Ben Brereton Diaz

[JohnGo]

BB off done a shift for the team come home Ben

[AspRover]

subbed off - a decent but not world beating showing, good assist, still clearly not quite on the same wavelength as the rest of the team - I'd say a six or seven out of ten which doesn't sound great until you remember the level he is playing at, at which point this all seems like a bizarre fever dream.

[LDRover]

Played decently and certainly worked hard. Wasn't helped by Chile dropping deep after 60 minutes and losing their ambition.

[rigger]

24 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

Very strange - does he not need it for the second half like?

 

They must have two shirts each.

[rigger]

1 minute ago, LDRover said:

Played decently and certainly worked hard. Wasn't helped by Chile dropping deep after 60 minutes and losing their ambition.

He wasn't helped by what looked like, his team-mates not wanting to pass to him. 

[simongarnerisgod]

12 minutes ago, rigger said:

He wasn't helped by what looked like, his team-mates not wanting to pass to him. 

my thoughts to,he ran into some good positions but they seemed to ignore him,maybe they don`t like outsiders in chile

[bluebruce]

8 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

my thoughts to,he ran into some good positions but they seemed to ignore him,maybe they don`t like outsiders in chile

The fan reactions show that isn't an issue. Maybe it's more that his teammates don't like the attention being stolen from them.

Or maybe the players just need to get used to each other.

[DeeCee]

2 hours ago, bazza said:

And why has she not spoken Chilean Spanish to her son throughout his life?

Too much on her plate?

[Butty]

1 hour ago, JohnGo said:

Vidal is shit would sooner have Keith Andrews in midfield 

He’s long past his best Vidal but he has been a very good player, he was immense for Chile in the 2014 World Cup. 

[SBlue]

Maybe an unpopular opinion but I don’t think we’ve seen the best of Ben in the tournament yet.

Not driving with the ball as much, and had poor/no service for his runs. 

If he has a REAL good game (to the level he is capable of) they’ll end up electing him President.

 

[lraC]

No goal last night for Ben, but he played most of it and the game ended 1-1.

Edited June 22, 2021 by lraC

[Ossydave]

We need to sign Vargas to partner him up top next season. Despite the obvious language barrier they seem to be building a good understanding. Instead we'll have Sam bumbling about like a semi tranquilized pony.

 

[Waggy76]

2 hours ago, Ossydave said:

We need to sign Vargas to partner him up top next season. Despite the obvious language barrier they seem to be building a good understanding. Instead we'll have Sam bumbling about like a semi tranquilized pony.

 

We cant be doing that , signing players who actually compliment each other , could Vargas play right back one week and centre half the week after ???

[LeftWinger]

3 hours ago, Ossydave said:

 Instead we'll have Sam bumbling about like a semi tranquilized pony.

 

Sounds like an upgrade on the Gallagher we've seen since he re-signed.

[inflikted]

I feel like playing in CA alongside players like Vidal and Alexis Sanchez will have helped BB add a few extra elements to his game too. Sanchez probably speaks enough English to help translate for him so he's not completely in the cold, and learning the Latin American football style might really boost his game when he comes back. At least, until Mowbray chokes the life out of it.

In terms of learning Spanish, he might be able to get some help from Daniel Ayala (Spanish) and Louie Annesley (Gibraltarian, and people from there generally switch between English and Spanish in daily conversation).

Edited June 22, 2021 by inflikted

[roversfan99]

Just so people are aware, if they chose to criticise a player who seemed unfamiliar with a football pitch for 2 years, then they shouldnt be happy and praising that player now when he makes big strides of improvement. They must stick to that opinion and continue to berate.

Also, the myth that hes been getting such a hard time from the stands is rearing its ugly head again.

[TruRover]

What I will say about BB is that everyone in this message board at some point has had huge doubts about him and the fee we laid out for his services. However not once do I feel the fan base has turned on him and made him a scapegoat, he’s an extremely likeable figure who every fan has wanted to do well. 
 

At this point you wouldn’t even think the 6million we spent is unreasonable. His performances in the Copa America against big international teams have been very decent, seemingly making himself a key part of chiles squad and more importantly focal to their future. If all goes well he will end up being there main attacker at the World Cup if they qualify. His confidence looks sky high atm and I can’t wait to see him next season. We need to get him signed to a long term contract ASAP. 

On another note, this represents an extremely poor reflection on TM. He has failed to get these kind of performances from Ben regularly in 3 years. 

 

[Ewood Ace]

If Brereton does stay in the Chile team then he is going to be playing a lot of football next season. Chile have 12 world cup qualifiers still to play and they have to be played by the end of March. Then he could potentially have 2 more in June.

[Tom]

I had a similar comment in response to me about the ‘Rovers Boo Boys’ 

I said I thought the ewood fans had been patient with him to the extent he’s had quite an easy ride compared to Gallagher etc

I remember talk of people giving him grief at Birmingham away (people suggested he was in tears when he came off) but there’s barely been a peep of discontent at home if anything it leant into slightly patronising over praise for simple things.

