and then got red carded in the end.

Mulgrew responsible for both goals. He's not good enough defensively for me and also a poor leader. IMO we look disorganised and chaotic when he's on the pitch, even more so when he's playing alongside Williams. 

In the reverse fixture, Boro equalised being a man down and a goal down, so hoping for a reverse tonight. 

Rothwell not even on the bench?

There’s always so much criticism slung Mowbray’s way after games like this, but I simply don’t get it. Be careful what you wish for, we already had that experience when people kept calling for Allardyce’s head and then we ended up with Kean.

Even if we were to get rid of Mowbray, there’s no guarantee that the next guy or even the next 5 guys will be any better. In the context of the last few years, we are in a good place right now. To get rid of a manager one season after promotion after very little investment is crazy. This season has been frustrating, and at this stage I’ve resigned to the fact that it’s all about consolidation and nothing more.

IMO we have a team full of potential, but very few players who are actually top-end Championship quality and certainly not Premier League quality. There is a core of young players that I think need to keep progressing this season and mature enough to push on next season. The likes of Raya, Lenihan, Nyambe, Travis, Reed, Rothwell, Armstrong, Dack and Brereton. Maybe even Bell.

Mowbray’s real test will come next season. He will have to delve into the transfer market and make the right recruitments to turn us into a real promotion contender and he will have to keep developing those young players as well. If there is no progress next season then I would consider parting ways and giving someone else a go.

Just now, Pedro said:

Sounds like the players/defenders do. If the team selected are creating chances, then surely the manager had done well hasn't he? He can't put the ball in the net or stop it. 

You can blame Mowbray for buying Bell, but that’s about it. 

We’ve created numerous chances but the players are making individual mistakes. You can’t blame the tactical setup for us conceding from the 1 chance Reading have had all day.

Ffs typical Rovers performance. Huffing and puffing but with no real end product... then the other side has 1 attack and they score.

Left back is a real problem area for us... and we have to get someone new in next season.

Looks like a very defensive team to me, which is a bit unexpected. I wonder if he is trying something different for away games given how many we’ve conceded recently in those games. 

No idea what the formation could be... either 4-3-3, 4-4-2 or 4-1-4-1.

Good luck to BB hopefully tonight is the game he finally gets his goal!

4 hours ago, Stuart said:

Will have to agree to disagree. Although it wasn’t a booking.

In any case, we should have had the options on the bench to not have to make three changes to accommodate it.

I think he had to be subbed, and that was the right decision by Mowbray. We lose a lot of control in the middle of the park when Travis is out though, and frankly, we were in control of possession when Travis, Smallwood and Dack were all on the pitch and playing in that central area. Taking all 3 off was madness, and towards the end we just resorted to lumping it up field, which didn’t really work out very well.

That for me is my biggest criticism of Mowbray. He confused things by subbing all his central midfielders, and then shuffling the players around into different positions. It’s not the first time he’s done something like this.

Absolutely frustrating. The first substitution to bring Nyambe on and push Bennett further up was the right decision, but taking Dack off and moving Bennett central made no sense. Bennett was actually looking good on that right wing before that. 

I stick by my thoughts in the first half, Graham wasn't offering enough in attack. If Mowbray didn't spend money in January, he absolutely has to place his faith in Brereton and let him play in games like this. The last change did not work at all and the decision to drop Bell for Williams clearly didn't pay off either.

Mulgrew and Rodwell were excellent today though, and I thought Smallwood was back to his best.

6 minutes ago, West Yorks Rover said:

Not sure about that every time we take Graham off we concede and usually lose.

True, but we can't rely on him forever. He's looked poor this game, along with several others. Hopefully he improves this half, but if not I would give one of the younger players a try.

Bristol have had the better chances so far, but otherwise fairly even game. They're strong on the counter, so we have to be careful not to over commit. 

Graham has been the weakest in attack for me... I'd bring on Nuttall or BB second half.

Smallwood has had a bright start to this game so far, fair play to him. 

Don’t really understand why Bell was dropped for Williams... don’t recall him being that poor against Brentford.

The rest of the lineup not all that surprising. A bit harsh for Nyambe to miss out on a starting spot again.

On 01/02/2019 at 08:06, Ewood Ace said:

How the money is paid for Brereton is a red herring as we will have committed to paying up to £7 Million and it is money that can't be spent elsewhere. But that has already been done over and over on here, so I'll move on.

You say if Brereton develops into a quality striker then he will have been a good investment. What is the difference between that argument and the argument of signing a striker on 4 month loan (paying him say 30-40K a week) who if he scores the goals to get us into the play offs (and maybe beyond) will have proven to be a good investment. Both are gambles the only difference is if Brereton is a failure it's one we are lumbered with for years to come whereas if the loan signing doesn't come off then after a few months he's off our hands.

You’re exactly right that both are gambles. We don’t know the exact finances involved in either the BB deal or the never completed Assambalonga deal, but Mowbray has given his reasons for taking a gamble with one and not the other and his reasoning makes sense to me.

For what it’s worth I think Ben has been rubbish so far and I would have loved Britt to be here instead. But I’ve seen enough of the current team this season to not be bothered by it, as I think they can hold their own against any team in the division. 

On 01/02/2019 at 08:03, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

So the only two strikers we were interested in in the whole of Western Europe are one player who played for us before and another player who plays just down the road in Mowbray's home town.  To be honest it's hard to believe we were seriously looking. In future don't pee in my ear and tell me it's raining Rovers. Maybe our scouts are still waiting for their bus passes because none of them must have a passport.

 

What does the club not scouting outside of the UK have anything to do with my post?

18 minutes ago, Ewood Ace said:

But that argument is on very flimsy ground when he has spent a substantial amount of money on a 4th choice striker/ 6th choice winger. 

Ben is likely on a reasonable wage with us though that fits into our wage structure. The money paid up front is not the full 7m, and at 19 years of age if he develops into a quality striker then it would have been a good investment.

With Assambalonga it sounds like the issue is with wages. If he’s on 50k per week as some people were saying then that’s nuts, and TM is 100% right not to spend break the existing wage structure like that. 

I’m sure Gallagher would have happened if Southampton were actually willing to sell or let him go on loan.

How much did we spend on defenders pre-Venky's though? 

Our best defenders in recent times have all either been promoted from the youth team or brought in for small fees (or no fee at all). Dann being the only exception to that.

8 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Yeah, Mulgrew way too slow for  full back.

When Mulgrews fit again he has to play as he's club captain and for his goals. Also I can't see Mowbray wanting to drop Rodwell. I think we could well see three at the back and two up front to fit them both in.

------------------------Raya

-------Lenihan----Rodwell---Mulgrew

Bennett------Travis------Reed---------Bell

-------------------------Dack

-------------Graham-----Armstrong

 

 

I think that is our best team as well. Although Bennett and Nyambe are interchangeable in that position. We have decent cover throughout the team that way as well.

The only area that we look light in is defence and hopefully we make some signings to address that. I’m still not convinced by Bell, once again he looked like he has the makings of a great full back today but his decision making was off.

This game makes me nervous... too many chances spurned so far.

Absolute heroic stuff from Raya there..

Fantastic win - to score 2 goals in quick succession late on to secure all 3 points must be a major morale boost for the whole squad. Given how many times we’ve been on the other end of late goals ourselves this season.

Millwall’s hoofball made it a really awful game to watch. Other than our 2 goals not a lot else happened of note all game.

On another note, I’ve personally given up on Bell. He was dreadful today and I rarely see him do well. A new left back is priority for me.