[Archived] Friendly Against Wigan 01/08/15

[Blueandwhitemike]

My view of the game was closer to Mustard's than Mercer's which i think was a bit OTT.

First half as many said was poor, from both sides, though Wigan were better they created little.

I thought the shape of the team was pretty poor with Maynard on the left, I don't really understand what GB thought he was doing, the lad looked lost and the team lopsided.

Guthrie didn't do anything great but I did like the fact he was always looking for the ball, he's a bit similar to Williamson but not as slow. Given our weakness in the centre I'd sign him up.

Second half both teams came out with a bit more intensity, a bit less of a preseason attitude and the game was better for it.

Conway always looked the most likely to make things happen and if he carries his preseason form into the league games he may be our key man, to me he was the best attacking player on the pitch in both this and the Bury game.

Marshall looks like he will enjoy no. ten role but he'll need to produce a lot more in the real games. It might be harsh but it looks to me like he thinks he is a bit better than he is. I think he might be happy to stay here because he is going to be the main man, get to play in the position he wants and dictate games but he'll have to produce consistently.

Rhodes ran about, he should have scored when clean through but passed to Dolphin who passed it back to him, I still thought he was gonna score but he didn't. He didn't get any service apart from that. When Fode came on, he looked a bit bigger than I expected, quite strong but only 30 minutes and got little service so can't say much, but he had a lot more presence, so I'm hopeful.

Petshi only had ten minutes, showed some nice skill, also fell over. Anyone who judges him off that is talking nonsense.

Both full backs got forward decently.

Maybe I'm influenced by what I read on here but Hanley and Duffy worry me together. Duffy was poor vs Bury but ok today, but why no Killer? Very strange, I would have thought he'd be easily in front of Duffy.

Tomlinson again looked neat and tidy, scored a nice goal. I wouldn't go too overboard about him but he didn't look out of place, bodes well for the future.

Raya can play a bit of football, I'm happy to see him practice it a lot in friendlies, he wants to be Neuer. It might go well for him but it will cost us at least a goal this season if he plays, which looks likely, I wonder what Steele thinks of this. I would have thought Raya might be number two this season as he is still so young but maybe this is why he signed the contract some people thought he wouldn't, maybe GB promised him a crack at being no.1

All in all though, even though it was the last one, it was still a preseason game, it's next Saturday that counts, all good and all bad from this game must be taken in context.

Wigan did alright, as they should do they must be one of the favourites to go up. I can see why Mercer's mate was optimistic, the score flattered Rovers and our little bit of extra quality was the difference.

[rishtonrover]

hate to pick on any one player, but jason lowe is the most limited player i have ever seen playing far brfc,the lad always gives 100% but there is nothing there,in midfield our right back he does nothing its like playing with 10 men.

[Athlete]

Don't be fooled by the score - it papered over some gaping cracks.

First half, we were woeful - not an attempt on goal that I can recall. Wigan were by far the more accomplished side.

Rovers didn't come to life until Conway crashed one against the bar after about 50 minutes.

Two great strikes from Tomlinson and Marshall worth the admission money alone.

Other than a great save close to the end, Raya didn't have much to do but needs to sharpen up / improve his distribution at times.

Defensively, Hanley and Duffy aren't close enough as a pairing at times and better teams than Wigan will exploit the gaping gaps.

Midfield dire. Problems remain. Still think Lowe is robbing a living from the game - totally ineffective. Guthrie at least wanted the ball and was neat and tidy without being threatening. Take Conway and Marshall away, and we would have no spark or threat. Petshi came on for last 10 minutes - this guy is so laid back, in another world. Nowhere near what's required in the Championship and would get eaten alive.

Up front, Rhodes hardly broke sweat but to be fair to the lad, he had no service. Maynard lasted 30 minutes, made no impact and was unbelievably slow. As for Delfy, have seen better at Pleasington. Koita replaced Rhodes after 60 minutes and is a big lad and that's about it.

Interestingly, Bowyer sat next to Shelfy in the directors' box until minutes from the end.

Coming off, my friend from Wigan felt far more optimistic about his team's chances this season than I did.

