[Archived] Rovers V Charlton

[thenodrog]

Not true. Get them fit and give them a rocket up their derriere from a manager with a bit of a fear factor and they'd all run alot faster and play alot better.

"The first yard is in a player's head" .... Cloughie.

Pro footballers should be fit without a doubt but appearing leaden footed is not a good indication of fitness or stamina, it's more an indication of attitude and temperament.

As for Saturdays shambolic performance basically Millwall sussed us and taught the rest of the Div that if they 'get at us' high up the pitch and weigh on to our pathetic central midfield and fullbacks that we are easily contained which leads to Hanley and keeper lumping hopeless long balls up to the miniature Rhodes, allow two men to contain Rochina and it's virtually job done. On Sat neither keeper had anything to do except pick the ball out of the net on 3 occasions. We had loads of possession in our own half and rarely got anywhere near their final third.

[jim mk2]

Last season how many times did we concede in the final minutes of the game - is that lack of fitness or lack of concentration / mental toughness. The mental side of the game is important and is one reason why some clubs employ psychologists. There is another factor too - happiness. Alot of our players look genuinely fed up and have done so for some time. Now I wonder why that could be.....?

[thenodrog]

That's interesting theno the 2nd time a cat has been mentioned regarding rovers because I have always maintained my cat could probably do a better job in the centre of our defence than Scott Dann even against Forest in the 6th minute from the left the ball was crossed Dann turns his back to the ball & hanley covers his a**never have I seen a central defender so useless in the air rubbish on the floor can't pass it to even his own player if you look back Dann is at fault for at least 95% of the goals conceded we would even have beaten the scum if it wasn't for him even wolves recently should have dealt with that cross positionally he is very suspect and until he is removed and replaced with Givet I feel we will struggle. I think we have to give Appleton a fair crack of the whip I only hope he sees the weaknesses and tries to rectify before tuesday and hopefully before the end of the month he can bring in a few players I think if we can bring Bentley on loan would help.

We have about 10 Bentleys already! Granted he'd be the best of em all but what we need most are a few Flitcroft and Sav clones. Sorry but I don't understand you banging on about Dann for a full paragraph and then suggesting we need another attacking midfielder .

This is true. Good Championship sides mostly have hungry, young British (and I am the least nationalist person there is) players who close down, press up the pitch, move off the ball and pass to each other. This not true with relegated sides - Bolton, Wolves too, who have overpaid uninterested players. We need to ship 7-8 of them out ASAP. Starting with Murphy, Etuhu, Martin Olsson, Robinson, even Givet, prob Dann. Poss CKR. Then we need to bring in some more young players to play alongside Rhodes, Lowe, Henley, etc.

Easier said than done. That evil pair will no doubt have em all on long contracts so they can skim as much as possible for as long as possible.

[gumboots]

Last season how many times did we concede in the final minutes of the game - is that lack of fitness or lack of concentration / mental toughness. The mental side of the game is important and is one reason why some clubs employ psychologists. There is another factor too - happiness. Alot of our players look genuinely fed up and have done so for some time. Now I wonder why that could be.....?

Don't fitness and mental toughness go hand in hand though. If you're not fit it doesn't matter how hard your brain is trying to do things and prepared to stick it out, the legs just can't, and if you are fit concentration is supposedly easier and many of those late goals that cost us were down to lapses of concentration late on. Not saying fitness is all but it goes a long way. Watching the tennis yesterday and you could see how fit they were - 5 hours on court and still giving it everything they had. We could do with a bit of that.

[roverandout]

i would give everything i had on a tennis court if there was a big cash prize at the end of it all

[gumboots]

Not after 5 hours of that you wouldn't be. anyway there's big prizes in football - get us back to the premier league and presumably there'd be a bonus or two if we hadn't worked out a way to avoid paying them, plus there's the chance of a bigger money move to another club

[John]

Doesn't matter who's the manager John. With this lot in charge we were screwed from the outset.

Clubs can still get promotion with political turmoil behind the scenes, it has happened before, Birmingham for example - other foreign owners have warped ideas too.

