[Archived] Scunthorpe United v ROVERS

[GanG2245]

We are yet to play 8 of the 9 teams above us.

[philipl]

8 minutes ago, GanG2245 said:

We are yet to play 8 of the 9 teams above us.

Fair point but Scunthorpe are beneath us because we beat them.

Add them to the top cohort and we have played (and won away at) 2 of the top 10 in our first 6 fixtures out of 46- so roughly par for the course. Chuck in the Fleetwood and Blackpool postponements caused by international breaks and Shrewsbury away coming up and the skew would have been towards playing top teams. Worth remembering based on last season's table, Southend and Rochdale were promotion contenders.

 

 

[arbitro]

19 minutes ago, GanG2245 said:

We are yet to play 8 of the 9 teams above us.

By the time we play them they might not be. I never like looking too far ahead. Wimbledon should be the focus until Saturday.

[Tugay's Right Foot]

Has Antonsson won himself a starting place?

scored a winner in this match and a goal to turn the game in the previous match. 

[blueboy3333]

1 hour ago, GanG2245 said:

We are yet to play 8 of the 9 teams above us.

I bet you're fun at parties

It's a bit early to be looking at the league table and deciding who the good teams are. There's no guarantee that Shrewsbury, for example, are going to maintain their start.

Anyway, those teams haven't met the Rovers Promotion Juggernaut yet either. Bradford's year long unbeaten home win was ended by us, as was Scunthorpe's unbeaten start to the season. On the other hand we are the only team that Donny and Southend have beaten all season

[AllRoverAsia]

1 hour ago, GanG2245 said:

We are yet to play 8 of the 9 teams above us.

All of them are a little bit more worried than they were yesterday as they see the mighty Rovers advancing. 

[RevidgeBlue]

Just now, meadows said:

MK Dons 4-1. Stoke 1-0. 

Thats two out of three by my reckoning 

Fair point. I meant senior games or at least games with a more or less first choice eleven out though.

And it would then be two out of four if you're being picky! 

[Waldo Woo]

1st away game of season for me. V impressed with Smallwoood, iour leader on the pitch, Mulgrew played like a player. who is two levels above this league. Samuel hard working and effective.....but the man of the match-the fans. Well packed out away end, singing from start to finish, some really excellent songs and good humour. Last felt like that on some of our away trips in our promotion season to Premier league under Kenny.

just a brilliant night, we all drove home thro the wind and rain and you couldn't take the smiles off our faces.

Shrewsbury tickets purchased. COYB!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 hours ago, blueboy3333 said:

http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/11033214/scunthorpe-0-1-blackburn

Highlights

A well worked and well taken goal.

Poor Marcus getting his ear bent by Mowbray 'where are you now son'

Mm, there must have been more to the game than that surely. The goal was similar to the one Smallwood scored on Saturday, good ball in and a good volleyed finish. 

I would have liked to hear that we'd have been in the game more. You can be second best in possession terms and win from time to time but you can't make a season out of it.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

6 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Personally i'm not a huge fan of fannying about trying to keep possession in the corner etc. as 99 times out of a 100 it results in the either the loss of possession or concession of a foul. I think its only effective if there's about 60 seconds ot less to go and generally I think you're much better off playing your normal game and in that instance trying to win a corner than trying to keep possession for a few seconds.

Only works if you have a strong player with a massive arse (Shearer/Roberts) or someone with the skill of Benni McCarthy.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Just now, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Mm, there must have been more to the game than that surely. The goal was similar to the one Smallwood scored on Saturday, good ball in and a good volleyed finish. 

I would have liked to hear that we'd have been in the game more. You can be second best in possession terms and win from time to time but you can't make a season out of it.

Leicester did!

[blueboy3333]

Just now, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Only works if you have a strong player with a massive arse (Shearer/Roberts) or someone with the skill of Benni McCarthy.

There's no way Shearer's arse was bigger than Benny Macs.

Can we have a poll?

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

There's no way Shearer's arse was bigger than Benny Macs.

Can we have a poll?

Which would make McCarthy the ultimate 'hold the ball up in the corner' player. ?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Leicester did!

I remember watching them beat City at the Etihed. They counter attacked brilliantly that day.  City couldn't cope with the way they passed the ball from one end to another so rapidly. If we can do the same I'd be more than happy. 

[RevidgeBlue]

10 minutes ago, arbitro said:

By the time we play them they might not be. I never like looking too far ahead. Wimbledon should be the focus until Saturday.

Indeed. Has a Russian oligarch taken over at Shrewsbury or something though? I had a look at last season's table the other day and they only escaped relegation by 2 points on 51 - the same total that saw us relegated.

Its an astonishing transformation for them to have 19 points from 7 games. Unless there's a particular reason for that Id have to fancy us in both games.

