Millwall away Saturday 12th Jan kick off 17.30

[Parsonblue]

Thoroughly enjoyed the trip yesterday and a good result always makes the journey back more enjoyable.  Very pleased that Nuttall took his chance to show that he is worth a place in the squad.  I thought he worked very hard and thoroughly deserved his reward at the end.  He did more in 90 minutes than we've seen from Brereton all season.   Another good performance from Travis in midfield who really looks the part.  I thought Rodwell looked very comfortable at the back and had that bit of composure on the ball when it was needed.

The manager got his selection and tactics spot on yesterday and putting Armstrong on to run at them late on caused them major problems.  It was great to see us scoring the goals late on to silence the Millwall crowd.  I must say that it is still an intimidating atmosphere for opposition players and match officials.

 

[Mattyblue]

I do like that ‘oooooooooo’ war chant thing their fans partake in! 

[47er]

1 hour ago, Roverthechimp said:

Jason Roberts... ?

Totally agree though - kept them busy and got a goal as well (they all count ?)

Oh God---I'd forgotten about him! He was much older than Nuttall when we got him though but I do admit he never did improve. Those one on ones with the keeper!  

[47er]

9 minutes ago, Parsonblue said:

Thoroughly enjoyed the trip yesterday and a good result always makes the journey back more enjoyable.  Very pleased that Nuttall took his chance to show that he is worth a place in the squad.  I thought he worked very hard and thoroughly deserved his reward at the end.  He did more in 90 minutes than we've seen from Brereton all season.   Another good performance from Travis in midfield who really looks the part.  I thought Rodwell looked very comfortable at the back and had that bit of composure on the ball when it was needed.

The manager got his selection and tactics spot on yesterday and putting Armstrong on to run at them late on caused them major problems.  It was great to see us scoring the goals late on to silence the Millwall crowd.  I must say that it is still an intimidating atmosphere for opposition players and match officials.

 

And yet, despite what Jim said in an earlier post, we nearly always win there!

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Lot of love for Rodwell. Agree he looks composed on the ball. IMO He has a reluctance to attack the ball in the air- preferring to  let it bounce which is no good for a cb.  If he can develop that side of his game, he may well  be an asset at the back.

[1864roverite]

Tough place to go great result. Gutted that I missed both goals as had to get to our reservation at a local restaurant but it made my night.

 

[rigger]

14 hours ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

9 minute match report/rant from a Millwall fan driving home in his car

Linesman was bent

The thing is he says that Armo was probably just on-side, Well to me that says that the linesman got the decision right. He then rants on about, if it had been a Millwall player it would have been flagged off-side. As that never happened, it is hypothetical. The only sensible comment came from the lad in the back, with his view on MOM.   

[blueboy3333]

14 hours ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

9 minute match report/rant from a Millwall fan driving home in his car

Linesman was bent

He makes a good point about our physicality, and theirs. He says we matched them (I've not seen it) and that's why we won …. and that they win their games by being more physical than the oppo. That much was evident at Ewood in the corresponding fixture. The one thing that can't be levelled at Mowbray's team is that we get out-fought or out-muscled because we rarely ever do.... even at MIllwall.

When fans bemoan our lack of quality (which we all do to a degree) there is a danger that we will lose what makes us effective if we replace too many players with the Palmers of this world. I like the midfield three from Evans/Smallwood/Reed/Bennett/Travis. What lets it down is that we don't have someone doing regularly on the left what Armstrong did for 5 minutes yesterday.  

[DE.]

Whilst Nuttall is far from the best CF we've had, when I watch him play I can't help but think back to the likes of Varny, Delfouneso, Browny and Koita and think 'actually, this isn't so bad'. 

[Ossydave]

10 hours ago, Tugay's Right Foot said:

You are comparing Derek Williams Del Boy with Rio Ferdinand?

