roversfan99

I fear that these 2 games this week have a similar feeling to the final 2 games before the last international break. Our squad seems stretched to the same degree as it did going into the shoddy performances against Huddersfield and Blackpool, with a feeling of lets limp through until the break and reset. Looking forward, the christmas schedule with the current squad seems an even bigger worry because even with games in blocks of 6 or 7, we have got towards both of these international breaks looking very stretched, so an even longer and more intense schedule may well be the time that the piss poor budget of the summer and thus an inability to sign quality or quantity could sting.

So much of the new terminology is totally unnecessary, a prime example being vertical passing.

Field tilts being mentioned on Monday Night Football. Me neither.

I do worry on Wednesday, with such a thin squad, I can't see us being particularly competitive against a strong Fulham side. Assuming that Nyambe and Gallagher are both not fit enough, I think there is a tough decision to be made. Khadra for me as been as poor as Poveda, maybe first impressions are everything, his debut was a lively 15 minutes in a borefest v Hull, but he hasn't done much, and he was really poor giving away the free kick on Saturday. Butterworth seems to be rated much higher based I believe on being a permanently contracted player, but I don't think that he has been any better than the other 2, accepting that all 3 are having to live mainly off cameos, but all look like massive downgrades on the main 3. I would be tempted to make a more defensive change and bring in Carter at right back, even though I have serious question marks about him being anything close to Championship standard himself. He is obviously more defensively competent than Buckley, who could then move back into midfield. The downside is Rothwell being moved which is not ideal but I think he could be a big threat on the counter attack. Travis and Buckley could really press Seri and Cairney/Reed with Johnson behind to cover whoever they choose behind Mitrovic, possibly Decordova Reid. Kaminski Carter Lenihan Van Hecke Edun Travis Johnson Buckley Dolan Brereton Rothwell Mowbray has said that it has been decided that Nyambe will play in one of the 2 games only this week. I would be tempted to play him on Wednesday over Carter here, and play Rankin Costello on Saturday 5 days after a 90 minutes today.

Dack is an upgrade on Rothwell if fit, he is our best player so he has to play. Ideally, that would be with Rothwell but sadly Venkys dont have the ambition for that. I do wonder how Dack will play, I think the worst idea would to play him deep, he needs to be in the final third, not sure 4-3-3 suits him.

I am not necessarily saying to drop him, but he missed a couple of really good chances and again lost the ball a number of times with his inability to control the ball and bring others into play, to answer your question.

100%. He has spent probably less than 2 months with Chile so whilst he may well have learnt, there is no way that he could have transformed from the player we saw in the first 2 years to what we see today, the main thing thay he will have got from playing for Chile and the fanfare he has received is extra confidence. He was much improved last season and noticeably had grown physically and learnt how to use his body much better. The easy narrative is that it is all down to Chile as a further stick to beat Mowbray with but it is simply not the case that the transformation has come solely from there.

I personally don't think that selling by far your best player when promoted to the top league is a particularly positive move, and they haven't come close to replacing him.

Sorry, I think you have misunderstood. I watched the game and liked that Johnson's inclusion meant that Travis had a bit more freedom and was no longer the deepest in midfield. He broke forward at one point in particular and played the correct ball to Brereton who totally mishit his shot. I have never been convinced about the balance of the Travis, Buckley and Rothwell midfield for that very reason, I would prefer Travis either in a deeper 2 or with a holding midfielder behind him and one other, he lacks the discipline positionally IMO and is also restricted in that role. Now Johnson is back, especially ahead of a really tough couple of games against a midfield that will have Seri and Reed/Cairney in it, followed by one containing Fleck and Norwood, possibly the best 2 partnerships we will face all season, I think he may well be needed in both alongside Travis, but that will leave a really tough decision for the third midfielder. I agree with @Butty in that the decision is a simple one, Buckley is simply not a right back, he coped well yesterday but he still gave me a couple of jitters and any decent wide man will rip him to shreds. If the objective is for him to unlock a defence, surely that is best served in a midfield role.

Tough game, and tough team selection. If Nyambe is fit, he definitely comes in, as does Ayala despite Van Hecke doing ok. We need to move Buckley out from right back, ideally by Nyambe although failing that, with either Rankin Costello or (if Ayala is fit) then Van Hecke at right back. I think Johnson did well on Saturday and you do wonder if it would be wise to have his physicality against a side likely to dominate us. I don't think it suits Travis to be the deepest midfielder, but of course bringing in Johnson creates a headache of whether to drop Buckley or Rothwell, or indeed even neither if he wanted to maybe take a struggling Gallagher out. Then you could either go with a diamond (Johnson sitting, Travis right, Rothwell left, Buckley furthest forward) or Rothwell and Dolan either side of Brereton. Possibly an unnecessary change of system though.

