roversfan99

I have no idea where anybody has demanded perfection. Common consensus is not pleasing on the eye but effective and so far so good.

It all seems like a misguided defence of the manager with a bit of a superfan narrative thrown in. We have scored 4 in 6 and 2 of those came against a side who had gone down to 10 men. Those suggesting that the football is boring are also saying that playing pragmatic football that isnt easy on the eye is understandable due to the squad available. No one has said that the start isnt good either, football is a results game and the table shows that so far, the approach is working.

JRC seemingly has the shirt back again at RB where he is best. I wonder if Brittain will be played on the wing from the start soon. It didnt work when JDT tried it but I feel like Eustace really likes him and will want to get him in, coupled with our weakness of a lack of quality out wide.

They have, I can only think of Plymouth where he made a reasonable number of saves. He hasnt been without his jitters, he threw one in at Coventry and there have been a number of occasions where errors he has made didnt lead to goals. He did a couple last night, spilled a couple at Coventry, passed the ball to a Norwich player 6 yards out when Tronstad saved him, he ran into no mans land at Burnley and Foster headed wide and he ran out stupidly against Derby where Mendez Laing miscued a lob over him. In terms of defending, Hyam has had a better season than he has been given credit for.

You are either mistakenly or purposely misinterpreting what I am saying to try. How you have concluded that I have a problem with Eustace is a figment of your imagination. The football is boring, he is very defensively focused. But I keep saying that its a results game and the points tally and league position is good. I also said earlier that because he has a very limited set of attackers lacking in pace and goals, it makes sense to be pragmatic. I certainly havent demanded that he plays risk seeking football, think back a year, you was saying that Tomasson was right to do that and I was asking for him to reign things in. The irony is, in 2 years or whenever Eustace has gone, you will be the one saying how you are glad and that we need someone who can play more attacking football. That is what you do with managers, you defend them without fail when here (even creating arguments that arent there) and then "in retrospect" decide that actually you are glad they are gone. See Tomasson and Mowbray.

I think Eustace is clearly a manager who is never going to play exciting, risk seeking football, he didnt at Birmingham. His strengths clearly lie in organisation and pn the defensive side. To be honest with the current squad, it is a very understandable approach. We have a squad that has much more experience but its lacking in attacking threat, very little pace, no real obvious source of goals and only Cantwell with any flair. The likes of Hedges, Dolan, Weimann and Sigurdsson arent players youd specifically look forward to watching. We need to remain solid and it often wont be the prettiest watch but it could be the most effective approach. One area where I think we need to become much better is attacking set pieces though.

Its a hard selection to suggest/predict. We really could do with freshening things up both because of the limited time between games and also to try and find a solution to what is a rather slow and underwhelming attack that is currently struggling to fire. Our away form is very poor and we need to try and get off the mark with a win which would really strengthen our strong league position. Maybe a back 3 is worth considering simply because of our lack of quality out wide. It can give the wing backs more opportunity to attack and give Cantwell a free role behind both strikers. Toth/Pears JRC Hyam Batth Pickering Beck Travis Cantwell Tronstad Gueye Ohashi Subs: GK, Brittain, McFadzean, Hedges, Baker, Buckley, Dolan, Weimann, Leonard Alternatively, just stick to the same formation, Batth obviously in for Carter and then change the wide men and striker with Cantwell replacing Dolan in a more suitable central role.

His main issue was the squad at his disposal. Its very difficult to be competitive at this level when you have a squad like we had. That being said, I did raise a concern during last season that he was sticking with a style that was exposing us more than was necessary. The results we got when Eustace came in didnt particularly improve though last season.

Cantwell doesnt provide adequate cover, its half arsed and he was fortunate not to concede a penalty. I know that it was a game that was closely fought between two well organised teams and the players may well know their roles. As often is the case with games managed by Eustace, it wasnt the most pleasing on the eye. The main reason for that is our lack of spark (beside Cantwell) and speed in attack which is obviously not his fault. You also have been very keen to criticise JDT since he has left after staunchly defending his style until the day he left, on which you were very angry and sad.

What you are quoting is him replying to me who has specifically clarified repeatedly that it is about results. Its a ridiculous oversimplification to suggest that we nearly went down because of JDT's style too. For some context, 3 of our regular squad players last season are currently failing to get into the Bristol Rovers team, have been loaned to League 2 and sold to the German 3rd division.

Yes, surely its self explanatory.

"Its all about results" is probably the answer to that.

Seemed like the queues as a result of the checks tonight were a joke. Piss up and brewery spring to mind.