Erm no

Sorry I'd had more than a few lagers

 

What I actually meant is Rodwells composure on the ball would be good bringing the ball out the back rather than lumping balls to nobody. Bell would benefit from having another outlet too, I don't wanna get on the lads back but he was awful first half just spewing balls out of play. We NEED to master the art of possession football, its not hard but players like Rodwell make it ten times easier

Edited January 13, 2019 by Ossydave

[blueboy3333]

7 minutes ago, DE. said:

Whilst Nuttall is far from the best CF we've had, when I watch him play I can't help but think back to the likes of Varny, Delfouneso, Browny and Koita and think 'actually, this isn't so bad'. 

Varney is tearing it up in L2 so you may want to re-assess. 

[Admiral Nelsen]

Our soft underbelly has done us time after time this year, so I'm more than happy to get a horrible but resolute win in the way that we did.  Six points off the play-offs is probably too much to make up with our squad, but when you consider that we've played Leeds, Sheff U & West Brom twice, as well as Boro & Derby away, these last two wins are still keeping our league season alive at the right end of the table. 

 

Whilst December was horrible, our last two wins have come against teams on a nine game unbeaten record & a four game winning streak. We're not ready yet, but there's clearly something there in this set up. One or two important additions aside, I don't think we're that far away. 

[blueboy3333]

2 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

We're not ready yet, but there's clearly something there in this set up. One or two important additions aside, I don't think we're that far away. 

When we defend properly you're right, but it doesn't happen often enough. Get that right and add a bit more creative nouse and we won't be far away from the play-offs. Easier said than done but that's what the manager is paid for, and Venky's are expecting. 

[Admiral Nelsen]

8 minutes ago, DE. said:

Whilst Nuttall is far from the best CF we've had, when I watch him play I can't help but think back to the likes of Varny, Delfouneso, Browny and Koita and think 'actually, this isn't so bad'. 

Have to say I feel very similar about our midfield.

Whilst it's great to see young Travis coming in and taking his chance brilliantly, Smallwood & Evans have gone about their job more effectively than the likes of Murphy/Etuhu/Lowe/Williamson/Akpan/Guthrie/Byrne/Taylor/Tunnicliffe & Spearing managed to do. 

[DE.]

Just now, Admiral Nelsen said:

Have to say I feel very similar about our midfield.

Whilst it's great to see young Travis coming in and taking his chance brilliantly, Smallwood & Evans have gone about their job more effectively than the likes of Murphy/Etuhu/Lowe/Williamson/Akpan/Guthrie/Byrne/Taylor/Tunnicliffe & Spearing managed to do. 

Unfortunately I still think Smallwood is below the required standard - although better than Lowe - and there have been too many bad times with Evans for me to ever be completely comfortable with him in midfield. A pairing of Reed and Travis would be pretty interesting, although Mowbray may think there isn't enough defensive discipline between them to work the way he wants. 

[Mattyblue]

7 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

Have to say I feel very similar about our midfield.

Whilst it's great to see young Travis coming in and taking his chance brilliantly, Smallwood & Evans have gone about their job more effectively than the likes of Murphy/Etuhu/Lowe/Williamson/Akpan/Guthrie/Byrne/Taylor/Tunnicliffe & Spearing managed to do. 

Christ we’ve had some right old shite darken our doors post 2012...

[philipl]

1 hour ago, RoverCanada said:

Haha, yeah, pretty miserable game of football, but it was a decent time in the away end. Personally, I'd attribute that more to Millwall "successfully" suffocating the game than Rovers playing particularly badly. The pitch seemed in bad shape too. First half was very ugly on both sides, but we actually managed a few decent build ups in the second half - you could feel the goal coming. Hard to believe Millwall almost made the playoffs last year. My friend and I thought Shane Ferguson was their only bright light. Cooper's an effective CB too.

I don't think I've ever seen a team's fans freak out so much about a questionable, midfield throw in. Best bit was seeing one fan had to put his arm around his mate's shoulders as if to console him after haha...

