[Archived] Oxford away Tuesday

[Oldgregg86]

Didn't see last night's game so can't comment on the performance but delighted with the excellent result. If TM continues with results like these it would be a very foolish person to call for his head. However I still believe we will revert back to type and won't get carried away with two good results and what sounds like mediocre performances. If we continue in this vein I will be more than happy to say I'm wrong and well done TM . I pray I'm wrong. Let's see what Saturday brings. 

[JHRover]

The first 30 minutes or so last night was for me the most enjoyable spell this season. That was the sort of performance, aggression and clinical display I would expect to see from a self proclaimed automatic promotion candidate. At them from the off, creating chances even at 1-0 and 2-0 up, taking advantage of dominance, putting the game out of reach for them. More impressive than the display at Bury which whilst enjoyable and successful wasn't a case of us cutting through the opposition at will and creating lots of opportunities as the case was last night.

Once we started to sit back more the concerns appeared again (though I am always nervous when protecting any lead) but fortunately we dealt with them reasonably well. They aren't a bad side by this league's standards and pass the ball around well and score plenty of goals so not too unhappy to concede against them.

The mystery is why we haven't seen it more often this season and it is now clear we are capable of getting at teams from the off and putting the game beyond them rather than setting up to protect a 0-0 and hoping to nick one which appears to have been the game plan this season at times. Need to see more of that approach moving forward.

[Bigdoggsteel]

6 minutes ago, DE. said:

The obvious benefit is the wage bill being reduced enough to allow a few more transfers in. Assuming we are working to a budget, Graham will be taking up a significant portion of that budget. I take the points about his experience and his potential to come good, but so far he has looked largely disinterested and is currently behind the likes of Nuttall and Antonsson in the pecking order. If people are happy for him to be paid upwards of £10k a week to come on and hold the ball up for 15 minute then OK, but personally I'd be looking at other options. He isn't the only player in England with "experience" and I imagine we could find a cheaper alternative who actually wants to be here. 

Ultimately I fear it doesn't matter either way, because his wage is likely to put off anybody who was interested.

A- There is no guarantee him leaving would free up wages "like for like"

B- What your'e suggesting about a "cheaper alternative" would mean we would probably just end up with an inferior player. Don't see the point of that. 

I don't see any benefit in selling him if he is happy to be here. He is a great lad to have in the squad and ,nearly most importantly, he seems happy to be a bit part player. I would also add that he has looked more committed as of late 

[Beanie01289]

Of course promotion  is doable we are sitting handily  placed with a game in hand and most of our harder  away games will be out the way by christmas only  peterbourgh from the top 8 will be left to play away in second half of the season.

[Oldgregg86]

 

The mystery is why we haven't seen it more often this season and it is now clear we are capable of getting at teams from the off and putting the game beyond them rather than setting up to protect a 0-0 and hoping to nick one which appears to have been the game plan this season at times. Need to see more of that approach moving forward.

This is why so many question TM when it is blatantly obvious what needs to be done and the quality we have at our disposal.  I hope the penny has finally dropped . 

[RV Blue]

26 minutes ago, meadows said:

Nor me yours. You seem deeply and strangely unable to simply enjoy a cracking win without isolating some irrelevant minutiae and blowing it out of proportion. Or without making a stupefyingly insane point about all 750 travelling fans sharing some kind of beatific uncritical mindset

I almost feel sorry for you. 

I get the impression one of two on here will be devastated if we ever did put a run together and go top. 

 

I think you're Blue Eyed Boy, correct? A quick point: using big words doesn't make you clever. You post tripe on your blog and you post tripe on here. If you think that the manager leaving us wide open at the back when defending a lead is an "irrelevant minutae" (cringe), I almost feel sorry for you.

It is fair to generalise a certain group of people who are taking part in a certain activity. What the other posted did is called selection bias, don't know if you've heard of it? It's like going to Church and asking the people there if they believe in god, then using your results to extrapolate to the population as a whole. Asking fans who spent hundreds of pounds to go and watch Rovers on a Tuesday night at the other side of the country if they think we played well doesn't give a true reflection of the views of the average fan.

[Bigdoggsteel]

10 minutes ago, RV Blue said:

I think you're Blue Eyed Boy, correct? A quick point: using big words doesn't make you clever. You post tripe on your blog and you post tripe on here. If you think that the manager leaving us wide open at the back when defending a lead is an "irrelevant minutae" (cringe), I almost feel sorry for you.

