roversfan99

Eustace at an early stage in his Rovers tenure with people forming an opinion of him could well go down in many peoples estimation if he doesnt respect this game properly and go with a strong side. Koumetio is left footed so is a non starter on the right of a back 3. If McFadzean is not considered (although if he does play, his lack of pace could be embarassed) then I would go to a back 4 with O'Riordan cup tied. Garrett against players like Bruno would equally be a huge risk.

Fans were fully behind Pears when he was playing ahead of Kaminski, regardless of whether many of us thought that the latter was far better.

He will probably have to be good enough in the absence of any money being made available.

The gap between the parachute teams and the rest is becoming bigger and they have players like Zaroury and Twine who excelled at this level to come back, as well as players like Benson, Muric, Ekdal, Al-Dakhil and Cullen who have struggled for game time in the Prem. They have also signed players like Berge and O'Shea who are very good at Championship level but not quite up to it in the Prem. Sadly they will probably be back right at the top when they come down.

I totally take your point and acknowledged it myself about it being early days so I dont doubt that. But I do think in all of the games that we have carried minimal threat and created very few chances per game. There is a lot of direct football up either to Gallagher or directly out to the wings where as you say we look to cross more than we used to. We only really have Gallagher as a threat from that route and indeed 2 of the 3 main chances Gallagher had were good headers saved from crosses. I didnt see much getting in behind apart from the Gallagher chance when he had a one on one saved by Gunn. In general though, we keep looking to get the ball from back to front far too quickly and ultimately we usually just concede possession and it is a frustrating watch. The set pieces have so far only got us the Hyam goal yesterday amidst 3 goals in 4 games but I do forsee that being an area where we now could offer more of a threat as time goes on. On the flip side we dont look as insecure although as the home team I did see a red flag yesterday as I mentioned of the potential to easily get behind our slow defence and especially McFadzean in the middle.

You worry that Pears' incompetence may distract so youd play Wahlstedt instead?! Not to mention Telalovic etc. Totally disagree with the idea of resting everyone too, lets treat this as a bit of excitement in a boring season, theres an FA cup quarter final on the line.

Brittain can often take too long to get into a crossing position. Pickering plays one and two touch whereas Brittain can sometimes take too long and often has his crosses blocked.

The amount of shit that the commentators on Sky (notably Peter Drury, taking over from the even worse Martin Tyler) come out with is obscene.

The problem is with the term is as you say it is seen as derogatory but thats more of a symptom of modern day data driven football where everyone is obsessed with playing it out from the back. It is a subjective term, I only used it as it had already been used, I would probably say direct. Goal kicks lumped forward, the centre backs looking long quickly, usually in the air. IMO and I hope it is a temporary thing, we are too direct at the moment and too one dimensional, there were a few times yesterday where (often McFadzean) a defender would lump it forward nowhere near any of our attackers and just give possession back which caused a few groans. Its not easy on the eye and not overly effective although at a very early stage. I hope once Eustace has more time, the football becomes less predictable when we attack as we havent created many chances across his 4 games and the ball doesnt need to bypass midfield as much as it does. We only have Gallagher with any physicality and height in attack and even then, he isnt a target man and is probably more suited like Szmodics and Dolan on the counter attack running in behind with the ball quickly going through the midfield rather than over it.

Its not proved very effective at the moment as 3 points from 4 games isnt a great return. And only those who had been staunchly against the idea of changing from Tomassons style would now deny we are playing hoofball. Hopefully we become less predictable on the ball as time goes on but id definitely class it as hoofball. Sargent also definitely got in more than a mere couple of times beyond our slow back 3.

Pears wouldnt be a massive loss in normal circumstances. He is decent but a considerable downgrade on Kaminski and he does make mistakes so a club with ambition could improve on him. But that isnt us and he is far better than the clown sitting on the bench and anyone we would likely get on a pittance with Broughton picking. Seems like a lazy link anyway.

I dont get how someone playing such open football can be continiously praised for his style with anyone questioning it shut down. Then when he quits and a man comes in and brings in hoofball, that is also justified. One thing the current style doesnt remind me of is Hughes' football and yesterday we wasnt hard to play against. Just dink it over our 37 year old CB and youll get in numerous times.

Is he? His selections in the last 2 rounds suggest otherwise.

The game shouldnt be viewed with any disdain or inconvenience. The team shouldnt be rotated. Lets give it our best shot as its a bit of excitement in an otherwise drab season.

Pears did well in the main but one major error was a terrible kick that led to the free kick for their goal.

There were also times in the first half when Sargent got in. Once he tried to round Pears and lost his footing, another he had a one on one saved off the top of my head. I felt we were as vulnerable in behind as in any game under Eustace which is perhaps with us being at home and not sitting quite as deep. McFadzean is a conundrum IMO. Undoubtedly a big asset in his experience and he will head balls away all day and read the game. But he is so slow and it can and will be targeted. He is also particularly bad with the ball at his feet and kept giving them the ball back.

No way are a number of those accurate.

Did we look that solid and hard to play against today? They caused us loads of problems repeatedly playing the ball in behind our very slow back 3 and a mixture of inconsistent passing and Sargent being off colour and often not even getting a shot away meant that we somewhat got away with it to an extent.

Not a good watch and a fairly drab game, a point is not something we should be settling for at home so happily, wasting time delaying throw ins, and I dont agree with Eustace that it was a very good performance. Though saying that, a point is better than nothing albeit it is 2 points less than basically all of our rivals so not a good day. I understand if the intention is to solidify and go from there, but we were far from solid today. Norwich had a field day in getting balls in behind in particular McFadzean whose lack of pace really caused us issues today. Sargent wasted numerous chances one on one and we got fortunate. Also, just blindly punting the ball forward is not sustainable, we didnt really carry a threat ourselves, Gallagher went close twice but Dolan and Szmodics were ineffective. The latter is being smothered by these tactics. McFadzean again is guilty of aimless punts more than anyone. Its early days and there has been minimal training ground time, as he keeps saying contrary to the no excuse culture he keeps banging on about. But we hopefully will try and actually at least play a bit of football amidst the hoofing, and we still have work to do to solidify. McFadzean is a conundrum, reads the game well and excellent when we are deep and backs to the wall, but so slow and limited on the ball. Pickerings return (replacing Hedges who seems to have been flogged a bit too much) was a big plus. One of few players we have who can do things with one or two touches and fantastic corner.

The loan signings under Broughton in comparison have been woeful. Admittedly especially this season, im sure minimal wage contributions have played a big part so its on the owners.

It would only make sense if we had a third midfielder who was anywhere near good enough.

He seemed a bit caught out by the Gilsenan question, he probably wasnt expecting it. Im not convinced he is in the forefront of his mind. Theres a huge gap to senior football so I would be wary of thinking he could be a saviour but surely he is at least worth a space on the bench over the likes of Markanday, Ayari and Telalovic. I think he could have done with a loan like a few others.

I really hope he doesnt rotate the squad for the Newcastle game. That game represents a glimmer of excitement in otherwise a likely drab end to the season. Eustace is only just here convincing me and everyone else either way as to if hes a good manager. My opinion of him would go down if he throws that game. Hopefully we can win tomorrow for the first proper win of the Eustace era.

Hes been a regular in teams finishing 7th and 8th. But even if he isnt, he isnt the weakness in our team.

I disagree. He was a constant at wing back when we finished 8th and at full back when we finished 7th. A steady and IMO underappreciated player who reads the game well and is good with the ball. I dont think hes as suited to playing more centrally.