ROVERS v Sheff Utd

[Leonard Venkhater]

53 minutes ago, dallydally said:

No complaints. Totally outplayed in every department of the game

I guess it is a reality check. 2-0 flattered us big time .

It really frustrates me because we were played off the park...and not by Barcelona or even Crystal Palace, I hasten to add...

 

 

[blueboy3333]

36 minutes ago, Stuart said:

We were beaten by a better drilled, stronger, fitter side.

Pretty much sums it up.

They could also pass the ball 10 yards which always helps. We pass it like a Sunday League team. If we can't hoof it to Graham and pick up the knock downs we seriously don't seem to know how to attack. We are poorly coached in that area of the pitch.

[Exiled in Toronto]

I thought we looked terrible because we were thoroughly outplayed, not that we were thoroughly outplayed because we were terrible.

After we weathered the first half storm I thought we matched them much better till Williams dozed off and let Sharp get in front of him for the goal. 

Fair play to the Blades, it could’ve been 6.

Edited October 3, 2018 by Exiled in Toronto

[47er]

59 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

You can forget that, he's our player. We just start paying for him in the New Year.

Venkys wil be a little discouraged.

[JHRover]

No complaints about the result. Sheffield better than anyone else I've seen this season. Interesting part being that they were in League One just over a year ago and haven't spent big to get where they are. Mowbray has talked repeatedly about how much money Villa, Derby, Stoke and Forest have. He can't play that excuse tonight so the talk is about how they're a year ahead of us. I think our side cost more than Sheffield's. Wonder what the excuse will be ahead of Bolton. 

Frustrating that the seemingly inevitable breakthrough for them came out of minimal pressure and at a time we seemed to be getting a grip on the game but that's us all over - conceding when we're least expecting it.

They expertly saw the game through which is something else we need to learn  quickly rather than keep throwing points away from winning positions.

3 points needed Saturday or it's looking over the shoulder time.

[Angry_Pirate]

Yeeesh,

The biggest positive from that is that this is the first time in 25 home games we can discuss negative comments with just cause.

This team needs a shake up now. Rothwell, Rodwell, Travis need more minutes. We REALLY missed Nyambe as he's leaps ahead of Bennett as a right back. 

Thought we were better from 45-65mins but bar that it was very pedestrian. Dack was well off his game... and even though we aren't a 1 man team, it reflected the team.

Their 21 waltzed past 2 of our players on a counter for 0-1 when it was clear someone (Reed especially) should be taking a tactical yellow there. 

Brereton... why oh why do we agree on Loan-to-Buy players with no exit clause. He looks very very poor at this early stage.

Positives, Raya made some very good saves, Rothwell, Bell as a LWB, another game closer to a new cm.

I'll be putting £20 on a Leeds win, were bound to go from 25 unbeaten to 2 defeats in a row... it's the Blackburn way.

Edited October 3, 2018 by Angry_Pirate
Forget to say, hats of to Sheffield United, very impressed with all of their team. Best team we've seen home and away this season.

[jim mk2]

It's the small errors that kill you in the higher divisions. Williams going to sleep for their 2nd probably wouldn;'t have been punished last season but the better players in this league will exploit it. It's why the likes of Williams, Smallwood, Evans,  etc etc will ultimately have to be replaced if we're going to survive never mind do well  at this level

[arbitro]

The honeymoon period is well and truly over. The scoreline flattered us as Sheffield played around and through us for long periods. We were lethargic in and out of possession, we were taking two or three touches when one would have done and I lost count of the bad first touches almost every player had. Mowbray has been making lots of noise about the spirit and whilst it's an asset you need some quality to go with it. Sheffield had both in abundance and I don't think they'll get an easier three points.

I will be delighted when we get to fifty points.

[BlackburnEnd75]

Thoughts - Best team won tonight. Thought we were poor especially first half. Don’t think Mowbray got his team selection right 

Cant really understand why If Mulgrew was fit than why he didn’t start. That was a  mistake. Also Williams looked better at left back or left of a back 3 in the second half.

