READING

[Mattyblue]

6 minutes ago, AAK said:

Yes would have thought so mate. Maybe 2k at Wigan not much more. Bolton away on telly also, but with it being a tea time saturday and not having played there for about 3 years, probably sell out.

Not sure myself. I imagine tickets will be £30-ish, Rovers fans just don't pay those prices in big numbers, especially for TV games.

Edited August 23, 2018 by Mattyblue

[BlackburnEnd75]

Some thoughts:

I've been a massive critic of Evans for the last few years but yesterday I thought he was outstanding, maybe the best i've seen him. The drive of him, Rothwell and Bennett really picked up the players around them  and nearly drove us to a win from 2-0 down.

Rothwell was a signing I couldn't quite understand, didn't see where he would fit in. But last night he put a real marker down. Technically he looks very good, can dribble can pass, looks two footed, has a decent shot on him. He struggled to get involved in  a lot of the first half, But what impressed me more was his drive in the second half. Always showed for the ball and looking forward with his passing. He kept running, closing them down, put in a couple of crunching tackles too. He's a nailed on starter for saturday after that.

Not seen that many people talk about Bennett so I thought i'd give him a lot of credit for the comeback. He was everywhere in the second half, drove the team forward and won the penalty without which I don't think we woul've got anything from this. He would've been my man of the match.

Opinion - Bennett in Cm last night was more effective than Smallwood has ever been for us. Smallwood looks like he's about to be out of the starting 11 for the foreseeable future. Whether the pressure of us getting in players to compete with him has unsettled him, or more likely that he just can't do it at this level. He seems too off the pace for me, can't impact games. His composure is not existent at the moment. His performances second half of the season last year definitely declined as the year went on but i've defended him on here as I thought some criticism has been a tad harsh but I think Bennett offers us a lot more in cm playing next to Evans.

I much prefer Bell to Williams.

Lenihan had a poor game last night.

Nuttall is more useful than Samuel but he needs to go on loan to League 1.

Conway is completely finished imo.

Nyambe keeps improving, he needs to learn how to cross though it would really help his game.

Could do with Dack, Armstrong and Palmer all being fit for Saturday

 

[JacknOry]

5 minutes ago, BlackburnEnd75 said:

Some thoughts:

I've been a massive critic of Evans for the last few years but yesterday I thought he was outstanding, maybe the best i've seen him. The drive of him, Rothwell and Bennett really picked up the players around them  and nearly drove us to a win from 2-0 down.

Rothwell was a signing I couldn't quite understand, didn't see where he would fit in. But last night he put a real marker down. Technically he looks very good, can dribble can pass, looks two footed, has a decent shot on him. He struggled to get involved in  a lot of the first half, But what impressed me more was his drive in the second half. Always showed for the ball and looking forward with his passing. He kept running, closing them down, put in a couple of crunching tackles too. He's a nailed on starter for saturday after that.

Not seen that many people talk about Bennett so I thought i'd give him a lot of credit for the comeback. He was everywhere in the second half, drove the team forward and won the penalty without which I don't think we woul've got anything from this. He would've been my man of the match.

Opinion - Bennett in Cm last night was more effective than Smallwood has ever been for us. Smallwood looks like he's about to be out of the starting 11 for the foreseeable future. Whether the pressure of us getting in players to compete with him has unsettled him, or more likely that he just can't do it at this level. He seems too off the pace for me, can't impact games. His composure is not existent at the moment. His performances second half of the season last year definitely declined as the year went on but i've defended him on here as I thought some criticism has been a tad harsh but I think Bennett offers us a lot more in cm playing next to Evans.

I much prefer Bell to Williams.

Lenihan had a poor game last night.

Nuttall is more useful than Samuel but he needs to go on loan to League 1.

Conway is completely finished imo.

Nyambe keeps improving, he needs to learn how to cross though it would really help his game.

