[Archived] Bristol Rovers v THE ROVERS

[rigger]

10 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I have been to their ground several times so I knew what to expect. It's actually a rugby ground with four sides which are all dissimilar so it has a lob sided appearance. Two sides of these have terraces. The pitch seemed very good though.

People where saying yesterday that they thought our terrace had been over sold. Personally I thought that it was a case  that many people are not used to being on standing terraces. I have been on terraces that have been more tightly packed.

[arbitro]

Just now, rigger said:

People where saying yesterday that they thought our terrace had been over sold. Personally I thought that it was a case  that many people are not used to being on standing terraces. I have been on terraces that have been more tightly packed.

From behind the goals it didn't look too packed and I would imagine strict ground licensing laws would dictate the numbers. If you watched football through the 60's, 70's and 80's then you would have been shoehorned in like many of us. 

[47er]

Often heard "easier to score." That truly was.

[Rogerb]

Just now, arbitro said:

From behind the goals it didn't look too packed and I would imagine strict ground licensing laws would dictate the numbers. If you watched football through the 60's, 70's and 80's then you would have been shoehorned in like many of us. 

Those were the days where your feet didn't touch the ground and you ended up 20 yards away from where you started off!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just watched the highlights. If Williams had have been defending that cross instead  of attacking it  I would have said how did he manage to keep that out ? What a brilliant bit of defensive play !

Anybody else think Graham was pushed from under the ball for their goal ?

[Mark45]

32 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I have been to their ground several times so I knew what to expect. It's actually a rugby ground with four sides which are all dissimilar so it has a lob sided appearance. Two sides of these have terraces. The pitch seemed very good though.

Thankyou for the reply. I had no knowledge of usage for rugby stadium.

[Mark45]

14 minutes ago, rigger said:

People where saying yesterday that they thought our terrace had been over sold. Personally I thought that it was a case  that many people are not used to being on standing terraces. I have been on terraces that have been more tightly packed.

Wimbledon dons Fc maybe?

[DaveyB]

32 minutes ago, arbitro said:

The pitch seemed very good though.

Didn’t look great on the TV coverage. It looked like a ploughed field, with furrows running the length of the pitch, and it seemed quite noticeable that the ball bobbled up off these when it was played on the ground. 

I also thought the grass looked quite long - there were at least a couple of times when I was expecting the ball to run out of play near the corner flags, but it seemed to slow down and be held up by the pitch - maybe a deliberate ploy by the home team??

[Hanks]

3 minutes ago, Mark45 said:

Wimbledon dons Fc maybe?

I thought the terracing at Bristol was a better view than Wimbledon and it felt less crowded.

[arbitro]

5 minutes ago, DaveyB said:

Didn’t look great on the TV coverage. It looked like a ploughed field, with furrows running the length of the pitch, and it seemed quite noticeable that the ball bobbled up off these when it was played on the ground. 

I also thought the grass looked quite long - there were at least a couple of times when I was expecting the ball to run out of play near the corner flags, but it seemed to slow down and be held up by the pitch - maybe a deliberate ploy by the home team??

Sometimes pitches do appear different from ground level to an elevated view. It seemed to play well enough and didn't appear to impede us or them.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, DaveyB said:

Didn’t look great on the TV coverage. It looked like a ploughed field, with furrows running the length of the pitch, and it seemed quite noticeable that the ball bobbled up off these when it was played on the ground. 

I also thought the grass looked quite long - there were at least a couple of times when I was expecting the ball to run out of play near the corner flags, but it seemed to slow down and be held up by the pitch - maybe a deliberate ploy by the home team??

Rugby teams always have the grass longer on the pitch than Football teams.

[DaveyB]

7 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Sometimes pitches do appear different from ground level to an elevated view. It seemed to play well enough and didn't appear to impede us or them.

I thought it contributed to the rather slow nature of the game. Not an excuse for our performance which I thought was below par, and the pitch is the same for both teams, but having watched the PL game first the difference in tempo between the two games was very evident and I think the pitch was a factor in that (although obviously not the only reason)

[Mattyblue]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Rugby teams always have the grass longer on the pitch than Football teams.