Bennett gave 100% as always but really struggled. He’s not a right back.

Evans looked jaded and didn’t impact the game much

Smallwood was poor, gave the ball away too much. Couldn’t really argue with being hooked at half time. 

Reed I really rate. I believe he’s our best centre mid. Covers ground well, is sharp to the loose ball, reads the game well, tidy in possession. He’s certainly not a winger and shouldn’t be wasted there.

Armstrong isn’t a winger. His movement is poor when he plays out wide whereas it’s much better when he plays through the middle. Looked sharp and tries but nothing came off for him. Didn’t get close enough to graham first half. 

Dack was poor today. Couldn’t get him in the game 1st and blowing out his arse anonymous 2nd half.

Raya did well

Graham wasn’t great, isolated too often. Knocking random long balls down to nobody.

Rothwell should start at Bolton. He committed people and played with urgency.

[Leonard Venkhater]

Just now, arbitro said:

The honeymoon period is well and truly over. The scoreline flattered us as Sheffield played around and through us for long periods. We were lethargic in and out of possession, we were taking two or three touches when one would have done and I lost count of the bad first touches almost every player had. Mowbray has been making lots of noise about the spirit and whilst it's an asset you need some quality to go with it. Sheffield had both in abundance and I don't think they'll get an easier three points.

I will be delighted when we get to fifty points.

Sheffield won't get an easier game all season...

[Waggy76]

47 minutes ago, Stuart said:

Someone will be looking over the small print.

He looks like a player weighed down by expectation at the minute. I don’t think being an impact sub suits him as he is immediately under pressure. He needs a few goes at starting and being allowed to feel his way into a game. He doesn’t seem particularly quick or strong and a point blank header today’s didn’t even force a save from the keeper. It came at him quickly but this is what £6m or £7m brings with it. You need to be better than average.

I couldn’t see a goal coming from anywhere tonight and Armstrong looks to be struggling too.

The big disappointment tonight was Dack. I’d hate to call us a one man team but when Dack doesnt perform we look like a team with plenty of effort but no end product. Rothwell is about the next best option and Mowbray won’t play him.

Labore et Labore.

We were beaten by a better drilled, stronger, fitter side.

 

Your last sentence sums it all up for me , we were like little lads ... Sheffield were a very big strong team , very well drilled defensively ....

Rovers are a small team and there is  a distinct lack of physicality in the team...

 

[RevidgeBlue]

1 hour ago, islander200 said:

We CAN'T cancel the Brereton deal as has been said on here numerous times. 

Agree on the witch hunt, yeah he hasn't been good but to be fair best striker in the world would have struggled tonight with the piss poor service

It sounds like get at Tony night but imo the way he is currently handling Brereton is bound to be sapping his confidence. For a Club the size of ours if we spend £7m on a player he should be straight into the team in his normal position and should be an automatic selection unless and until he's proven after a decent run of games he's not up to it.

It's no use sticking him on the bench and giving him the odd cameo role for 20 minutes out of position on the wing or only bringing him on when something happens to Graham which again is going to do nothing whatsoever to boost his confidence.

[blueboy3333]

Armstrong is a lazy little tosser who got absolutely bollocked by Mulgrew 2nd half for not running in behind. He needs dropping. Not a winger. Not his fault, Mowbray is a tactical  minnow when it comes to attacking the opposition. 

Graham looked knackered and was well marshalled by some strong quick defenders. 

We looked very very average and it all stems from the fact Mowbray can't do attacking. How many crosses did we put in? Very few. How many did they Sheff Utd in? Bloody loads.

Reed looked out of position and slow out wide against strong quick wing backs and Jack O'Donnell. 

2nd goal was totally Moggas fault. Dack was playing right mid most of 2nd half (WTF!) and he was marking their left back at a corner on the edge of the box. Mowbray told him to get upfield, the ball was cleared and worked it's way back out to the player Dack was marking who had all the time in the world to put it on Sharpe's head. Dreadful. Mogga just turned away. Embarrassed hopefully. 

Utter shyte. Mowbray out-thought. Players out-coached. 