Rodwell was my MOTM. Did quite well in the air (which was a surprise as that seemed to be his weakness at CB so far) and seemed to be the only one on the pitch who could successfully pass the ball around. Showed his silky skill with the ball at his feet a couple times too. He'll be a tough decision in the summer. He could develop into an excellent CB if he manages to put it all together...

I think we've really missed Nyambe. Bennett was more assured there than previous outings, but Bennett's definitely better further up field and Nyambe's an absolute beast back there. Lenihan was pretty good too.

Thought Travis was pretty good, but not quite as good as previous outings. I'll have to see the replay for his contributions on the goals. Definitely still holding his spot.

Just wasn't the night for a player with Dack's talents. He was understandably frustrated with the lack of service he was getting, but made sense to sub him and try and change up the attack.

Great to see Armstrong finally show some decent finish. He's had a frustrating year, but the potential is still definitely there. The players did seem a bit confused about our shape when he went on though.

Awful game from Bell. I suppose he ultimately held his own defensively, but he's just so frustrating to watch out there.

Nuttall... really liked his effort, especially in the first 20mins. Funny how different his approach to headers compared to Graham. Graham of course uses his back on the defender and often is able to trap the ball down. Nuttall kind of jumps from the side, and managed to flick it on a few times doing so, but the problem was there was nobody up there to get that ball. However, his abilities with the ball at his feet... it's often pathetic really. Almost strikes me as a very poor Jordan Rhodes type in the way he's randomly able to get goals despite his obvious limitations. I think that's the 2nd or 3rd time he's gotten such an ugly, scrappy goal for us. Good on him for forcing the issue, although I also thought he was often poorly placed in the box for a lot of our crosses before that one... Anyway, did enough to show he deserves to be around the first team, but probably best to loan him out and add a striker for the rest of this year.

Agree with every word of this post. 

From the TV screen the pitch looked an absolute disgrace. I have noticed Rovers tend to underhit passes as a rule because I guess we are good enough to rescue interceptions but on that midden of a surface, what quality we have was totally negated by balls bobbling all over the place. Adequate excuse for Dack not being at the races and Travis not as outstanding (except for his role in the goals) but not for Bell who somehow got through the evening with plenty of spills but didn't drop the whole tea service. Makes Arma's composure for his goal even more outstanding.

Great thing about Nuttall was he gambled and got in where it hurts for the first goal. One of the reasons we score so few from open play is we are bad at gambling getting into the six yard box but Nuttall did that yesterday. 

Nyambe undoubtedly improved the side. I was expecting him to use his pace but he sat deep and held the line solidly. Bennett moving further forward was playing him to his strength and he made runs and challenges which show why he is such a favourite.

[Admiral Nelsen]

6 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

When we defend properly you're right, but it doesn't happen often enough. Get that right and add a bit more creative nouse and we won't be far away from the play-offs. Easier said than done but that's what the manager is paid for, and Venky's are expecting. 

Agree. I still think that we'll be looking back at this season come May and look at it as having made good progress though. 

Looking at the Sheffield United model, another 12 months experience and the addition of David McGoldrick has clearly done them the world of good. Nothing stopping us doing something similar with a canny couple of additions. 

 

3 minutes ago, DE. said:

Unfortunately I still think Smallwood is below the required standard - although better than Lowe - and there have been too many bad times with Evans for me to ever be completely comfortable with him in midfield. A pairing of Reed and Travis would be pretty interesting, although Mowbray may think there isn't enough defensive discipline between them to work the way he wants. 

I don't think they'll be the starting two in a midfield pair that gets automatic promotion, but I do think that without being the most gifted that they've set a platform for us to compete with not far off every team we've played this year. Young Travis looks extremely promising, I suppose I've felt a couple of times that his emergence has been framed in a "thank god we've got someone to take the place of Evans/Smallwood" sort of way, and whilst both have their limitations, I think they're our best pair since relegation from the prem (even if we assume that Cairney was the best individually). 

[yeti-dog]

Reed and Travis, for me, should be our central midfield partnership moving forward, they're far more dynamic and progressive. Smallwood and Evans will never take us to the next level.

