roversfan99

Goals and assists are a little more than stats. If attacking players dont get them they arent doing their job.

I think we made them look far better than the League table proves. They didnt do much in terms of making me think they were going to score.

I think thats a little generous, to be fair many werent far off abysmal and I would agree on Walton, a few fairly routine saves made him MoM. Rothwell didnt stand out from the rest in a really poor performance. I shared your opinion on Rothwell that he could be a key player this season and earlier in the season he wasnt played enough. Now he has got a run of games, would you agree that he has been a severe disappointment in those games and his lack of goals or assist in 20 appearances, 9 from the start is not acceptable? Armstrong was crap yesterday and I have been of the opinion that Rothwell is the better out of the 2. Recently I have wondered if this is me being mistaken. Both regularly are fairly absent in games but at least Armstrong does offer something in the way of goals and assists, 5 and 2 respectively.

You keep saying "we have different options" and I am well aware that we have other players, but theres no evidence, suggestion or rational reasoning to suggest that any of them can come in and the team can continue to score at the same rate, which itself isnt THAT much. Dack scored goals before he came, and since he joined, hes consistently scored almost one every other game. Graham has also scored goals and has a track record but sadly seems to be slowing down. Who else will score whilst the former is out for a long time and the latter continues to age? Gallagher has 19 goals in 110 Championship games, only 2 this season, and even his best season he only scored 1 in 4. Armstrongs Championship record is less than 1 in 7, he scores infrequently. Based on previous games, there is more chance of Walton stepping up and scoring goals than our 7m man. Rothwell seems to be a 1 or 2 screamers a season type of player, no more. And Holtby is a good player but hes a creator. Who is going to score our goals? We have different options in all of the positions youve named, so your argument is flawed. The reason we perhaps need a goalkeeper is because Christian Walton has made too many mistakes and Leutwiler is useless, but we do have other options. At left back, we have "different options" notably Bell and Williams who you presumably and I agree with your analysis see as not up to task. At centre back, you want adequate competition to our main 2 as Williams isnt up to it and is our only alternative. All 3 are fair, constructive suggestions of potential improvement. What I dont understand is that the players I have mentioned in the first paragraph quite simply also do not have any evidence behind them being able to step up to the plate, yet your mindset to that area of potential weakness is that players who have not scored goals simply "need to step up" which is naive and somewhat fanciful. Regarding Wigan, they are a poor team, they were bottom because quite simply across the whole course of the season they have on a consistent basis been the worst team. They SHOULD be bottom of the league, end of. The fact that we repeatedly toil and drop points at home to poor teams is not indication that these are good teams falsely imprisoned in the relegation spots, it is a failing on our part as we do not have the attacking firepower or spark to break down poor teams who come for a point and often even sneak away with 3.

Stop being so childish. I do get that its not prudent to sign another attacker but them forward signings havent improved us and now we need them to score goals regularly now we cannot rely on Dack. If Bowen at Hull, Grant at Huddersfield, Grabban at Forest etc got a serious injury they would be similarly goosed because they are also similarly reliant on getting their goals mainly from one man. Theres no point pretending that having our main man getting a serious injury like this isnt a catastrophic blow, and for a team who had an outside chance of a play off place, it only massively reduces that chance to be without our best player for half of the season. That doesnt mean we should "forfeit" the season but I am being realistic. I am not saying that we cant name a team anymore, just that whoever comes in we will really struggle to cover Dacks goals internally. Have Gallagher and Brereton done anything to suggest that they could either individually or even between them start scoring goals at an increased rate to cover our top scorer? Will Rothwell and Bennett be able to start doing something quite sudden and cover a man with almost a goal every other game, considering they have 3 between them since we came back to the Championship? Its all unlikely. Its like me saying we dont need a left back we have Bell and Williams. Which is true but you want a new LB because you acknowledge that they cant do the job at the standard we need or at the standard another injured player set in Cunningham.

Where are the goals there? We might have alternative bodies but we are so reliant on Dacks goals and without him I cant see where they are going to come from. I think we are desperate for a wide man and also an attacker who can score with regularity. As much as I dont rate Walton, and as much as I worry at the depth beneath our 2 capable centre backs, in terms of first team, the main 2 priorities have to be someone to put the ball in the back of the net, even if its a loan, and a left back which will also give us more flexibility with Downing. We do also need a winger or 2, a goalkeeper and a centre back in the next 6 months but its about priorities and scoring goals is a major one. Hoping that Gallagher and in particular Brereton start scoring with sudden regularity is beyond wishful thinking.

If its as bad as expected we definitely need a new goalscorer as a priority. As much as we need a centre back that is for competition. Without Dack we lack goals.

Where is this from? Id take only 2 months right now.