It is fair to generalise a certain group of people who are taking part in a certain activity. What the other posted did is called selection bias, don't know if you've heard of it? It's like going to Church and asking the people there if they believe in god, then using your results to extrapolate to the population as a whole. Asking fans who spent hundreds of pounds to go and watch Rovers on a Tuesday night at the other side of the country if they think we played well doesn't give a true reflection of the views of the average fan.

Personally I have enough of us trying to "defend a lead" only to camp in our own half and inevitably concede. Mowbray was brave going for another and it paid off with Nutall scoring and us finishing the game off. 

Look, everybody disagrees with you on last night. Not saying your opinion isn't valid, I am just saying that it is wrong. There is no point arguing with everyone  

[JAL]

A good result with lots of goals against the highest scoring team in this division can't be too bad  upto 7th place in the goalscoring charts now with a game in hand.

 

[RV Blue]

20 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Look, everybody disagrees with you on last night. Not saying your opinion isn't valid, I am just saying that it is wrong. There is no point arguing with everyone  

That's not true, but even if it was it wouldn't I was wrong.

 

21 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Personally I have enough of us trying to "defend a lead" only to camp in our own half and inevitably concede. Mowbray was brave going for another and it paid off with Nutall scoring and us finishing the game off. 

You really think that playing 3 up front is a good strategy when you're winning? Go and tell Guardiola & Mourinho!

[Bigdoggsteel]

1 minute ago, RV Blue said:

That's not true, but even if it was it wouldn't I was wrong.

 

You really think that playing 3 up front is a good strategy when you're winning? Go and tell Guardiola & Mourinho!

No, but I am saying you are wrong in my opinion. 

I think attacking when you are winning is a better strategy than sitting back and defending a lead. I am sure the 2 boys agree  My 2 favourite teams are the Republic of Ireland and Blackburn Rovers, I have watched both sitting back and trying to cling onto leads for years. More often that not, it doesn't work. 

[arbitro]

1 hour ago, RV Blue said:

It was not a dig, full credit to you, but it is a certain type of supporter that would go down to Oxford on a Tuesday night. A supporter that is fully behind the manager etc., so it is no suprise to see that those that went are positive about the performance and it is also no suprise to see those that spent hundreds to get down there being delighted with seeing a win, as opposed to someone who watched it for free in their own living room. Watching it on TV can give the viewer a more objective view of the game as they aren't caught up in the emotion of it as much.

From the 70ish mins I saw, it was the worst we have played all season, that is all I have said. Were you happy that we finished the game with 3 strikers? That was one of Mowbrays strangest decisions this season, and that's saying something.

I find that a bit insulting being one of the 'certain type of supporter' who went last night. I am absolutely positive about the result as are many, many Rovers fans today. I haven't heard of many who are gushing in their praise of the performance. I and many others have been critical of Mowbray this season believing that his tactics have cost us in some games but when we win it is significantly harder to be critical because we won and all any future success or failure is based on winning or losing.

I completely disagree with your point about watching a game on tv as opposed to being there. You are just trying to justify your points with ridiculous statements. 

[RV Blue]

25 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I find that a bit insulting being one of the 'certain type of supporter' who went last night. I am absolutely positive about the result as are many, many Rovers fans today. I haven't heard of many who are gushing in their praise of the performance. I and many others have been critical of Mowbray this season believing that his tactics have cost us in some games but when we win it is significantly harder to be critical because we won and all any future success or failure is based on winning or losing.

I completely disagree with your point about watching a game on tv as opposed to being there. You are just trying to justify your points with ridiculous statements. 

Oxford away on a Tuesday night attracts a certain type of fan, I'm not sure how that's insulting. You may be happy when we win no matter what the circumstances are, I'm not, especially in League 1. Playing poorly doesn't stand us in good stead in future matches, and neither does the manager attempting to give the game away. I appreciate a win and a good performance, I don't appreciate poor performances, whether we win or not and for the 70 minutes that I saw, it was our worst performance of the season.

[jim mk2]

5 minutes ago, RV Blue said:

Oxford away on a Tuesday night attracts a certain type of fan, .

What type of fan would that be ? 

