[Archived] Capital One Cup - 1St Round - Shrewsbury (H)

[grizfoot]

I suppose you could sum up the game by saying the biggest cheer of the night came when Chris Brown was substitued, it's never pleasant to see a player cheered off the pitch sarcastically like that but you can understand why given, not for the first time, he looked totally out of his depth. I can only hope Koita was only used as a sub because Bowyer plans on starting him against Huddersfield. He was everything Brown wasn't, composed on the ball, involved in the build-up play and brilliant in the air. He's also got a ferious shot that Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink would be proud of. From what I've seen of him so far I've been very impressed and he's unlucky not to have been on the scoresheet already. Early signs are he could be decent looking replacement for Gestede.

Elsewhere in the team, the defense and starting central midfield duo did nothing to suggest they should be displacing the players that played against Wolves, which is worrying considering how we looked in that game. Marshall is a frustrating player, maybe we should be looking at trying to get the ball to him more often. He's evidently got the skill to be ripping teams apart but too often he has a promising spell for five minutes and then disappears out of the game for twenty. O'Sullivan looks a very similiar sort of player to Marshall to me, he did okay to me and I thought he was perhaps unlucky to get subbed. Delfounso's performance was hard to judge playing alongside Brown. Barrow looked like a nippy, dribbler sort of player who likes to cut in from the wing.

[Stuart]

Anybody see any trouble at the end ? doesn't sound very Rovers

the following from a Shrewsbury board

Also, what the **** was that all about at the end? About 100 or so kids trying to get back into the stadium/ at us then ran off then started pelting the buses?

Read more: http://blueandamber.proboards.com/thread/90933/blackburn-away?page=1#ixzz3iYGBezQq

A hundred or so kids. There weren't 100 kids at Ewood last night.

Sounds like mischief making to me.

[Stuart]

Surely the team he picked on Sat v Wolves was the best team he had in his odd mind and the fact he rested most tonight you'd think he'd be going with that again ? The fact is he's still not a frigging clue what his best or strongest side to put out is.

Radio Rovers were saying after the game that one of two players (at most) took their opportunity and have played their way into selection. One of them was Koita. Their view was that the entire game changed with his introduction and he needs to start.

My view is that Bowyer will revert back to the side that started against Wolves.

[Doug]

Couldn't get there last night due to commitments so I won't comment on the match.

I will add my observations that Hanley, Lowe and Raya didn't play - 3 of the 'villains' from Saturday.

Killa (our best CH according to some 'stats'), also played.

Steele (how can we play an academy product before him) played,

Lenny and Sully (what's the point of signing more players/ they need to play) played.

Williamson played! (better than Lowe I regularly hear).

We lost, 6 other championship team lost to 'lesser' opposition, the cup is a banana skin, put it to bed ffs!

[ABBEY]

Couldn't get there last night due to commitments so I won't comment on the match.

I will add my observations that Hanley, Lowe and Raya didn't play - 3 of the 'villains' from Saturday.

Killa (our best CH according to some 'stats'), also played.

Steele (how can we play an academy product before him) played,

Lenny and Sully (what's the point of signing more players/ they need to play) played.

Williamson played! (better than Lowe I regularly hear).

We lost, 6 other championship team lost to 'lesser' opposition, the cup is a banana skin, put it to bed ffs!

Banana skin ? No chance .

We lost because there was no commitment from players or management. Put it to bed ? Why ? Doesn't matter if the players were 15 , 17 or 49 that team was representing Blackburn Rovers 1st team and it was embarrassing !!!

That now represents one third of silverware chances gone in one disgraceful evening .

Has chaddy given his blue tinted view yet ?

[martonrover]

As have most other clubs in the country, although most of our starting 11 on Saturday have been here together for a while!

We need a better manager if we want to get anywhere near the play offs, the players aren't performing for him, his tactics and team selections are as poor as ever, he needs removing now before he becomes a total joke and loses the plot completely ending up in the football wilderness with kean, his career in tatters.

