ROVERS v Brentford

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

For the first time in nearly a decade it feels good to be a Rovers fan again.There is a growing belief with this side and Manager.

Feels good,something down Ewood way is stirring again.....

[afootballfan]

Good win after a nothing game. We had 2 shots, hope we get another option up top.

[RevidgeBlue]

  On 25/08/2018 at 17:22, Ossydave said:

Any game can go either way, it was like they were an amazing team though the way people were speaking. They're not, no team in this league is, we should fear absolutely nobody and approach every single game with a positive approach, Tony also agrees ?

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I thought that last time we were in the Championship really. Never saw more than one or two outstanding sides over several seasons. Ironically Brentford under Warburton looked as good as anyone giving us a footballing lesson when Bowyer was here. You could also argue There's a lot of mediocrity in the lower reaches of the Premier League as well.

Bit early to be getting too carried away, if We're still in 5th or 6th at Christmas I might have a different view. These early points we are accumuting are absolute gold dust though whether we hit a lean spell and fall away a bit or keep it going and covet ambitions of sneaking into the playoffs towards the end of the Sea so.

[RevidgeBlue]

  On 25/08/2018 at 17:25, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

For the first time in nearly a decade it feels good to be a Rovers fan again.There is a growing belief with this side and Manager.

Feels good,something down Ewood way is stirring again.....

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Thought it felt pretty good for most of last season to be fair.

[OJRovers]

Great win, ground out with the available limited resources we have. Massive credit to Mowbray for getting the tactics spot on. 

Evans has been reborn as Javier Mascerano, fantastic again.

Bennett is turning into Mr Blackburn Rovers, what an attitude and commitment level. Used really well in an advanced position to unsettle their defence when trying to play out from the back.

Add back our creative players and a couple of signings and we can seriously think about top half in this league, maybe higher.

[Stuart]

  On 25/08/2018 at 17:18, RevidgeBlue said:

Was a game that could have gone either way wouldn't you say? They smacked the crossbar from close range 1st half, Raya made two great saves second half and the woodwork came to our aid again whereas we only had one serious effort on goal and scored from it.

But who cares as we battled superbly.

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You’re right, rev. It’s not a game to be smug after and for people to score points is a bit cheap. It was a very finely balanced match and we edged it. This was largely because of how we started the second half after an extremely boring first half.

Mowbray got his tactics right today but I was minded towards the end of the match of Hurst’s comments when we drew with Ipswich about our ‘game management’. Today we got it right. On another given day we could have finished 1-1 and disappointment.

The team spirit is about as good as I can remember - probably going back to Mark Hughes’ time with us. We had far better players then though and we punched above our weight as a top half PL side. Mowbray has this side punching above its weight right now in this division.

We are the embodiment of Bennett at the minute. If we can impose Dack and Rothwell onto that match ethos we could have a decent season.

Our Achilles heel however is that we are not quick. Against teams that are we are going to be playing very deep for much of the game and trying to gain yardage from midfield. This will stretch the game and we will need Evans to continue his fine form and Bennett his energy levels. Not sure if he has been approached yet but there is a ‘danger’ that he gets a new contract in January. This could perversely lead to a drop in his work ethic. He needs to be hungry. Right now that is translating into some excellent performances.

With a depleted team, we have got 4 very well deserved but hard fought points out of 6. Long may it continue.

[RovingRover]

Those saves by Raya!  

[Mattyblue]

  On 25/08/2018 at 16:14, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

It's not good,we have to hope that the folk of Blackburn take notice.

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We need to remember what damage the Coyle debacle did. We lost 3,000 season ticket holders in one summer on the back of his appointment - meaning a standard crowd with a low away support was just passing 10,000.

That standard crowd is now 12,000, not brilliant but it’s 2k up, perhaps it would have been more without a 17% hike in prices. 

This team derserves more undoubtably, but we need to remember how low our base was after McDonut and how it is so easy to lose fans but how bloody hard it is to get them back.

Edited August 25, 2018 by Mattyblue

[Paul]

  On 25/08/2018 at 17:25, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

For the first time in nearly a decade it feels good to be a Rovers fan again.There is a growing belief with this side and Manager.

Feels good,something down Ewood way is stirring again.....

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Personally I had a great time last season........

[SAMCRO]

Just had a look on the brentford forums. Saw a couple of comments like "Imagine watching Blackburn every week.." and "Blackburn Parked the bus".
 

Can't disagree more, everyone is giving their all. If crunching tackles, high pressing and closing down quickly is ugly, well then I love ugly. 

 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

  On 25/08/2018 at 17:50, Mattyblue said:

We need to remember what damage the Coyle debacle did. We lost 3,000 season ticket holders in one summer on the back of his appointment - meaning a standard crowd with a low away support was just passing 10,000.

That standard crowd is now 12,000, not brilliant but it’s 2k up, perhaps it would have been more without a 17% hike in prices. 

This team derserves more undoubtably, but we need to remember how low our base was after McDonut and how it is so easy to lose fans but how bloody hard it is to get them back.

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Agree with every point you make but we must and can do better..Ewood looks lost with just 11,000 home fans on.

[JacknOry]

  On 25/08/2018 at 16:10, Ossydave said:

I don't get it? I thought Brentford were aka as Brazil according to the doubters on here?

Once again made to look very silly ?

Start believing in what Tony has built you fools! 

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Not biting.

[Mattyblue]

  On 25/08/2018 at 17:59, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Agree with every point you make but we must and can do better..Ewood looks lost with just 11,000 home fans on.

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No arguments there!

[Paul Mellelieu]

My wife asked me if it was friendly game as we surveyed the crowd today, but with August holidays out of the way and most opposition teams bringing a couple of thousand fans, maybe attendances will creep upwards.

That first save from Raya though....

