Just now, Ewood Ace said:

The thing is I'm not convinced that it is accurate that the way the offsides are checked with the dodgy camera angles and lines being drawn all over the place. Not to mention how difficult it is to pinpoint the exact millisecond that the ball is kicked. I do think that the semi-automated thing is much more accurate and much quicker but it still dilutes the game.

I definitely think that semi automated offsides will help things like they did in the world cup.

VAR certainly isnt perfect and I do take your points on its impact on the spirit of the game. It is a debate between accuracy and keeping the game pure.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/24268056.blackburn-ratings-pears-error-costly-laboured-display/

Some bloody generous ratings here. 

1 minute ago, WacoRover said:

Yes, I loved Mulgrew, Conway, & Graham; Wharton, Raya & Lenihan were up & comers. Shoot, Lowe & Bennett weren’t bad players. 

Of the current bunch, there’s Sammie in a class all his own. I still appreciate Rankin-Costello, Wharton contributes, Carter isn’t bad, & Tronstad could be a piece of the future puzzle. Siggy, we need to see him fully healthy. I think Travis wants out. I’d say “no” to re-signing Gally & Dolan. Hyam, Pears, & Brittain truthfully, I don’t think thryre interested in playing for Rovers anymore. 

 

Lowe and Bennett weren't bad players? Especially Lowe?

31 minutes ago, Andy said:

Agreed.

But apparently it's not the manager's fault.

The guy who spent all week preparing them for the game, set the tactics and picked the team.
The same guy who hasn't managed a single win at home, despite playing some of the poorest teams in the division.

The guy is WAY out of his depth and it comes across loud and clear in his pressers.

I'd even take Gareth Ainsworth at this stage. At least he gives a shit about the club and would get them playing for the shirt.

I never get this idea that Ainsworth/any manager would be better because he gives a shit. I dont doubt that Eustace is trying but like Ainsworth certainly is at this level, he seems out of his depth.

1 minute ago, Ewood Ace said:

These ridiculous offsides are not in the spirit of the game, the offside rule was brought in to stop players goal hanging and gaining an advantage. Wright gained no advantage by have a toe slightly bigger than Wan Bissaka. VAR is trying to suck all of the joy and emotion out of football and turn it into an exact science by checking if someone has a toe or an armpit offside.

And I'm not even convinced he was offside, the angles they use and the way that they draw the lines on never fully convinces me. The line was drawn across Wan Bissaka's boot and not on the very edge of it. I suspect had that goal been scored at the other they would have altered the lines slightly to make it onside.

VAR has to go for the sake of the game.

Its one of them, you either accept considerably less accuracy in decisions and enjoy a "purer" game or you accept the delays and at times how slight the margins are in favour of much more accuracy.

He was offside at the end of the day. Just. Like some of the penalties JUST avoided hitting the post, like some goals JUST go over the line, tight margins but still there is a right and wrong decision.

Im not really buying into the conspiracy theories of purposely favouring teams, they could have easily ruled out the handball.

Had we cut the errors out? Second away at Preston was a mess from the keeper. McFadzean sent off v Plymouth. Wahlsted diving out the way v Millwall. Silly free kick after a poor Pears pass v Norwich. Hyam made a big error v Southampton that went unpunished. Obviously a number today and v Bristol City.

Mind you, most goals will contain a defensive error. You cant just shrug your shoulders as if its one of those things.

Im yet to see justification WHY Eustace can push us on. We havent won a home game, we have won 2 overall. Have we got less than a point a game? There is no sign even yet of any attacking plan at all. Faith of a top 10 finish, why? What based on?

Impossible to pick a team bar Szmodics.

Cant chuck a kid in net, cant play Pears, so left with the inept Wahlstedt.

Captain marvel has shown he hasnt got the right character. Mind you, Carter was awful today and made 2 big errors, Wharton got a bad injury, Wright and Simms will have a field day behind McFadzean who is too old and Koumetio is unused because he is a bombscare. Pickering is never a wing back, in a back 4 he is much more comfortable. Chrisene isnt the answer.

Both JRC and Tronstad have enough credit accrued both both were awful today. The former had clear set instructions under JDT and thrived, now he seems lost. Brittain has the heart the size of a pea. But whether you want to move JRC to RB or just give the midfield another body, again, little alternative. At a push Ayari, Buckley was awful when he came on.

Play any attackers and theyll be up against it under this manager who clearly doesnt factor in attacking in his game plan. Our ventures forward involve a centre back aimlessly punting it in the channel leading to an impossible chase. Dolan and Gallagher both offered nothing today but any alternatives especially the dross we have wont do anything in attack under him.