 

[RevidgeBlue]

48 minutes ago, GanG2245 said:

We are yet to play 8 of the 9 teams above us.

On the other hand we've beaten Scunthorpe, Bradford and Rochdale who finished 3rd, 5th and 9th last season respectively.

MK Dons finished 12th.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Nice goal. Antonsson looks like a very good finisher. He tucked the chance away well. It wasn't as easy as he made it look. 

Fair play to Raya. Amazing the difference a solid goalkeeper makes. Worth a few points every season. We haven't had that in years. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, RevidgeBlue said:

On the other hand we've beaten Scunthorpe, Bradford and Rochdale who finished 3rd, 5th and 9th last season respectively.

MK Dons finished 12th.

I'd be surprised if both of Scunthorpe and Bradford aren't in the challenging pack come the end of the season. Rochdale are harder to call, traditionally  they start every season poorly, pick up, and then fall away at the death.

I can only look at our squad and think who's got a better collection of players in this league ?  Having said that getting them to play as a fully functioning unit is another story.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, Waldo Woo said:

1st away game of season for me. V impressed with Smallwoood, iour leader on the pitch, Mulgrew played like a player. who is two levels above this league. Samuel hard working and effective.....but the man of the match-the fans. Well packed out away end, singing from start to finish, some really excellent songs and good humour. Last felt like that on some of our away trips in our promotion season to Premier league under Kenny.

just a brilliant night, we all drove home thro the wind and rain and you couldn't take the smiles off our faces.

Shrewsbury tickets purchased. COYB!

Samuel's the sort of striker you need to get you out of this league. 

[Oldgregg86]

Scunthorpe where by far the best footballing side I have witnessed this season. Thought they passed the ball well and looked a good outfit. Credit to rovers for a hard fought three points on a rainy Tuesday night. Electric atmosphere and thorughly enjoyable evening. Onwards and upwards

[AllRoverAsia]

30 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Indeed. Has a Russian oligarch taken over at Shrewsbury or something though? I had a look at last season's table the other day and they only escaped relegation by 2 points on 51 - the same total that saw us relegated.

Its an astonishing transformation for them to have 19 points from 7 games. Unless there's a particular reason for that Id have to fancy us in both games.

 

Shrewsbury L1 games:

Played 7, won 6, drawn 1.

Won 4 games by 1-0 including a win at home v Wigan.

Including cup games:

Have scored at least 1 goal in every game played.

Games won have all been by a margin of just 1 goal.

Looks like they are not prolific scorers but well organised and know how to defend a lead.

[RevidgeBlue]

Just now, AllRoverAsia said:

Shrewsbury L1 games:

Played 7, won 6, drawn 1.

Won 4 games by 1-including a win at home v Wigan.

Including cup games:

Have scored at least 1 goal in every game played.

Games won have all been by a margin of just 1 goal.

Looks like they are not prolific scorers but well organised and know how to defend a lead.

Just need to score 1st then. 

 

[blueboy3333]

15 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Nice goal. Antonsson looks like a very good finisher. He tucked the chance away well. It wasn't as easy as he made it look. 

Fair play to Raya. Amazing the difference a solid goalkeeper makes. Worth a few points every season. We haven't had that in years. 

One thing noticeable about Antonsson is that he finds space at the back post. He missed headers against Donny and Rochdale, and scored against Rochdale and Scunny, all from exactly the same position.

Motto of the story, give him the ball on the back post but not on his head = 30 goals for the season.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I can see this being a re run of the Rhodes debate. Can we play with an out and out penalty area player and be successful ? I've only seen him play in the flesh once but I was deeply un-impressed. He lacked the physicalitity to contribute to all around team play. Maybe he's not yet playing to the best of his ability ? I hope for our sakes that this is the case. Watching the film of him in previous games he looks like a decent finisher with some nice goals. Some pretty poor goalkeeping in those clips though.

Are the other nine outfield players good enough to make up for his lack of contribution to team play ?  That is the question. We'll see. 

I remember Rhodes scoring goals for us regularly yet we never really looked like challenging for promotion in that time.

[blueboy3333]

22 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I remember Rhodes scoring goals for us regularly yet we never really looked like challenging for promotion in that time.

We didn't have the best or most expensive squad in the league then, we probably do now.

Rhodes and Rudy were very static and operated in the same narrow area of the pitch. It makes a difference to the way the team plays, regardless of what some silly arse will say about how it doesn't matter if they don't 'run the channels FFS'.  I think Samuel and Antonsson are a lot more mobile from what I've seen.

.

22 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I can see this being a re run of the Rhodes debate

Let's hope not. Rhodes was a penalty box player and top class finisher for us. He was also a poor footballer who offered no outlet when we were under the cosh. The end.