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

[Admiral Nelsen]

11 minutes ago, rigger said:

But he was still on when the other two where scored

Fair. My point is just that if we're saying return of Smallwood = Rovers have lost again, we should at least be losing when he was on the pitch.

I thought he did well, but in any case, I think tonight has summed up where we are quite nicely. This team isn't ready yet, but there are signs that several of them could compete given time and a few of the right additions.

Edited January 15, 2019 by Admiral Nelsen

[arbitro]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

It was definitely 3 centre halves with Bennett LWB and Reed RWB. 

I didn't see it that way. For me we started with a 4-3-3 which I thought was bold.

[SBlue]

3 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I must have seen a different game to some because I didn't see a back three at all tonight. It was Reed, Lenihan, Nyambe and Bell across the back line for me.

Raya is in danger of becoming an enigma for us. His reflexes are as good as anybody's but he is so prone to elementary goalkeeping things that I do worry if he will ever stop making them. We did well to come back from two down tonight but ultimately we are out because defensively we concede too many sloppy goals.

There were lots of tired bodies out there tonight and already I'm worried about how we will react on Saturday. Mowbray has some tough calls to make in his team selection.

 

"It wasn’t until this afternoon that we knew we’d play with three at the back, with Rodwell and Downing being ill and not being able to make it, as well as [Charlie] Mulgrew and [Derrick] Williams being injured.

 

“We were left with one centre half and had to concoct a defence.

 

- Horses mouth

[SBlue]

1 minute ago, Commondore said:

Because he oversaw promotion from League 1 and has us mid-table as newcomers, mainly on the strength of players he revived or brought to the club on a comparative pittance?  Sometimes I feel like the indignity of playing in the Championship (and, shudder, League 1) makes us overly hostile towards the team and manager. There needs to be a reasonable balance between lowering expectations to realistic levels and avoiding settling for too little, but I think we're currently focusing too much on the latter at the cost of the former. 

I think we are doing well. I think we’ll be knocking on the playoff door, or at least comfortably mid table.

Sometimes think some people on here have completely forgotten the last few years

[rigger]

Just now, S8 & Blue said:

 

"It wasn’t until this afternoon that we knew we’d play with three at the back, with Rodwell and Downing being ill and not being able to make it, as well as [Charlie] Mulgrew and [Derrick] Williams being injured.

 

“We were left with one centre half and had to concoct a defence.

 

- Horses mouth

Can Brereton play at center-half ? 

[arbitro]

Just now, S8 & Blue said:

 

"It wasn’t until this afternoon that we knew we’d play with three at the back, with Rodwell and Downing being ill and not being able to make it, as well as [Charlie] Mulgrew and [Derrick] Williams being injured.

 

“We were left with one centre half and had to concoct a defence.

 

- Horses mouth

That may be true but it just never looked like a three. Reed spent more time in the orthodox right back position as did Bell on the left. Nyambe and Lenihan were too close together.

[SBlue]

Just now, arbitro said:

That may be true but it just never looked like a three. Reed spent more time in the orthodox right back position as did Bell on the left. Nyambe and Lenihan were too close together.

It did change a bit as the game wore on, but the gap down the left hand side first half was terrifyingly vast.

Reed was a bit more cautious as wing back than Benno.

[Mercer]

Well that was interesting!

All my concerns about Mowbray came to light again.

Tactically, I think he's a mess.  As a unit, we were so loose and wide open and let's not kid ourselves, game should have been over before we scored our first.  If you play three at the back, defenders and midfielders need to know and understand their roles - you need decent players with a football intelligence and, IMV, that was clearly missing tonight.  Yet again, too many square pegs in round holes - Reed for one was wasted in that wide role, he and Travis would be a terrific twosome in centre midfield. 

Plus points - Travis again, Graham (what a moment for our first goal) and Lenihan.

Negative points - too many without writing a book.  Suspicions about Brereton just continue to grow for me - just what does he offer; looked for a 'moment', like Graham's 'moment' for our first goal, but absolutely nothing.  Didn't realise Bennett was playing until after the half hour mark, so innocuous and ineffective.  As far Raya, think the lad's going backwards and not progressing / maturing.

As for Dack - don't buy the 'illness' story.  If fit enough to be on the bench and play a part in the latter stages then surely better to start him and get a good half hour out of him that might have put us in the driving seat.  A few tonight were convinced he's off but for me, tonight Newcastle showed just how short of pace the lad is - looked two yards off the pace.  Would be amazed if a PL club was prepared to pay some of the ludicrous fees being mentioned.

Very disappointing.  Convinced more than ever Mowbray is not the man to take us forward - IMV, tactically poor, can't set up a team, poor substitutions and very poor player trading with Brereton looking an even bigger clanger with every minute he's on the field.

