[Archived] Rovers v Southend

[USABlue]

19 hours ago, Shrimper said:

It just goes to show how tough this league is. We're mid-table, but by all accounts put up a decent show. 

You's were always gunna be too good for this league though, and quite rightly deserve automatic promotion 

Our commentators said you played some tidy stuff.  Attributed to the fact you played relaxed without any real pressure.  I was really worrued abiut this game, given your recent results things look good for you for next season.  Good luck.

[Bigdoggsteel]

8 minutes ago, dingles staying down 4ever said:

Right I've calmed down after yesterday. Why make it hard for ourselves. I know I'm not Mowbray's biggest fan but I still can't understand the substitutions yesterday. Why bring two forwards on who neither can hold the ball up?

Willaims was struggling and bringing Antonsson on just encouraged Southend to attack down that flank. Bell would have offered a bit of support to Williams.

 

If he brought Bell on fans would have been saying he was planning on sitting back. Wasn't this the case v mk dons? 

We could so with a forward who can hold the ball up well alright, unfortunately, other than Graham, we don't have one it seems 

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, dingles staying down 4ever said:

Right I've calmed down after yesterday. Why make it hard for ourselves. I know I'm not Mowbray's biggest fan but I still can't understand the substitutions yesterday. Why bring two forwards on who neither can hold the ball up?

Willaims was struggling and bringing Antonsson on just encouraged Southend to attack down that flank. Bell would have offered a bit of support to Williams.

 

I wasn't impressed at the time with the subs yesterday really it just seemed like bringing people on for the sake of it and at 1-0 upsetting the balance more than it was seemed a bit risky to me.

Got away with it though so some might see it as a masterstroke I suppose.

[Roverthechimp]

1 hour ago, dingles staying down 4ever said:

Right I've calmed down after yesterday. Why make it hard for ourselves. I know I'm not Mowbray's biggest fan but I still can't understand the substitutions yesterday. Why bring two forwards on who neither can hold the ball up?

Willaims was struggling and bringing Antonsson on just encouraged Southend to attack down that flank. Bell would have offered a bit of support to Williams.

 

Erm Samuel did hold the ball up just in the right wing - looked like the only player who wasn't scared of it for a while.

Disagree on the subs - thought it was right to keep an attacking threat on.

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, dingles staying down 4ever said:

Right I've calmed down after yesterday. Why make it hard for ourselves. I know I'm not Mowbray's biggest fan but I still can't understand the substitutions yesterday. Why bring two forwards on who neither can hold the ball up?

Willaims was struggling and bringing Antonsson on just encouraged Southend to attack down that flank. Bell would have offered a bit of support to Williams.

 

But neither played up front tho. Both played wide. Armstrong went up when Graham went off. 

Graham and Conway were both tired and needed replacing. 

Samuel chasing and close ball down. Antonsson wasnt involved at all. 

 

[blueboy3333]

TBF there wasn't much else he could have done yesterday. There was nothing on the bench in the way of a defensive midfielder or good wide man. I think yesterday would have been ideal for Travis to come on and stiffen up the midfield where we were being overrun.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

TBF there wasn't much else he could have done yesterday. There was nothing on the bench in the way of a defensive midfielder or good wide man. I think yesterday would have been ideal for Travis to come on and stiffen up the midfield where we were being overrun.

I agree about Travis, he could have gone to full back and let Bennett go into midfield where his energy would have been useful.

I can't understand why we had two fullbacks on the bench for a home game. I can't see a circumstance were Caddis would have been brought on ?

[Bigdoggsteel]

It seems Mowbray completely lost trust in Travis after that red card. It was a naive tackle, but not reason enough to completely exclude him since. I wonder did he overreact further in the changing room or something or is ToMo just not taking any chances with him? He looks a good athlete. Something we need 

[roversfan99]

Really poor performance but a lucky win, all that matters.

Crucial that the Dack injury isnt too bad, doesnt seem to be.

Bennett really good at right back, can dive in at times but his energy was excellent up and down and made a few good tackles.

Mulgrew was really good too, nearly scored an unlucky own goal but his composure and judgement are very good.

Raya with a crucial bit of keeping at the end, did have again one moment where he totally misjudged a cross and an horrendous kick, its when the ball is passed back to him, as his kicking from his hands is actually an asset, once or twice he did superb kicks like that.

Smallwood and Evans quite poor, didnt get any control over the midfield, Williams possibly our worst player, Conway didnt offer a threat until his perfect shimmy and cross for the goal. Hope we dont give him a new deal and he leaves at the right time on a high.

