WBA VS ROVERS - SAT 27TH

[Hasta]

1 hour ago, Biz said:

You're correct - and there should be differing viewpoints. My view is these comments are stupid; 

“To start with no recognised striker and have three on the bench of whom two cost £9million is farcical”

 

“Unbelievable lineup. Methinks TM has lost the plot!  

There’s tonnes of references to “tombola” and other simple criticisms. Why can’t I or others point out or react to how stupid they are? If you think TM isn’t studious and thoughtful- ie a team selection is random, (tombola) you’re effectively calling TM clueless if not literally using those words.

 

The way people have been talking since the match finished, I expected that there must have been comments along the lines of "Mowbray should be sacked for that team" or "TM is taking us down again" posted between 2pm and 4pm.

If those examples you give are the best (or worst) that there are then come on. Those comments will have been said in many cars and pubs by Rovers fans before the game.

In fact, we didnt score until we eventually brought a striker on, and the decision to have 3 strikers on the bench (including one who on radio lancs TM said was unfit so would be unlikely to have been able to feature even from the bench) and not to have a centre half on there is farcical.

You may think they are stupid opinions in your view and that's fine. Many others will disagree with you which is fine.

However it's posts like this which ruined the post match discussion and made it into what it has now become:-

15 hours ago, The Big Picture said:

This msgboard is the most negative I’ve witnessed since the internet began. Apart from a handful most are self important, doom and gloom merchants.

I know a few fans who stay away from this site because they find it depressing. They also don’t want to be hounded out by the majority for speaking their mind. TM Is doing a cracking job and fans should see the big picture not 45 mins in isolation. This is not a licence to question his tactics etc. Jeez he has years and year of experience. I think he knows more than the ‘championship manager’s’ we have on here.

Does saying "To start with no recognised striker and have three on the bench of whom two cost £9million is facical really warrant that reaction on a match thread. Or was that post done to point score and derail?

Edited October 28, 2018 by Hasta

[BillC]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/oct/28/shouting-at-the-tide-myth-managerial-efficacy-alex-ferguson-jose-mourinho

 

Good article on the limited powers of managers. Worth a read for all the TM critics. 

[Hasta]

50 minutes ago, Waggy76 said:

It is a little over 12 months since we lost at Oldham , we are going the right way !!!

God that was a grim day. We are light years away from where we were coming back from boundary park that afternoon.

[tomphil]

Who'd have thought a 1-1 draw at West Brom would provoke such reaction ......?

Good job we weren't the side at home failing to beat opponents with a midfielder in goal for the last 10 mins or so !

[unsall]

8 hours ago, philipl said:

Had time to think more about yesterday's game and the more I think about it the worse the referee's performance gets.

There is no doubt the ref is the single factor separating Rovers from three points yesterday. Strange place the Hawthorns as I remember Chris Price getting upended for the most blatant of clear view penalties and it not given. Well there were two more yesterday afternoon.

Yes to the non-footballing outsider the selection again looked a bit odd.

This messageboard is totally unanimous on:

- Mowbray works extremely hard and diligently prepares for every game carefully studying he opposition

- Mowbray thinks a huge amount about the game

- Mowbray has installed the best team spirit at Rovers since, I don't know- Dalglish?

Perhaps he over thinks and when his picks/formations don't work we indulge in the one thing Blackburn folk are world class at- self-pitying moaning. But we have picked up wins where Mowbray thinking outside the box has resulted in selection surprises that have totally bamboozled opposition players and management. Certainly gone are the days of Plan A being totally obvious to all opposition managers who care to look at Rovers and there being no Plan B.

Reed is a phenomenal revelation of a player and get Rothwell's composure right and Rodwell's fitness up to scratch and in the current squad we alteady have the core of a promotion winning team.

Definitely two points dropped yesterday based on the first 75 minutes but what total heroics for 22 minutes after Raya's injury. Huge contrast with the 3-0 defeat under Kean last time we were at WBA- a match which watching from the stands looked very obviously fixed against us.

Excellent post.