Another borefest, Eustace football isnt entertaining but its all about results. I think tonight was a decent point but not a good watch. 19 points from 11 is a very solid return but we need to start winning away from home. Defensively we are well organised and thats where Eustace's strengths lie, certainly at home. We limit teams to very few shots on target which is a good job as Pears dealt with the little he had to tonight very strangely. Hyam is clearly not a fans favourite but he has been really good in the last 2 games without any real credit. The Carter injury is a big concern, we needed another CB in the summer as it likely will mean Batth will have to play every game, at his age and with his lack of pace that will push us further back, and our only other centre back is ancient and can only play in a back 3 so an injury to Hyam or Batth and we are in trouble. The 2 current full backs are 2 of our best players and offer something in attack and defence. They should keep their places leaving Brittain (never a winger just as he wasnt under JDT) and Pickering as very respectable cover. Tronstad again very good, Travis decent next to him. The attack is where I have huge concerns. We have 4 goals in 6 games and 2 came against 10 man QPR. Cantwell stands out but he has to play centrally, his ability is well above anyone else and he needs to be where he can hurt teams the most and not failing to provide adequate cover for Beck. It feels with the 2 strikers that Eustace is constantly rotating them because when either play, they dont do enough to deserve more games, I am not convinced by either. And our other attackers (Hedges, Dolan, Weimann and Sigurdsson) feel like a conveyor belt of players who do very little.

Hes our best RB. Better defensively, better on the ball, had a long spell at RB where he was really good. If you are a winger up against Brittain you are getting chances to get crosses in. Still, Brittain is a better right back (an actual right back) than your suggestion of Carter who struggles there.

Youve changed half of the back 4 after being really solid. Hyam was really good on Saturday and JRC was also good and is our best RB.

It wont be too long.

Carter is not a right back and Karlan Grant will have a field day if he plays there. And Hedges is hardly dominant in the air.

Obviously Eustace will pick players based on how he wants to play. But we are talking about how we would do it. Our own opinions dont have to correlate with the manager. Who would you pick as number 10 based solely on your own opinions if you was picking the team? Seperate it from Eustace for a second. Cantwell enjoyed his best form at Rangers more centrally and has said himself that he prefers to play as number 10. Im not sure he can go either way either on the left, he doesnt have the pace nor a preference for his left foot to go on the outside. There are advantages to playing him from the left, to me they are outweighed by those of playing him central, but I dont get why you keep qualifying what are supposed to be your own opinions by repeating that its how Eustace wants to play.

For you?

Lets get our best player in his best position then please.

Where did he mention about ACD?

Im not convinced that we have too many goals over the course of the season. The one natural goalscorer appears to be Ohashi, he is very much solely a penalty box player. Anticipates well, bit of a fox in the box kind of player but offers nothing outside. You look outside of that, Cantwell scored a few at Rangers but isnt going to be prolific, Dolan isnt a natural goalscorer and Hedges chips in with one every half a season. With Gueye, he doesnt seem to have the instinct to get into goalscoring positions too often and when he does, he isnt a very good finisher. I just question if he is perhaps somewhat ill suited to the rest of the squad considering the lack of width and lack of capable crossers. We will see over time I guess if he is up to the standard, if he suits the way we play and his team mates strengths/weaknesses, and if he can score a reasonable amount over the course of a season. Certainly question marks on all 3 fronts. Its not as simple as saying well how many chances were created. A good striker himself creates chances through his movement, thats why the natural goalscorers end up having more chances. Gallagher didnt used to miss many chances because again he didnt get himself into those positions.

I would agree on Hedges and have said a few times lately that he should certainly not be a regular and that I would move him on in the summer. I would also certainly agree that I would rather not let Dolan leave for free. I think the issue might be because hes been a regular, he might want a wage representative of that which is fair enough, but I am not yet convinced that I want him to continue as a guaranteed starter without seeing a bit more from him.

Im just offering my opinion on what I would do. Rather than trying to justify what Eustace is doing. I accept the idea of him drifting inside especially in tandem with an overlapping Beck. But on the flip side I see benefits in having him central, notably not potentially leaving his full back exposed defensively as he isnt the hardest worker as we saw away at Coventry in particular. But also he is our best player at receiving the ball in tight areas and the most likely to unlock a defence. That central role in theory anyway is naturally the one where you will get more influence on a game. I dont feel like Dolan has been any more productive central, and I suspect (just a hunch) that both would rather play central if they could choose. I would rather our best attacker plays there with the team built around him more, I dont think that Dolan does enough to justify guaranteed selection personally but he could play from the left. Hedges would be someone I would happily let go at the end of the season. Dolan is a more complex one. He is still only 22 but he hasnt really progressed anywhere near as I would have hoped over a number of years. I would rather keep him around but unless he has a real breakthrough season, I wouldnt see him as deserving of being offered a wage befitting a guaranteed regular, or indeed a role as such. But he would expect to be and understandably so as he has played so many games. If he does go then another club at this level will definitely pick him up. At the end of the season we have ACD, Weimann, Sigurdsson, Hedges and Dolan all at the end of their deals with us. Its a position I would really want us to overhaul as will likely naturally happen barring a sudden series of contract renewals. We need players in these positions to contribute more and we also need some pace.