[Archived] Rovers v Brentford: 17th March

[thenodrog]

Beaten by a far better side tonight. It's time we gave Brentford the credit they deserve.

Indeed. Steele pulled off an excellent save and they struck the bar 1st half which no one appears to have mentioned.

He does look like he's got the same fitness trainer as David Dunn at the moment though Abs.

And just where is old glassback? Did he pull a hamstring or have open heart surgery? I've a feeling that the next time we see him will be the last game or two of the season and then when he limps off in his testimonial.

[Amo]

Rather than meekly accept that we were beaten by the better side, the question should be WHY Brentford were the better side. Is their squad a cut above ours? One of their key players was a Rovers cast-off for gawd sake! Or maybe they just have a manager who gets his side to play to their full potential? Just a thought.

[Husky]

Every time we lose its sack the manager on here bit pathetic really. Just gone 5/6 unbeaten winning 3 on the spin and drew at anfield.

This is partly the problem; GG seems more obsessed about unbeaten runs and it "looking good on paper for Pune" rather than actually trying to win 'must win' games. I've lost count of the times we've set up negatively against inferior opposition.

[thenodrog]

We also need to learn to pass the ball quicker and with purpose.

Thats simply 'two touch' at training.

[FGS5635]

Nothing to say about rovers that hasn't been said a million times already, but I have to echo what a few have said about Brentford and warburtons tactics. Refreshing, attacking, gutsy, brave, well thought out. Not words you'd often use about rovers. Leaving 2 and 3 up every time we had a set piece was comical. You saw our players looking at Bowyer for guidance and every time he's waving players back to mark them. Quite simply they then did this every time knowing what he would do. It often meant us bringing attacking players back to cope.

Its the kind of thing Jose does often and just requires a bit of guts as its a battle of guts between managers and who cracks and leaves players unmarked.

Saw a few calls for Warburton at rovers when Brentford announced he would be leaving and thought it was silly to appoint a guy like him with success at only one club, especially when that club is Brentford, but after last night I've seen enough to be more than happy for him to take over at Rovers

We have mentioned it on here many times about lack of pace, but its clear having watched all of the better teams in this division now, that they all have way more pace than rovers. Not just up front, but most of the best teams in this league have pace in midfield to and this is where we struggle to cope in my opinion.

With the season now over and injuries mounting up, its time to pick the best 2 or 3 youngsters we have and throw them in. Nothing really else to play for now

[thenodrog]

I was very disappointed we let him go, he always looked busy and we played him out wide, when for me if he'd played 'in the hole' behind Rhodes, it would have been hugely beneficial for the both of them and the team.

With the benefit of hindsight I'm sure some won't want to read their comments at the time on Judge now.....

Indeed. Judge is too slow to play on the wing but he is excellent in the hole behind a striker and he's got a good shot on him.

[thenodrog]

We let Douglas go years back, must be 10 years ago?? A bit like being wise after the event about Shay Given if you ask me!

Judge is exactly what we're lacking in the centre of midfield and I was disappointed we let him go. 'But, he's too smal'l and 'not physical enough' were some of the pearlers used to justify his departure. Oh, and the classic 'he's useless'.....

I prefer a 4-5-1 depending on the players available but with Rhodes Gestede, King and Brown we are committed to 4-4-2 and there was no place for Judge 9or Rochina) in GB's mind. rem he tried them both on the wings.

[Boz]

Indeed. Judge is too slow to play on the wing but he is excellent in the hole behind a striker and he's got a good shot on him.

But how often have we seen this with GB? Playing players not in their natural positions, especially with midfielders playing on the wing? None more so in my mind than with David Jones, he seems to have done OK since reverting back to his central midfield role.

As Einstein said, "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".

[thenodrog]

Rather than meekly accept that we were beaten by the better side, the question should be WHY Brentford were the better side. Is their squad a cut above ours? One of their key players was a Rovers cast-off for gawd sake! Or maybe they just have a manager who gets his side to play to their full potential? Just a thought.

Two.

[thenodrog]

Nothing to say about rovers that hasn't been said a million times already, but I have to echo what a few have said about Brentford and warburtons tactics. Refreshing, attacking, gutsy, brave, well thought out. Not words you'd often use about rovers. Leaving 2 and 3 up every time we had a set piece was comical. You saw our players looking at Bowyer for guidance and every time he's waving players back to mark them. Quite simply they then did this every time knowing what he would do. It often meant us bringing attacking players back to cope.

Its the kind of thing Jose does often and just requires a bit of guts as its a battle of guts between managers and who cracks and leaves players unmarked.

