[Archived] Rotherham

[LDRover]

Not at the game I haven't!

To be honest JAL, your at games about as often as me(hardly ever), so I'm not arsed about you. Its the 'murmer mob' I'm on about.

Did you mean that post to be so ironic?

[DE.]

But for an own goal last night - we would have drawn a match against Rotherham

Not necessarily. If we'd gone in 0-0 at HT we may have come out in a completely different mindset or set up, and Lambert may have changed the shape or structure of the team to try and get a goal - either after the break or during the second half. Under GB I'd understand this assumption a little more though, as we rarely changed anything beyond the customary subs with no effect around the 65 minute and 89 minute marks.

[Blue blood]

The telling thing for me about Rhodes is- why is he never injured? Could he be cos he never puts his body on the line for the cause?

Great thing to have a go at Rhodes for. The lad has a lot of failings but can't see that keeping fit is one of them. Perhaps it's because he's a striker whose game is not based on pace.

Also how is getting injured a sign of commitment? Grella must be our most committed player ever. Dickov was rarely injured with us was he not committed. Think before posting eh?

[Brown-E]

From you posts - you obviously got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning.

But for an own goal last night - we would have drawn a match against Rotherham - would that have been acceptable ? Getting Rhodes to score - while keeping the other aspects of the game that PL has improved - is key to continuing this good run. On the other hand - if you think we can continue to rely on own goals - good luck to you.

When it comes to football I just have incredible self belief. I know I'm right.

Great thing to have a go at Rhodes for. The lad has a lot of failings but can't see that keeping fit is one of them. Perhaps it's because he's a striker whose game is not based on pace.

Also how is getting injured a sign of commitment? Grella must be our most committed player ever. Dickov was rarely injured with us was he not committed. Think before posting eh?

Compare with shearer, another forward not blessed with pace..

Rattled.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Not necessarily. If we'd gone in 0-0 at HT we may have come out in a completely different mindset or set up, and Lambert may have changed the shape or structure of the team to try and get a goal - either after the break or during the second half. Under GB I'd understand this assumption a little more though, as we rarely changed anything beyond the customary subs with no effect around the 65 minute and 89 minute marks.

And as we pushed for the winner - they catch us on the break and we lose 0-1. That argument swings both ways

[BlueMonday]

Keeping in contact with the playoffs going into January could be key in who we can bring in, and how well we go till the end of the season.

Winning ugly is fine, but you can't get away with that forever.

If someone came with £14m for Rhodes and PL was given that money to bring in 3/4/5 players, would anyone take it?

Let's not forget, with all the bids that came in last season, Rhodes head might not be in the game, not questioning his professionalism, but he might be away in the summer anyway.

He,s definitely needing a holding front man to play off, so the Jan window could be make or break for him.

[mhead]

Clearly we need an extra 20% from the Team. A new right full back after all these post-Lucash years would contribute a lot.

The planning needs to be for players for next 3 years,including a first Premier league season. Even Kiddo bought Matt Jansen; Kenny bought Henning Berg;Don McKay bought Super Atko for 20,000; Gary Bowyer got us Conway,Cairney and Marshall for very little. Add 3 more like any of these and 'blood' some of the youngsters....and the future does look 'Blue n White'

[Blue blood]

When it comes to football I just have incredible self belief. I know I'm right.

Compare with shearer, another forward not blessed with pace..

Rattled.

Your point being? Because Shearer got injured he was committed? Or forwards without pace get injured - never said they didn't but forwards with pace bases games like Bellamy and Sturridge so get more injuries.

[tomphil]

When it comes to football I just have incredible self belief. I know I'm right.

Compare with shearer, another forward not blessed with pace..

Rattled.

Only a wum would makes comments about rattling people, you posted a question and got a few answers isn't that the idea? Also compairing people to Shearer, give over. Anyway the only thing rattling now is that pea inside your empty head, get back to your mirror and repeat the line 'self belief' a thousand times before you try again

[DE.]

And as we pushed for the winner - they catch us on the break and we lose 0-1. That argument swings both ways

Maybe under Bowyer. Less likely under a proper manager though get some belief in you DMTP, we're on the up.

