Rovers away at Preston NE: 24th November 2018 - 3pm. The match thread.

[MarkBRFC71]

Smallwood and Armstrong off for Brereton and Graham for me at half time.  May as well go for it now.

[booth]

 

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

At 2 nil down, so you should! 

So to summarise, having no strikers upfront hasn't contributed to us conceding 2 goals but our defense has contributed to us not scoring more than 2 goals?

[K-Hod]

Just got the notification on my phone for half time, bit relieved tbh that it was only 2-0 after those first 10 minutes. Either way, we need to sort ourselves out and sharpish. It’s absolutely pathetic to be two goals down after ten minutes.

[davulsukur]

2 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

At 2 nil down, so you should! 

No, I blame the team and management.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, Tom Stinny said:

The team should attack and defend as a group. The reason why they play crap with no striker is because none of the midfield are good enough to play a passing game, that also includes Dack who is not a passer himself.

 

That's why the team in under so much pressure because there is no out ball on. It's played into midfield. Lost and then straight onto us in defence. Four players alone plus a goalkeeper cannot defend for the entire team.

To concede 2 in the first 10 is down to more than Graham or whoever not playing upfront 

[blueboy3333]

Just now, S8 & Blue said:

I’m aware of that.

I just genuinely don’t think that Graham holding the ball up or not is the problem with those goals.

Without Danny Graham we should expect to concede every five minutes? Daft.

We could have conceded a shedload against Derby but they couldn't finish. We had no out ball then either until Graham came on 2nd half. North End have now scored 10 in their last 2 and a half league games at home. What you don't do is hand them the initiative by letting them attack you constantly. Mowbray did. it was pointed out before the game what would happen. It's happened. Mowbray has messed this up. Predictably. 

[perthblue02]

2 minutes ago, Husky said:

Has anybody here tried to put square pegs in round holes? Just wondering how it worked out...

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, davulsukur said:

No, I blame the team and management.

The team, does that not include the defenders?? 

[Tom Stinny]

Let's hope the manager admits his mistake. Gets a striker on out of Graham or Brereton and takes off either Palmer or Smallwood and slots Dack into an advanced midfield role.

 

If he decides to go full on to get s goal from the start of half time without a balanced side then this will finish like the Bristol city game with a 3-1 or 4-1 scoreline.

[HowieFive0]

Just now, S8 & Blue said:

I’m aware of that.

I just genuinely don’t think that Graham holding the ball up or not is the problem with those goals.

Without Danny Graham we should expect to concede every five minutes? Daft.

Radio Lancs agreeing in principle ..we didn't turn up to the party until we were 2-0 down .. regardless of team selection ..BUT TM doesn't escape criticsism with AA Dack and Palmer not doing a job that a striker could do...

DG going through stretches with fitness coach ..imminent sub ?

[yellowsubmarine]

Just now, Husky said:

Has anybody here tried to put square pegs in round holes? Just wondering how it worked out...

Ask Mowbray.
Rodwell at CB, Bennett at RB, Arma/Palmer at LW, Brereton/Samuel at RW, Dack at False9, Reed at RM.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, booth said:

 

So to summarise, having no strikers upfront hasn't contributed to us conceding 2 goals but our defense has contributed to us not scoring more than 2 goals?

What? 

You lost me 

[booth]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

To concede 2 in the first 10 is down to more than Graham or whoever not playing upfront 

I think everyone agrees we don't have a watertight defence, it's nothing new. So isn't that more reason for the manager to not set up a team that's unable to hold onto the ball, leaving a weak link at the top of the tree?

[booth]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

What? 

You lost me 

I'm summarising what you wrote so it's no surprise.

[HowieFive0]

Just now, booth said:

I think everyone agrees we don't have a watertight defence, it's nothing new. So isn't that more reason for the manager to not set up a team that's unable to hold onto the ball, leaving a weak link at the top of the tree?

I agrre but if the team aint ready and up for it from the first whistle away from home youre skating on thin ice regardless of whos playing 

[USABlue]

Why does tinker persist with Dack as a striker, not worked yet.  Still we have had more chances but........

[SBlue]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

We could have conceded a shedload against Derby but they couldn't finish. We had no out ball then either until Graham came on 2nd half. North End have now scored 10 in their last 2 and a half league games at home. What you don't do is hand them the initiative by letting them attack you constantly. Mowbray did. it was pointed out before the game what would happen. It's happened. Mowbray has messed this up. Predictably. 

I agree Graham should be on. But we need to defend better. 

Not being able to hoof it to a target man should not absolve the other 10 players of blame for not being able to keep out 2 goals straight from kick off.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, booth said:

I think everyone agrees we don't have a watertight defence, it's nothing new. So isn't that more reason for the manager to not set up a team that's unable to hold onto the ball, leaving a weak link at the top of the tree?

We didn't even get a chance to play it to the striker. If Graham was upfront it would have been the same. We were over run by a team that hit the ground running from the start. 

I don't agree with Palmer playing there, but I would put going 2-0 down in ten on the defence and generally the team coming into the game under motivated 

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, booth said:

I'm summarising what you wrote so it's no surprise.

That gibberish was definitely not what I said. Maybe try and simplify it 

[Husky]

Just now, perthblue02 said:

Looks like it creates a bit of a mess.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, USABlue said:

Why does tinker persist with Dack as a striker, not worked yet.  Still we have had more chances but........

He's not. Palmer is 

[blueboy3333]

1 hour ago, blueboy3333 said:

Let's hope it works better than at Derby. if Graham comes on at HT then Mogga has got it wrong. 

 

Just now, HowieFive0 said:

DG going through stretches with fitness coach ..imminent sub ? 

So predictable. 

[DE.]

It's really quite simple and something we've known for a long time. Mowbray is generally a very smart bloke but often overthinks to the point of idiocy. He's gotten away with it more often than not during his time here - but that's in part due to the fact the majority of his reign has been spent in L1 where our superior quality protected against tactical negligence. We aren't afforded those protections now and it always feels like we're on the verge of a really poor run of form, yet we grind through it. At some point Tony has to start being more sensible or we're going to throw away any hopes of a playoff place. 

[Tom Stinny]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

To concede 2 in the first 10 is down to more than Graham or whoever not playing upfront 

We can both agree that this defence has never been the best. They are individual decent for this level but as a unit don't perform as well as they should. 

 

That's the manager issue to fix.

 

It's been said on here many times that we don't play a passing game. We play long ball up to the striker or front four and play from there. Who out of the four playing today can recieve the ball in the air and link play up? 

 

The less a team can attack you. The less chance you concede goals so to give the other team the ball is to ask for trouble. 

 

I'm only trying to state that play players in their natural positions, they've spent their career perfecting their game to their best level so why ask them to do something they can't?

[Exiled in Toronto]

If it’s permitted to talk about what’s happened on the field, the first goal was nothing to do with who was or wasn’t up front, it was a punt from their keeper that Lenihan over-committed to and didn’t get, leaving a huge gap behind that was ruthlessly exploited from their headed flick on. The second was a pretty good goal after some neat interplay around our box down our left. The most worrying factor was Raya not reacting to either shot, he would normally do a wonder save for at least one of them.

Anyway, back to the bickering between people not watching the game...