Millwall

[Bepeja43]

Just now, Hasta said:

I think we've should establish ourselves in this league. You think we should just survive,

Each to their own.

 

Baby steps.. Slowly slowly.

[Hasta]

2 minutes ago, Bepeja43 said:

Baby steps.. Slowly slowly.

Think big.

[Blueandwhitemike]

 

I  get the impression TM was hoping for a top half, possibly a playoff push going off who he wanted to sign, with the right loans it might still be possible.

[FGS5635]

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.”

[Vinjay]

4 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Disappointing looking crowd. What is it, around 10,000?  Noticed some of the players looking around and saying things to each other coming out of the tunnel. They probably expected more fans 

Evans was probably complaining about any fans being there at all. 13,000 + (No more than 1000 for opposition surely?)

[RevidgeBlue]

8 minutes ago, Bepeja43 said:

Baby steps.. Slowly slowly.

If we all thought like that we'd be dead before we achieve anything. I think we should be aiming for a season where we rarely have to look over our shoulders as a minimum.

[Vinjay]

17 minutes ago, Hasta said:

I think we should establish ourselves in this league. You think we should just survive,

Each to their own.

 

Most people put it down to a bad manager though it didn't help selling your 2 established centre backs in pre-season even if one was a prat. Why shouldn't the club aim for midtable I don't see it as unattainable. I'm not quite certain about playoff pushes, etc but I don't think some of these players need to "reestablish themselves". Mulgrew, Lenihan, Graham the obvious examples and most people probably see Dack as a competent Championship player. Raya was voted GK of the year no reason he can't do alright at this level. I have doubts about Mowbray and certainly some questions just haven't been answered yet. Still I believe he can take Rovers to a midtable finish this season even if it's 16,17th rather than top half. I want to think bigger than that and contemplate playoffs this season but you have to believe people are capable of it. Some of the squad might be but some aren't.

So not exactly reaching for the stars but mostly keeping clear of the relegation zone without much trouble. Beyond that is up to Mowbray and certainly the owners have to provide the needed backing. That's far from certain. I don't think it's fair to demand a playoff finish this season anyway. If the season is relatively secure then next summer is key to direction really. If things don't move on then (or the club gets sucked back into a serious relegation battle) that will be the major concern.

Edited August 11, 2018 by Vinjay17

[aletheia]

‘Happy’ to survive this season? Yes. That is, I would take it now.

‘Happy ‘–well not exactly – I would be ‘happy’ to get rid of the Venkys, have new sheikh owners who are billionaires and love football/Rovers/Blackburn community and put in millions in players/infrastructure and help us get promoted.

Obviously, you aim as high as you can but realistically? Survival followed by consolidation .

[Bepeja43]

19 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

If we all thought like that we'd be dead before we achieve anything. I think we should be aiming for a season where we rarely have to look over our shoulders as a minimum.

Its a tough championship this year to be expecting that.

 

We've just played two of what you'd expect will be the lesser teams, and been well matched. Against sides you'd think will be top half, it will be very tough.

Edited August 11, 2018 by Bepeja43

[FGS5635]

This team is good enough to win games with plan A.

But when it isnt we dont have different types of players to have a plan B.

Every sub is kinda like for like

[Waggy76]

What was the attendance ?

 

[Blue blood]

Bit torn as to what I thought of the game. I swing between feeling we've a good team who should be comfortable and that we're really going to struggle.

I think we'll do well as even with not turning up for 40+ minutes we really should have comfortably won and dominated the second half. Even in an appalling first half we hit the bar, forced a great save and could have nicked it.

I think we'll do badly as there's a few clear holes in the squad, Millwall should have had a few goals in an appalling first half performance and even though we were the better team in a game again we still couldn't convert it into a win.

My conclusion is it could totally go either way. TM has a team that could comfortably avoid relegation but if we aren't on top of our game we could have a lot of problems. The quality is there but then so is the very real risk of relegation.

A few squad observations.

Bennett is wasted on the left as he always has to cut inside and looks very uncomfortable on the left. A left footed proper winger/wide player is needed for balance.

Palmer great talent, terrible show boat and decision maker. Oozes talent but isn't quite as good as he thinks he is. If he can keep it more simple and improve his decision making he will have a fantastic season and be a great asset. If he doesn't, despite his ability, he'll be a waste of space.

Bell was an improvement on Williams Imo.

Rothwell looked lively when he came on.

Overall I'm sure I'll continue to flip between this being an ok point and 2 dropped. We have the team to do be confortable but if we don't get more ruthless it will be a long hard season.

[davulsukur]

23 minutes ago, Vinjay17 said:

Most people put it down to a bad manager though it didn't help selling your 2 established centre backs in pre-season even if one was a prat. Why shouldn't the club aim for midtable I don't see it as unattainable. I'm not quite certain about playoff pushes, etc but I don't think some of these players need to "reestablish themselves". Mulgrew, Lenihan, Graham the obvious examples and most people probably see Dack as a competent Championship player. Raya was voted GK of the year no reason he can't do alright at this level. I have doubts about Mowbray and certainly some questions just haven't been answered yet. Still I believe he can take Rovers to a midtable finish this season even if it's 16,17th rather than top half. I want to think bigger than that and contemplate playoffs this season but you have to believe people are capable of it. Some of the squad might be but some aren't.

