[Archived] Rotherham V Rovers

[NinjaTattoo]

3 minutes ago, DE. said:

You've missed the point Gav, possibly intentionally. It's not the fact we're unbeaten that's frustrating, it's every suggestion for improvement being met with "BUT WE'RE ON AN UNBEATEN RUN LOL". Yes, myself and others suggesting the need for improvement get it, but being on an unbeaten run doesn't mean we should stop striving to become better. If anything we should continue to push forward rather than get comfortable and begin to regress. 

Lets say a team in the prem draws every game they play , the whole season UNBEATEN but they go down on 38pts. Would you as a fan be happy that your team is unbeaten?

[Dunnfc]

Just now, NinjaTattoo said:

Lets say a team in the prem draws every game they play , the whole season UNBEATEN but they go down on 38pts. Would you as a fan be happy that your team is unbeaten?

In all cases there is always room for improvement, look at Burnley and Dyche. They demand it of themselves.

[DE.]

Just now, NinjaTattoo said:

Lets say a team in the prem draws every game they play , the whole season UNBEATEN but they go down on 38pts. Would you as a fan be happy that your team is unbeaten?

I made that exact point on the last page. If we drew 46 games and went unbeaten the whole season we'd probably go down, as Port Vale went down on 49 points last season. Obviously we are winning more matches than drawing overall, which has propelled us up the table, but if we start throwing away points through stupid mistakes the gap will quickly widen again - as it already has started to do. Hopefully we can handle the pressure and beat Shrewsbury, because if we lose our much heralded unbeaten run of over a dozen games will have only gotten us to within 8 points of 2nd place. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

23 minutes ago, NinjaTattoo said:

Spot on 10000%

I keep going over the stick or twist thread and find it disappointing that peoples choices of either sticking or twisting have flip flopped. Everyones got a right to change their mind BUT results of the poll are just going to swing either way depending on the current results on the pitch.

I still say TM isn't the man for the job and I stick by my ideology.

I hate to say that majority of fans are pacified so easy in such a short term of events without seeing the flaws, as quoted above 3rd-6th is the same and I for one wouldn't like to see our hopes pinned on a 4/1 shot even if we are favs, its taken nearly half the season to be on track of the points per game ratio and whilst our current form is good it wouldn't take much to get sucked into 7th. 

Likewise it won't take much for us to get sucked into the top 2

[Gav]

50 minutes ago, DE. said:

You've missed the point Gav, possibly intentionally. It's not the fact we're unbeaten that's frustrating, it's every suggestion for improvement being met with "BUT WE'RE ON AN UNBEATEN RUN LOL". Yes, myself and others suggesting the need for improvement get it, but being on an unbeaten run doesn't mean we should stop striving to become better. If anything we should continue to push forward rather than get comfortable and begin to regress. 

Justifying the comment with examples of teams drawing and Huddersfields failure in the playoffs says I never missed the point at all DE. Wanting the club to progress has never been disputed, because progression is actually winning and drawing football matches compared to the past 7yrs and long may it continue. 

It seems a number of posters have had a lobotomy in the last 12 months, forgotten where we have coming from, and what's taken place since the idiots took over, thats the biggest issue here, not stifling progress. 

[JAL]

5 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

He had an operation recently. Hopefully he gets going when he returns 

Yep back to the non leagues where he belongs. Gladwin the blonde dummy!

[NinjaTattoo]

58 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Likewise it won't take much for us to get sucked into the top 2

the difference is we need to improve and work harder for that to happen, to be sucked into 6th or 7th  we don't need to do any improvement.

[NinjaTattoo]

1 hour ago, Dunnfc said:

In all cases there is always room for improvement, look at Burnley and Dyche. They demand it of themselves.

100% correct , always room for improvement their own reachable bar standards have been met, Before a ball had been kicked this season their goals would have been avoid relegation then its the next goal and the next just like every other teams goals, once you reach goal #1 then strive to improve and head for goal#2 .

Atm we haven't achieved goal #1, we are half way through the season and only just goto 2 points per game which 'should' see us in the top 2 but until we are in the top 2 and comfy then Ill always say the glass is half empty.

[Bigdoggsteel]

7 minutes ago, NinjaTattoo said:

the difference is we need to improve and work harder for that to happen, to be sucked into 6th or 7th  we don't need to do any improvement.