[JBiz]

3 minutes ago, Hasta said:

The way people have been talking since the match finished, I expected that there must have been comments along the lines of "Mowbray should be sacked for that team" or "TM is taking us down again" posted between 2pm and 4pm.

If those examples you give are the best (or worst) that there are then come on. Those comments will have been said in many cars and pubs by Rovers fans before the game.

In fact, we didnt score until we eventually brought a striker on, and the decision to have 3 strikers on the bench (including one who on radio lancs TM said was unfit so would be unlikely to have been able to feature even from the bench) and not to have a centre half on there is farcical.

You may think they are stupid opinions in your view and that's fine. Many others will disagree with you which is fine.

However it's posts like this which ruined the post match discussion and made it into what it has now become:-

Does saying "To start with no recognised striker and have three on the bench of whom two cost £9million is facical really warrant that reaction on a match thread. Or was that post done to point score and derail?

Farcical suggests a ridiculous or nonsensical decisions. From your point of view, the lineup might not make sense but is that because the managers “lost the plot” or is because you might not know the whole story - Ie DG injured/fatigued or Downing being ill? 

Look, end of the day people can post what they want as long as they’re prepared to accept questioning or criticism of said content. I stand by the suggestion that (at the current time) the criticisms of certain players, the manager, signings, tactics etc on are generally overblown - especially in matchthreads. 

Obviously that doesn’t mean that I’m suggesting the solution is the overtly patronising way of coming on and calling this place “most negative place ever” in some childish “americanistic” tone. 

[JBiz]

1 hour ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Nobody on the whole message  board has ever not backed Tony, or wanted him to do well. People hold their hands up when they have got it wrong but should be free to discuss what they see whether you have FIFA coaching badges or FIFA cramp.

If everybody came on yesterday at.2.30 and said well that's the team , in Tony we trust. What is the point. 

Two particular responses to that great post (just the last bit anyway)

1. Plenty on here had big reservations and still talk in the summer included moving on from TM to move up to the next level.

2. it doesn’t matter if you’re a coach etc, posts should focus on why you’d have a different lineup/tactic and what you’d do - as opposed to simply saying he’s lost the plot. What’s the point in that?

I mean nobody has even picked up on the fact you can seemingly quote a 3/400 word post these days and reply with simply “that’s rubbish” and it’s acceptable! 

Anyway that’s enough Sunday wasted. Got an hour back and I’ve wasted it here AGAIN... maybe next time we can talk about Football

[47er]

51 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

Kean and Coyle arent managers tho. 

 

So why did you come on here and announce that you'd changed your mind about Coyle and that he shouldn't be sacked after all?

[LDRover]

Not read much on Conway's performance on this thread. For what it's worth I thought he was excellent in work rate and keeping the ball although his delivery from wide areas was poor at times.

I questioned his new contract when it was given but based on yesterday he definitely still has a part to play.

[Speedie's Gonna Get Ya]

1 hour ago, Mattyblue said:

Fair enough Biz. You think someone’s wrong, you give an opposite viewpoint and it’s debated.

Thd thing that’s annoying me about the board in recent weeks is the plethora of posts like; ‘God, soooo negative on here’, ‘just get behind Ben, just trust Mowbray ffs’

If you make a point expect to be debated on it, not just be shut down.

Perhaps all posters should understand the meaning of ‘confirmation bias’ before considering what other people write?

[Stuart]

Whatever anyone thinks about the politically correct way to say it, lining up a side with no strikers is absolutely a negative set up. It just is. It relies on pace and our midfield getting up and down the pitch to compensate. Dack should not be up against centre backs.

The way the game panned out, it brought out the fighting spirit and a siege mentality to hold on to that result. We also got that bit of luck we needed when we were under the kosh and it’s easy to feel huge pride in our boys.

It’s fantastic to see as a fan and TM is rightly getting credit for another example of our team spirit and shows that when the chips are down the players will fight.

