There is one constant in our dramatic fall over the better part of the last decade. It’s not on the pitch or in the dugout, it’s four and a half thousand miles away. Problems have a root cause.

Balaji has remembered he owns a football club in which he has very little interest and decided to give a local kid a nice experience in a pretty well publicised act of philanthropy.

Nothing to see here.

10 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

If the lad can play football, it doesn't matter where he comes from. 

So long as that's the only reason he's signed and not because Balaji fancies doing him a favour.....

(Let's be honest, we've got form for it under Venky's). 

That’s exactly what’s happened. No intention whatsoever to sign him apparently.

This is what Balaji had to say...

“We, as supporters of sport, especially football, want to help young Indian talent. 

"Our Academy at Blackburn Rovers is one of the finest Category One Academies in the UK.

"This training stint will definitely help Aniket to develop technically as a player, which will in turn contribute to the improvement of his performances on the pitch. 

"We want to support young talented footballers in the best way possible to help improve the Indian national team’s performances and FIFA ranking on the world stage.”

Not really bothered either way. No skin of our noses, but no benefit for us either. It barely registers on the scale of silly Venky decisions. 

What is interesting though is how readily Balaji will pass comment on this, considering they have all been mercifully silent on all things Rovers over the last few years. Appears he cares more about this little vanity project than the mess he has made of our club.

Doesn’t really require any hindsight, and the anomaly that was the now seemingly very distant purple patch we had in January never really masked the fact our defence isn’t up to it.

This is nothing fresh though, it’s been an issue throughout the entire Venky era. Scott Dann (a panic buy resulting from NZonzi having to start as a centre back) aside, there has been a complete reluctance to sign defenders for anything above a nominal fee. Evidently in January it was mistakenly decided we weren’t in dire need of reinforcements in that area, so much so that we loaned out players leaving us woefully inadequate in terms of cover. 

Mowbray is now publicly stating that we need actual centre backs who can actually perform the basic duties required in that position. Surely he knew this all along though, so rather than lamenting the fact this glaringly obvious weekness wasn’t addressed, we should be asking why.

Really enjoying seeing these!

For me there are some really tough choices. I’d go for Wilcox over Duff, but I’d like to find a place for them both... and Sellars! Gordon Cowans was unreal... but can’t shift Tugay. We’ve had some excellent centre backs, which makes our current indifference towards them all the more frustrating. And while he’s not in the league of some of the strikers we’ve had over the years, I’d love to see Gestede getting his head on Wilcox/Ripley crosses... he’d score bucket loads!

                                  Friedel

Berg          Moran            Nelsen      Le Saux

Ripley        Batty               Tugay       Wilcox

                   Shearer          Garner

subs: Mimms, Hendry, Atkins, Cowans, Duff, Speedie, Gestede

Thanks for the summary @Wing Wizard Windy Miller.

Actually a lot better than I thought. He’s saying the right things in the main, which is a relief. Let’s hope he can put them in to action.

30 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Sorry Pal, but the poll was complete and utter unnesacary and I think Alan Myers is right it is insulting to Mowbray who has done good job. Wonder what people would have voted for after 4 wins on the bounce. 

Of course there would have been more positivity... but 4 losses on the bounce, on the back of a disappointing transfer window that failed to see us address some glaring defensive issues, and comments in the press that give the impression that Mowbray is struggling to see any problems where many of us have has led to people asking questions.

If we win the next 4, people will be a lot happier, but the majority recognise he can’t walk on water.

16 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Must say that I find quite a lot of the reaction to the poll, both on here and on twitter to be quite frankly embarassing.

I think some people have mistook a poll for a petition or a witchhunt. Ultimately, the results show that our fan base isnt the blood thirsty mob some would like us to believe.

Ive seen people (even Alan Myers suggested on Twitter it was bordering on insulting to Mowbray) suggest it is unfair or disrespectful. The poll was done at a particularly emotive time, off the back of 4 losses with many of the causes being ongoing issues regularly pointed out yet neglected or unresolved by the management. If we were all as fickle and impatient as some would suggest then the poll results are doing a funny job of showing it.

The more prominent Rovers tweeters are in the main unswervingly positive. I find my cynicism much more well received here. I’ll be the first to admit to having a pretty pessimistic view, and to being vehemently anti-Venky’s, and sometimes the positivity on there regarding all things Rovers borders on deluded for me.