I couldn't care less if he does end up in the football wilderness.

My concern is that he's likely to take us with him.

[Riverside67]

Don't tell me this another of the wonderful Gary Bore ya no shows.

He has a growing collection of failed performances to stick to his name......................they will be a tourist attraction in the Trophy room for years to come.

[Claytons Left Boot]

If he is forced to resign, I'm sure he'll get a very generous pay-off too , he'll soon be back

coaching somewhere.

Blacksnape if he's lucky.

[ABBEY]

Amazing how chaddy is quiet

[Coatbridge rover]

Duck the cup were staying up

[chaddyrovers]

Very disappointing performance last night.

Far too changes made IMO

I would have played Rhodes, Hanley, Duffy, Conway, Tomilnson, Lowe and Barrow from start.

Evans and Williamson were very poor and we need to get rid of them.

[arbitro]

I was quite looking forward to the game last night but aside from little spells almost to a man we were shocking. I have been asking myself since last night who wanted to win more and every time the answer is Shrewsbury. They were sharper, tackled and run harder that we did and deserved their win (in fact it could have been more emphatic). And for all the failings I am looking at Bowyer to explain why this was but he was quick to shift the blame onto the players. I think he is in denial because as he has blamed the officials on Saturday, no mention of his or his staff's shortcomings. The players look unfit and unmotivated.

I couldn't believe his third substitution last night. We were 2-1 down, desperately need another goal and Evans signalled he was injured. Bowyer went like for like with Guthrie when Rhodes is on the bench. Unbelievable.

Bowyers caution is, to me a clear sign of a man desperately out of is depth and he just doesn't know how to win games of football.

[joey_big_nose]

As Bowyer said it makes picking our best team pretty easy

--------------Raya

Henley---Hanley---Duffy---Olsson

--------Guthrie---Lowe/Akpan

---Barrow-----Koita-------Conway

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

He needs to play that team and stick to it for three or four games and get two wins minimum.

If he doesnt start Koita next game that's madness from my perspective

[Speedie Dived]

What to say after that? Still fuming...

Saturday was a disappointing result but we did play some good football at times and overall a decent performance.

Today was not good at all, Shrewsbury could and should have had more goals.

I don't put too much blame on the players though, it's hard when NINE changes are made and you've not played with each other much, if at all. Lenihan struggled in the air but also had to keep an eye on Nyambe all game, calling him back into position quite often, can't make it easy for him, or Kilgallon beside him. O'Sullivan tried hard but often received the ball in difficult positions with not many options. Brown was the worst he's been but can't be anywhere near fit, did he play at all in preseason? Williamson tried but often failed. Evans was really poor but probably isn't fit either, especially as he went off with a tight thigh which had kept him out earlier in preseason. Delfouneso tried but looks like he has no confidence. Marshall was all over the place.

Nyambe made a big mistake for the goal but made up for it at the other end. He got better as the game went on but still looked shaky and almost gave up a couple more chances that better opposition might have taken advantage of... didn't look close to ready on that performance but understandable for a 17 year old. Koita was the bright spot, he really did well, so much better than Brown, he's got a really good leap on him and won the ball in the air a fair bit and not only can he put in great shots with his left (on Saturday) he hit a great effort with his right today and looked very lively.

What really made me angry though was Bowyer's interview on radio Lancs.

https://audioboom.com/boos/3459285-audio-blackburn-onerovers-1-shrewsbury-2-gary-bowyer

He was given an opportunity to take at least some of the blame, when it was pointed out to him that he is the one that makes the decisions on who plays and whether he had got it wrong he just blamed the players, then went on about how great Nyambe was, avoiding responsibility as well as the question.

I just think that is a bit pathetic and I lost some more respect for him tonight, very disappointing.

When asked about why he's got so many midfielders, he went on about possible injuries and having a small squad... more rubbish.