In terms of other outgoings I'd love to have seen the last of Williams and (sadly) Conway. Also, after last night  Bell has a 'must do better and must do it quickly' label attached to him.

 

[SBlue]

10 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

Agree. I still think that we'll be looking back at this season come May and look at it as having made good progress though. 

Looking at the Sheffield United model, another 12 months experience and the addition of David McGoldrick has clearly done them the world of good. Nothing stopping us doing something similar with a canny couple of additions. 

I agree 100%.

Also, the average age of the team that finished the game was 24 years old, which is really young for the Championship - and they were at one of the toughest grounds in the football league, being disciplined and going toe to toe in a really ugly battle and finishing the game off with a couple of high quality goals.

That includes an outlier like Graham too!

Mowbray is putting a nice balance together and building a young squad capable to sustain us for the next few years.

Good times.

[arbitro]

40 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

Have to say I feel very similar about our midfield.

Whilst it's great to see young Travis coming in and taking his chance brilliantly, Smallwood & Evans have gone about their job more effectively than the likes of Murphy/Etuhu/Lowe/Williamson/Akpan/Guthrie/Byrne/Taylor/Tunnicliffe & Spearing managed to do. 

I don't understand the relevance of comparing Evans and Smallwood to the list of players you mentioned. It's the here and now that counts and if we are to improve we need players who are an upgrade on what we have. Travis certainly fits that and brings more qualities to the team. 

[Admiral Nelsen]

Just now, arbitro said:

I don't understand the relevance of comparing Evans and Smallwood to the list of players you mentioned. It's the here and now that counts and if we are to improve we need players who are an upgrade on what we have. Travis certainly fits that and brings more qualities to the team. 

The first post was about Nuttall and that, even if he's not the best, still is a mark-up on some of the dross we've had recently. I feel the same about our midfield, who I think sometimes get a bit of unfair stick. Simple as that, I'm not against improving any position if we can find better players. 

Agree completely about Travis by the way. It's fantastic when players of his promise are brought through, he clearly deserves to keep his shirt on current form.

[Exiled in Toronto]

55 minutes ago, philipl said:

Agree with every word of this post. 

From the TV screen the pitch looked an absolute disgrace. I have noticed Rovers tend to underhit passes as a rule because I guess we are good enough to rescue interceptions but on that midden of a surface, what quality we have was totally negated by balls bobbling all over the place. Adequate excuse for Dack not being at the races and Travis not as outstanding (except for his role in the goals) but not for Bell who somehow got through the evening with plenty of spills but didn't drop the whole tea service. Makes Arma's composure for his goal even more outstanding.

Great thing about Nuttall was he gambled and got in where it hurts for the first goal. One of the reasons we score so few from open play is we are bad at gambling getting into the six yard box but Nuttall did that yesterday. 

Nyambe undoubtedly improved the side. I was expecting him to use his pace but he sat deep and held the line solidly. Bennett moving further forward was playing him to his strength and he made runs and challenges which show why he is such a favourite.

He did for the second too, was right there and would most likely have slotted in any rebound off goalie or post.

[ChrisPriceBaldSpot]

16 hours ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

9 minute match report/rant from a Millwall fan driving home in his car

Linesman was bent

Looks like I have rattled one of their fans with my comment. Called us dirty!!! They were the worst footballing team that we have played for a couple of years, that's including league1 last season. 

[roversfan99]

19 hours ago, Stuart said:

Not tonight Rev.

Delighted with three points.

The big question this evening is: is Dack now holding us back? Followed closely by: can he step up again?

 

18 hours ago, rhodie said:

Dack should have been taken off long before he was, he seems to be taking the same route Marshall took. Hot, cold, hot, cold.

 

Find this totally bizarre. He has 10 league goals and 4 assists, and 3 of each extra in the cups.

Hes a consistent source of goals in a team that plays long ball football, he is by far our best player, hes not holding us back.