I dont see how you can start using grey areas like "clear daylight" when trying to get objective offside/onside decisions correct. 

You wouldnt say similar if it was nearly over the line. It was the last minute of an FA cup semi final so the decision had to be correct and it was. You cant review it and go well he is offside but only just so lets give it.

It is unfortunate as we all wanted United to lose but there is no grievance to be had.

He is the perfect captain for our current mess and not in a good way. Weak, cowardly and soft. Showed himself up in that "secret" selective supporter meeting moaning about the boos. A proper captain says something like "we understand the frustration and arent happy ourselves but will do everything to make it right."

Say what you want about Travis' ability and even that he can be petulant but you see leadership qualities shining through. For Hyam its the opposite. 

36 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

what big error?

he and Wharton keep Adam Armstrong quiet all game apart one early chance. 

I wanted Hyam to be captain at the start of season and I would still keep him Captain for next season and beyond. 

Pears should have smashed it away instead of messing around with it which lead to the first goal 

He gave the ball straight to Che Adams who dragged a very good chance wide in the second half.

Pears was poor for their first but he nodded it to a team mate, at that point there is no danger if he helps it into touch. Pears has always been crap, amazing how anyone thought last season he should start over Kaminski.

Did anyone say that after not even winning but drawing v Southampton, a game in which he made a big error that nearly cost us that point? Strange argument.

Hes as far removed from a leader as you could find, he sums this bunch up. He should have smashed it into touch but lost it for their first.

Every defeat and pretty much every goal conceded could be put down to a mistake in isolation. Thats not looking at the bigger picture and obviously just echoing what the manager has said post match.

Eustace reminds me of Appleton. Really negative, defensive football, I totally get that we needed to tighten up but even then the Leeds win is straddled by shipping 5 and 3. Its fine if you win games but we dont.

To have still not won at home having had some very winnable game is symptomatic of his approach. Nobody could possibly say what his game plan is from an attacking sense, bar being reliant on Szmodics taking one of his one or two chances every week and clinging on. How often do our centre backs (Wharton is bad for this) just chuck it aimlessly in the channel giving one of our forwards an impossible task of chasing the ball near the corner flag where the best you can get is a throw in deep in their half? 

I cant see him being the man to take us forward, even acknowledging the state of the club under these owners. 

Another new low, another embarassing day, and another day where a useless manager in charge of shit players lacking bottle were massive symptoms of the owners and their total disinterest in their football club. 

Eustace still cant win a home game, he attempted to play negative football, 5 defenders again and with absolutely no game plan as to how to attack, at home to second bottom.

Pears outdid himself today, still amazes me how people defended the decision to play him over Kaminski last season. Hes a waste of space.

Gallagher was crap yes, but probably gets a bit too much focus considering he was no worse than anyone else. Hyam is a pathetic captain, Carter repeatedly made stupid mistakes, Pickering never a wing back, Brittain soft as anything, Dolan awful again, the 2 midfielders usually 2 of our better players both terrible and Buckley again showing why he couldn't get a game at Wednesday.

8 hours ago, philipl said:

You obviously haven't been watching Wednesday recently..

Whilst I back down to your expert Sheffield Wednesday knowledge, their strikeforce of Ike Ugbo, Smith and Cadamarteri is hardly one to really fear. But my point about McFadzean was specifically about him. Play him and you either drop deeper and that allows teams to push onto us or you play higher and he is like a fish up a tree like v Plymouth.

3 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

I wouldn't be happy with a point before the game but it depends how the game go. Sheffield Wednesday have massively picked up under Rohl and will cause us problems. They played attacking football and have to win so it will be interesting how they go about it. 

We are limited down to 3 injuries to our attacking players in Hedges(who I would be starting), Sigurdsson and Leonard. Nothing to do with Budgets cuts. 

I would stick with the back 3 to be honest if Wharton is fit. We could play Chrisene on the left wing and Dolan on the right wing in we wanted to in 4-2-3-1 formation. 

Where would JRC play if he push on? 

Markanday struggled when he started games, Better as impact player off the bench

It is down to budget cuts. We didnt sign another winger last summer due to budget cuts and we couldnt afford a competent striker. Telalovic is obviously nowhere near it, Ennis was rubbish and sold. Sigurdsson hasnt been very good, Leonard is still very raw so even if either was fit they wouldnt noticeably improve our options.

Chrisene is not a winger as he proved when he played there last time.

36 minutes ago, windymiller7 said:

I actually think that McFadz would be exactly the type of player we might need later on when they give it the alehouse football.

No good against anyone tricky or with pace, but kick, push, head, elbow etc, he's your man.

But if you play him, you have to play much deeper because hes so slow, so you naturally give more opportunity for them to be closer to your net and potentially putting in crosses.