Norwich are embarrassing themselves in the Premier League again. They received so much credit initially for how their club is run but ultimately I suppose that coming out and admitting that you expect relegation before a season has started will limit the quality of player that you can bring in. Their recruitment has been shite too, selling their best player and bringing in kids on loan that aren't good enough as well as a couple of other incompetent loanees and random shite from across Europe (Rashica, Sargent etc) and they are so far away from the standard that it is untrue. Good to see Newcastle get battered yesterday, would be hilarious if they went down.

Another question to ask is whether the pace we played at in the first half is sustainable over a 90 minute period, we naturally tire going into second halves and this isn't helped by a lack of depth. This idea that (without crediting him for the first half and the approach took then) Mowbray told them at half time just to defend is nonsensical. As I have said, a team (especially away from home) 2 nil up will almost always be penned in at times in the second half by an opponent throwing caution to the wind. What we do need to work on is something that Mowbray mentioned post match, ie not just launching the ball straight back to them as that isn't a sustainable way to relieve pressure for long. We need to be better on the counter attack, we need to be able to keep the ball in possession for longer at times, we need to hold the ball up better in attacking positions and our game management needs to improve. Kaminski as an experienced head needs to stop rushing things, and there are other examples, I know this was in the first half but I remember Van Hecke trying to take a quick free kick near his own box when Derby players were lurking, a needless risk.

Many of them are difficult to argue with, especially Dack and Armstrong. I definitely don't think that Gallagher can be argued as a wise investment, we wouldn't get close to 5m back for him, even as a Championship striker he has never been close to a prolific goalscorer and most of his game is poor as a striker, and he is entering his prime years I would suggest. Kaminski is definitely a good purchase but certainly wouldn't get anywhere near 10m either. Sadly, the owners will never take their head from their arses.

No praise for the way we played in the first half? And how many decent chances were created prior to their goal by them? I very much doubt that Mowbray said "to stop attacking." Mowbray regularly talks about how we need to be better especially on the counter attack when leading and was saying how we wasnt good at that in the second half today. Teams winning on a lead will naturally be pushed back. A better team would have taken us to the cleaners, if my aunty had bollocks etc. When we have thrown away leads as we have this season, I have been the first to criticise, moan and get angry but today was not such an occasion. Your analogy is inaccurate, today it would be 2 goals and 1 own goal in which case an individual player would still be praised.

I do feel that there is a lack of balance to peoples judgement of the manager at the moment. Minimal/no praise of a first half where we were excellent and a focus on a second half in which we looked fine for most of bar a 10 minute spell at the end in which we were rocked by conceding. The narrative seems to be almost as if the players played the first half of their own accord and Mowbray purposely reigned them in at half time.

A team 2 up away from home will naturally fall deeper and deeper though. The 2 subs that were made today were the 2 most attacking subs possible aswell. I dont doubt that our inability to hold on to leads this season have been a major worry, I think a lot of it comes down to inexperience and we struggle to hold the ball up. Until the 85th minute, I didnt think they looked like scoring but the goal really rocked us. We do need to find a way to manage games better but we got over the line today. I do think that we seem to have gone from one extreme to another regarding possession and we should try to keep the ball more when we are leading.

Ramsdale has started well at Arsenal although it has only been 7 games, meanwhile Henderson has spent most of the last year sat on his arse and Johnstone is playing in the Championship. I'm not sure that the comparison is much different.

He played centrally today, and he was certainly a nuisance in the first half. That being said, like v Coventry (when he also helped to create their first goal) and I think it was the Luton game when he was also central, his main weaknesses are a big factor in the pressure that we then faced and often cannot sustain. There are natural comparisons to Graham yet I dont expect a striker as good as him at holding the ball up but Gallagher is right at the other end of the spectrum. His first touch is so poor and he simply cannot bring others into play, I am not massively data focused but I do wonder how many % of times he gives the ball away. He is such a strange player, because in front of goal he is wasteful yet he does seem to chip in with goals to be fair to him. He also is as I said a nuisance especially with his powerful running, but there are so many parts of his game which are lacking. I dont think hes particularly good in the air either.