Twitter generally has two functions, to preach or to argue. The self righteous outnumber the stirrers.

11 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

and so do I but I gave you an example. 

We play alot of switch of play from one flank to another. 

on Sunday we played 92 long passes out of 401 passes in the game

against Reading we played 76 long passes out of 512 passes in the game

against Bristol City we played 93 long passes out of 370 passes in the game

against Hull City we played 93 long passes out of 465 passes in the game. 

 

Hardly a long passing team are we?

We probably made a couple of hundred passes in each of those games pointlessly knocking it about the back 4 til the opposition inevitably close down and we resort to an attempt to hit Graham, or it goes right back to Raya to kick out for a throw in.

Sadly that’s what passes for good football these days and plenty of teams do it.

It’s time for Balaji or Suhail to dust off the address book and give every agent in there a bell. We need the names of every unattached centre back out there. Not midfielders who can slot in, proper centre backs. And we need to get one in ASAP.

1 hour ago, steelcityblue said:

I would say that’s a better effort though it’s still national stereotyping.   I thought your first post was crap because you made a pejorative comment about how you think Indian people interact with others (which read to me as dishonestly). A generalisation that you applied to a whole nation/culture. ...and a view that seemed to be based on some people you don’t like (Venkys) and the opinions of family/friends.   

 

Oh behave!

We’ve had Venky’s apparent traditional Indian approach to business used as an excuse for their aloof and arrogant practices since the day they took over.

The caste system is still alive and kicking in India, and no prizes for guessing where on the social strata people who slap raja plates on their rolls Royce’s see themselves.

7 minutes ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

a) Tm got us promote

b) We are safe

c) He's helped to pull the club together after the worst period in out history

d) Look at wigan and co

e) Calm down

a) Anything less would have been a complete failure

b) Blackburn Rovers falling into the third tier was utterly disgraceful. For it to happen again would be unforgivable 

c) True... but he gets a lot of slack for not being I have been stopped from posting this by moderators. Coyle

d) Wigan aren’t a club we should be happy to benchmark against

e) People are always going to react to a result and performance like this. Much of the criticism isn’t knee jerk, but well reasoned and perhaps most worryingly things we’ve been hearing time and time again

Problem is they will all be sat there in the dressing room, deflated, pathetic and despondent. Mowbray included.

I’d love to be proven wrong and see a reaction, but we lack character. When the going is good and we are winning, they are all happy pissing about and having a laugh together. Need someone in there to crack a few heads and fire them up.

Just now, Tugay-is-God said:

???

That literally popped up one page ago. 

Yeah... it seems to have replaced “one for the future”. Amounts to the same thing.

Just now, JeffRover said:

I agree that if we have aspirations over the next couple of seasons to get to the promised land then we do need to up our game in the recruitment department. However, the policy of a lot of fans is just “spend, spend, spend” Redknapp style which would just make things worse and leave us back at square one.

Absolutely agree, we need to get the signings right.

Some seasoned Championship competitors, an older head or two who will drag us up kicking and screaming are what I feel we need. Players who will compliment the good, young talented players we have, and provide a bit of bottle and a hard edge we are severely lacking at the moment.

This new phrase that is cropping up - “project signings” is a big worry for me...

We have a top academy that should be about building players for the first team squad. 

IF  there is any desire for us to get back into the Premier League in the foreseeable future, I don’t see how these so called project signings fit in. Are any of them going to be able to cut it in the top flight?

Our efforts at the moment should be concentrated on Promotion, and signing players who can help us get there... and before anyone chirps up and tells me it’s unrealistic to expect that this season, I don’t expect it, I’m not saying this season. But I am saying ASAP. Also, let’s not forget it looked distinctly within reach a fortnight ago.

21 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Bennetts inclusion seems to split people; some are of the opinion that he needs to be included as one of the first names on the team sheet, whereas many feel like he is one of Mowbrays favourites and is shoehorned in regardless.

To be fair, whilst I thought Rodwell was ahead of him in the man of the match stakes, I felt that Bennett had a good game today, impressing me mostly when he was wide.