[K-Hod]

Brown-E is now banned for making his 9th duplicate account, sorry it couldn't be done sooner folks!

[Amo]

Brown-E is now banned for making his 9th duplicate account, sorry it couldn't be done sooner folks!

Have you IP banned him from the site this time, or has he been using proxies?

[Pedro]

I can't see how anyone watching Rhodes regularly can say his performance levels have dropped in the last 12 months at all ? Quite the opposite at times infact. Pedro you do however point out that other clubs are now going out to just shackle him, stop Rhodes and you stop Rovers !

Now though under Lambo that's not the case as we can win without him scoring, we just desperately need more quality to open games up and get him the space to operate.

I will concede though that IF Lambert does sacrifice him I'd be far happier with him using the money to rebuild than anyone in the recent past.

I totally repect your opinion but I personally can't understand how anyone can say that his general performances haven't dropped. Last autumn he became disinterested, wasn't gelling with Gestede and was subsequently dropped. At one point I think although he scored a good number of goals, he had only scored in five or six seperate games. Towards the run in he lost some timber off his midriff and visibly improved from the shell of himself. Currently, I feel he is in that trough again. He looks slightly unfit again and seemingly lacks energy. As daft as it may sound, maybe he suffers from S.A.D. because there is a link between when his form drastically dips. I know I hate this time of year and feel unmotivated and lethargic. They are only human and as complex as us.

[Blue blood]

Brown-E is now banned for making his 9th duplicate account, sorry it couldn't be done sooner folks!

I really don't get it. Why would you want to create a zillion accounts and wind everyone up when it's a cracking website for football discussion. Not just for Rovers fans but other teams like ffan and whatdial contribute.

[K-Hod]

Have you IP banned him from the site this time, or has he been using proxies?

Not sure if the IP can be banned as I'm still fairly new, I'll look into it though! It would be a lot easier than having to ban him each time!

[Tom]

I think the mods have just given up on banning him at this point clearly it's not much of a deterrent!

We're 4 games into Lambert's tenure and won 3, despite having a squad that most of Bowyer's supporters used as an excuse for his crappy results. We needed wins badly, one way or the other, and we're getting them. We've stopped leaking the customary two goals a game (Sheff Weds aside) and we're getting victories even when Rhodes isn't scoring.

The football may not be great to watch, but if we win, I don't care. Arguably the players are not good enough to play a more expansive, expressive game, and need to be drilled to do specific things to win games. It may not be pretty but if it gets the job done then so be it. Much like under Allardyce, I'm not going to complain if we're getting results.

We desperately need a better right back than Henley, we need better options than Brown and Koita up front and ideally a central midfielder who can push Akpan, Guthrie and Evans for a place in the team. If PL can find these players in January I think we'll continue to improve, if not then it'll be another mid-table season... but considering we had 3 wins in 16 league games under Bowyer and were looking at a relegation scrap, mid-table security for this season would be fine.

Nah we'll keep banning him I've just not logged in on anything other than my phone to do so yet

Edit - good chap that Khod

[tomphil]

If that's the case then they need to suspend his 45k per week for a bit then see how S A D he is then

For me though it's probably just natural peaks and troughs that most players go through, even Garner had them. JR tends to start the season with a bang and finish it strongly. He was working hard earlier in the season, prob harder than ever in his time here so that's why my surprise at your views but no doubt he's severely tailed off.

He ain't the most robust of lads so it's likely it catches up with him mid season and maybe he's struggled with the new training. He certainly looks stiff and leggy at times and if we had options a rest would do him good now and again particularly away from home.

[DE.]

I really don't get it. Why would you want to create a zillion accounts and wind everyone up when it's a cracking website for football discussion. Not just for Rovers fans but other teams like ffan and whatdial contribute.

He has form for this on multiple sites. History suggests he gives up eventually, it's just a battle of endurance between him and the mods.

[tomphil]

If it is Saxo of roversmad fame he is most definitely a chocolate or three short of a box. Shame because he can debate when he wants to. I'd love to hear him and vinjay sat in a room together though!

[Amo]

If we had some traditional wingers like Ripley or Wilcox, who'd whip in crosses from the byline, Rhodes would flourish. Or someone like Dunn (or to a lesser extent Rochina) playing off him to find those pockets of space. We're just not getting that kind of service into him.