I am not convinced that there has been much if any evidence since that Hull game (in itself he didn't create or come close to scoring) that Khadra is "capable of terrifying defences." I don't see much difference between the 2 at the moment. Poveda has featured off the bench more in recent weeks but that has coincided with Khadra missing out on the squad a few games after struggling with tonsillitis. He got the nod before Poveda today now he is back. To be honest, I think that it is crucial that we bring in a couple of attacking players into the club in January, although I won't hold my breath. None of Poveda, Khadra and Butterworth have suggested that they are going to put much pressure on the current 3 for their places or offer much off the bench.

He is still a world class striker and although the questions about his application are understandable, the standard and performance of his team mates and the tactics of a manager not fit for purpose are not helping to get the best from him.

You speak as if my opinion is massively inferior from watching on TV. I am not sure why Khadra seems to be commonly regarded so much higher than than Poveda. I do think that both look well off the level needed, albeit I do appreciate that both have mainly been involved from the bench when it is difficult to impress. Khadra did well at home to Hull without directly creating much himself, whereas Poveda pinched the ball back for the goal at Boro and has shown a couple of fleeting glimpses recently at home, the great cross that Brereton knocked down for Van Hecke to a miss a sitter last week and a brilliant ball over the top against Coventry when Brereton played a ball across the face that should have led to a tap in and late winner. Today, Khadra had slightly longer but was just as ineffective and indeed it was his immaturity that cost us a free kick for their goal.

It isn't fair to criticise him when he does something wrong yet refuse to give out credit when he gets it right. Had Clarkson played and struggled, the manager would correctly be criticised. Davenport was also an option but he tends to be pretty poor when he features. I watched the full game and certainly don't think he was our best player, indeed the fact that he is clearly not a right back was evident, and they had much more joy out of Buckley than they did against Edun. Buckley in his defence is not a right back and never will be, and he hardly had a torrid afternoon and wasn't a liability like he usually is there, plus he was comfortable on the ball as you would expect, but I hope that Nyambe is back v Fulham. I think there is a decision to be made assuming that we can slot someone else in at right back v Fulham. Johnson added stability to the midfield and that could be the order of the day against a quality Fulham side. Does it then become Rothwell OR Buckley, of which the former would be the obvious choice?

Good win, and possibly as good a demonstration as you could get as to the current state of Rovers. First half, brilliant. Should have been 4 or 5 up. Brereton with 2 goals, should have done better with another good chance and very typically unorthodox and clumsy but effective at the same time. Dolan fairly quiet today, as was Rothwell really. Gallagher is generally a really poor player, he is (aside from height at set pieces) useless when we are winning because he loses the ball basically every time, horrendous touch, can't hold the ball up, and it just keeps coming back. Yet he isn't a total write off, when we are on top early in games, he is a real nuisance, full of running power, he isn't a good finisher but he will chip in, such a strange player. I thought the change to bring Johnson in by the manager was a wise one and he did give us some stability and allowed Travis off the leash somewhat, I am not convinced that Travis suits being the deepest midfielder because he can be a bit ill disciplined and chaotic. Edun I like, I feel like the 2 signings in the summer have turned left back from a position of worry where we had Bell who could barely control a ball and Douglas who was forever out of position to 2 good technical and trustworthy options. The 2 centre backs put their body on the line although both were guilty of being drawn out once too often, Ayala is a miss. Buckley is blatantly not a right back, tried his best and good assist but an obvious weak point throughout, and Kaminski made a couple of comfortable saves, helpless for the goal and poor again with his kicking. The game management needs to improve, total chaos in the end, and a lack of experience and also of depth in the squad makes it really difficult. Poveda and Khadra were signed purely because they are cheap and you can see that, both are so inexperienced, Khadra cost us the free kick for the first goal with a stupid foul, it was a hectic game to come in to and I am not sure that any of the other subs would have helped either. Fair play to Mowbray too, this squad is not the 7th best so he is getting a decent tune out of it, but that outlook could look different at the end of the week. Lives and dies by his results, we won today so that is the most important thing.

If that has happened, ie Mowbray has asked for money and Venkys have given it to him, that is still on the owners, they control the purse strings.

To an extent for sure, especially considering his management of things such as ticket prices etc has been piss poor. Can't argue with that. I meant more Mowbray in truth, he spends the budget that he is given, if he spends that money well or otherwise, that plays a big part in judging his competence, but he spends what people above him give him.