[den]

Clubs can still get promotion with political turmoil behind the scenes, it has happened before, Birmingham for example - other foreign owners have warped ideas too.

John, I was replying to a comment that the buck stops with Appleton. Our problems began when the Raos took the club over, sacked Sam etc,etc. To say basically that lack of success from here on is down to him alone, is ridiculous.

[K-Hod]

We were gash. Players looked disinterested, though it's too soon to blame Appleton, good to see him bringing his own people in.

Never seen such an imbalanced Rovers squad in my life. The need for a grafter in the middle of the park, and some actual width is huge.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

"The first yard is in a player's head" .... Cloughie.

Pro footballers should be fit without a doubt but appearing leaden footed is not a good indication of fitness or stamina, it's more an indication of attitude and temperament.

As for Saturdays shambolic performance basically Millwall sussed us and taught the rest of the Div that if they 'get at us' high up the pitch and weigh on to our pathetic central midfield and fullbacks that we are easily contained which leads to Hanley and keeper lumping hopeless long balls up to the miniature Rhodes, allow two men to contain Rochina and it's virtually job done. On Sat neither keeper had anything to do except pick the ball out of the net on 3 occasions. We had loads of possession in our own half and rarely got anywhere near their final third.

I can remember quite a few Rovers chances - including a good save by their keeper, a CKR header straight at the keeper which he should have scored - and a good save from Kean which led to an almighty goal mouth scramble.

However - I agree with what you saying about the opposition pressing high up the pitch - though Rhodes is hardly miniature. IMO we still too deep at times (a tactic brought in by Kean) - we need to press higher up the pitch ourselves and take a risk - with Murphy in midfield the last thing we need is a stretched out game. Also - when King is fit again we have a winger that can take advantage of balls over the top (without him we do lack pace in midfield).

[den]

The one thing that stood out to me was that Charlton's players went towards the man in posession, demanding the ball, while our midfielders - apart from Murphy at times - turned away. This left Dann and Hanley with the single option of the long ball. Seeing as neither of them have the talent to kick the ball properly, it resulted, as ever, on hopeful aerial balls to Rhodes.

[majorstyre]

The one thing that stood out to me was that Charlton's players went towards the man in posession, demanding the ball, while our midfielders - apart from Murphy at times - turned away. This left Dann and Hanley with the single option of the long ball. Seeing as neither of them have the talent to kick the ball properly, it resulted, as ever, on hopeful aerial balls to Rhodes.

fair point this....

noticed on more than one occasion when we gained a throw-in, how few of our players wanted the ball.....

players should be busting a gut to get into the actions, whereas ours shy away and disapear........

[JAL]

The one thing that stood out to me was that Charlton's players went towards the man in posession, demanding the ball, while our midfielders - apart from Murphy at times - turned away. This left Dann and Hanley with the single option of the long ball. Seeing as neither of them have the talent to kick the ball properly, it resulted, as ever, on hopeful aerial balls to Rhodes.

Criticism is they are too slow in the head in moving the ball across the park.

All too often Dann would show his limited vision whilst CKR was stood in space out wide over to the riverside but Dann would try and either go on a run and lose it or pass it into the congested middle, or even take one, two, three touches too many before the next defender received the ball all allowing Charlton plenty of time to get their shape and stop Rovers.

[1864roverite]

I didnt go to the game, I knew we were going to get beat and as I am on a self imposed abstain from Ewood I managed to listen to the second half on the radio. I have read what people think but it sounded atrocious on the wireless with no atmosphere at all coming over the airwaves.

Some people are missing the point in the midfield areas. When we start with Lowe we effectively are starting with 10 men. Young he is but he is the weak link in the midfield. He cant head, cant tackle, passes sideways and backwards and loses more possession than he gains. He should not be starting or be anywhere near this team.

I cannot understand why Dann seems so incompetent in the middle of the defence. His reading of the game annoys me because he plays well then makes the most stupid mistake that always leads us to conceding a goal.

Olssons mind is elsewhere. It is time to sell if the price is right.

Rovers have not got the set up to play with passengers. As good as RR maybe, he is a luxury at the moment. We need results. We desperately need a ball winning central midfielder with legs. Dorrans is the man for the job if he can be prised away either on loan or a purchase.