However, yesterday came at a huge cost in terms of goalkeeper and centre defence. We are going to be in real difficulty if we are relying on Leutweiler and a cobbled together defence. Could be Bell - Williams - Smallwood - Travis in the next game if we can’t get Lenihan, Mulgrew and Rodwell back fit. Although more likely Bennett will continue his part time job at right back.

We loaded the bench with strikers and had no room for any defensive options. One full back in Bell and a utility player that Travis now seems to have become.

Mowbray has taken us a long way in only 18 months. We have a tough mentality and an enviable team spirit. His recruitment needs to improve to address the shortfalls in our squad, because what happened yesterday has been brewing for a while.

[roversfan99]

Turned into a very good point which I would have taken before the start.

The main positive, it is undoubted that Mowbray has built a team with an incredible bond and team spirit which was really tested once Raya went off. Never seen an outfield player go in net live before and it was a bit terrifying but luckily they didnt muster any shots up in that time. As I will go on to in a minute, that team spirit may often get us points like yesterday against the odds.

Thought West Brom were really poor in general, and lacking in ideas.

Also the performance of Reed in midfield was a real plus, and his wonder goal was needed in the absence of strikers.

I stand by the fact that the team selection was full of square pegs in round holes, and that Mowbrays team selection sprung up more questions than answers. Once Mulgrew went off, it was only him and Lenihan that we were missing yet we used 2 midfielders and a left back as centre backs. We all know that we needed a centre back in the summer and need to hope that Mulgrew and Lenihan can be patched up until January.

I dont understand why the Dack up front experiment is being persisted with but it again didnt work. All the while our best player this season in Graham and our 7m striker Brereton get splinters on the bench. Palmer, Rothwell, Bennett and Conway also all out of position. And then Smallwood!

I think that it was a very good point in the circumstances, and another occasion in recent times where I have come off a game feeling proud about the current team. That said, I feel that Mowbrays team selection yesterday and some of the tactical selections he keeps making (some of which are caused by imbalanced transfer recruitment) were very strange and I hope we dont continue to do them.

[47er]

So true Stuart, I was hoping we'd make it to January without major injuries to Linihan, Mulgrew or Raya.( No point in worrying about Dack because we won't find another of him in a hurry!) but there must be a chance that we could be without all three of those at once. And to top it off, is Rodwell going to succumb to injury as Sunderland fans warned us he would?

Just as well we didn't loan out Travis eh? This might be our salvation and the making of him.

Edited October 28, 2018 by 47er

[47er]

2 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

We all know that we needed a centre back in the summer

Unfortunately that's not so. Plenty told me we had adequate cover.

[rigger]

1 hour ago, tomphil said:

Who'd have thought a 1-1 draw at West Brom would provoke such reaction ......?

Good job we weren't the side at home failing to beat opponents with a midfielder in goal for the last 10 mins or so !

with the added time it was more like 20 mins. One of our best points ever

[Boroblue]

Went to both Swansea and yesterday and while it was only a point from 6 the qualties of determination and resilience  shine through. I can’t comment on formations etc but the one thing I can say you never leave games without feeling a sense of pride in the of the team for the effort and desire they put in. Yesterday was tremendous  and better teams Under those circumstances have capitulated but not ours. They are a pleasure to watch and be associated with and long may it last.

COYB

[Oldgregg86]

1 hour ago, Biz said:

Two particular responses to that great post (just the last bit anyway)

1. Plenty on here had big reservations and still talk in the summer included moving on from TM to move up to the next level.

2. it doesn’t matter if you’re a coach etc, posts should focus on why you’d have a different lineup/tactic and what you’d do - as opposed to simply saying he’s lost the plot. What’s the point in that?

I mean nobody has even picked up on the fact you can seemingly quote a 3/400 word post these days and reply with simply “that’s rubbish” and it’s acceptable! 

Anyway that’s enough Sunday wasted. Got an hour back and I’ve wasted it here AGAIN... maybe next time we can talk about Football

Ok ?

[clarkycan]

57 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Turned into a very good point which I would have taken before the start.