Edited January 15, 2019 by Mercer

[Ewood Ace]

5 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

I think we are doing well. I think we’ll be knocking on the playoff door, or at least comfortably mid table.

Need a fair few out and a fair few in before we are going to be pushing for top 6. I think that this current squad has reached its ceiling by being midtable .

[arbitro]

Just now, S8 & Blue said:

It did change a bit as the game wore on, but the gap down the left hand side first half was terrifyingly vast.

Reed was a bit more cautious as wing back than Benno.

I don't think we have the players with the nous and intelligence to play anything but a flat back four. We had three players who could have stood in at right back playing tonight.

[pick32]

I would honestly sell Brererton for 500k if any would would offer us that much and cut our losses he is awful

[SBlue]

3 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Well that was interesting!

All my concerns about Mowbray came to light again.

Tactically, I think he's a mess.  As a unit, we were so loose and wide open and let's not kid ourselves, game should have been over before we scored our first.  If you play three at the back, defenders and midfielders need to know and understand their roles - you need decent players with a football intelligence and, IMV, that was clearly missing tonight.  Yet again, too many square pegs in round holes - Reed for one was wasted in that wide role, he and Travis would be a terrific twosome in centre midfield. 

Plus points - Travis again, Graham (what a moment for our first goal) and Lenihan.

Negative points - too many without writing a book.  Suspicions about Brereton just continue to grow for me - just what does he offer; looked for a 'moment', like Graham's 'moment' for our first goal, but absolutely nothing.  Didn't realise Bennett was playing until after the half hour mark, so innocuous and ineffective.  As far Raya, think the lad's going backwards and not progressing / maturing.

As for Dack - don't buy the 'illness' story.  If fit enough to be on the bench and play a part in the latter stages then surely better to start him and get a good half hour out of him that might have put us in the driving seat.  A few tonight were convinced he's off but for me, tonight Newcastle showed just how short of pace the lad is - looked two yards off the pace.  Would be amazed if a PL club was prepared to pay some of the ludicrous fees being mentioned.

Very disappointing.  Convinced more than ever Mowbray is not the man to take us forward - IMV, tactically poor, can't set up a team, poor substitutions and very poor player trading with Brereton looking a huge clanger with every minute he's on the field.

As well as being wrong - Have you been tested for selective amnesia? You do remember the two or three games before this one?

Edited January 15, 2019 by S8 & Blue

[roversfan99]

Thought Mowbray got it totally wrong today with his bizarre tactics. He said they were a last minute, untrained choice based on Rodwells late pull out which makes it even worse, to overcomplicate it as he did. We were 2 down before we knew it and showed good character to come back before the game hit a lull, Raya made the mistake he did and before we knew it we were lucky to only concede 4 as extra time progressed.

Raya has obviously essentially cost us the game, pitiful for the third and should have done better for the 4th.

It made no sense to play 3 centre backs last minute. Bell was shocking there which was understandable, when he went to full back his horrendous shocking came to the fore. Nyambe is also never a centre back in a million years. Lenihan did his best to organise a makeshift defence, good goal and should have scored another, not the best on the ball but he was far better than anyone else back there. Bennett had another shocker, was handicapped on the left but hes really poor as a right back as we know. Reed wasnt his self either in that role.

Thought Smallwood was his limited self and Travis was much sloppier than he has been, still a breath of fresh air in there. 

Graham was outstanding once again, delighted to see Armstrong hit some form too, lovely goal from the pair of them. Brereton started brightly with a lovely cross, then went back to shite, couldnt control the ball, make a pass and missed 2 sitters, a header and a woeful finish.

Subs wise, Dack wasnt his usual self and should have scored, Rothwell was as per usual a dog chasing his tail without anything substantial in his brief cameo, Conway was poor and Nuttall is far better than Brereton but never a winger.

I would say as individuals there was more bad than good but there is at least a great spirit within the squad which can make us proud.

[Mercer]

Just now, S8 & Blue said:

As well as being wrong - Have you been tested for selective amnesia? You do remember the two or three games before this one?

I'm judging Mowbray on the two years he's been our manager.

What is our footballing philosophy?   

[Sparks Rover]

I'd get either Joe Hart or that lad from Leeds who is about to be demoted for a goalie from real Madrid.  Both are an improvement on Raya....he's screwed up too many times for me...out on loan to L1

[SBlue]

Just now, Mercer said:

I'm judging Mowbray on the two years he's been our manager.

What is our footballing philosophy?   

Win more games than we lose

 

Soz Pep

Edited January 15, 2019 by S8 & Blue

[bazza]

You can't expect Raya to stop all the shots. He has a very poor defence in front of him.