Rhodes may be a goalscorer supreme, without any service he will fail.

A total shake up required because Brighton wont come easy.

[JAL]

Interesting watching the highlights on Sky and seeing CKR involved, not only in Rovers goal, but all the other good attempts at goal. When watching live he looked after ten minute periods of each half as being the most disinterested player on the pitch.

[LDRover]

i would give everything i had on a tennis court if there was a big cash prize at the end of it all

Djokovic is a multi millionaire already, he didn't bust a gut like he did in that match because of the money, he did it because he is mentally tough and doesn't accept defeat.

What a match by the way. Puts the 'sportsmen' in blue and white on Saturday to total shame.

[Hasta]

Some people are missing the point in the midfield areas. When we start with Lowe we effectively are starting with 10 men. Young he is but he is the weak link in the midfield. He cant head, cant tackle, passes sideways and backwards and loses more possession than he gains. He should not be starting or be anywhere near this team.

Too true. Another problem on Saturday was that when the centre halves had the ball Lowe gave them an option. When he did receive possession from defence he normally sent it straight back to the person who had gave it to him. Dann hit numerous aimless long diagonal ball from defence out wide but he had no option some times (other times he did but hoofed it anyway). Someone in midfield needs to be technically good enough to receive, turn and play forward. Sounds simple but we don't do it.

[JAL]

Too true. Another problem on Saturday was that when the centre halves had the ball Lowe gave them an option. When he did receive possession from defence he normally sent it straight back to the person who had gave it to him. Dann hit numerous aimless long diagonal ball from defence out wide but he had no option some times (other times he did but hoofed it anyway). Someone in midfield needs to be technically good enough to receive, turn and play forward. Sounds simple but we don't do it.

The one thing we've learnt by now is, you dont hit long balls for Jordan Rhodes to chase, as its embarrassing watching the lad trying to run after them. To his feet or just in front or dont bother at all has to be the rule for playing into Jordan .

[riverside returns]

The top tennis players are incredibly strong minded, they also employ mind coaches and where there is a dead rubber, they will still want to win as winning is a habit.

Rovers lack a spine a la flowers, Henry, batty, shearer. When we rediscover this spine, we can utilize the flair players. We have to get mentally tough as well as physically.

[blueboy3333]

Those players did not play for the manager yesterday .

It was flat from 1st to the last minute , substitutions were suspect and a Charlton team who were 2 divisions below us last season out battled us and outplayed us .

Heard many calls for people to get behind the team before hand , but Ewood was like a morgue. At times you could hear a pin drop , even when people rounded on Venky's it was only a small section of the attendance .

Players get inspiration from the manager as they had under bowyer , it's ok saying get rid if the players but at times yesterday it was school boy stuff.

In the first half we had a number of free kicks in dangerous areas . Any one growing up playing football are told to pull the fullbacks out and make the spaces for teammates to run into . What did rovers do ? They all tucked in , pulled the fullbacks in a formed a wall of red.

We had no width , no game plan and did not test the Charlton keeper .

We can spice this up and blame anyone , but the buck stops with the manager re performance .

Whilst the events leading to yesterday's performance falls at Venky's door . This club will not move forward whilst they own us

That's the first time i've ever seen you post about a match and be critical of the tactics employed by the manager. What a surprise that you'd do it to a manager you didn't want and that Shebby didn't pick.

[Mike E]

That's the first time i've ever seen you post about a match and be critical of the tactics employed by the manager. What a surprise that you'd do it to a manager you didn't want and that Shebby didn't pick.

Tbf, I've seen him criticise Kean too

[Adam C]

Never seen such an imbalanced Rovers squad in my life. The need for a grafter in the middle of the park, and some actual width is huge.

This is so frustrating. All of us can see what the squad needs and this has been brought up since last January at least. I guess Murphy and Etuhu were an attempt to solve the problem but it is clear that is one partnership that is not going to pay off. How Appleton chooses to address this problem (if - gulp- he genuinely has the power to make this change) will determine how successful he and the team are.