[arbitro]

1 minute ago, RV Blue said:

Oxford away on a Tuesday night attracts a certain type of fan, I'm not sure how that insulting. You may be happy when we win no matter what the circumstances are, I'm not, especially in League 1. Playing poorly doesn't stand us in good stead in future matches, and neither does the manager attempting to give the game away. I appreciate a win and a good performance, I don't appreciate poor performances, whether we win or not and for the 70 minutes that I saw, it was our worst performance of the season.

Read your original post. You are implying that anybody who has the temerity to go to Oxford is fully behind the manager and that is insulting. Where I was sat there was lots of criticism of Mowbray during the game but everybody seemed to be delighted at a 4-2 win at the final whistle. Result first, performance second for me. If both can be achieved great. As I said I think your dislike of Mowbray is clouding your judgement and rationality.

[tomphil]

2 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Automatic promotion is doable. It's still only November remember. We need to kick on from our latest away wins. We're playing better for longer periods but it's still not enough. We need to keep improving, let's all hope we do.

Just read a comment from him saying we need another x factor type player like Dack in Jan and that's just what we want to hear so I hope he can pull it off and most of all I hope those at the top show they are really serious and back him again.

If we are in a good position then resisting sales and adding another couple of decent ones could turn out to be the one and only smart thing they've ever done.

[J*B]

Loads of respect for anyone that went to Oxford on a Tuesday night - proper football fans. 

I didn't go, I did watch a section of the game though (before I got back to decorating). I have got to disagree with anyone saying you get a better view of a game by watching it at the ground, though. Undoubtably the best view of football is on TV, for me. You see so much more of the game.

RE promotion, I can't see us getting anywhere near Wigan who are well on a roll now. The wheels may be coming off at Shrewsbury so its a case of being the best of the rest.

[JHRover]

10 minutes ago, RV Blue said:

for the 70 minutes that I saw, it was our worst performance of the season.

I'm not having that. I'll admit that I'm at the negative, pessimistic end of the spectrum with regards to our performances and results, and this season I've been critical of the manager and team regularly even in games where we have managed to get 3 points. I wasn't particularly impressed with the Bury performance despite the scoreline. But I don't agree last night was by any stretch of the imagination our worst performance of the season. I'd say last night bettered everything at Ewood this season bar maybe the first half against Rotherham and the latter stages vs MK Dons. Certainly a lot better than displays at Oldham, Wigan and Shrewsbury. Better than Bradford and Scunthorpe from the POV that we went at them from the start and showed some good stuff in the final 3rd.

[Dreams of 1995]

3 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Read your original post. You are implying that anybody who has the temerity to go to Oxford is fully behind the manager and that is insulting. Where I was sat there was lots of criticism of Mowbray during the game but everybody seemed to be delighted at a 4-2 win at the final whistle. Result first, performance second for me. If both can be achieved great. As I said I think your dislike of Mowbray is clouding your judgement and rationality.

Whilst RV is very wrong in his assessment of those that travel to games (I, for one, have been extremely critical of Tony Mowbray and went last night) it can be said that some posts on here may purposefully mislead posters like him. If you read chaddy's posts he constantly states that he never hears any criticism of Mowbray, or the performance, by those that attend games and, in his eyes, there's no discontent by the fans that actually attend. This is a blatant lie but contributes to the false idea that those that attend are happy no matter what. I can only assume that lies like that contributed to the wrongful categorisation as attendees as "parsonesque". The reality is very different.

Just now, tomphil said:

Just read a comment from him saying we need another x factor type player like Dack in Jan and that's just what we want to hear so I hope he can pull it off and most of all I hope those at the top show they are really serious and back him again.

If we are in a good position then resisting sales and adding another couple of decent ones could turn out to be the one and only smart thing they've ever done.

Let's hope that x-factor is a winger! We can't continue putting Samuel on out there: he's a centre forward.

[Leonard Venkhater]

1 minute ago, J*B said:

Loads of respect for anyone that went to Oxford on a Tuesday night - proper football fans. 

I didn't go, I did watch a section of the game though (before I got back to decorating). I have got to disagree with anyone saying you get a better view of a game by watching it at the ground, though. Undoubtably the best view of football is on TV, for me. You see so much more of the game.

RE promotion, I can't see us getting anywhere near Wigan who are well on a roll now. The wheels may be coming off at Shrewsbury so its a case of being the best of the rest.

Respect and pleased for those fans!

Generally, I agree that you get a better view of incidents on TV.  Plenty of times I have got back from a game to change my opinion, when I watched it back on screen.