[Sparks Rover]

4 minutes ago, bazza said:

You can't expect Raya to stop all the shots. He has a very poor defence in front of him.

He's a flapper and causes unrest. How many more times before he gets a rest. Joke management 

[Exiled in Toronto]

10 minutes ago, Mercer said:

I'm judging Mowbray on the two years he's been our manager.

What is our footballing philosophy?   

Cartesian Dualism.

Or give it to a blue and white shirt

[JHRover]

Disappointing of course to lose after 210 minutes of football against them during which we've played quite well. I won't be losing any sleep over it mind. I expected us to go out when we were drawn at Newcastle and wouldn't be particularly excited or optimistic about playing Watford in the next round. On we go to the League. Main thing is we get ourselves sorted out and dispatch a dodgy Ipswich side on Saturday to make it an excellent league start to 2019. Failure to win, or a patched up knackered team after tonight struggling and not winning on Saturday - that will be the big disappointment.

Newcastle was a free hit and we've done ok, though twice there we've put ourselves into a good position to win the tie both at their place and at home - and failed to kill them off.

Like in the first leg I don't think our substitutions did us any favours. I was pleased to see Mowbray 'go for it' tonight by throwing more attacking bodies onto the pitch but it didn't really work. Dack was ineffective, Rothwell and Nuttall did very little. 

I thought Travis and Reed were outstanding, Graham, Armstrong and Smallwood good. Defensively I felt we were a bit of a mess, particularly early on in the game.

Frustrating that having done the hardest part in recovering from a 2-0 deficit and scoring our 2nd at the perfect time we didn't really offer much in terms of getting the 3rd. We were comfortable, committed, solid, and worthy of ending the game at 2-2, but didn't do anywhere near enough to deserve to win it.

Not for the first time we relinquish a result late on in a game from little/no pressure with one of the opposition's first efforts of the half.

Special mention for the scandalous VAR situation. An absolute disgrace from the FA to allow a situation whereby it is used for the 1st game but not in the replay and another unnecessary nail in the competitions coffin.

[RevidgeBlue]

52 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

So many opportunities to cross the ball and practically every time the ball in was appalling. 

Bennett, Bell and Brereton were utter gash. Travis played well, as did Lenihan and Graham. The rest were average to bad. 

Our lack of quality showed tonight against a team that was there for the taking. 

Bell was poor first half but had a really good second half. Brereton looks short on confidence and who can blame him after on start in his proper position in half a season. Still thought we looked more threatning with him on the right than Conway though. Agree on Bennett.

Graham showed exactly why he shouldn't have got a new contract. Great for 45 mins then faded out of the game completely.

You never know 

a) If he's going to be available or 

b ) if he is if he is going to be on his game and

c) if he is whether he can last 45, 60 or 90 mins etc.

[DeeCee]

18 minutes ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

Cartesian Dualism.

Or give it to a blue and white shirt

Had to Google that ?

[Butty]

35 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I don't think we have the players with the nous and intelligence to play anything but a flat back four. We had three players who could have stood in at right back playing tonight.

Two of them were basically playing the same position for the majority of the first half, we were basically playing with one at the back in Lenihan! My interpretation was we were playing a back four with Nyambe as one of the centre halves, but he was basically sharing the right back spot with Reed and Bell was Just nowhere. This meant they had so much space in behind and when playing balls through, a better team would have destroyed that back four. Still, we were still probably the better side and once again our effort cannot be faulted. We are 3 or 4 players away from being a really good side, I pray to god TM gets it right in the summer. I’ve seen someone say they’d take 500k for Brereton. I wouldn’t disagree. The lad would get pushed off the ball by my grandma.. 

[bazza]

2 minutes ago, Butty said:

 I’ve seen someone say they’d take 500k for Brereton. I wouldn’t disagree. The lad would get pushed off the ball by my grandma.. 

Would you like Mowbray to sign your grandma then?

Seriously though, I'm not too disappointed about tonight. I think we would have been embarrassed by Watford. Roll on Saturday.

Edited January 16, 2019 by bazza

[Ewood Ace]

1 minute ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Graham showed exactly why he shouldn't have got a new contract. Great for 45 mins then faded out of the game completely.

You never know 

a) If he's going to be available or 

b ) if he is if he is going to be on his game and

c) if he is whether he can last 45, 60 or 90 mins etc.

All the dross we have in our squad yet you save the majority of your criticism for one of our best players. Faded completely? Did you miss it when he chested the ball down and then played a lovely ball into Conway who nodded down to Dack who should have put us in front.  

You say that you never know if he's going to be available which is a strange comment as only Raya has played more league games than him this season and in all competitions only Raya and Armstrong have played more. As for you never know if he's going to be on his game well you can probably say that for every player in the Championship.