[Archived] Rotherham

[Ricky]

A nice 0-0 draw between Cardiff and Wednesday tomorrow would be nice.

[yoda]

The best thing I can say is that we won.

Apart from two or three decent moves we were shocking.

Fortunately they had no idea up front and our defence was solid, but the passing across the box in the first ten mins was heart in the mouth stuff!

No service to the forwards and little link up play anywhere in midfield.

And final word must go to Brown, but I'd be banned if I type it!

Still, we won again and the points are on the board.

Hope its better on Monday.

Maybe PL was playing to someone in the crowd (for Monday night)

and we still won

[The_Expert]

Anybody outstanding tonight ? Any plus points to take away apart from the 3 pts ?

Apkan stood out for me - apart from a few aimless efforts, he was composed on the ball, fizzed a number of passes forward, and generally looked solid in the middle of the park.

At the other end of the spectrum, sadly both of our two front men deployed on the night looked out of sorts. Rhodes just isn't getting any service from anywhere, and that Norman Bell hasn't improved over the years, other than adding extra timber to his arse.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Apkan stood out for me - apart from a few aimless efforts, he was composed on the ball, fizzed a number of passes forward, and generally looked solid in the middle of the park.

At the other end of the spectrum, sadly both of our two front men deployed on the night looked out of sorts. Rhodes just isn't getting any service from anywhere, and that Norman Bell hasn't improved over the years, other than adding extra timber to his arse.

This lack of an effective strike force can't go on for much longer. We've got to come up with a system of playing that involves our strikers much more. Our luck ( soft own goal tonight ) will turn one day.

[Mr. E]

to be fair though, while a win is always the most important, there is a difference between an ugly 1-0 due to confident, organized performance, a fairly fortunate scrap that next week can easily go the other way. It does feel that we are a bit more in the latter category than the former, at least so far.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Functional 'winning' hoofball.

I think the "winning" inference was in the "funtional" reference

[patrickvalery]

Whats the best for Rhodes? We had a big guy in Gestede but he seemed to take away the space for Rhodes on occasion. Brown is a lump but Rhodes doesn't seem to have the explosive pace to make the most of the knock-ons. I makes me wonder whether a pace merchant might be the option. someone to pull the opposition out of shape. Its a tough call. But i don't think its wise to fritter away a talent like Rhodes. Especially in this division.

[chaddyrovers]

A win is a win.

Wasnt a great performance but at the end of the day its the points that matters.

The squad needs 3 or 4 additions in January tho

[patrickvalery]

to be fair though, while a win is always the most important, there is a difference between an ugly 1-0 due to confident, organized performance, a fairly fortunate scrap that next week can easily go the other way. It does feel that we are a bit more in the latter category than the former, at least so far.

Even considering your usual negative tones, i think this is a pretty fair assessment. The only thing i'd say is, the longer the winning streak (unbeaten anyway) continues, the more convincing we'll become. Sometimes it really is as simple as that.

[Cherry Blue]

Playing the ball out from the back instead of hoofing it down field is good but early errors nearly cost us until Hanley took control. Don't really want to see Steele attempt to chip ball over attacker but then again if it had worked I would be praising him for entertaining football.

[Spalding Rover]

Whats the best for Rhodes? We had a big guy in Gestede but he seemed to take away the space for Rhodes on occasion. Brown is a lump but Rhodes doesn't seem to have the explosive pace to make the most of the knock-ons. I makes me wonder whether a pace merchant might be the option. someone to pull the opposition out of shape. Its a tough call. But i don't think its wise to fritter away a talent like Rhodes. Especially in this division.

i liked watching rhodes and king, that should of been used a lot more. but yeah kings crap keep him out of a poor championship team!

[Baz]

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?

[Brown-E]

A win is a win.

Wasnt a great performance but at the end of the day its the points that matters.

The squad needs 3 or 4 additions in January tho

I'd say the first 11 may need 3 or 4 additions not just the squad.

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?

Yes I'd take it without any hint of doubt.

[LDRover]

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?

Tough call that one but if we continue to play the same formation I don't see a place for him, he just can't link the play well enough. Yes, a lot of the ball was lumped up to him but even balls into feet he was struggling to hold onto.

Bigger worry with him for me is his fitness, he was blowing out his backside after 55 minutes and looked leggy throughout.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Up front is PLs biggest dilemma. Keep saying it but Rhodes up front on his own won't work. I am certain that if King was still here that Pl would play him ahead of Jordan.