Saw a few calls for Warburton at rovers when Brentford announced he would be leaving and thought it was silly to appoint a guy like him with success at only one club, especially when that club is Brentford, but after last night I've seen enough to be more than happy for him to take over at Rovers

We have mentioned it on here many times about lack of pace, but its clear having watched all of the better teams in this division now, that they all have way more pace than rovers. Not just up front, but most of the best teams in this league have pace in midfield to and this is where we struggle to cope in my opinion.

With the season now over and injuries mounting up, its time to pick the best 2 or 3 youngsters we have and throw them in. Nothing really else to play for now

Agree with most of that. As for pace our first goal suggested they were susceptible to such. They played a high line and caught us offside plenty of times and if King had been fit he could have proved invaluable.

[FGS5635]

Agree with most of that. As for pace our first goal suggested they were susceptible to such. They played a high line and caught us offside plenty of times and if King had been fit he could have proved invaluable.

To be fair rudy got a march on them and they did struggle, but Rudy is 10 yards out when he scores. God knows what their keeper is doing, he could easily have run out and beat rudy to that

[Kamy100]

The other thing that last highlighted was the lack of pace that we have.

Second half Brentford were able to play a pressing game with their players pushed high up the pitch safe in the knowledge that Rovers wouldn’t be able to hurt them on the break due to the lack of pace that we have, the FA Cup games against Swansea and Stoke showed the value of pace against teams are pushing up the pitch but King apart we don’t have that type of player in our squad and certainly is an area that needs to be addressed.

[tomphil]

Fair play to brentford, they were quicker, more determined and far better with the ball. Pritchard was excellent for them. It reminded me of the Derby game where we had our chances but were generally outclassed. We looked pedestrian (not for the first time) in comparison to them. We sat deep and tried to hit them on the counter, without having the pace to do it. Only when Spearing came on did we start to get a bit more control in the midfield. Like against Derby i think Bowyer picked the wrong team. Cairney should never play in a midfield 4 against a passing side who play 5 in there.

Steele - Fantastic save in 1st half to keep the header out. Kicking was poor on a few occasions and had no chance with the deflected 1st goal. Not sure about 2nd or 3rd, where they his fault?

Henley - played well, looks a lot stronger these day, quick and defended well.

Spurr - Slow and cumbersome. no surprise 1st two goals came down his side. we missed olsson badly.

Baptiste - thought he was excellent. reads the game very well. hope we sign him.

Kilgallon - decent enough but his passing was poor.

Taylor - thought he played well, looked sharp and strong, great finish.

Cairney - he's good when he has the ball and can slow the game down and get the team passing but i was watching him last night and he is a lazy sod. He spends most of the match walking around slowly and the Brentford midfield passed the ball round him at ease. He was also weak in the challenge on a couple of occasions. He played better when Spearing came on and he had more of a free role and started getting at their back line and making forward passes.

Evans - the enigma, tidy on the ball but never really seems to do much with it. Compare and contrast Judge and Pritchard who were always looking to pass forward.

Marshall - the enigma pt 2, a couple of good runs in the 1st half but spent most of the match with his head down. not sure if this was injury-related or he was just not arsed.

Gestede - great goal then disappeared. another lazy so and so. Rhodes was closing down their back line and pointing at Rudy to do the same on more than one occasion and Rudy just didn't bother. Rhodes just shook his head and looked v @#/? off. This allowed Brentford to pass it out from the back with ease.

Rhodes - worked his nads off but didn't get any service. One of those games he looks very slow because he spends the match chasing lost causes and doing Rudy's running. He deserves better service.

Subs -

Spearing - thought he did well when he came on. we started to get the ball a bit more and start going forward.

Brown - worked hard but never got in the game.

All in all disappointing. Beaten by a better team. Credit to Warburton, would love to watch his brand of football at Ewood.

If we do sign anyone in the summer they need to have PACE and work HARD. You can't carry passengers in this league. We also need to learn to pass the ball quicker and with purpose.

Good summary. The Cairney point is something I've been banging about all season, he looked leggy from the word go last night and it's not rocket science Brentford have an industrious midfield. He's also a lazy @#/? when the ball isn't coming to his feet and lopes about moaning and pointing at everyone else. Another one for the gaffer to get tough with but one thinks yet again he's another of the favs.

Rudy as well offers zero unless the ball is dropped on his head or in front of him, not just last night but plenty times second half of this season. Walking out last night I listened to an 80 odd year old guy going on about how disappointed he frequently is with Gestedes contribution saying he's just going through the motions and marking time, hard to disagree. Just hope he saves it all for the cup replay again !