Tbh a few from wigan dragged me down for a few pints so decent day out..fair summation there Mm

hate to pick on any one player, but jason lowe is the most limited player i have ever seen playing far brfc,the lad always gives 100% but there is nothing there,in midfield our right back he does nothing its like playing with 10 men.

TBH He comes in for a bit of criticism but in all honesty is not good enough

[Madon]

Willem Tomlinson hasn't put a foot wrong all pre-season and rounded it off today with a good goal from nothing. I'll be honest, I'd never heard of him before this pre-season and has been the stand out player for me. He really should be in with a shout of getting some minutes vs Wolves.

[Tom]

Sounds like there's good stuff to take from today

Delighted we have players like Tomlinson, Raya and Nyambe pushing for places

The attendance tomorrow may prove that the 'keyboard warriors' on here are a small minority.Fans(even diehard ones) will be missing a trip to Ewood and walking along the back street cobbles!

This theory may have been proven wrong

[Amo]

I agree with Rev (?) that if Tomlinson's good enough, he's old enough. Damien Duff was playing regularly at the age of 18. It's not as if we're exactly embarrassed with riches in midfield.

[Neal]

Those asking if Tomlinson is ready... Look at Will Hughes. We've hardly anything to lose so play the lad, if he's played well in pre-season then whats to discuss? "Right lad, well done, here's your squad number now get on with it"... End of.

[skous18]

Yeah. Look at Will Hughes?! The lad is absolutley amazing, full with potential how is he still playing in championship is a mistery for me.

[Feniscowles Blue]

Calm down he's not ready for the cut and thrust of the championship . To place any type of pressure on at 17 will do him harm. He's not developed enough and he plays too safe in pre season never mind in the league

[joey_big_nose]

I don't think there is much danger of Tomlinson starting at the minute. He would have to get ahead if Lowe, Guthrie (presuming we sign him) and Williamson.

However if Guthrie doesn't sign and we have an injury he will have a chance to prove he is better than Petsci or Evans I'm sure.

[Roverthechimp]

Can't comment on yesterday but pretty much everytime i have seen Lowe he has been moving the ball around decently, switching play and being available. Not sure why he gets so much stick?

For me Duffy is/has been better defensively than killgallon but his distribution is shocking.

[mhead]

Sounds like there's good stuff to take from today

Delighted we have players like Tomlinson, Raya and Nyambe pushing for places

This theory may have been proven wrong

Simple comparison: Bury 3 Nob End 2

Attendance 1307(Nob End Fans 376)

Which one do you prefer? If ALF had been playing we would probably have got 5k.

[LewisF]

Can't comment on yesterday but pretty much everytime i have seen Lowe he has been moving the ball around decently, switching play and being available. Not sure why he gets so much stick?

For me Duffy is/has been better defensively than killgallon but his distribution is shocking.

Lowe played a pretty big part in the first goal, and I thought he was steady on the ball and played decent throughout the whole match

[Mercer]

Surprising how opinions differ.

Lowe yesterday was, IMV, the Lowe of the last two seasons - anonymous and ineffective.

When he asks for the ball then 9 times out of 10, it's either a backwards or sideways pass of no more than 10 yards and often scuffed or misplaced at that.

When he tries to 'go long', it goes spectacularly wrong.

Made no more than a handful of challenges and saw no evidence of his 'magnificent engine'.

I really think this guy is stealing a living from the game and ranks as one of the worse midfielders I have seen in decades of watching Rovers.

[Ricky]

Yet successive england youth managers have picked him. I'm not disagreeing with you Merc but I do wonder what they have all seen in him.

[Neal]

Yet successive england youth managers have picked him. I'm not disagreeing with you Merc but I do wonder what they have all seen in him.

Hardly a glowing reference looking at the state of English youth football. I'd say there in lies the problem, players like Lowe being picked for England... If he was that good then someone would have come in for him but he's technically poor.

[Mercer]

Hardly a glowing reference looking at the state of English youth football. I'd say there in lies the problem, players like Lowe being picked for England... If he was that good then someone would have come in for him but he's technically poor.

Nail on head.

[Waggy76]

He was playing in the Prem when he was selected , no way would he have been picked if we had been in the championship ....

The prem promotes most young English players above their true abilities....

[den]

I also remember our portugesers being lauded because they'd played for their U21 side.