Antonsson and Samuel (who was ok for once in terms of work rate but nearly gave a penalty away but offers nothing going forward) are both weak subs, sometimes I get the feeling we should keep Graham on longer, his hold up play is priceless.

Payne didnt do anything, contrary to people repeating Mowbray by saying that hes an impact sub, like he said with Chapman, I think Payne is often more effective when linking with Dack.

[AllRoverAsia]

I hope Dack's injury is not too bad.

I also hope his 'friends' don't get him drinking Strongbow straight from the pump tap in Maidstone nightclubs.

[roversfan99]

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/april/craigs-coming-to-the-party/

"There have been times I’ve played four strikers and attempted to blow teams away but today I looked at it and [Ben] Coker’s a good left back so I wanted to put a hardworking, knowledgeable winger on him, which Craig is."

Found this quote interesting. Before I say it, I dont want to be jumped on, I am happy with Mowbray, hes meeting expectations and doing well, and I know Conway set up the goal.

I just find this quote typical of what I perceive Mowbrays achilles heel to be, overthinking and over-respecting average players. Its far from the first time that hes tried to man mark a mid table League 1 full back. I think Conways main use now his legs have almost gone is as a sub to see out a game.

[blueboy3333]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/april/craigs-coming-to-the-party/

"There have been times I’ve played four strikers and attempted to blow teams away but today I looked at it and [Ben] Coker’s a good left back so I wanted to put a hardworking, knowledgeable winger on him, which Craig is."

Found this quote interesting. Before I say it, I dont want to be jumped on, I am happy with Mowbray, hes meeting expectations and doing well, and I know Conway set up the goal.

I just find this quote typical of what I perceive Mowbrays achilles heel to be, overthinking and over-respecting average players. Its far from the first time that hes tried to man mark a mid table League 1 full back. I think Conways main use now his legs have almost gone is as a sub to see out a game.

Can you imagine Coker and Oldham's right-back in the same team?

[Hasta]

3 hours ago, Roverthechimp said:

 

Disagree on the subs - thought it was right to keep an attacking threat on.

We didn't have an attacking threat after the subs !!!!

To be fair to Mowbray, he tried to change it up top to freshen up our attacking options but it just didn't work. Samuel should either come on up top or not at all.  Cant see what Antonnson brings in that situation.

It's a lack of viable options because, as Blueboy says, there was nobody else. By having Bennett at full back we lose his versatility when making subs in the midfield. Had he been in central midfield then he would probably have gone wide later on instead of Samuel, with Evans coming on in midfield. 

[Exiled in Toronto]

17 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/april/craigs-coming-to-the-party/

"There have been times I’ve played four strikers and attempted to blow teams away but today I looked at it and [Ben] Coker’s a good left back so I wanted to put a hardworking, knowledgeable winger on him, which Craig is."

Found this quote interesting. Before I say it, I dont want to be jumped on, I am happy with Mowbray, hes meeting expectations and doing well, and I know Conway set up the goal.

I just find this quote typical of what I perceive Mowbrays achilles heel to be, overthinking and over-respecting average players. Its far from the first time that hes tried to man mark a mid table League 1 full back. I think Conways main use now his legs have almost gone is as a sub to see out a game.

I read that as he needed a proper wide player to get one over on a decent player at this level, rather than an Antonsson for example. And Conway wasn’t man-marking him.

[Exiled in Toronto]

15 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Can you imagine Coker and Oldham's right-back in the same team?

Personally I’m quite gratified that our manager knows more about our opponents than random blokes on the internet

[blueboy3333]

Just now, Exiled in Toronto said:

Personally I’m quite gratified that our manager knows more about our opponents than random blokes on the internet

You do appear to take all this very personally.

[Bigdoggsteel]

16 minutes ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

Personally I’m quite gratified that our manager knows more about our opponents than random blokes on the internet

Well said 

[Bigdoggsteel]

54 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/april/craigs-coming-to-the-party/

"There have been times I’ve played four strikers and attempted to blow teams away but today I looked at it and [Ben] Coker’s a good left back so I wanted to put a hardworking, knowledgeable winger on him, which Craig is."

Found this quote interesting. Before I say it, I dont want to be jumped on, I am happy with Mowbray, hes meeting expectations and doing well, and I know Conway set up the goal.

I just find this quote typical of what I perceive Mowbrays achilles heel to be, overthinking and over-respecting average players. Its far from the first time that hes tried to man mark a mid table League 1 full back. I think Conways main use now his legs have almost gone is as a sub to see out a game.

Yet in the few games we lost against teams perceived as average, it was said we didn't show them enough respect. 