He needs to start scoring or assisting to merit a place. Plenty of ability but decision making and end product very poor it seems. If you are relying on Nyambe for width then you have a problem. Assists are not his thing, he cant cross. He has a lot going for him and he is our best right back but he gets so far and has a nose bleed. Our wide areas are a huge issue and something that needs looking at in Jan. None of them seem capable of putting in consistently effective performances.

You keep saying this but Dack is our only goal threat and by far our best player. These other players dont have the same quality or goalscoring ability to simply "stand up and replace him." To be honest our chance of play offs was very much an outside one but without our best player for presumably the rest of the season is a catastrophic blow. Who will step up and score the goals we need? Graham is our obvious other goalscoring threat but he is seemingly on the wane and will miss his partner. Holtby is a good player but more of a creator. Armstrong will chip in sporadically but more often than not perform as he did today. Rothwell hasnt contributed all season goal wise. Gallagher has 2 in over 20 games and probably wont score at Dacks rate as long as hes got a hole in his arse. And the less said about Brereton the better. I dont see the goals there and thats absolutley no way that what happened tonight could prove to be "positive." Regarding Williams as well, we have seen over a couple of years now that hes not particularly good.

I agree on Lenihan, dismal on the ball, constantly gave it away. Rothwell was ineffectual again, 9 starts, 11 sub appearances, 0 goals. The only thing he did of note was when he overran the ball in the end but the attack continued in spite of his decision making. Hes got ability but he cannot impact on games and has failed to take his chance.

Armstrong was crap but Nyambe has constantly had a problem in terms of being fronted up by a defender. His crossing ability is almost non existent and he is a bit of a one trick pony in terms of unless he can touch it round his defender and sprint he struggles to beat a man.

Awful performance, again stumbling against a poor team at home and the Dack injury as our only source of goals is surely the end of any play off hope. Walton possibly our best player, made 3 saves none of which were overly difficult but he was safe in net. Williams is not good enough, made one decent block but dreadful on the ball, Lenihan looked a different player without Adarabioyo. Nyambe frustrated the life out of me, he gets so far and has no subtelty or creativity to do the final part and turns back. Downing had one of his poorest games for us if not the poorest, his crossing was awful. Evans and Travis lost the midfield battle. Rothwell again was totally anonymous, not taking his chances. Armstrong again very poor and Dack quiet but we certainly need to sign an attacker now. Our only source of goals in a side that is misconceived to be good in attack and bad in defence has now been taken from us. Graham quiet but good movement and so unlucky with his header. Holtby was bright when he came on and needs a run as a number 10 although he had to score. Gallagher was stupidly played wide and did nothing and Johnson was incredibly clumsy.

I dont mean it as a dig, apologies if it comes across like that in any way. The campaign doesnt hit a nerve, I have been a season ticket holder since I was about 10 so I have no reason to feel personally offended. I just think its indicative of an unconstructive mindset that Waggott seems to have. The thing is a lot of people go along with it, football is a tribal sport and because they (like I do to be fair) see attending as an obligation and a priority, they cannot empathise with those who dont and thus cannot appreciate the very definition of a floating fan. The club can do one thing, be continiously asking how it can get people back/potential new fans to start attending, who may not see it as a priority, who may have limited funds, other things to do on Saturdays at the moment, whatever, and constantly try to improve. As it is, theres a strange "weve done all we can" mentality when there are so many areas of their pricing and marketing strategies that can be critiqued. Theres also a desperation to put the onus and blame onto the fans. A covering their back exercise, but ultimately you arent going to get people back into the ground who dont see attending as a priority by guilt tripping them. I dont think Rovers ticket prices are any longer much lower than the average or representative of the catchment area. Something you touch on with your statistic about Lancashire being a poor area which I also saw. I have only been to 2 away games this season so far, I THINK (anyone correct me if ive misremembered) West Brom away was 20 quid and Preston 24 quid, the latter obviously being somewhat of a local derby, in comparison Birmingham tickets (far from a stand out game) start at £25. The stadium is a platform for potential future success (even if the Blackburn End upper was closed for the immediate future and with no Rovers fans in the Darwen End) you have 20k of potential Rovers fans, say we went up and got the pricing bang on, thats not an unreasonable number to sometimes reach. The ground is IMO compared to many of our rivals a much nicer one, it has history attached and for me it would be impractical and unaffordable to move away or even restructure. Agree with the surcharge, a random example is people who play amateur themselves, games called off on the day and its a higher price which is a further deterrent that doesnt need to be there. Dont disagree with offering deals for both games at all, they did the 3 game deal recently but it wasnt a success, it was only value compared to the scandalously high price they set Sheffield Wednesday tickets.

