Rovers at the Toon FA Cup 3rd Round: Saturday 5th January 2019 - 5.30pm

[Ewood Ace]

Just now, OJRovers said:

Played well up until the subs... same old story.

WHY oh WHY do we keep bringing on Brereton? Its like playing with 10 men. 20+ mins today and I can't remember him touching the ball.

There can't have been anyone watching that game other than Mowbray who thought that what we needed was Brereton on in place of Graham.

[tugayislegend]

1 minute ago, OJRovers said:

Played well up until the subs... same old story.

WHY oh WHY do we keep bringing on Brereton? Its like playing with 10 men. 20+ mins today and I can't remember him touching the ball.

Not breretons fault ball is lumped up to him every time. Very few strikers can hold it up as well as Graham.

[Husky]

Just now, Ewood Ace said:

There can't have been anyone watching that game other than Mowbray who thought that what we needed was Brereton on in place of Graham.

Let's have a poll.

[Ewood Ace]

Just now, tugayislegend said:

Not breretons fault ball is lumped up to him every time. Very few strikers can hold it up as well as Graham.

Then why take Graham off for him to come on?

[Exiled in Toronto]

If I can stray for a moment from the Brereton/Mowbray blame game, Shelvey coming on was the much more obvious game-changer; he ran the game, almost scored two headers and gave them a much more dangerous look. 

[Tugay's Right Foot]

Rafa is gonna be honest now....and offer us 30 mil for travis. Very good show

[OJRovers]

Nuttall deserves a chance to be the Graham 75 min replacement.

[Tom]

Unlucky that I thought we played well and held our own, got a little lucky they weren’t so clinical towards the end but thought we were good value for the draw

Also thought it was a penalty though just a stupid piece of defending and Evans knew it 

[Leonard Venkhater]

13 minutes ago, toogs said:

Does it all the time. 

 

Just glad it wasnt travis, we eouldnt have seen him picked for months

We said the same, while watching the TV!

[AllRoverAsia]

5 minutes ago, magicalmortensleftpeg said:

But it was Evans who tripped Perez for the penalty. Brereton did nothing but he’s not to blame for that.

All the time he was on, even if only about 15 minutes.

Did he actually have a touch?

[HowieFive0]

Just now, AllRoverAsia said:

All the time he was on, even if only about 15 minutes.

Did he actually have a touch?

He did ...but was offside.

[toogs]

Just now, AllRoverAsia said:

All the time he was on, even if only about 15 minutes.

Did he actually have a touch?

I dont think so. 

Does Tony not learn from his mistakes? Worrying. 

You need DG on to close out games, not subbed for a player not remotely ready for first team football. 

[davefarnworth]

Poor team. Even Man Ure walked it 

[Husky]

?

Just now, HowieFive0 said:

He did ...but was offside.

The one where it went out for a goal kick?

[Hasta]

3 minutes ago, Tom said:

Unlucky that I thought we played well and held our own, got a little lucky they weren’t so clinical towards the end but thought we were good value for the draw

Also thought it was a penalty though just a stupid piece of defending and Evans knew it 

The problem with the penalty is the guy takes another stride before he goes down.

Compare that to the incident in the first half when the guy barges Armstrong out the way to let the ball go out for a goal kick. If that happens on the halfway line it's a free kIck straight away. 

[AllRoverAsia]

Just now, HowieFive0 said:

He did ...but was offside.

My feed was a bit jumpy but think I did see that one but discounted it as whistle was long blown.

Shame about the pen, Evans had a good game otherwise.

Travis is a gem.

Hope the replay is picked for TV

[HowieFive0]

Just now, toogs said:

I dont think so. 

Does Tony not learn from his mistakes? Worrying. 

You need DG on to close out games, not subbed for a player not remotely ready for first team football. 

To be fair ..Newcastle stepped it up with their subs.

They were desperate not to have to play a replay .Always going to be a frantic last ten minutes with or without DG.

[HowieFive0]

Just now, AllRoverAsia said:

My feed was a bit jumpy but think I did see that one but discounted it as whistle was long blown.

Shame about the pen, Evans had a good game otherwise.

Travis is a gem.

Hope the replay is picked for TV

Agree ARA. Evans tackling blind though ....Argghhhhh!

