[Archived] Brum, Brum, 29/12/13, the debate goes on!

[RevidgeBlue]

Agreed Boz. A workhorse alongside Cairney could work but two workhorses certainly won't. I wonder though if Cairney and Evans would be a better CM partnership with Evan in the def-mid role. Daft as it sounds I wonder how Lowe might fare in the hole behind Rhodes. He is good at linking defence and midfield, how about a link between midfield and attack? Ball retention. Is pretty good.

----------------- Eastwood

-- Henley - Dann - Hanley - Spurr

------------------ Evans

-- Rochina ---- Cairney ------ King

-------------- Lowe

--------------------Rhodes

Any takers? Or crazy talk?

Errr........ Nurse!!!!

[JAL]

Has everyone forgotten Millwalls second goal ?

[Tom]

He's one of the few players who can create something out of nothing. You don't send a talent like that to the bottom of the pile.

Whilst his natural talent is plain to see and when it comes off its superb the flip side with him is on Sunday he often created nothing from something!

One instance he was played in down the wing with men in the box, he had a chance to cross it but took a man on then took him on again, did a step over and ran the ball out of play, sometimes less is more!

I think he needs a run of games but at the same time didn't do enough to earn it, tricky one

[roversfan99]

I saw a couple of tweets on Sunday saying that he is the best attacking midfielder in the league.

Will Hughes, Benayoun, Kranjcar, Hoilett, Dunn, Maloney, Nick Powell, Andy Reid, Lansbury, Buckley, Knockaert, Matt Ritchie, Lingard etc aside I presume.

[Paul]

Whilst his natural talent is plain to see and when it comes off its superb the flip side with him is on Sunday he often created nothing from something!

One instance he was played in down the wing with men in the box, he had a chance to cross it but took a man on then took him on again, did a step over and ran the ball out of play, sometimes less is more!

I think he needs a run of games but at the same time didn't do enough to earn it, tricky one

This sums up the Rochina problem in a nutshell. Every match I've seen him in the memorable moments are when he shows good "skill" to run at 2-3 opponents and get tangled up in a dead end. Quite often this has led to the opposition gaining control and launching an attack.

I use "skill" cautiously as I don't see any great skill or creativity in running into and failing to beat defenders on a regular basis!

It would be wonderful if Ruben was the answer but regrettably he's not. We need to spend money on a proper creative midfield not another player with some clever tricks who is easily crowded out or simply loses control of the ball.

[rovermagic]

Every time Henley got ball he passed back to Dann. No confidence at all. A decent fullback needs to overlap. Our attacks broke down when ball went out to Henley. Bowyer is no fool.. Like 60% of managers or more he likes to play the 4-2-3-1. And we can do this. Fair nettles. was even better in first half than second when he was to right of Rochina. This is not 'ŵide' on right as in 4-4-2. But just on right. So many teams play is. Chelsea, Arsenal, etc. Neil on Radio Rovers said this re Cairney. He is too light weight to be a centre mid. Needs to be of the 'three number tens' in a 4-2-3-1. Marshall is a food footballer. Better I ink than King. But we are blessed, We have six players who can play in the 3 of a 4-2-3-1. Including Taylor and King and of course Dunnie.

Rochina did not have a good match. But mostly went off 'cause he was knackered after 65 min. He does need to be given a chance to parlay himself fit. Needs a decent run in the side. Judge unfortunately for all his energy is a League One player.

As are really unhappily Lowe and Williamson. These two gave SO much space to Birmingham midfielders in first half. I always liked Lowe. But it is try. He rarely puts in a tackle. He backs off. He was one of 3-4 who coils have cleared on first goal. Second goal, Novack was given too much space.

Finally don't drop Eastwood. After confidence crash in first half he made decent saves in 2nd and had the guts to come up and almost score equaliser at end. Robinson was a poor keeper for us year in year out with one of worst save percentages in e league every year. Also Rhodes is magic. Seems somehow quicker and stronger than before. He is a premier league striker now. Hope we can hang onto him a bit longer.

[thenodrog]

This sums up the Rochina problem in a nutshell. Every match I've seen him in the memorable moments are when he shows good "skill" to run at 2-3 opponents and get tangled up in a dead end. Quite often this has led to the opposition gaining control and launching an attack

I use "skill" cautiously as I don't see any great skill or creativity in running into and failing to beat defenders on a regular basis!

It would be wonderful if Ruben was the answer but regrettably he's not. We need to spend money on a proper creative midfield not another player with some clever tricks who is easily crowded out or simply loses control of the ball.

nevertheless the crowd were chanting for rochina to be brought on v sheff wed. That doesn't happen often does it and it must influence the manager to some extent.