Just now, 47er said:

Well we couldn't bear the worst team at home could we? So why assume we can beat the 2nd worst?

Our record against the poor teams is shocking and our performances at home generally are dreadful.

Luckily results have mostly gone our way and we may already be safe. But I want us to put the issue to bed and we never do.

But failure to beat the worst team at home shouldnt be considered par for the course, it was a terrible result.

I dont doubt that we are not particularly good or that we may very well not win tomorrow. I just think that if we cant at least think such a fixture is winnable and anything other than a win is a huge disappointment, then there is something wrong.

46 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Since Eustace took over Rovers have taken 13 points from 13 games including 2 wins IIRC

In 13 games in the same period Wednesday have gleaned 21 points from 39, including 6 wins and giving themselves a fighting chance of survival after looking doomed all season.

Compared to us that’s good form

They will be up for it with the backing of 7000 fans tomorrow so unless we’re in the right frame of mind too and play much better at Ewood than we have been  I still don’t see how you “expect” us to win

You know how this is going to pan out. We’ll go to Leicester on the last day needing a point at least to stay up

I think its not unreasonable to expect that you should be winning against second bottom at home. Doesnt mean we will, but a draw IMO would be underwhelming.

Even if it was the same wage, I doubt he would opt for bottom half Championship football over Premier league or even promotion chasing Championship football.

Just now, simongarnerisgod said:

luton,brentford and celtic apparently interested,no point in going to luton cos he`ll be back in the championship,ditto with brentford sooner or later

You say no point but if he goes to Brentford, he plays Prem football. Luton and he has a good chance to get to play it.

If he goes to the Premier League then he almost certainly wont be a regular but it would be the chance of a lifetime to even play some Premier League football.

Quite a few people have suggested that they would be happy with a point. We are playing the second worst team in the league at home with a win sealing survival, if we cant be expecting a win here then when can we.

Team wise, we are limited because beyond that 11 last week, we are so weak due to budget cuts. If Wharton is struggling/unfit then I would bring in an attacking player though, whether thats Buckley and pushing JRC on, Ayari, Markanday or Moran. Not exciting options but at least its an extra attacking player rather than sticking in someone like McFadzean or Chrisene who themselves are a downgrade.

26 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Wednesday are in very good form, the league table is irrelevant. Saying we should expect to win is a bit daft to be honest seeing as we’ve only won 2 since the new manager took over

6 points from 7 games isnt very good but the league table isnt irrelevant as thats how good they have been over 43 games.

I get what you say about us and Eustace but my point is more that we should be aiming to beat the 2nd worst team in the league at home and not fearing them or saying we would accept a point.

16 minutes ago, RoversTilliDie said:

Let's not take them lightly after today's results.

Im not saying take them lightly, obviously not. Just that we should be targetting a win, there is a lot of fear towards a poor side when we are at home. A home win clearly isnt a formality, far from it, but a draw wouldnt be a result to be particularly pleased about.

2 hours ago, RoversTilliDie said:

Broughton said in the Telegraph, there will be money to spend this Summer. Let's hope it's not a tenner on a Sunday league player.

Didnt he say that he has recommended that we spend, not that there is.

48 minutes ago, roversinmyblood said:

I hope that you’re right. We need to be three at the back to defend against set plays and if they go alehouse at the end of the match. We don’t have to be too gung ho. It would be great to win but being cautious and playing to our strength of counter attacking should prove a sensible strategy imho. 

We should expect to win. We are playing 2nd bottom at home, win and relegation is impossible, I dont get the general fear playing against such a poor side at home trying to focus on negating them. It suits them if we sit in and try to defend, if we be aggressive and press high then we can win.

Having made £22m and then with a further £4-5m to come from Raya, in theory the Szmodics shouldn't be necessary in determining what happens in this window. We should already have money to spend. Obviously not £26m or anything close, but we should have at least some money to spend. So any Szmodics sale shouldn't be required to raise even more, so then in that instance, it should be a case of weighing up what is best, a decent budget and Szmodics or an even bigger budget but without our only goalscorer and knowing how difficult he becomes to replace. So I would choose the former.

Obviously it won't turn out like that, and I suspect we will be begging, stealing and borrowing even with a Szmodics sale.

1 minute ago, Blue blood said:

Tell you what I give you a load of stick when I think you are wrong but think you are spot on on this one. 

Incidentally my first football game on the computer (Amiga which shows my age) had a European super league mode. Interestingly no more than 2 teams per league and there were a lot of good European teams who wouldn't get near the CL quarters now - Malmo, Bordeux and Benfica to name three. 

Benfica got into the quarter finals last season and the season before I think.