Not necessarily. If we keep going as we are and Wigan and/or Shrewsbury stutter,we will pass them

[NinjaTattoo]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

Not necessarily. If we keep going as we are and Wigan and/or Shrewsbury stutter,we will pass them

we cant rely on snookers,  your betting on a double/treble where as Id rather bet on a single

[Bigdoggsteel]

12 minutes ago, NinjaTattoo said:

we cant rely on snookers,  your betting on a double/treble where as Id rather bet on a single

And you are assuming those directly below us will start going on huge winning runs. Which they would require to pass us 

[Roverthechimp]

Didn't see the game but frustrated by the late equalizer. That said - IF the players had done the most basic of jobs in the last 4 games (ie score an open goal, score a penalty, cover near post, not fall over in own box and give away the ball...) then we would have taken 10 from 12 with yesterday the only blip...

Sure - if my aunty had b... etc but my point is that i am finding it hard to pin the blame on Mowbray for the last games as we have been on the front foot, positive team selections and even when we mess up then it has still resulted in a point. At 0-0 against Rotherham i see that he brought on Nyambe for Caddis and Samuel for Conway - both attacking changes showing an intent to go for the win and not settle for 0-0. Easy to say bringing on Ward with 5 minutes left was wrong but i would suggest that 95% of football managers would make the same move in that situation... That said - questions need to be asked of the defensive coaching staff regarding corners!

[chaddyrovers]

6 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Gladwin seems to have vanished off the face of the earth. Wether he would have had a greater impact, I don't know.

injured. back within a few weeks 

6 hours ago, DE. said:

Nobody is panicking, that's just an easy way to dismiss legitimate concerns. Also the term "unbeaten run" is starting to do my head in. You could draw every game in a season and be 46 games unbeaten, but you'd likely still be relegated at the end of the campaign. 

why is the term unbeaten run doing your head in for? 

we are on an unbeaten run and doing well after a poor start

3 hours ago, Suhail Slayer said:

I have said this before and will say it again. This all reminds me of last season.

TM came in and everyone felt like things had improved (me included). Except we didn't move up the table and got relegated. FACT.

That was not because of the improvement and the points we picked up. It was because of the points we threw away.

 

Now we have seen a great spell of wins where we should be in the top 2 by now. Except we have not moved up the table, the gap has opened back up and other teams have caught us up.

That is not because of the wins we have had. It is because of the wins we have thrown away. Same situation again.

The manager has to be blamed for Northampton. If he isn't happy with Antonnson taking the penalty, he gets his INSTRUCTION onto the pitch for someone else to take it. Poor leadership to allow that to happen.

I won't comment on his substitutions because I wasn't there but what I know is the points we have thrown away will be the reason we fail.

3rd and 6th are the same thing. 3 in 4 chance of failure = another new manager, massive cuts, accepting mid table 3rd division until we regress further and go down again.

We must be top 2 !!!!!!!!

Tony's next appraisal is end of January and so far it is looking like we will have wasted 2 months of the season and gone backwards not forwards.

 

weren't we 6th when we went on this unbeaten run? we now 3rd

Mulgrew is the penalty taker but didn't play at Northampton. so I would have thought it would be Conway but he didn't want it. So Antonsson took it. Hardly Mowbray fault. 

[DE.]

5 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

why is the term unbeaten run doing your head in for? 

As I said a few posts ago Chaddy, being unbeaten in over a dozen games is obviously not a bad thing, but we also shouldn't use it as an excuse to ignore areas where the team can improve and indeed needs to improve if we're going to overtake Shrewsbury and/or Wigan to get into the automatic places. We've been in good form without question, but if we lose to Shrewsbury the bottom line will be that we're 8 points behind the second placed team with more than half of the season gone. That leaves a lot of work still to do.

Basically I still feel that we need to get better at certain aspects of our game, and if we do I think we'll be in the top two come the end of the season. If we fail to address these issues then, unbeaten run or not, it's possible we'll be looking at a playoff spot come May which is going to make things much more difficult than they need to be.

[Bigdoggsteel]

6 minutes ago, DE. said:

As I said a few posts ago Chaddy, being unbeaten in over a dozen games is obviously not a bad thing, but we also shouldn't use it as an excuse to ignore areas where the team can improve and indeed needs to improve if we're going to overtake Shrewsbury and/or Wigan to get into the automatic places. We've been in good form without question, but if we lose to Shrewsbury the bottom line will be that we're 8 points behind the second placed team with more than half of the season gone. That leaves a lot of work still to do.

Basically I still feel that we need to get better at certain aspects of our game, and if we do I think we'll be in the top two come the end of the season. If we fail to address these issues then, unbeaten run or not, it's possible we'll be looking at a playoff spot come May which is going to make things much more difficult than they need to be.