We can't turn teams because he has no pace. Watching him compete with the CB tonight was frankly embarrasing. He won possession and laid it off once which resulted in Evans shooting off target.

If your Forward can't bring the ball under control and lay it off to the midfield, how can the midfield push up?

One thing is for certain though, Chris Brown is not the answer!

[Tallrover]

I've been going to T'rovers since 1970 and if there was a worse performance during that time I cannot remember it. Truly shocking.

Ok we won and its early days for PL but wow that was boring/disorganised/uncontrolled...

Hope the new signing work! Reminds me of the first few games under Kean just after we were relegated.

Strangely though I never thought we wouldn't win...

[BlueMonday]

Winning's a habit.

[patrickvalery]

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?

Its the same tough question that we've pondered under different managers Baz. But in my mind, if you have a strength then you design your method around that strength. The main problem we face is Jordan Rhodes cost us £8m rather than £800k. If the situation calls for a finisher then Rhodes is the business. But if it doesn't then your leaving an £8m man on the bench. Its not an easy decision, but in all walks of life you have to realise and play to your strengths. Its no coincidence every manager we've had tries to improve the all round game of Rhodes because him being the luxury means we've no space for another. Ultimately i'm sure a brave manager will opt to move him on. But it feels like a waste if we let a striker leave who has proved he can score 20+ every season and does so with a fantastic attitude to boot. I wish i knew the answer to how to best incorporate him. But many more qualified folk than me have tried and failed.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

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?

Absolutely!

[Brown-E]

Rhodes is not a promotion material forward(and definatly not a prem one). Boro should be so thankful they got Nugent instead.

[DE.]

I've been going to T'rovers since 1970 and if there was a worse performance during that time I cannot remember it. Truly shocking.

Ok we won and its early days for PL but wow that was boring/disorganised/uncontrolled...

Hope the new signing work! Reminds me of the first few games under Kean just after we were relegated.

Strangely though I never thought we wouldn't win...

I'm assuming you didn't go to the game where we lost 2-0 to Spurs under Kean and never had a single @#/? shot. That was substantially worse.

[frosty]

Dire game but delighted with the win, 3 wins in 16 under Bowyer and then 3 wins in 4 under Lambert is no fluke. I'd settle for a similar performance on Monday if it meant another 1-0 win.

Thought Akpan played really well, have been impressed with him so far.

Rhodes is a bit of a worry, need to find a way of creating chances for him.

One last thing, I've full faith in Lambert but a bit baffled by his faith in Brown. Really don't know how he can have him above Koita, in fact I'd say Koita is better at everything than Brown. If he doesn't fancy Koita then pick a youngster, they literally couldn't do any worse than Brown.

[Tallrover]

I'm assuming you didn't go to the game where we lost 2-0 to Spurs under Kean and never had a single @#/? shot. That was substantially worse.

Spurs away or Rotherham at home. A slight difference.

[chaddyrovers]

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?

No I wouldnt sell Rhodes.

He scores goals. Im sure we will start making more chances for him in the future under Paul Lambert

[Baz]

Its the same tough question that we've pondered under different managers Baz. But in my mind, if you have a strength then you design your method around that strength. The main problem we face is Jordan Rhodes cost us £8m rather than £800k. If the situation calls for a finisher then Rhodes is the business. But if it doesn't then your leaving an £8m man on the bench. Its not an easy decision, but in all walks of life you have to realise and play to your strengths. Its no coincidence every manager we've had tries to improve the all round game of Rhodes because him being the luxury means we've no space for another. Ultimately i'm sure a brave manager will opt to move him on. But it feels like a waste if we let a striker leave who has proved he can score 20+ every season and does so with a fantastic attitude to boot. I wish i knew the answer to how to best incorporate him. But many more qualified folk than me have tried and failed.

Its not that he cost £8m it's that he's our best paid player by far.

Selling him to someone else in this league may be an error, in that it may come back to bite you, but if it was a PL club, for me then Id take £10m now. I have belief that PL has more about him to bring a team together and that's the key for me. At this moment Id be more upset to see Hanley move on.

Shame in many ways we cashed in on Rudy and not Jordan. Rudys style makes him an ideal partner for a lot of players. But Rudy was more insistent on moving on, and had the PL offer. Like you say we wish we had the answer, and to be fair PL may find it, but unless Venkys are going to invest in the team, rather than clearing debts, I see no other assets to give us the same options of revamping this squad.