It's the league cup and upsets happen but 3 years running is getting a bit much. If it was anyone's fault tonight it was his. How can he not learn making so many changes makes it much harder for players to gel. It happened last year, and the year before. I think it's really unfair and I think he needs to step up and lead the team not let them hang out to dry.

He was giving players a chance, and 95% of them didn't take it. Never understand how someone can get upset about a post match interview, they mean nothing. People liked Holloway because he was 'funny' in his interviews.

Some players were as bad as i have ever seen out there last night. I have given Brown a chance but dear god he was awful.

To defend the players and lay it all at the managers door because he is crap at post match interviews doesn't make sense to me.

[Silas]

Blackburn first 4 games last 3 seasons so far under bowyer

2013

Derby Away A 1-1 D

Carlisle A 3-3 L on penaltys

Nottingham Forest H 0-1 L

Doncaster A 0-2 L

2014

Cardiff H 1-1 D

Scunthorpe H 0-1 L

Blackpool A 2-1 W

Norwich A 1-3 L

2015

Wolves H 1-2 L

Shrewsbury H 1-2 L

that 10 games Wins-1 Draws-2 Losses-7

that is pathetic starts to seasons considering the league one opponents.

So why can bowyer not get a team ready for the start of the season, all of the seasons have had local pre-season games and we've not been able to bring in many players by the time the season started.

Those stats are quite shocking, really paints a picture. You wait all summer for the season to kick off, excitement and anticipation building and then get served up with that dross, and immediately everyone is down about the club before September has even arrived.

I'd go even further on your figures and point out that it's 10 games played and 17 goals conceded!!! As you say that's with almost a 3rd of the games being against League one opponents. Just miserable.

And to make it a fair comparison sample size I suppose it would be good to wait 2 more games and see what the final result is. With Huddersfield and Cardiff up next I don't see the pattern getting any better.

[Blueandwhitemike]

Speedie Dived

So you think it is okay he pushed all the blame on to the players and not take any himself?

I get what you mean about a lot of post match interviews are repetitive cliches but he was asked a direct question and he passed the buck. To me it was cowardly. Did you listen to the interview? If so I don't understand how you don't get that point.

He's the manager and it's his responsibility ultimately.

It's nothing to do with him being media savvy or crap at interviews, it's about what he said.

I don't expect or need him to come across as brilliant or funny. King Kenny was never great at them.

[AllRoverAsia]

Bowyer just gave the most cowardly interview I've ever heard from a Rovers manager. Gutless and spineless and taking no blame. **** off Bowyer.

[sharpysharps]

Very cringeworthy interview post match from Bowyer. Afterwards I listened to Sean Dyche's interview after their defeat at Port Vale. No awkward bumbling and mumbling from him, he comes across as assertive and confident in what he is doing while GB seems to make it up as he goes along. The 'right good go' and 'did ever so well' phrases have well and truly worn thin. These guys are professional footballers, the minimum they are expected to give is a 'right good go' in every game...we don't need the manager to make a big deal out of it in every darn interview.

Totally avoided taking any blame, I find it pretty insulting to the fans that went last night. We've had 2 full seasons of GB in charge and he still hasn't worked out what to do with his team and his many signings.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

I find the abuse aimed at Bowyer for having a go at the players amusing - it isn't so long ago (last match) that people moaned that players are on easy street and that Bowyer is too easy on them.

Personally I don't think he got that tactics right - but the major problem was running off the ball and putting a decent shift in - which few did. That is partly down to the manager - but also the players have to take a significant amount of the blame.

Lets get it straight - this was far from a reserve team - and should have been good enough to beat Shrewsbury. My main criticism for GB from last night - is that yet again he changed formation - we have been playing 4-2-3-1 for most of pre-season and yet after one match we revert to 4-4-2.

Though last nights goals were down to individual errors rather than defensive tactics - it must be impossible to build a solid defensive unit when the team formation keeps changing - so players never get to understand what their defensive roles are. Also - and unbelievable against a team like Shrewsbury - we continue to drop back rather than play a higher line and push teams back into their own half. Yes we will get caught out by the odd long ball - but it can't be any worse than we saw last night.