Even if we dont sign a striker Brereton is dispensable.

It just feels like you are echoing the "what more can the club do, people are just moaning for the sake of it" mentality that Waggott seems keen to get across. Im not sure if with respect that is because the problems dont affect you as you dont attend games, therefore criticisms may seem to just come across as moaning but many of the points raised are valid and not undermined by the clubs passive aggressive marketing campaign which questions the fans "committment" rather than evaluating what it can do constructively to attract further fans. By reducing the size of the stadium, what exactly do you mean? The Blackburn End upper is closed and the Darwen End now solely for home fans. Do you suggest closing more off or physically reduce the size of the ground? That would be a drastic and needless expense that wouldnt make a difference and would also reduce our capacity for when we might sometimes need it if we went up? In terms of home fans, making their favoured seat/stand unavailable should be a last resort, for example I was moved from the Darwen End which was unexplained prior and frustrating, I just moved stand but I have read people say that they stopped attending after that. Just needlessly upsetting your supporter base. With away fans you have more license as their happiness isnt a priority, sticking them out the way had some logic to it but has only taken away from the atmosphere IMO and should be abandoned. There are some well intentioned things that the club has done, perhaps at times somewhat clumsily and illogically at times, for example 2 nights before Christmas for a game on Sky would not personally have been my choice to offer tenner tickets, I think Birmingham on Boxing Day had more potential for a bumper crowd but prices are high for that game. Its difficult to master the individual matchday pricing but I suspect there certainly is more elasticity in terms of being able to make up a further reduced price by the subsuquent increase in attendances. Our prices are fairly high for single games at the moment. You add an unnecessary surcharge and it is not financially attractive for someone who cannot commit to attending until last minute, for whatever reason, work, family, perhaps their own game has been called off. The club also is reliant on season ticket holders yet blew a huge chance to feed off the momentum of promotion and increased supporter interaction by releasing season tickets not instantly and also at a more expensive price. Most of this wasnt specifically aimed at you by the way, just some general points.

The main issue is the atmosphere, it gives it a low priority cup game feel to it, rather than how it looks for people on TV IMO.

But I dont think hes offering anything to the team anyway, we didnt miss him when he was injured. It would be better all round to loan him out. Ideally we could sign a better striker to challenge Graham but even failing that, the equally poor Samuel can be 3rd or 4th choice striker until his contract expires to let Brereton try and prove some sort of worth.

If he continues to get cameos from time to time with the occasional start and fail to impact on games he wont develop. Get him in League 1 and see if he can score regularly, we wont miss him.

Personally dont care too much about appearance on TV as I am already there but it helps to further stunt any chance of an atmosphere sticking away fans in with the gods.

Even if you take the price tag out of it, any player wearing the shirt will be judged dependant on performances and Brereton (albeit in primarily cameos) has looked well off the standard required and I have not seen this supposed talent as of yet. But hes not only being judged because he cost loads of money. Young or old. I judge Buckley who looks well off it when he comes on, he was an academy product. Nuttall was judged when he often came on for his often laboured appearances, he was free and young. Older players, Bennett, Mulgrew when he was here, everyone pulling on a shirt is subject to being judged. Conversely, Dack, Lenihan, Adarabioyo, Travis, Downing, all of various ages are also judged, positively based on performances. The 20 goal a season argument is a little nonsensical, no one is suggesting or implying that at all. His price tag is always going to be a factor because it was so big (and surely makes the prospect of making profit on him incredibly difficult) but ultimately it is a blessing for him as well because I think he makes the squad every time when fit partially because hes our 7m signing and not on merit. I think our best bet is to loan him out, he doesnt warrant or merit an extended run in the side and rarely playing will not help his development. Loan him to League 1 and re-evaluate upon his return after hopefully scoring a few goals. "Give him time" is a meaningless platitude really IMO. All players will always be subject to judgement with each passing game, so far Brereton has not looked up to it. Lets hope that changes but if he or anyone else performs poorly in the mean time, people will comment, likewise if he plays tonight, scores and goes on a run.

Think hes injured plus primarily a number 10.

Mavidivi was apparently dismal at Preston in a brief spell there.

We do, most of which are better than Bennett.

This is what I mean, the general quality is quite poor in this league, this game has been as laborious as the Cardiff PNE game, and when you consider that all 4 are top half teams hoping for a play off place, it just shows that the top 6 is there for us if we go for it. As an aside, a player I would love for us to enquire for is Niclas Eliasson at Bristol City if it was possible. A natural wide man, full of pace, gets chalk on his boots and a stream of assists. Often a sub due to the formation they play. Good to see Rhodes starting games again and enjoying his football. Impossible not to think positively about him after the goals he scored for us.