Valid points,but I can't see Shrewsbury keeping their run up. We can definitely improve certain aspects,but we are doing lots right. We just need to keep the heads and I firmly believe our chance will come to move into the automatic places. 

[tomphil]

We've been waiting for Shrewsbury to slip up for about three months now

Not happening !

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

injured. back within a few weeks 

why is the term unbeaten run doing your head in for? 

we are on an unbeaten run and doing well after a poor start

weren't we 6th when we went on this unbeaten run? we now 3rd

Mulgrew is the penalty taker but didn't play at Northampton. so I would have thought it would be Conway but he didn't want it. So Antonsson took it. Hardly Mowbray fault. 

I read somewhere that Smallwood successfully took a pen for Rotherham in the play off final.

[Bigdoggsteel]

17 minutes ago, tomphil said:

We've been waiting for Shrewsbury to slip up for about three months now

Not happening !

It will be an absolute freak event if they don't. Knowing our luck though... 

[tomphil]

1 minute ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

It will be an absolute freak event if they don't. Knowing our luck though... 

You'll be popular on their forum now lol, they are watching.

[DE.]

22 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Valid points,but I can't see Shrewsbury keeping their run up. We can definitely improve certain aspects,but we are doing lots right. We just need to keep the heads and I firmly believe our chance will come to move into the automatic places. 

Shrewsbury are very solid, their weak point is goal scoring but because they concede so few they can normally get away with just scoring one. They've only conceded 15 goals in 25 matches! By contrast we've conceded 23. It doesn't seem like a huge difference but it can be if it's the difference between winning a match 1-0/2-1 or drawing 1-1/2-2.

What we don't want to do is fall into the trap of blaming "bad luck" for the goals we concede. Mowbray needs to analyse and work out how to make us tighter as a defensive unit, whilst still being able to score enough goals to win a match. The age old tale of football, but with our squad it should be achievable. Especially when you look at Wigan who have only conceded 12 goals all season. That's some record. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, tomphil said:

You'll be popular on their forum now lol, they are watching.

I hope they are getting nervous. Dizzy heights. Being chased by a thoroughbred. Granted an old and battle worn thoroughbred ,but a thoroughbred none the less

[jim mk2]

4 hours ago, Suhail Slayer said:

I have said this before and will say it again. This all reminds me of last season.

TM came in and everyone felt like things had improved (me included). Except we didn't move up the table and got relegated. FACT.

That was not because of the improvement and the points we picked up. It was because of the points we threw away.

 

 

 

Very good point, which hadn't struck me until now.

Although our form overall under Mowbray was mid-table, too many drawn games ultimately cost us our place in the Championship last season.

Unfortunately, the same pattern could be repeating itself and could cost us an automatic promotion place.

Mowbray does have a cautious streak and often seeks to protect narrow leads by reorganising the team through substitutions; however his teams have always leaked goals so it has never worked. Why doesn't he realise this and learn from his mistakes ?

The best solution of course would be to hire a top defence coach. Do we have one ? 

[alcd]

Whenever we've expected "no-hopers" to slip up it hasn't happened. Wigan had a massive revival to help put us down in 2012 and both Burton and Brum won matches they weren't supposed to at the end of last season. No reason why Shrews can't do a Burton.

[Bigdoggsteel]

4 minutes ago, alcd said:

Whenever we've expected "no-hopers" to slip up it hasn't happened. Wigan had a massive revival to help put us down in 2012 and both Burton and Brum won matches they weren't supposed to at the end of last season. No reason why Shrews can't do a Burton.

Both seasons the damage had already been done by Egg head and clown pants. This season we are improving as time goes on. 

[roversfan99]

57 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

injured. back within a few weeks 

why is the term unbeaten run doing your head in for? 

we are on an unbeaten run and doing well after a poor start

weren't we 6th when we went on this unbeaten run? we now 3rd

Mulgrew is the penalty taker but didn't play at Northampton. so I would have thought it would be Conway but he didn't want it. So Antonsson took it. Hardly Mowbray fault. 

Doing well is the phrase that is untrue.

Aim - Top 2

Current position - 3rd, 5 points from 2nd

Currently underachieving? Yes

Being slightly behind a target is not being entitled or patronising either.

I think complaining about the term unbeaten run is nit picking but as a team chasing the top 2 any time we dont pick up 3 points its dropped points, and in the last 4 games we could have got the same points with 2 losses included.