The Relegation Thread

[frosty]

This weeks stooge is Tommy Spurr. He thinks we deserve to be in the top 6 already.

The, hopefully temporarily, deluded Spurr says “We’re all behind him and we’re all buying into what him and his staff are trying to do'' - why is it we are never actually told what it is that they are trying to do. That broad statement does my feckin head in.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/13635821.Tommy_Spurr__Players_are_right_behind_Blackburn_Rovers_boss_Gary__Bowyer/?ref=mac

And left-back Spurr said: “We’ve had three games like that now – Cardiff, Brighton and this one – and we could have had three wins and all of a sudden we’d have 10 points from our first five games rather than three.

Or, much more conceivably, if Heskey had put that in on Friday and Conway's cross for Hanley against Cardiff was, for example, over-hit.....how many points would we have had then?

Spurr's just grateful to be in the team.

[Rover_Shaun]

Spurr. Picked purely because he can throw a ball pointlessly long defends a man who isn't picking him on football ability alone. Shock, horror.

[arbitro]

This weeks stooge is Tommy Spurr. He thinks we deserve to be in the top 6 already.

The, hopefully temporarily, deluded Spurr says Were all behind him and were all buying into what him and his staff are trying to do'' - why is it we are never actually told what it is that they are trying to do. That broad statement does my feckin head in.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/13635821.Tommy_Spurr__Players_are_right_behind_Blackburn_Rovers_boss_Gary__Bowyer/?ref=mac

I assume Myers writes the scripts for the players and that's why he's too busy fire fighting to communicate outside of Ewood

Ifs, buts and maybes. There is no column on the table for being unlucky. The most important column tells me we have three points from a possible fifteen.

I wonder what excuse they will come out with at the end of October when we are cut adrift.

[yoda]

And that is why we have to brace ourselves for more trauma as we struggle this season again. Same thing happened in the late 60s until we were in Division 3 and needed Ken Furphy and then Gordon Lee. The power game was different then - and we had some 'hope' and always a team of triers.The difference this time is we have owners with'loadsamoney' -unfortunately they have absolutely no idea and the slowest decision making/communication system of any Business owners known to man. The rest of the 'Management' is 'not fit for purpose' and needs cleansing -but that comes after the Owners deciding(if they can) what to do with the Club. They cannot decide what to do on Rhodesy so do not hold your breath.

They have that much dosh they have probably never had to fight for anything, never been in the zone, so don't know what it is to defy the odds and come out on by pure

ARTE ET LABOR

[Feniscowles Blue]

If its a dogfight Yoda, we are fooked. Manager has no experience never mind the players

[yoda]

If its a dogfight Yoda, we are fooked. Manager has no experience never mind the players

Spot on,

the owners "have become, comfortably numb"

[tomphil]

No wonder Spurr is speaking up after being thrown back in at the expense of last seasons player of the year because of one mistake at Huddersfield. His only contribution so far has been a failure to react in one game which lead to an opposition goal and throwing the ball bullet like directly into the oppo keepers arms several times in every other. Why do some get punished for a rare mistake whilst others constantly get picked despite contributing not much ? I damn well knew he would replace Olsson with Spurr the first chance he got.

They are on such an easy wicket with this guy they will all probably speak up for him in public.

[DE.]

On the plus side, we get to witness the return of the brilliant long throw tactic that served us so well in the past.

[tomphil]

Well we did get told to look forwards to the great battle for left back I suppose. The long throw tactic could be useful except they haven't got a clue what to do with it. Seems to be just keep throwing it to the front post in the hope it might actually come off once. Will a goal stand if he chucks it straight in the net because it seems that's the tactic

[DE.]

The only team I've ever seen the long throw tactic work for long-term is Stoke with Rory Delap.

The way we did it with MGP, and how we're now doing it with Spurr, is just a slow, looping ball in which is dead easy for the defenders to deal with. It wouldn't be so bad if we had players in position to retrieve the ball once it's headed away, but we don't!

Edited August 31, 2015 by DE.

[mustard]

On the plus side, we get to witness the return of the brilliant long throw tactic that served us so well in the past.

Quick, add this to the positivity thread before it's too late!