So not exactly reaching for the stars but mostly keeping clear of the relegation zone without much trouble. Beyond that is up to Mowbray and certainly the owners have to provide the needed backing. That's far from certain. I don't think it's fair to demand a playoff finish this season anyway. If the season is relatively secure then next summer is key to direction really. If things don't move on then (or the club gets sucked back into a serious relegation battle) that will be the major concern.

Probably the best post you’ve ever written.

[chaddyrovers]

disappointed to not win today. 

Felt we played well and excellent in parts. 

Millwall had 2 chances and hit the post with both. But after that I felt they didn't threaten much. very strong physical side

I felt it took us time to settle into the game. Our first 10 mins we weren't at the races. 

Graham had 2 great chances and he should have scored 1 out of 2 chances. 

Palmer was very decent. Talent is there but match fitness is. Some good touches and movement. Rothwell was good. good touch, movement, tricky and He had a great sun, tricky and shot. I thought it was in. 

Bennett was my man of the match. His work rate, closing down, tackling and energy. 

Plenty of positives today. Deffo don't feel we will be involved fighting relegation at all, I don't understand why anyone think that either

 

Edited August 11, 2018 by chaddyrovers

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Bepeja43 said:

They arent there to be creative. Our front 4 are.

Then why is bennett playing there? Dack can only do so much when our CM’s dont possess the quality to actually get the ball to him.

[Bepeja43]

Just now, Mellor Rover said:

Then why is bennett playing there? Dack can only do so much when our CM’s dont possess the quality to actually get the ball to him.

Bennett played in the 2 in the middle?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Bepeja43 said:

Bennett played in the 2 in the middle?

For 5 minutes he did, he played left wing for 70 minutes.

[AAK]

28 minutes ago, Waggy76 said:

What was the attendance ?

 

Just over 13,200 (800 from Millwall,) 

Edited August 11, 2018 by AAK

[Tom]

21 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

Plenty of positives today. Deffo don't feel we wont be fighting relegation at all, I don't understand why anyone think that either

 

Crikey it’s worrying when Chaddy expects us to be in a relegation battle....

[roversfan99]

18 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

disappointed to not win today. 

Felt we played well and excellent in parts. 

Millwall had 2 chances and hit the post with both. But after that I felt they didn't threaten much. very strong physical side

I felt it took us time to settle into the game. Our first 10 mins we weren't at the races. 

Graham had 2 great chances and he should have scored 1 out of 2 chances. 

Palmer was very decent. Talent is there but match fitness is. Some good touches and movement. Rothwell was good. good touch, movement, tricky and He had a great sun, tricky and shot. I thought it was in. 

Bennett was my man of the match. His work rate, closing down, tackling and energy. 

Plenty of positives today. Deffo don't feel we wont be fighting relegation at all, I don't understand why anyone think that either

 

Agree with some of that but few questions:

Do you think Bennett needs to do more going forward? Won it back loads but his crossing was dreadful. And that maybe he would be better in the centre over Smallwood, who was really poor?

Do you think that Palmer looked out of position on the wing? And took far too many risks?

Do you not think that we were very poor for more than just 10 minutes, more so the first 44? 

Do you not think excellent is an exaggeration?

Agree that Graham should have scored, that we started slowly and that Rothwell was a bright spark.

[Bepeja43]

38 minutes ago, Mellor Rover said:

For 5 minutes he did, he played left wing for 70 minutes.

Point being, in our set up, the two in the middle are defensive midfielders. TM will never play a creative player in that role, so you may as well accept it. We played that way all last season, so thought you'd be used to it by now.

[bluebruce]

1 hour ago, FGS5635 said:

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.”

Actually, you'll drift aimlessly for a century (best case scenario using currently untested tech) in the desolate abyss of space, until eventually your cold corpse possibly reaches the nearest star.

Hopefully not an exact analogy for our fate.

Edited August 11, 2018 by bluebruce

[islander200]

3 minutes ago, Bepeja43 said:

Point being, in our set up, the two in the middle are defensive midfielders. TM will never play a creative player in that role, so you may as well accept it. We played that way all last season, so thought you'd be used to it by now.

Maybe that's because he hasn't found the right player within our budget to play that Role.

I mean he brought Whittingham in last season to presumably play deep lying playmaker

[bigbrandjohn]

Well, a team with three of our favorites lost 3-4 at home and two of them scored?.Funny old game. 

[AAK]

We have a relatively easy start this year. Ipswich, Millwall, Hull and Reading, four sides who will all struggle, but so far have taken two points. After that we've got Brentford who are capable, but again winnable. September though villa, Derby, Stoke and forest. If we don't pick up wins soon, then come October we will be bottom 3.