One of the worst moments was after Diouf's penalty dive at Ewood for Big Sam's Bolton .

When we got home, one of my kids nearly burst into tears in frustration, on seeing the enormity of Diouf's cheating. No Rovers player was anywhere near him.

On the other hand, you can't always see who is running off the ball, while watching on TV...

There are still  a lot of points to play for....

[tomphil]

9 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

Whilst RV is very wrong in his assessment of those that travel to games (I, for one, have been extremely critical of Tony Mowbray and went last night) it can be said that some posts on here may purposefully mislead posters like him. If you read chaddy's posts he constantly states that he never hears any criticism of Mowbray, or the performance, by those that attend games and, in his eyes, there's no discontent by the fans that actually attend. This is a blatant lie but contributes to the false idea that those that attend are happy no matter what. I can only assume that lies like that contributed to the wrongful categorisation as attendees as "parsonesque". The reality is very different.

Let's hope that x-factor is a winger! We can't continue putting Samuel on out there: he's a centre forward.

That's what we need, one who'll start games and give the oppo something else to think about not one to sit on the bench until 75 mins every match.

[RV Blue]

29 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Read your original post. You are implying that anybody who has the temerity to go to Oxford is fully behind the manager and that is insulting. Where I was sat there was lots of criticism of Mowbray during the game but everybody seemed to be delighted at a 4-2 win at the final whistle. Result first, performance second for me. If both can be achieved great. As I said I think your dislike of Mowbray is clouding your judgement and rationality.

Of course not every single fan that went is a Mowbray fan, I apologise if that's how it came across, I meant that the percentage of Mowbray fans that were there would be way higher than on a normal game. There's no way I would travel all that way to watch a Mowbray side.

It isn't clouding my judgment, my judgment is perfectly fine. Mowbray is a good man and I wish him all the best, I just don't think he's anywhere near good enough, and what I saw last night solidified that thought.

[RV Blue]

32 minutes ago, JHRover said:

I'm not having that. I'll admit that I'm at the negative, pessimistic end of the spectrum with regards to our performances and results, and this season I've been critical of the manager and team regularly even in games where we have managed to get 3 points. I wasn't particularly impressed with the Bury performance despite the scoreline. But I don't agree last night was by any stretch of the imagination our worst performance of the season. I'd say last night bettered everything at Ewood this season bar maybe the first half against Rotherham and the latter stages vs MK Dons. Certainly a lot better than displays at Oldham, Wigan and Shrewsbury. Better than Bradford and Scunthorpe from the POV that we went at them from the start and showed some good stuff in the final 3rd.

I disagree, we didn't do anything right and the second half was inexplicably panic stations throughout. 

[jim mk2]

I find it astonishing that anyone would boycott a match based on their dislike of a here-today, gone-tomorrow manager (or owners).  We support a team in blue and white halved shirts, and were supporting it long before they arrived and will be doing so long after they have gone. "Where we you when you were s**** opposition fans sang at us in our 1995 glory days." My answer was I was always here, and still am. 

[Boaty]

1 minute ago, jim mk2 said:

I find it astonishing that anyone would boycott a match based on their dislike of a here-today, gone-tomorrow manager (or owners).  We support a team in blue and white halved shirts, and were supporting it long before they arrived and will be doing so long after they have gone. "Where we you when you were s**** opposition fans sang at us in our 1995 glory days." My answer was I was always here, and still am. 

This is 100% correct IMO. Venkys are a convenient excuse for the majority of people. Obviously its unlikely we would of been in league 1 under the walker trust but the championship was a genuine possibility. Does anyone really think the attendance's would of been much higher in that scenario? Certainly not away and probably not at home either.

[Leonard Venkhater]

1 minute ago, jim mk2 said:

I find it astonishing that anyone would boycott a match based on their dislike of a here-today, gone-tomorrow manager (or owners).  We support a team in blue and white halved shirts, and were supporting it long before they arrived and will be doing so long after they have gone. "Where we you when you were s**** opposition fans sang at us in our 1995 glory days." My answer was I was always here, and still am. 

Frankly, I find it astonishing that anyone can be astonished at some  loyal supporters boycotting the Venky regime

I have met a large number of boycotters/season ticket with-holders etc and it is clear that they are some of the most loyal, passionate Rovers fans I have met in over 40 years.

I was always there too, but our whole family drew a difficult conclusion that this was a totally new situation. You may disagree, but astonishment is more than ridiculous...