[Blueandwhitemike]

Did you listen to the interview on Radio Lancs DMTP?

Of course the players were poor on the whole but it's the same thing 3 years on the trot now, make so many changes and the team find it hard to play together, and it happened again.

[tomphil]

We create absolutely zilch, zero, nothing. The only time again anything looked like happening was when the big French lad came on and had a few pot shots. It woke the players up a bit, Marshall in particular and they had 'a bit' of a go when it's too late as usual.

[thenodrog]

Very cringeworthy interview post match from Bowyer. Afterwards I listened to Sean Dyche's interview after their defeat at Port Vale. No awkward bumbling and mumbling from him, he comes across as assertive and confident in what he is doing while GB seems to make it up as he goes along. The 'right good go' and 'did ever so well' phrases have well and truly worn thin. These guys are professional footballers, the minimum they are expected to give is a 'right good go' in every game...we don't need the manager to make a big deal out of it in every darn interview.

Totally avoided taking any blame, I find it pretty insulting to the fans that went last night. We've had 2 full seasons of GB in charge and he still hasn't worked out what to do with his team and his many signings.

Maybe but the end result is the same... defeat by a lower league team. Not readily acceptable and our performance after a bright start was worsening the longer the game went on (much like Saturday v Wolves). Very few positives except maybe the kids on the right showed much promise before they 'tired'? (Not sure if that is the correct adverb tbh).

Seems Browns days at BRFC are numbered given the cheer that greeted his substitition. Like Andrews once that happens the player is better away. Unfortunate really because a supporter hate campaign like that will cost the club a lot of money.

Just a final point I'm quite glad we are out of that competition as a number of Blackburns 'finest' had invaded the JWU. Effin c*£*, effin tw*t, effin w*nker bawled out all evening. Simply unacceptable and unecessary behaviour. Time for uniform cup prices to be binned off so that normal people aren't subject to such scumbag dollopers. Disgusting and boorish yobs without a thought for other people despite being a number of women and children at the match. Our support seems to be sinking as low as the team and tbh if they were to come to the JWU every week I wouldn't be going to Ewood at all. I gave up with away travel for the very same reason.

[J*B]

Sounds like its controversial but I thought Marshall played quite well, created himself a few chances and did a lot of tracking back. Not really his fault theres no other creativity in the side.

[JHRover]

Sounds like its controversial but I thought Marshall played quite well, created himself a few chances and did a lot of tracking back. Not really his fault theres no other creativity in the side.

Marshall was one of the few bright points last night.

As the minutes ticked by in the second half he was urging the team on and was one of the few who looked to show some urgency and determination to get forward and find the equaliser.

I recall the shambles in front of the Riverside in the last 10 minutes, when Williamson and Nyambe were pinned into a small area on the touchline near the corner flag. Shrewsbury were very comfortably keeping the ball in that area winning a succession of throw ins at ease. Marshall was in space infront of the Jack Walker stand and was screaming across the pitch for someone to get the ball to him so he could get up the pitch and was encouraging his team mates.

Williamson should never play for us again. Its nothing personal. He's just not good enough, and last night it bordered on embarrassing. Given our abundance of options for central midfield I will be staggered if he starts another game.

[Speedie Dived]

Speedie Dived

So you think it is okay he pushed all the blame on to the players and not take any himself?

I get what you mean about a lot of post match interviews are repetitive cliches but he was asked a direct question and he passed the buck. To me it was cowardly. Did you listen to the interview? If so I don't understand how you don't get that point.

He's the manager and it's his responsibility ultimately.

It's nothing to do with him being media savvy or crap at interviews, it's about what he said.

I don't expect or need him to come across as brilliant or funny. King Kenny was never great at them.

Yeah listened to it, by and large agreed with that he said. He basically gave the players an opportunity/rope to hang themselves and the majority of them did the latter. And then said they were crap afterwards, which they were. Not cowardly, it was an honest assessment.