Bristol Rugby Club play at Ashton Gate these days though...

[chaddyrovers]

4 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

I stand by my clear chances comment, apart from the Williams sitter, the others are half chances. I was watching the game that I set off at 8 on the coach to attend, so no need to patronise me.

Yes, nerves will affect everyone but we need to deal with them better, if that is the reason. Weve got plenty of experience in getting promotion, Mowbray, Conway, Williams, Smallwood, Payne, Bennett, plenty of other experience in Mulgrew, Graham, Evans, Whittingham etc. We need to find a way of handling it far better than we have this week, where we have dropped 4 points in 2 games we seemingly have played really poorly in.

You say there arent many pacy wingers solely because Mowbray hasnt signed any. Gavin Massey, Hakeeb Adelukun, Whalley (not blistering pace necessarily but enough to be direct), Jamal Lowe, Tarique Fosu, Sullay Kaikai, Ryan Coclough, Jon Taylor, lets not pretend theres a shortage.

,We didnt deserve the win, it had the feeling of an end of the season dead rubber and me and everyone around me admitted that we didnt do enough to win and didnt play well enough to win.

If we cant react to teams man marking Dack then we wont get far. Surely play Payne to give them a second problem to think of, rather than the more conservative Conway?

Also, any comments on Bennetts last 10 minutes, in general we tried to see the game out terribly, so undisciplined and naive, often going forward far quicker than they got back, but he stood out?

Graham chance after Payne mess around with the ball was clear cut chance, and aswell Dack two chances. An in form Dack put them in the net. 

The pressure and nerves would have been off us yesterday had we scored our chances. 

on the subject on pacey wingers in this league, that's isn't many is it. 8 players out of 24 teams. Jamal Lowe is very good player and aswell as Jon Taylor. Mowbray did try to buy Billy Bodin but he signed for Preston instead. 

Yes we did deserve the win, watched in the Blues bar so don't start patronise me, we had enough chances to win this game. 

If Teams are marking Dack out of the game then play him wide Left and Armstrong up front with Graham and give the opposition the problem of Armstrong's pace in behind central. Nothing wrong with Conway wide right as he provide the width and keep wide which strect the opposition defence line which Payne doesn't. 

For the last 10 minutes I thought we were very poor in keeping the ball and if we kept the ball better we might have created better chances or more. I wouldn't single out any player as I felt the all team were at fault. maybe we did keep going long as the pitch was awful as the commentators kept saying in the Rovers bar or we were nervous. 

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Just watched the highlights. If Williams had have been defending that cross instead  of attacking it  I would have said how did he manage to keep that out ? What a brilliant bit of defensive play !

Anybody else think Graham was pushed from under the ball for their goal ?

nope, if anything he jump into his own man but the header was awful and cost us that goal. that's said why was someone like Armstrong or Samuel marking their goalscorer at the edge of our box for the goal

 

[JAL]

2 hours ago, Mark45 said:

Thankyou for the reply. I had no knowledge of usage for rugby stadium.

It's used to be before the rugby guys transfered to Ashton Gate.

[JAL]

Disappointed to concede so late, but it was a great strike from the Bristol player that any footballer would be proud of though Rovers should have added a second  but for the missed header.  Only issue with the subs is Samuel .....when he attacked they counter attacked us because he kept losing the ball cheaply - what does he offer ?

Agree with the Bristol Rovers manager in that the pitch didn't look the best surface to play on from close up.

 

 

 

 

[jim mk2]

58 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Graham chance after Payne mess around with the ball was clear cut chance, and aswell Dack two chances. An in form Dack put them in the net. 

 

Payne "didn't mess around with the ball".   He retained possession skilfully when confronted by a number of Bristol defenders and set up Graham for a scoring chance with an astute pass.

 

[JAL]

1 minute ago, jim mk2 said:

Payne "didn't mess around with the ball".   He retained possession skilfully when confronted by a number of Bristol defenders and set up Graham for a scoring chance with an astute pass.