Well we did get told to look forwards to the great battle for left back I suppose. The long throw tactic could be useful except they haven't got a clue what to do with it. Seems to be just keep throwing it to the front post in the hope it might actually come off once. Will a goal stand if he chucks it straight in the net because it seems that's the tactic

It will come off once in the entire season and Bowyer will be creaming to the press about it.

It can be useful (got a pretty good throw myself which is occasionally utilised) but it can be more effective to throw it short and keep possession or to put a cross in. It depends on how accurate the thrower is, the personnel in the box and the opposition. In our case, Spurr can throw it long with little accuracy, we don't have many tall players and usually the opposition CBs or keeper mop it up.

[J*B]

Of course Spurr backs him - if he goes Spurr will undoubtedly lose his position back to Olsson.

While we're on Spurr, the advantage of a long throw is being able to whip it in at just above head height at a fast pace. That's why Delap was so good at it. Spurrs long throws go so high they're easy to defend again and predict!

[RevidgeBlue]

Spurr's long throw is pretty useless (as was MGP's) but I do think we look more solid defensively with him in the side than Olsson and his delivery from free kicks in dangerous situations is excellent.

Edited August 31, 2015 by RevidgeBlue

[Baz]

The only team I've ever seen the long throw tactic work for long-term is Stoke with Rory Delap.

The way we did it with MGP, and how we're now doing it with Spurr, is just a slow, looping ball in which is dead easy for the defenders to deal with. It wouldn't be so bad if we had players in position to retrieve the ball once it's headed away, but we don't!

Long throw with MGP and Allardyce was effective, we scored a few goals that way.

Trouble now is that to win a header we'd have to shove a CH up top, leaving us vulnerable to the counter-attack.

[DE.]

Long throw with MGP and Allardyce was effective, we scored a few goals that way.

Trouble now is that to win a header we'd have to shove a CH up top, leaving us vulnerable to the counter-attack.

I genuinely can't remember us scoring any goals from MGP's long throw, but assuming we did the ratio of useful/useless must still be significantly skewed towards useless.

[Mike E]

Long throw with MGP and Allardyce was effective, we scored a few goals that way.

Trouble now is that to win a header we'd have to shove a CH up top, leaving us vulnerable to the counter-attack.

I remember us scoring only once and it was when hell froze over, as it was a Andrews on the volley from a tight angle.

[Baz]

I genuinely can't remember us scoring any goals from MGP's long throw, but assuming we did the ratio of useful/useless must still be significantly skewed towards useless.

Do you think Allardyce would have persisted if it wasn't effective?

It's not only direct goals though, its also corners and free-kicks generated, pressure from being in and around the opposition penalty box.

[ABBEY]

How many times as spurr got any results

[Athlete]

How many times as spurr got any results

same as GB this season.................lol

[DE.]

Do you think Allardyce would have persisted if it wasn't effective?

It's not only direct goals though, its also corners and free-kicks generated, pressure from being in and around the opposition penalty box.

Not sure. He persisted with Andrews for long enough and must have been doing a few things wrong last season at West Ham for them to plummet in the manner they did during the second half of the season. He was a good manager but by no means infallible.

[Rover_Shaun]

Do you think Allardyce would have persisted if it wasn't effective?

Yes. And he did

[philipl]

Yes. And he did

And we persisted with being in the Premier League....

[Rover_Shaun]

And we persisted with being in the Premier League....

And the pointless long throws had nothing to do with it. Your point?

[JBiz]

And the pointless long throws had nothing to do with it. Your point?

Showing your naïveté and lack of experience of football here Shaun.

The reason why Big Sam is probably one the best English managers of recent time is because the methods he uses are effective, not pointless.

[Rover_Shaun]

Showing your naïveté and lack of experience of football here Shaun.

The reason why Big Sam is probably one the best English managers of recent time is because the methods he uses are effective, not pointless.

His methods work but the long throws were certainly not one of his successes. Like modern day Rovers possession was invariably lost, as well as a decent position in the opposition half, through them

You are showing your naivety and lack of experience of football there if you think they added anything to the party JB. Like today they were a pointless irrelevance. If they were an effective weapon you would see most clubs employing it. Christ they'd even train someone up to be able to throw long.

We would be better off taking normal throw ins and trying to contrive a regular cross into the box from them. As well as picking the best player for the full back role

Edited September 1, 2015 by Rover_Shaun