[thenodrog]

To be fair to Mercer, everybody seems to be saying Wigan dominated the first half, which doesn't bode well, we're a division

above them and were playing at home.

Maybe we were playing possum for the Wolves spies.

In fairness and I don't know how long Wigan's squad has been together but we have seen ours significantly altered and we fielded a lot of new players. I still expect this season we'll all be paying more attention to events at the bottom of the table than the top though.

Second half was much better and I feel that Bowyer has learned lessons from last season and that we cant play 4-4-2 formation and that playing 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 formation gives us more better balance to the team.

Guthrie was fairly good. Put a couple of tackling in, only available to recieve the ball. I hope we sign him on a permanent basis.

Rhodes was lacking match sharpness and that was clear to see.

Marshall was good. Worked hard for the team. Suit him playing in the 10 role/free role. Can deep and sometimes needs to abit further up the pitch.

Bowyer knew that last year but he wasn't allowed to sell Rhodes and we all know that Jordan Rhodes is as useless as a chocolate teapot as a lone striker which requires him to play a lot of football with his back to goal in a 4-5-1 formation or variation of.

[thenodrog]

It's summer and had a few days' break - and a good one it was !

Friend from Wigan dragged me down today.

As for Rhodes, as last Sunday, my colleague's understanding was that a break through had been made and at least one of the parties involved thought it was going to happen. Clearly, that has not proved correct. Perhaps the word 'dysfunctional' may be appropriate in some quarters.

Perhaps the phrase 'consistently mistaken' might be appropriate in others.

[donnermeat]

I don't think anyone would be happy if we had gone out and paid a transfer fee for Lowe, so why should it be any different because he came from the youth team?

He's a decent squad player to have around, his tracking back and covering other people's positions is good, but other than that not a lot. Guthrie did the simple things right yesterday and he looked far better, just for doing the simple things right. I've no problem with sideways and backwards passes if that's all that's on, but an absolute minimum for ANY central midfielder should be to get your head up when you're on the ball. Lowe doesn't seem to have the confidence to do that so turns his back on play and gives to the defence, and as mentioned earlier, most of these passes are often scuffed, short, or in the case of sideways passes, behind the man.

For example there was a couple of occasions yesterday during play when the ball was played to him and he had an 'easy' one touch pass, using the momentum of the ball into the the feet of Marshall to advance up the pitch but chose to put his foot on the ball and play it to Hanley and (behind) Olsson.

Therein lies the problem with Lowe.

[thenodrog]

Comfortable in the end and a couple of great strikes. Problem for me is defence in the centre unsurprisingly looked shaky, those two will never gel. Duffy is still on the comeback though so I'm praying they are just letting him get games under his belt and Killa will start next week. Being so poor in the first half against the likes of Wolves will see us 2 nil down. Same old same old but both Guthrie and Tomlinson look better than Lowe on that showing,

Positives. Far better effort second half.

Guthrie moves the ball about at a quicker pace than any of our other mids.

Tomlinson could be a handy squad player this season if he gets a chance. Delf is better on the ball than Browny

Hanley looks fitter than he's done for the past 2 years.

No sign of GB slumped on the dugout wall to irritate me. I don't think it makes a jot of difference him sitting in the stand as his presence on the touchline offers nothing. Stay up there and leave the animated stuff to the coaches

Churlish and unecessary. All the positive comments you made earlier in the post about the team and players are down to GB aren't they? Can I assume you were one of the boo boys loudly booing Allardyce when we were 3-0 up against Wolves with a few minutes to go and N'Zonzi (I think) played THAT back pass?

[tomphil]

Therein lies the problem with the team under Bowyer, they all do that whoever is in the middle. It's the ultra cautious approach.

[tomphil]

Churlish and unecessary. All the positive comments you made earlier in the post are down to GB aren't they?

Sorry Mr bowedrog but the guys demeanour irritates me and watching from the touchline he offers about as much motivation as a garden gnome plonked there. Unless someone plays a simple pass into touch of course. He's the quiet studious type anyway so he's better off up there hopefully seeing what the rest of us see. He has absolutely zero presence on the touchline so it's better off having the coaches bawling at them and conveying his instructions.