I think Mowbray massively overestimates Bennett's versatility, to the point when it almost becomes a case of picking the other 10, with the mentality that Bennett will be able to do a job in the remaining position, wherever it is. Recently, Armstrong and Reed have been performing well in the wide roles, but rather than drop Bennett, he picks him in an unnatural position.

He should only be picked on merit based on his performance levels in midfield. He should only ever be considered in other positions, right back, central midfield, when we are suffering from injuries and thus a lack of alternatives there.

Bennett brings alot, his energy for me is harnessed far better in a wide role where he can run after lost causes safe in the knowledge that he has a a full back behind him. Hes a good player to have in the squad. That being said, is work rate enough and does he have enough ability for a team with ambitions of eventually getting promotion, to be one of the first names on the team sheet? Not for me.

Bennett also helps his own cause with our fans hugely with his use of twitter. 

I think it’s important to get a good mix every year. Wouldn’t have defined categories as such, but I’d try and make it look something like this...

No more than one from each of the following:

Pre-War years

50’s/60’s

70’s/80’s

Jack Walker era

This millennium 

Non-player

And maybe as a bit of a wildcard someone who made a big impact in a short period.

I struggled with a couple of different streams today and missed big chunks of the game, but from what I did see...

Our 2 early goals came from putting crosses into the box - Something Brentford have struggled with over their last few games. They’ve conceded quite a few in this manner, and I thought we had it spot on. Dack and Graham linking up through the middle would have played into Kona’s hands, he’s a very good young defender (bought from Charlton is the summer for about 2.5 million) and key for them at the back, but looks far less comfortable dealing with deliveries from wide than when players run at him directly. I can’t really comment on whether we continued to do this between 25 mins in and half time due to the issues with the stream. I’m guessing we didn’t, but we should have been getting it out wide and knocking balls over at every opportunity. I’m convinced that it’s the best way for 80% of teams in the country to play, but that’s another discussion.

We have struggled when opposing teams have a decent ball player who sits deep. Evans and Smallwood both tend to sit deep too, and allow such players to dictate. Travis is more box to box and does some of that closing closer to their back four, but he’s also somewhat youthfully naive with some of his play. I haven’t seen that much of Sawyer’s since he signed for them, and in his Walsall days he played a lot higher up the pitch than he did today... but he was pulling the strings this afternoon and we couldn’t cope with it.

Raya’s rush of blood to the head was stupid. I’m a big fan of his, but he needs to work on the fundamentals of his game more and cut out these daft errors that are in all honesty becoming too frequent. This in itself is a worry as they should become less frequent with experience. We need to work on our shape and how he distributes the ball too. Far too often it comes straight back due to him rushing. Occasionally it works wonders and we catch a quick break, but we try it every time.

Nyambe should have started. I get the argument about sticking with a winning team, but playing someone out of position, who hasn’t excelled in there is needless, and I suspect down to Mowbray liking Bennett character more than his ability to do a job there. While there have been countless arguments lately about nurturing Brereton, Mowbray’s approach with one of our best young prospects is confusing. I’ve often heard how quiet and unassuming Nyambe is... maybe he needs to be less so, because he seems an easy target for Mowbray to drop to accomodate his favourites. Bennet was dire today. We were vulnerable down that side for the entirety of the game.

Brereton looked better when he came on today, which offers a bit of hope, however if we are missing Dack or Graham for any length of time our inaction in this window will come back to haunt us. Less said about the defence today the better, and after recent improvements I’m again left thinking we need a proper old fashioned centre half. Conceding 5 is a joke. We also need someone to issue the odd bollocking on the pitch when someone does something idiotic, rather than give them a silly handshake.

We are so inconsistent we can go from looking like world beaters to relegation candidates in the space of half an hour. These cheaply thrown away points are getting ludicrous now, and we’re it not for these capitulations of varying degrees we might be talking about automatic promotion, rather than hoping we can sneak the playoffs... which all of a sudden seems a lot further away than it did at lunch time.

I wonder what the feeling is in Venky towers after that. If recent reports are to be believed, and they were keen on bringing players in only to be talked down by Mowbray, they may well be asking questions.

Just now, Pedro said:

Brereton to pay his first instalment back today and Chaddy to be modest and humble about it.

William Hill offering 2500/1