The main positive, it is undoubted that Mowbray has built a team with an incredible bond and team spirit which was really tested once Raya went off. Never seen an outfield player go in net live before and it was a bit terrifying but luckily they didnt muster any shots up in that time. As I will go on to in a minute, that team spirit may often get us points like yesterday against the odds.

Thought West Brom were really poor in general, and lacking in ideas.

Also the performance of Reed in midfield was a real plus, and his wonder goal was needed in the absence of strikers.

I stand by the fact that the team selection was full of square pegs in round holes, and that Mowbrays team selection sprung up more questions than answers. Once Mulgrew went off, it was only him and Lenihan that we were missing yet we used 2 midfielders and a left back as centre backs. We all know that we needed a centre back in the summer and need to hope that Mulgrew and Lenihan can be patched up until January.

I dont understand why the Dack up front experiment is being persisted with but it again didnt work. All the while our best player this season in Graham and our 7m striker Brereton get splinters on the bench. Palmer, Rothwell, Bennett and Conway also all out of position. And then Smallwood!

I think that it was a very good point in the circumstances, and another occasion in recent times where I have come off a game feeling proud about the current team. That said, I feel that Mowbrays team selection yesterday and some of the tactical selections he keeps making (some of which are caused by imbalanced transfer recruitment) were very strange and I hope we dont continue to do them.

Can anyone remember the last time this happened at Rovers, if at all!? It could be my ageing, addled brain but do I remember Simon Garner donning the keeper's jersey once?

[den]

3 minutes ago, clarkycan said:

Can anyone remember the last time this happened at Rovers, if at all!? It could be my ageing, addled brain but do I remember Simon Garner donning the keeper's jersey once?

Yes you do. I remember it as well but can’t remember the circumstances.

[perthblue02]

17 minutes ago, den said:

Yes you do. I remember it as well but can’t remember the circumstances.

Home to Ipswich, 87/88 maybe ? and kept a clean sheet . 

Might be wrong but at the back of my mind seem to remember listening to a midweek away game on the radio where it happened as well don't think it was Garner , late eighties? 

Edited October 28, 2018 by perthblue02

[Leonard Venkhater]

11 minutes ago, den said:

Yes you do. I remember it as well but can’t remember the circumstances.

Garner v Ipswich..around '87.

The most infamous time was that 7-1 defeat at Shrewsbury. Don Martin went in goal, but the manager probably left an injured Jones on the pitch for too long...From memory, we had conceded 5 before Martin donned(!) the green jersey.

So very proud of the players yesterday. We were so on top in that second half...the energy in that midfield..Harrison Reed WOW!

Venky's must allow TM to build on this in January!

[arbitro]

Roger Jones was replaced by an outfield player (Don Martin?) in the annihilation at Shrewsbury in the early 70's. I also have an image of David Mail in goal.

Over to Meadows for the answers.

[arbitro]

Just now, Leonard Venkhater said:

Garner v Ipswich..around '87.

The most infamous time was that 7-1 defeat at Shrewsbury. Don Martin went in goal, but the manager probably left an injured Jones on the pitch for too long...From memory, we had conceded 5 before Martin donned(!) the green jersey.

So very proud of the players yesterday. We were so on top in that second half...the energy in that midfield..Harrison Reed WOW!

Venky's must allow TM to build on this in January!

Great minds Leonard although your Alzheimer's doesn't seem as advanced as mine as I wasn't entirely sure about Dino.

[Leonard Venkhater]

Just now, arbitro said:

Roger Jones was replaced by an outfield player (Don Martin?) in the annihilation at Shrewsbury in the early 70's. I also have an image of David Mail in goal.

Over to Meadows for the answers.

I also have an image of Mike Newell in goal, but it might just be a great one handed save that got him sent off!

[Waggy76]

6 minutes ago, perthblue02 said:

Home to Ipswich, 87/88 maybe ? and kept a clean sheet . 

Might be wrong but at the back of my mind seem to remember listening to a midweek away game on the radio where it happened as well don't think it was Garner , late eighties? 

Definitely Garner at home to Ipswich , cannot remember why , prob Gennoe or O Keefe injured....We won maybe Garner scored as well..