 

One of those games for Danny Graham the pass for the overlapping Elliot Bennet in a two v one situation was a split second out on his timing for me with just too much weight on it, forcing Elliot wide, allowing the lone defender to cover whilst help arrived. Then he goes up with a team mate to defend that last minute causing the fellow Rover to skew his header into the path of a Bristol player.

One of those days for Danny I'm sure hell amend against Peterbrough.

[chaddyrovers]

7 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Payne "didn't mess around with the ball".   He retained possession skilfully when confronted by a number of Bristol defenders and set up Graham for a scoring chance with an astute pass.

 

Not my opinion cos he had the perfect chance for shot at goal by behind it in top corner. 

[JAL]

Just read a load of tosh from Sharpe of the LT in his players ratings, where he says Samuel had little chance to show his attacking intent when he must have lost the ball, at least three times down the right hand side. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

41 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Bristol Rugby Club play at Ashton Gate these days though...

What tends to happen is the owners of the ground tend to dictate the length of the grass. My rugby league club rents a football ground so the grass is kept short to suit the football. Once the football season is over the grass is allowed to grow longer because the rugby lads like it that way.

[arbitro]

Just now, JAL said:

Just read a load of tosh from Sharpe of the LT in his players ratings, where he says Samuel had little chance to show his attacking intent when he must have lost the ball, at least three times down the right hand side. 

I take that as a veiled swipe at Mowbray as Samuel was expected to defend the right in front of Lenihan. He is struggling as a striker but as a defender....................

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Graham chance after Payne mess around with the ball was clear cut chance, and aswell Dack two chances. An in form Dack put them in the net. 

The pressure and nerves would have been off us yesterday had we scored our chances. 

on the subject on pacey wingers in this league, that's isn't many is it. 8 players out of 24 teams. Jamal Lowe is very good player and aswell as Jon Taylor. Mowbray did try to buy Billy Bodin but he signed for Preston instead. 

Yes we did deserve the win, watched in the Blues bar so don't start patronise me, we had enough chances to win this game. 

If Teams are marking Dack out of the game then play him wide Left and Armstrong up front with Graham and give the opposition the problem of Armstrong's pace in behind central. Nothing wrong with Conway wide right as he provide the width and keep wide which strect the opposition defence line which Payne doesn't. 

For the last 10 minutes I thought we were very poor in keeping the ball and if we kept the ball better we might have created better chances or more. I wouldn't single out any player as I felt the all team were at fault. maybe we did keep going long as the pitch was awful as the commentators kept saying in the Rovers bar or we were nervous. 

nope, if anything he jump into his own man but the header was awful and cost us that goal. that's said why was someone like Armstrong or Samuel marking their goalscorer at the edge of our box for the goal

 

Half chances. The whole performance was disjointed and slow from the start to the end. 

We have to deal with pressure and nerves if thats what it is, its not easy but footballs not all about ability, weve got more than enough experience in the dug out and changing room to hold our nerve.

You said there arent many pacy wingers in this league, I named some in the top half alone just to prove that you was wrong on that.

Agree that we should have kept the ball better, of which I feel Bennett was the main culprit but not the only one. Cant use the pitch as an excuse, wasnt the best but neither is the one at Ewood.

Conway was sluggish and didnt provide any width or anything at all going forward, his legs have gone sadly, he would be easy to play against as a full back at his age. That said, he would have been perfect to bring on to kill the game, he does that well, winning fouls etc.

When Payne plays, he links with Dack and he benefits from the space left if Dack is man marked. The notion that hes only an impact sub is a bit of a myth.

[JAL]

3 hours ago, arbitro said:

I take that as a veiled swipe at Mowbray as Samuel was expected to defend the right in front of Lenihan. He is struggling as a striker but as a defender....................

Not intended to Tony, just saying he's offering little for the team doesn't have anything in his locker even though he may look the part.

[tomphil]

Mowbray's obsession with getting Samuel on somewhere nearly every game is grating now. Whatever he's trying to get from him just isn't working, he's dropped players for less.  Must be a good lad on the training ground or something