Could do with Dack, Armstrong and Palmer all being fit for Saturday 

 

Abso-bloody-lutely

[old darwen blue]

I’m sure Evans has only upped his game lately to get a new contract. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

4 minutes ago, old darwen blue said:

I’m sure Evans has only upped his game lately to get a new contract. 

Or maybe it's because he has kept injury free for a good while. Ultimately, does it matter? 

[old darwen blue]

Oh you mean the injuries he had which mysteriously cleared up when he played for Northern Ireland?

Dont get me wrong, I’m not bashing him but if he gets a new contract  (which I think he should) then it should be a short term one. 

[old darwen blue]

And.......

 

The 28-year-old has been included in Michael O'Neill's squad for the clashes against Bosnia & Herzegovina and then Israel.

Both games will be played in Belfast, with Bosnia visiting the Northern Ireland capital on Saturday 8th September prior to Israel's trip to the capital three days later.

A regular for O’Neill’s side, Evans will be hoping to earn his 48th and 49th caps for his country over that week.

The midfielder has had an excellent start to the campaign for Rovers, playing in every minute of every league game so far and weighing in with a number of impressive displays in the middle of the park.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Clement didn't think the 2nd one was a penalty, ha ha, managers are hilarious

 

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/16594853.reading-boss-unhappy-with-award-of-second-rovers-penalty/?ref=mac 

[JacknOry]

5 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Clement didn't think the 2nd one was a penalty, ha ha, managers are hilarious

 

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/16594853.reading-boss-unhappy-with-award-of-second-rovers-penalty/?ref=mac 

Even the river I was watching which was obviously two Reading fans admitted that both were stone-wall pens. They were actually quite balanced and quite complimentary about us apart from one having a dig at our attendance being very low for a team just promoted from League 1 - ironic considering they only brought 200.

[Mattyblue]

14 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

Even the river I was watching which was obviously two Reading fans admitted that both were stone-wall pens. They were actually quite balanced and quite complimentary about us apart from one having a dig at our attendance being very low for a team just promoted from League 1 - ironic considering they only brought 200.

Plus, they get similar home crowds, even though they are the only club in Berkshire - population 1 million.

[barry_]

1 hour ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Or maybe it's because he has kept injury free for a good while. Ultimately, does it matter? 

Yes!! it mattets

Someone who has put minimal effort in suddenly ups his game because he's out of contract, soon.

All that will happen is, he'll achieve his aim and then slip back to coasting through game (he's already given us a glimpse of the disdain that players feel towards 'us'

[Bigdoggsteel]

22 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

Even the river I was watching which was obviously two Reading fans admitted that both were stone-wall pens. They were actually quite balanced and quite complimentary about us apart from one having a dig at our attendance being very low for a team just promoted from League 1 - ironic considering they only brought 200.

They were absolute stone wall.

The attendance did look poor but what can be done. Has a team ever reduced the size of their stadium? Ewood is too big for what the club needs 

 

[Bigdoggsteel]

1 minute ago, barry_ said:

Yes!! it mattets

Someone who has put minimal effort in suddenly ups his game because he's out of contract, soon.

All that will happen is, he'll achieve his aim and then slip back to coasting through game (he's already given us a glimpse of the disdain that players feel towards 'us'

It matters if true. No proof that is the case. Hence I meant it ultimately doesn't matter as we can debate whether he is playing better for a contract or because of some other factor such as playing under Mowbray or just being fit. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is that he keeps it up

[Mattyblue]

41 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

They were absolute stone wall.

The attendance did look poor but what can be done. Has a team ever reduced the size of their stadium? Ewood is too big for what the club needs 

 

Always was, even in our heyday we rarely sold it out.

For a club based in a town with the size and demographics of Blackburn, surrounded by other clubs, a ground of 25,000 would easily suffice. 

 

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Always was, even in our heyday we rarely sold it out.

For a club based in a town with the size and demographics of Blackburn, surrounded by other clubs, a ground of 25,000 would easily suffice. 