[rovers11]

Thought we played very well. Travis impressed me hugely. He’s  a premier league player in the making. 

Armstrong was a bit disappointing and Williams looked poor when he came on, but thought everyone else did well.

[Ewood Ace]

Just now, HowieFive0 said:

To be fair ..Newcastle stepped it up with their subs.

They were desperate not to have to play a replay .Always going to be a frantic last ten minutes with or without DG.

If you are going to be under pressure then it's good to have an outlet up the field who can hold the ball up otherwise the ball comes straight back and you end up camped around your own area.

[HowieFive0]

Just now, Ewood Ace said:

If you are going to be under pressure then it's good to have an outlet up the field who can hold the ball up otherwise the ball comes straight back and you end up camped around your own area.

The way we were launching it (some never even left the playing surface !) in the last ten minutes we d have needed five DGs to get near and hold it up. Once we go into panic mode that ball can go anywhere unfortunately!

[bluebruce]

2 minutes ago, OnePhilT said:

Dack has outgrown where we are. He was outstanding, and he would have been a star player in the opposition's team tonight - Premier League quality. On the quiet, he must be seeing that the rest of his team-mates aren't quite up to his level. He won't be hanging around for long, and I think we'll be lucky to keep him here in this window.

Despite the goal and the fact he is better than our current level, I don't think he was outstanding at all tonight. His pass completion rate of 53% for the game isn't outstanding either. He delivered the goods though, that's what counts. So did Bennett ultimately, who I was criticising in the first half. Great delivery for the goal and played better second half.

[AllRoverAsia]

12 minutes ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

If I can stray for a moment from the Brereton/Mowbray blame game, Shelvey coming on was the much more obvious game-changer; he ran the game, almost scored two headers and gave them a much more dangerous look. 

Voldemort is quality, I wish we had similar.

We already have our Harry 'Travis' Potter.

[Cherry Blue]

2 minutes ago, OnePhilT said:

We gave a great account of ourselves there; very unlucky to not come away with the win.

Travis was outstanding - MotM. It will be a Travis-ty if he isn't one of the first names on the team sheet for the rest of the season.

Dack has outgrown where we are. He was outstanding, and he would have been a star player in the opposition's team tonight - Premier League quality. On the quiet, he must be seeing that the rest of his team-mates aren't quite up to his level. He won't be hanging around for long, and I think we'll be lucky to keep him here in this window.

Evans looked out of his depth in the first 10-15 minutes, but settled well after that. Made a needless foul in the box to give away the penalty, though. I think he's OK for us at the moment, but if we want to go up next season, I don't think he should be a regular.

Left-back is a real problem. Bell cannot defend - his worst offence is failing to block any cross that comes in. He seems far too lethargic. Having said that, Williams seems be doing worse than Bell at the moment. A few months back, it would have been a no-brainer for me, but the tables have turned. I wonder if we'll be seeing Hart in that position some time soon.

The rest were decent, and held their own. Brereton barely had any touches during his 15-minute cameo.

I don't think Newcastle will play as badly as that in the replay, but I just wonder if Rafa is really bothered about this competition, given their league plight. Bring it on.

Agree with your comments. My questions for TM:

   - Why have you delayed playing Travis?

   - Have you had a word with Bell yet about his lack of attempt to prevent crosses? Its happening every week?

 

[philipl]

5 minutes ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

If I can stray for a moment from the Brereton/Mowbray blame game, Shelvey coming on was the much more obvious game-changer; he ran the game, almost scored two headers and gave them a much more dangerous look. 

Shelvey is a class player and yes he did make a difference but I thought we handled him well overall.

Evans was simply unlucky but it was a penalty. Ball ricocheted luckily back to the Newcastle player and because it was a fluke Evans was clumsy in what he was doing. He tripped the player with left and then right foot and gave the ref an easy decision.

Overall Rovers were very good value for at least a draw.

Newcastle have a trip to Chelsea for the evening game on Saturday 12th before they come to Ewood for the replay. Dingles play Fulham and Cardiff play Huddersfield in 3 o'clock kick offs the same day so Chances are Newcastle will be down in 17th three points below 16th and two above Southampton in 18th. Newcastle's next game after the replay is Cardiff home in a monster relegation six pointer. So the chances are Benitez will put an even weaker side out for the replay.