[roversfan99]

36 minutes ago, TruRover said:

What I will say about BB is that everyone in this message board at some point has had huge doubts about him and the fee we laid out for his services. However not once do I feel the fan base has turned on him and made him a scapegoat, he’s an extremely likeable figure who every fan has wanted to do well. 
 

At this point you wouldn’t even think the 6million we spent is unreasonable. His performances in the Copa America against big international teams have been very decent, seemingly making himself a key part of chiles squad and more importantly focal to their future. If all goes well he will end up being there main attacker at the World Cup if they qualify. His confidence looks sky high atm and I can’t wait to see him next season. We need to get him signed to a long term contract ASAP. 

On another note, this represents an extremely poor reflection on TM. He has failed to get these kind of performances from Ben regularly in 3 years. 

 

Totally agree that he has never been made a scapegoat. He looked so out of his depth for 2 years, that criticism on here is par for the course, we come on here to praise good performers and criticise poor ones, somewhere where players dont (or shouldnt) see. But that never materialised into rounding up on him in stadiums as many would love us to believe.

There is no way that he is close to being value for 6m though yet. He had a decent season last season, 7 goals and 5 assists is plenty to build on and such an upgrade on previous seasons but not worth 6/7m.

It is easy to get caught up in Chile fever especially after his goal but that was against a Bolivia side ranked 81st in the world, below Panama, Syria and Oman. Lovely pass in the build up to Vargas' goal yesterday too to be fair against a good standard of team. But his Copa America exploits whilst of course we are happy to see him enjoying himself dont make much difference to his value.

[roversfan99]

4 minutes ago, Tom said:

I had a similar comment in response to me about the ‘Rovers Boo Boys’ 

I said I thought the ewood fans had been patient with him to the extent he’s had quite an easy ride compared to Gallagher etc

I remember talk of people giving him grief at Birmingham away (people suggested he was in tears when he came off) but there’s barely been a peep of discontent at home if anything it leant into slightly patronising over praise for simple things.

Has Gallagher even not had an "easy ride" to be fair. I do specifically recall a song of "why the fucks he on the wing?" but that was very much aimed at Mowbray.

[windymiller7]

To be honest, most of the criticism has been about the amount we paid for BB (and SG), something which the players themselves have zero control over. If we'd paid say £500k for a young, promising BB and £1m for SG, I don't think there'd have been half the amount of discussion around either player.

Yes, we've moaned about them on here, but generally in relation to the fee paid. I don't recall anyone getting personal about it. 

As for grief from the stands, I can only speak for home games, but as @Tom said, if anything we've tried to be over supportive as we'd all like nothing better than the pair of them to turn into world beaters. If that ever happened (extremely unlikely) then the only winners are Rovers which tends to makes us fans quite happy!

[Leonard Venkhater]

44 minutes ago, windymiller7 said:

To be honest, most of the criticism has been about the amount we paid for BB (and SG), something which the players themselves have zero control over. If we'd paid say £500k for a young, promising BB and £1m for SG, I don't think there'd have been half the amount of discussion around either player.

Yes, we've moaned about them on here, but generally in relation to the fee paid. I don't recall anyone getting personal about it. 

As for grief from the stands, I can only speak for home games, but as @Tom said, if anything we've tried to be over supportive as we'd all like nothing better than the pair of them to turn into world beaters. If that ever happened (extremely unlikely) then the only winners are Rovers which tends to makes us fans quite happy!

Both BB and SG have had a pretty easy ride. I agree that neither has control over their ridiculous fees.

Lets face facts, though. Both have been very poor for most games.

In a Rovers fan context , both are in a similar league to the likes of Paul McKinnon, John O'Mara, Kevin Davies, Jack Lewis and the fading John Radford..(Oh, there's such a long list!)

Obviously, that could change for both SG and BB....but it really does need to-and quickly!

Edited June 22, 2021 by Leonard Venkhater

[windymiller7]

31 minutes ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

Both BB and SG have had a pretty easy ride. I agree that neither has control over their ridiculous fees.

Lets face facts, though. Both have been very poor for most games.

In a Rovers fan context , both are in a similar league to the likes of Paul McKinnon, John O'Mara, Kevin Davies, Jack Lewis and the fading John Radford..(Oh, there's such a long list!)

Obviously, that could change for both SG and BB....but it really does need to-and quickly!

Oh, I totally agree. My comment was more in relation to those on FB/Twitter saying "we've" spent 2 years slagging BB off, which clearly isn't true. We've mainly spent 2 years slagging off Mowbray for spending £12m on him & Gally.

[LeftWinger]

49 minutes ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

In a Rovers fan context , both are in a similar league to the likes of Paul McKinnon, John O'Mara, Kevin Davies, Jack Lewis and the fading John Radford..(Oh, there's such a long list!)

And as it turned out, Kevin Davies could be alright if utilised the right way under a proper manager.

Makes you think about Gallagher and Brereton.