In your final paragraph you say that it's far from the first time he has tried to man mark a mid table league 1 full back. Have you seen Messi or even Dack being man marked? I can safely say we are not man marking opposition full backs. 

You also leave out the bit from the article where Mowbray said he challenged Conway to get more goals and assists, good management getting a reaction like yesterday so, what a great assist. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I'd like to think the opposition manager was worried about what our our wingers were going to do. We were playing at home for heaven sake.

There's a reason why Wigan are flying and Shrewsbury have dogged us right to the end and it's not about  the playing  staff.

Speaking from personal experience the older you get the more cautious you get and that fact is showing in the management of the three clubs

[JBiz]

53 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/april/craigs-coming-to-the-party/

"There have been times I’ve played four strikers and attempted to blow teams away but today I looked at it and [Ben] Coker’s a good left back so I wanted to put a hardworking, knowledgeable winger on him, which Craig is."

Found this quote interesting. Before I say it, I dont want to be jumped on, I am happy with Mowbray, hes meeting expectations and doing well, and I know Conway set up the goal.

I just find this quote typical of what I perceive Mowbrays achilles heel to be, overthinking and over-respecting average players. Its far from the first time that hes tried to man mark a mid table League 1 full back. I think Conways main use now his legs have almost gone is as a sub to see out a game.

Personally I wouldn’t call a tactical decision that changes the result anything but savvy, especially consider plan A. (Dack) lasted 9 minutes.

Conway got involved a lot more than just the assist too, I think we benefit from his experience and tbf we don’t have any natural wingers fit..

As people say - overthinking might be your opinion, mine thinks this approach wins you games you might not perform in. It might lose you some games too, but reacting to the opposition and learning from recent-past experience is key to success- not an “Achilles heel!”

No successful manager simply sets his team up to win and ignores anything served up from the other team. No manager gives the full rationale for decision making in the papers either so I personally don’t judge our managers by anything but the performances, and predominantly the results.

[Cherry Blue]

Notable how good and load vocal support was especially towards the end. Like many I was gasping for air. But we did it!

COYB 

[dingles staying down 4ever]

47 minutes ago, Hasta said:

We didn't have an attacking threat after the subs !!!!

To be fair to Mowbray, he tried to change it up top to freshen up our attacking options but it just didn't work. Samuel should either come on up top or not at all.  Cant see what Antonnson brings in that situation.

It's a lack of viable options because, as Blueboy says, there was nobody else. By having Bennett at full back we lose his versatility when making subs in the midfield. Had he been in central midfield then he would probably have gone wide later on instead of Samuel, with Evans coming on in midfield. 

Spot On. Bringing Antonsson and Samuel within a few minutes of each other caused us problems more than it did Southend. Granted Samuel did more defensively than previously seen but why have him on the field and put two midgets down the middle?

If we are going to utilise pace of Armstrong then we needed to play to the corners and let him run but then Payne should not be down the middle as well. My feelings on Antonnson coming on I said earlier. Payne should have taken one of the wide berths.

Why have Caddis and Bell on the bench? Travis is more verstile and was needed yesterday.   

[dingles staying down 4ever]

9 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I'd like to think the opposition manager was worried about what our our wingers were going to do. We were playing at home for heaven sake.

There's a reason why Wigan are flying and Shrewsbury have dogged us right to the end and it's not about  the playing  staff.

Speaking from personal experience the older you get the more cautious you get and that fact is showing in the management of the three clubs

Usually when Mowbray does this it costs us so we should be grateful it did not backfire. He needs to have confidence in his attacking options and take the game to them. This forces their defender to defend rather than  attack 

[Bigdoggsteel]

18 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I'd like to think the opposition manager was worried about what our our wingers were going to do. We were playing at home for heaven sake.

There's a reason why Wigan are flying and Shrewsbury have dogged us right to the end and it's not about  the playing  staff.

Speaking from personal experience the older you get the more cautious you get and that fact is showing in the management of the three clubs

When you say they are flying , we are ahead them and even if they win their game in hand, they would only be 1 point ahead. So, in reality,  Shrewsbury are dogging them every bit as much as us. 

[Pedro]

26 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I'd like to think the opposition manager was worried about what our our wingers were going to do. We were playing at home for heaven sake.

There's a reason why Wigan are flying and Shrewsbury have dogged us right to the end and it's not about  the playing  staff.

Speaking from personal experience the older you get the more cautious you get and that fact is showing in the management of the three clubs

There's a real misconception going on that Wigan are flying. We pegged them back. We are the team who have only lost one in 29. Give me our record since November than Wigan's any day of the week.

Last time they thrashed someone, they failed to score in the following two or three games...fingers crossed There's more of the same.