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

The other thing that last highlighted was the lack of pace that we have.

Second half Brentford were able to play a pressing game with their players pushed high up the pitch safe in the knowledge that Rovers wouldn’t be able to hurt them on the break due to the lack of pace that we have, the FA Cup games against Swansea and Stoke showed the value of pace against teams are pushing up the pitch but King apart we don’t have that type of player in our squad and certainly is an area that needs to be addressed.

This lack of pace has been obvious all season - and tbh is one of the reasons why I thought we may have been best to cash in on Rhodes during the summer. Other than King - only Marshall (to an extent) and Olsson have the type of pace to frighten a team.

You know how slow you are up front - when Radio Rovers were describing bringing Brown on to add a bit of pace !

[Gav]

Well I thought it was a very good game, just a pity we lost to be honest.

But let's not take anything away from Brentford, very good side, attacked in numbers, what could stop them going up is they're a bit dodgy at the back.

Well worth the 200 mile round trip.

[G Somerset Rover]

The other thing that last highlighted was the lack of pace that we have.

Second half Brentford were able to play a pressing game with their players pushed high up the pitch safe in the knowledge that Rovers wouldnt be able to hurt them on the break due to the lack of pace that we have, the FA Cup games against Swansea and Stoke showed the value of pace against teams are pushing up the pitch but King apart we dont have that type of player in our squad and certainly is an area that needs to be addressed.

Given that he doesn't rate King, all of this blame can be squarely put at Gaz' door. He's bought in umpteen players and not one of them with pace.

[Exiled in Toronto]

It was stupid to sub Rudy for Brown and equally stupid to leave Spearing on the bench for Evans who found the opposition with every pass. I have taken my time to assess Brown but after last night have made my mind up. He is just as useless as Varney. How could we sign two strikers in summer who have not scored a goal between them by the middle of March. Somebody wants sacking for signing these two wastes of wages.

That's a killer obervation Al, a hefty nail in the coffin of Bowyer having a Midas touch in the bargain bucket market. Yes he did well with Cairney, Gestede and Conway but, as my boss once asked me five weeks into a new financial year following a record performance, "What have you done for me recently?"

[Gav]

That's a killer obervation Al, a hefty nail in the coffin of Bowyer having a Midas touch in the bargain bucket market. Yes he did well with Cairney, Gestede and Conway but, as my boss once asked me five weeks into a new financial year following a record performance, "What have you done for me recently?"

I disagree, both Varney and Brown are backup to the first team, squad players, you can't have proven quality as 3rd and 4th choice at the curent Blackburn Rovers.

[AggyBlue]

Such a contrast in the styles of play from each team.

One team played on the front foot, rolled the ball out from the keeper, moved the ball forward and looked to pass forwards.

One team kicked long from the keeper all match, played with their back to goal and passed the ball with their back to goal.

[Exiled in Toronto]

I disagree, both Varney and Brown are backup to the first team, squad players, you can't have proven quality as 3rd and 4th choice at the curent Blackburn Rovers.

Even so, zero goals from two back ups couldn't be any worse. If backup strikers never score or back up defenders never tackle then they aren't really backing up.

[Rover_Shaun]

Highlights

[Gav]

Even so, zero goals from two back ups couldn't be any worse. If backup strikers never score or back up defenders never tackle then they aren't really backing up.

True.

[Amo]

Got to love how their guy ran the length of the pitch completely unchallenged for their second.

[onlyonejackwalker]

I think there will be goals and we could end up either winning or losing this game by the odd goal in 5

Take a bow.

Far too much optimism on here. This is Blackburn Rovers, remember

A couple of wins on the bounce and some get a bit giddy.

Happy with line up given player availability.

Rovers flying and have momentum.

3-1 tonight with Wembley hotel rooms being snapped-up for the weekend of 24 May.

You seem to lack the basic understanding that there are very few easy games in professional football.

No need for panic.

A nailed on win tonight.

We've more to come from Rhodes / Gestede.

See what I mean?

One of the first things any half-decent manager does is build from the back. Two years and 100 games in charge, yet we're still shipping goals like no tomorrow.

Not rocket science is it? Amazed Bowyer has risked his career at the Rovers by completely ignoring and glossing over this issue. One of my biggest gripes with him as our school-boy defending continues to irritates me no end.

That's still 1 win against the top 8 from 15 games. Incredibly bad, must be the worst of all teams outside that group.

Sums things up for me. Flat track bullies, without the bullying bit.

[Tom]

What a lovely lay off from rhodes for the second

Steele really should have done better for the second and third goals and Spurr was bad for all 3