 

I would say 20,000 would be fine, maybe even 18,000 

[Mattyblue]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

I would say 20,000 would be fine, maybe even 18,000 

For the present club easily. Though Burnley have proved that crowds double overnight with a promotion to the PL. 

If we were moving to a new ground, an 18-20,000 ground, expandable if required, would be the way forward.

[JHRover]

Realistically apart from Brentford and QPR the same applies to everyone else at this level who all have plenty of empty seats every week.

Our ground, like most others, was built with Premier League football in mind, and so unless we are in the Premier League it will have a lot of empty seats.

I was actually surprised by the attendance last night. Given there were '200' Reading fans (appeared to be less than that) I thought the home ends looked reasonably well populated for a Wednesday night game against Reading. The BBE and Riverside looked as busy as they usually do on Saturdays.

[tomphil]

3 hours ago, old darwen blue said:

And.......

 

The 28-year-old has been included in Michael O'Neill's squad for the clashes against Bosnia & Herzegovina and then Israel.

Both games will be played in Belfast, with Bosnia visiting the Northern Ireland capital on Saturday 8th September prior to Israel's trip to the capital three days later.

A regular for O’Neill’s side, Evans will be hoping to earn his 48th and 49th caps for his country over that week.

The midfielder has had an excellent start to the campaign for Rovers, playing in every minute of every league game so far and weighing in with a number of impressive displays in the middle of the park.

Be interesting to see how he's handled just before and after that, rested would be my guess based on previous 'management' of Evans.

[yeti-dog]

Random thoughts on the game:

I'm not Evan's biggest fan but thought he had a good game last night, can't say the same for Smallwood unfortunately.

Like someone else said, I prefer Bell to Williams.

Can't believe we gifted them those 2 goals (Raya what were you doing?) - overall Reading were really poor.

Rothwell deserves to start at the weekend.

Nyambe was solid

Armstrong looked very dangerous before his injury.

Bennett grew into the game.

We need reinforcements pronto...

[SBlue]

Agree with most of that @yeti-dog but surely the blame for the first goal has to lie with Lenihan - no way Raya can do much with that awful header back.

[yeti-dog]

Fair point ..Lenihan absolutely did him no favours. I just think if he'd reacted straightaway rather than hesitating he might have saved it.

[philipl]

3 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Always was, even in our heyday we rarely sold it out.

For a club based in a town with the size and demographics of Blackburn, surrounded by other clubs, a ground of 25,000 would easily suffice. 

 

 

So you would happily volunteer not to have  gone to the Oxford game three months ago?

You win the prize for the daftest post on this thread...

[Mattyblue]

21 minutes ago, philipl said:

 

 

So you would happily volunteer not to have  gone to the Oxford game three months ago?

You win the prize for the daftest post on this thread...

Sorry?

A one off game with cheap tickets (still not sold out mind) celebrating promotion does not mean we need a ground of 31,000 when we’ve had thousands of empty seats most weeks for twenty years.

25,000 would be plenty as it would still mean 22/23,000 home seats, if required - how many occasions since the ground was built have we needed more? Seems an eminently sensible post to me.

Edited August 23, 2018 by Mattyblue

[philipl]

10 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Sorry?

A one off game with cheap tickets (still not sold out mind) celebrating promotion does not mean we need a ground of 31,000 when we’ve had thousands of empty seats most weeks for twenty years.

25,000 would be plenty as it would still mean 22/23,000 home seats, if required - how many occasions since the ground was built have we needed more? Seems an eminently sensible post to me.

Rovers  average gate nine years ago was 26,200.

As I say it is only sensible if you are personally volunteering not to go to large attended games yourself.

Otherwise it is the height of hypocrisy.

[blueboy3333]

30 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

Agree with most of that @yeti-dog but surely the blame for the first goal has to lie with Lenihan - no way Raya can do much with that awful header back.

Even after Lenihan headed it back Raya was still backtracking. He only started to go for it when it was too late. By that time he should have stayed protecting his goal. He made it easy for the striker. It was a pathetic attempt to get the ball too. He just stuck his hand out. Shite header mind.