A team as committed as I've seen in blue and white halves.  When you can't play well, play hard.

[West Yorks Rover]

  On 25/08/2018 at 17:56, SAMCRO said:

Just had a look on the brentford forums. Saw a couple of comments like "Imagine watching Blackburn every week.." and "Blackburn Parked the bus".
 

Can't disagree more, everyone is giving their all. If crunching tackles, high pressing and closing down quickly is ugly, well then I love ugly. 

 

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Their manager was complaining about the pitch too, quote :- " they'll be bringing the horses out to graze on that later"

I assume he was intimating we left the grass long to slow the game down, that Tony Mowbray eh ! he's streetwise alright.

[blueboy3333]

I thought Mowbray was very honest in his appraisal after the game. He basically said Brentford had better players and that we were a work in progress as he tries to build the club. I thought those comments were spot on. It was very much a backs-to-the-wall containing job for most of the game, which we did superbly, and on the odd occasion they got a shot off Raya was like Superman. Two immense saves.

We played like the away side today, probably out of necessity. Brentford would have cut us open at will if we'd played any other way. As Mowbray pointed out  they can go through teams at will. We were impressively solid. The back four were excellent and I thought that was Bell's best game for us. He looked a very composed, solid defender today.

Rothwell again impressed with the ball at his feet and that pass to Bennett in the lead up to the goal was sensational. There's a bit of the young David Dunn's about him the way he can use both feet and keep the ball in tight situations. 

Evans was brilliant again. He was everywhere ratting for the ball and his anticipation is excellent, he's constantly nicking the ball off the oppo's toes.

Smallwood was a lot better today and the game suited him more. He wasn't expected to make passes or start attacks, he just kept the shape and put his foot in. 

Bennett - what can you say? Another amazing performance. Another assist (one in the eye for the haters) but the way he tackled and harried and won the ball was incredible. He must have four lungs.

Nuttall - He looked better with Graham alongside him the other night but he doesn't look Championship quality as a lone front man. We improved when Graham came on because he knows how to win headers, hold the ball up and win fouls. 

Quality finish from Palmer and he had a few good touches but perhaps not a game for the flair players today. Great finish though. Conway loked fitter today and I thought he put a good shift in. Same with Travis, but he really needs to go on loan. 

Hats off to Mogga. It's a long time since we've seen a team that works as hard as that. It's even more evident than last season. The work rate is phenomenal and is always much higher than the team we are playing.

Brentford were very good and against a team that didn't work as hard as ours they could have had a few. Some very talented players in their team. 

All in all though a brilliant win. 

 

 

[Pedro]

  On 25/08/2018 at 17:56, SAMCRO said:

Just had a look on the brentford forums. Saw a couple of comments like "Imagine watching Blackburn every week.." and "Blackburn Parked the bus".
 

Can't disagree more, everyone is giving their all. If crunching tackles, high pressing and closing down quickly is ugly, well then I love ugly. 

 

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Parked the bus? They have their heads clean up their arses. 2nd half we won far more of the ball in midfield and pushed them towards their own goal...all that with two up top right to the end. Knobs. 

[JacknOry]

Imperative we strengthen in the next week. Need to build on this as the fabulous work ethic, never-say-die attitude and confidence that the squad has might just give us our best shot at a playoffs push we have had since coming down from the PL. Getting ahead of myself I know but if we can navigate the next few difficult games and somehow get some decent points on the board and bring int he players needed, you just never know.

 

[islander200]

We will have a 13 day break after Bristol next Sunday due to the internationals will give us a bit of time to get Dack and Armstrong back fighting fit, will also give any signing we make a couple of weeks to bed in and learn what we are about.

[Mattyblue]

Tidy enough side Brentford and our relentless attitude out of possession may have subdued them, but I’m not sure they are this good, Mowbray quote: 

‘The manner of it - playing against a really good football team. A team that I'm pretty sure will finish in the top six, if not in the top two, come the end of the season. ‘

Edited August 25, 2018 by Mattyblue

[blueboy3333]

  On 25/08/2018 at 18:18, Pedro said:

Parked the bus? They have their heads clean up their arses. 2nd half we won far more of the ball in midfield and pushed them towards their own goal...all that with two up top right to the end. Knobs. 

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Saw this post on their forum:-

"Blackburn did a proper number on us, we had no space to create anything".

I think that sums up todays match perfectly.

[chaddyrovers]

Very good win against a very good team who I expect to be challenging for top6/2. 

Today victory was down to work rate, defensive shape, hard work and us playing a counter attack gameplan. No way could we been open and attacking cos Brentford would have rip us apart. 

I thought Bennett was outstanding. His work rate, closing down, tackling and commitment shows why he is Mr. Blackburn Rovers. Represented the Club badge 100%

Also thought Bell, Lenihan, Rothwell and Evans all had good games. I was disappointed by Palmer and Nuttall performances as I felt their work rate and closing down wasn't good enough for me. We didn't play to Nuttall's strengths but still expect his work rate to be better. 

Special mention to Raya who made 2 great saves and kept us in the game. 

But if we can keep this form up and get a couple of signings in this week we could challenge for top 6 possibly but that's not main target for the season. Mid table for me. I stand by my prediction of 14th at this stage. if we are top 10 by Christmas then no reason we can't challenge for top 6 then

[had.e.nuff]

Great win i cant beleive the work rate of every player cant remember the last time we had a team that worked that hard, only bad point today was when coming off after the final whistle my grandaughter wanted to know why they wernt playing her favorite song like they usually do when we win. (black eyed peas and tonight going to be a good night.)

[blueboy3333]

http://www.skysports.com/football/blackburn-vs-brentford/392592

Highlights.

[Madon]

What a bloody good afternoon! 3 points in the bag and won £555 on the half-time lottery! ???