[FGS5635]

To be fair to rochina I thought he was pretty good in the 1st 20-25mins. He should have scored and was involved in most of the good stuff we did. After brum went 2 up and then even more so at 3 up they dropped really deep and got every man behind the ball deep in their own half. At this point it was really crowded in the middle and ruben found it hard to find any pockets of space. He then struggled to get the ball and as a result he was probably guilty of trying to hard when he did get it and he was pretty poor then until subbed in the 2nd half.

The lad has rafts of ability but he never really gets the run of games he needs to learn from his mistakes and be the player he can be. He does the hard stuff with such ease, yet makes the easy stuff look so hard at times

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Marshall is a food footballer.

Bit cruel. I thought that was Dunn.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Rochina has plenty of technical ability with his feet and people expect wonderful things from him. He has little footballing intelligence and frequently makes the wrong choices but it has been said many times before. If he had this, he would have been at a better club than Rovers

Pushing him out wide right at the beginning of the second half was the wrong choice because as the shot at Yeovil proves he has either no right foot or no confidence in it. As a result he drifted into an already crowded central area giving rovers no outlet ball to the right and so meaning instead tricking one he had to trick his way past three or four.

With little cover from his fellow wide man, this prevented Henley to get forward as well.

If he was going to pushed out wide then I suspect left wing would have been the better option.

[LDRover]

A big problem for me is our lack of width. Even King, when fit is played on the left so naturally tucks in to his favoured right foot. Same applies with Marshall and Taylor.

I've begun to think we're overthinking tactics and formations somewhat. For me 4-4-2 can work as long as you have pace and width in the side.

Back 4 stays as it is with Spurr and Henley asked to overlap when possible. An enforcer and ball player central mid, King wide right and a speedy left footed winger (priority loan in Jan). A big un and little un up front (Gestede and Rhodes).

It's worth a go, we've tried to be a solid unit and conceded 3 last time out. Maybe it's time to give the opposition more to think about as there's no great quality in this league.

[Riverside67]

LD spot on with your last sentance.

We play like we are scared to death. That is Bowyers doing.

There maybe 3 to 4 decent sides but no one to really fear.

Time to take the shackles off and go for it. I can't stand all these negative tactics that is just wasting Rhodes finishing akills.

[Guest Wen Y Hu]

Parsonblue's match report is now published to the front page here.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

A big problem for me is our lack of width. Even King, when fit is played on the left so naturally tucks in to his favoured right foot. Same applies with Marshall and Taylor.

I've begun to think we're overthinking tactics and formations somewhat. For me 4-4-2 can work as long as you have pace and width in the side.

Back 4 stays as it is with Spurr and Henley asked to overlap when possible. An enforcer and ball player central mid, King wide right and a speedy left footed winger (priority loan in Jan). A big un and little un up front (Gestede and Rhodes).

It's worth a go, we've tried to be a solid unit and conceded 3 last time out. Maybe it's time to give the opposition more to think about as there's no great quality in this league.

I agree, 4-4-2 can work in this division but with the right players. I don't think two speedy winger is essential but I agree we need players playing down their natural sides. I personally think playing with a ball playing central midfielder then teams can crowd them out. A box to box central player is essential to go with an enforcer. A Scott Sellars type left winger who could pick a pass opposite the Dusty Miller type pacy winger on the other wing is an example.

[92er]

Parsonblue's match report is now published to the front page here.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, Parsonblue, for yet another excellent match report.

I know you are a huge Rovers fan, but writing a match report every time is very time consuming and quite an onerous task.

Thanks.

[DE.]

We play like we are scared to death. That is Bowyers doing.

I haven't been to enough games this year to conclusively disagree with you but from what I've read, heard and briefly seen this season I'm not convinced this is true. We're cautious but a team that is scared to death wouldn't be 12th and 4 points from the playoffs. We're defensive-minded and we don't seem to ever switch from that mindset regardless of the teams we play. Much of that is down to the personnel we have - our defence and weak midfield requires a lot of padding to ensure we don't leak goals - but if Evans returns and Cairney stays I hope we'll see a more offensive mindset going forward.

[AggyBlue]

We're defensive-minded and we don't seem to ever switch from that mindset regardless of the teams we play. Much of that is down to the personnel we have - our defence and weak midfield requires a lot of padding to ensure we don't leak goals - but if Evans returns and Cairney stays I hope we'll see a more offensive mindset going forward

Our players are capable of much more than we normally see.

I'd suggest the second half against Brum proves that.

[DE.]

They're also capable of randomly shipping three goals despite dominating, which the first half of this match illustrated so well.