At least it was good to see Mulgrew back. 

 

 

 

[Waggy76]

Just now, RevidgeBlue said:

It sounds like get at Tony night but imo the way he is currently handling Brereton is bound to be sapping his confidence. For a Club the size of ours if we spend £7m on a player he should be straight into the team in his normal position and should be an automatic selection unless and until he's proven after a decent run of games he's not up to it.

It's no use sticking him on the bench and giving him the odd cameo role for 20 minutes out of position on the wing or only bringing him on when something happens to Graham which again is going to do nothing whatsoever to boost his confidence.

I think he may have done but Graham has played very since his signing and has proved difficult to drop !!

 

[DaveyB]

14 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

The feelgood factor from last season has well and truly gone for me. That's one win out of the last 6 - Steve Bruce was sacked after winning one in 9. We'll finish mid-table at the very best. Is Mowbray the man to talk us forward? Bruce, Mick McCarthy and Sam Allardyce are available - all managers with tremendous records of promotion from this division

Genuinely can’t believe I’m reading this. Rewind two seasons to when clownpants was here and we’d have been delighted with finishing mid-table. 

What has changed to make you believe we should be challenging for promotion? I know we’ve spent a bit of money, but nowhere near the likes of Villa, Middlesbrough etc. No - the only reason that we can even begin to dream about  promotion is the man whose head you’re calling for!  

As someone else said - get a grip!!

Edited October 4, 2018 by DaveyB

[AAK]

1 win in 6 home games, carry that on and we will struggle. Looked like there was no plan at all tonight, wilder out tacticed mowbray, sheff utd were far, far better. Smallwood was atrocious and bennett was poor at right back. 

[DE.]

People have definitely been getting carried away with talk of playoffs. We need to focus on making sure we stay in this league for now. Getting battered by Derby a couple of weeks back and Sheff Utd tonight shows we're still some way off competing with the better clubs in this division. Add in our inability to see out games, over-reliance on Dack and penchant for conceding goals and you aren't looking at a team that has a realistic chance of getting promoted. We'll do well to finish mid table and that's certainly achievable. We need to start taking our flaws seriously and trying to correct them, though, as it feels like we're repeatedly committing the same mistakes.

[blueboy3333]

Just now, DaveyB said:

Genuinely can’t believe I’m reading this. Rewind two seasons to when clownpants was here and we’d have been delighted with finishing mid-table. 

What has changed to make you believe we should be challenging for promotion? I know we’ve spent a bit of money, but nowhere near the likes of Villa, Middlesbrough etc. No - the only reason that we can ever begin to dream about  promotion is the man whose head you’re calling for!  

As someone else said - get a grip!!

Yep, Jim gets a little deranged at times. Bruce has just been sacked because he's shit. Jim wants him at Rovers. 

Mowbray aint all that. He's created a great team spirit but he's limited as a coach. There's no imagination to our play or even crossing! However he deserves to be allowed to oversee us stabilising as a Championship club.  1 win in  6 at home is probably indicative of how it will go this season but as long as we stay up that's all that really matters. 

 

[Waggy76]

Cannot get my head around Mulgrew not starting , very odd that selection ..

 

[DaveyB]

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

If you're going to blame anyone for Armstrong, blame the manager for sticking him out on the wing. He obviously needs to be operating more centrally.

Can't understand why when we were struggling desperately with one up front and no support the manager went like for like with the substitution of Graham and did not try two strikers more centrally at any point.

Second half we switched formation and matched them up in a 3-4-1-2, with Armstrong playing more centrally with Graham. We did actually look better like that, although Armstrong actually looked worse through the middle and Graham and Dack were both off the boil all game, so even though we looked more comfortable we never looked like we would create anything. 

After they went ahead, we switched again to a 4-4-2 with Dack wide right and Armstrong and Brereton through the middle, but we looked even worse than in the first half and there was only ever going to be one winner. 

Hopefully it’s just an off night and we’ll be back firing again on Saturday.