Reminds me of when we had Kalinic playing the lone striker under Allardyce. He was isolated up front and starved of service. No doubting his quality in the six-yard box but he clearly didn't have the physical or aerial presence suited for a targetman. Square peg, round hole.

[donnermeat]

I was sad enough to count how many times the ball went up to Brown last night (let's face it there wasn't much else out there in the form of entertainment). I'm not trying to do Tonyoz' job for him but out of 17 balls played up to/into him etc, whether it be to his head or feet, he 'won' 4 of them. When I say won I use that term loosely, that was just how many he could actually get himself onto or beat the defender to the header. Actual completed and effective flick ons/lay offs etc? Just 2.

Now I don't wish bad on any player that pulls on the Rovers shirt and that includes Chris Brown. Though he is simply not good enough at this level. Now he may have had a decent cameo at Bristol and by all accounts he did, but there's the 20 odd other times to consider.

We desperately need another forward, that was painfully obvious last night. I'm all for that to be a big target man type, it's just Brown is not the man for the job. I'm happy to be proven wrong and for him to be a real solid player for us til the end of the season but as we've not even seen a flicker of that over the last 18 months, I'm fairly confident that time will never come in a Rovers shirt.

[den]

Yeah, feck promotion or being a successful team, let's just revolve our whole game around getting Rhodes as many goals as possible..

yeah, that's pretty much what's happening.

From everything we read, Lambert is trying to instil a winning mentality - which is vital. All the top managers demand to win every game. Losing isn't acceptable - ever. This is a total 180 degree approach from the previous manager who almost never put himself out there to be judged on results. It must be clear to Lambert even now that this squad has too many deficiencies and that big changes will be needed. That can't be done overnight.

As for the Rhodes debate, I see we're getting more comments that he's "isolated". We get 'em every week, especially away from home. A couple of points on that one. Firstly, front runners are expected to play on their own, that's what they're in the team to do. Secondly, if he's not seeing the ball or getting involved then go look for it - don't stand around doing sod all. The truth is he just can't play that game. It's an absolute doddle for centre halves to play against him. He offers nothing in general play. He's no more isolated than any other front man, he just isn't good enough. The reason why none of the big boys have come in for him - despite him being a terrific finisher - is because they know that if he were to be a starter for them, they would suffer. They would be a far worse team because of him, just as we suffer when he's playing.

For me, if we could bring in a couple of strikers that between them could knock the opposition around a bit, force the throw ins in their half, beat a man every now and then, win the flick ons and make defenders run towards their own goal every now and again, win the free kicks that give the side the time to get their breath and reform their defence - or even just some of these things - we would be a far better side. That's what strikers do, it's a massive part of the game. It's so valuable to a team to have players up front who can do these things.

[JHRover]

Winning ugly is something we haven't done often enough over the last two or three seasons. More often we have been the side like Rotherham last night, who have played reasonably well, had lots of possession, but lost narrowly to an unfortunate goal and gone home empty handed. That was us at Brighton this season.

I'm personally delighted that we've found a way of throwing off the misfortune and hard luck that plagued us for so long and have now joined the other side where teams benefit from narrow margins/decisions in games. I don't think its down to luck. It's down to nous and managing games properly. That's why clubs like Ipswich and Burnley have been towards the top of this league in recent years, because they have managers who have the ability to grind out victories like we had last night on a regular basis.

7 unbeaten and 3 wins in 4 bodes well for the remainder of this season. Suddenly the 13 point chasm to the play-offs is now a mere 2 and teams will start to fear us the longer our good form continues. 5 defeats all season is very decent.

Give me another 26 of those last night and I'll be delighted. Far better than playing Fulham off the park for an hour and getting beat.

[Amo]

Why would 'Boro bid £12m for Rhodes for their promotion push if he was such a liability, Den?

[Neal]

I know this site is about giving opinions for the sake of debate but bloody hell... Lambert is making lemonade out of lemons, let's just chill out and enjoy the 3 points. We will play better, especially when if a few with quality come in. We're in the mix and there's not 1 single team that doesn't play badly at least 1 in 5 games in this league. Derby are up there and I've seen them play a few shockers this season.