Incidentally, the way that Sheff Utd set up and played with 3-4-1-2 and the wide centre backs stepping forward to create overloads out wide, is the way that I think Mowbray would ideally like us to play. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see some variation of 3-5-2 on Saturday 

[tomphil]

Some of the basics are missing though and the point many of us brought up in summer - we need wingers or a winger on the wings to get crosses in, create things on the break seeing as we play counter attack at HOME.

As mentioned in summer you won't get away with playing strikers on the wings every game in this league like we (sometimes got away with it) last season. So so frustrating and seeing as they've splashed 7 mill on a kid who looks like a fish out of water I refuse to believe they couldn't have found one decent winger from somewhere once it became clear Chapman was a no go.

This isn't a knee jerk reaction to tonight but that game did highlight it yet again, it ain't rocket science.

[roversfan99]

We dont have enough centre backs to play 3 at the back permanently, although it never seems to work anyway.

[47er]

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Posted September 26

   On 26/09/2018 at 08:21,  47er said: 

We brought in 7(?) players in the transfer window but the areas of weakness which we all identified were not addressed. We didn't get a winger in but fair enough we did make an attempt for Chapman, we didn't buy a centre-back which is really coming back to haunt us with Mulgrew's injury, and we are still totally reliant on a 33 year old staying fit up-front.

We can't rely on Rodwell coming good ,Armstrong is not good enough at this level and Brereton is "one for the future" the problem being that we are playing now.

We didn't sign a keeper to compete with Raya and we just pray Raya stays fit.

Looking back we didn't target the key areas of need.

 

I know - no surprise it’s all gone to shit, really.

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Edited October 3, 2018 by 47er

[islander200]

We need somebody in the middle of the park who can get their foot on the ball and drive the team forward(Rothwell) or someone who can play a forward Pass(Maybe Rodwell if he is fit enough).

Evans and Smallwood should not be starting together definitely not at home anyway.

Every time Rothwell has played he has showed an urgency to get on the ball and has been one of our better player's yet Mowbray only gives him half hour here and there.

Mowbray has done an excellent job and on a whole the club is in a much much better place than it was prior to him joining but he needs to start being a little braver with both his tactics and team selections and he has to stop being so loyal to the some of the lads who got us promoted.Smallwood has been better since the international break but was dreadful tonight and he doesn't deserve a starting place in the next match.

[Neal]

I think I'm a pretty fair poster on here, I've given credit where credit is due so far this season so here goes...

 

That was as bad a performance I've seen under any manager, we looked void in style, method and ideas. How many touches did their lad have before he put in a cross unchallenged for their 2nd? I see this every week, full backs way too narrow allowing crosses to come in, nowhere near tight enough to the man. Rothwell should have started this game, especially with Bennett moving to right back. Mulgrew wouldn't have been my first sub and Brereton who was terrible wouldn't have been my 2nd either. Mowbray got it completely wrong tonight, worst performance I've seen under him. Too many long balls, it didn't work in the first half and I don't understand why Mowbray thought it would in the 2nd, in fact he should've noticed after 20 mins it wasn't working and changed it. Dack and Graham couldn't get hold of it or kept losing possession, we were absolutely 2nd to everything, chasing the game constantly. Joe Rothwell should be the first name in this midfield, head and shoulders above the rest of them when he came on. I like Harrison Reed but god knows how he got MOM, the only player that did anything worthwhile was Raya. 

 

Sheffield United we're a well drilled and organised side. No individual standout talents, but defended and attacked as a team, these are types of teams who get out of this league. They won the midfield battle and if you can do that at any level then you will likely win the game, they certainly deserved to win this game. 

 

I fear for us after this one, there was absolutely no positives to take from that, a very deflating performance and result that could bring about a difficult period for us. If I was really digging around for a single positive it would probably be that it's a good early lesson that sheer hard work will only take you so far in the league and that you need more quality and more than just a plan A. 

 

People may say it's one to forget which it certainly is not... It's a performance that needs scrutinising and studying if this group of players want to do ok this season because tonight was a real lesson in how to pick up results in this league. 

Edited October 3, 2018 by Neal