Rovers V Bristol City

[Husky]

5 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

 

We were within touching distance of the playoffs - why on earth didn't we strengthen ?

That was the telling point. Clubs with ambition strengthen even from positions of strength.

So to not even strengthen from a position of weakness showed us all a shocking lack of ambition.

I don't suppose there will be too many looking forward to the 'mouthwatering games' against Bolton et al.

 

[AAK]

4 minutes ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

Every post is negative from you.

But think how happy he will be when he's happy.

[West Yorks Rover]

Just now, AAK said:

They're a better side than us, showed that in November, they'll finish close to top six than we do anyway.

I agree, Alex Neil is a good manager at this level.

[DE.]

Was Bell injured/unwell? Hard to fathom the reason behind bringing Williams back into the team otherwise. He's consistently proven himself to be one of our worst players over the campaign. 

[AAK]

6 minutes ago, Tom said:

They aren’t a team of world beaters, in fact there’s only a couple of teams in this league that stand apart, we aren’t miles away and still as competitive as we’ve been since the Rudy, Rhodes and King days 

On days like today the Brereton investment seems criminally wasteful though, close to a squad that can compete and we don’t bring our £7m man on when trailing 

Would have to disagree with that, quite easily. Back then we had two strikers who scored 20 goals each, now we have none. We had a playmaker in cairney, now we have none (dack isn't a playmaker). We had two centre backs who were good at this level now we have 5 who aren't good enough. Back then we had wingers who could cross a ball in Marshall and Conway, one has gone and the other is now past his best, now we have zero wingers who can cross a ball.

Edited February 9, 2019 by AAK

[Tom]

Just now, AAK said:

Would have to disagree with that, quote easily. Back then we had two strikers who scored 20 goals each, now we've have none. We had a playmaker in cairney, now we have none (dack isn't a playmaker). We had two centre backs who were good at this level now we have 5 who aren't good enough. Back then we had wingers who could cross a ball in Marshall and Conway, one has gone and the other is now past his best, now we have no wingers who can cross a ball.

I’m not saying the team is as good just that we are as close to being competitive as we have since then 

[West Yorks Rover]

Just now, DE. said:

Was Bell injured/unwell? Hard to fathom the reason behind bringing Williams back into the team otherwise. He's consistently proven himself to be one of our worst players over the campaign. 

TM probably just trying to keep everyone reasonably happy, your turn this week, kind of thing.

[AAK]

Just now, Tom said:

I’m not saying the team is as good just that we are as close to being competitive as we have since then 

Apologies mate, in that case only slightly disagree. I don't think the team currently is good enough to compete in the top half but okay for staying up.

[Tom]

3 minutes ago, OnePhilT said:

Just a thought, but in a game like today's, we could have done with a bit of magic from the bench in the form of Harry Chapman. I honestly think we would've won it with that injection of magic. I'm guessing he's quite far off being in the match-day squad, though. ?

I don’t get this he played only a few weeks ago for Boro in the cup, Pulis doesn’t seem like someone who would be content with a player not being fit so he can’t be too far off 

[Bigdoggsteel]

Sharpe is mister propaganda. His post match report said nothing in it and the game was decided by a set piece. Yet if you actually watched the game you could se e the better team won and if you read his tweets during the game you can clearly see they had the best chances. 

 

[Leveller]

On 07/02/2019 at 22:22, AllRoverAsia said:

That scandalous idea will never catch on here. We thrive on a good moan and the day wouldn't be the same without a few  COYB

Yeah. We keep winning one nil. It’s not good enough. Where’s the champagne football??

But seriously, we seem to have found the knack of keeping it tight and nicking a winner. One nil away wins seem to be our speciality recently.

[West Yorks Rover]

Shame we got knocked out of the cup, we'd have something to look forward to.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

23 minutes ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

Yeh - eight wins in a row for City - a team in such bad form we should play off the park - shocking.

There's always an excuse..we were shite. Plain and simple.

[AllRoverAsia]

8 minutes ago, AAK said:

They're a better side than us, showed that in November, they'll finish close to top six than we do anyway.

At the start of the season I wanted us to win the mini Lancs league within the Champioship which at least guaranteed safety and some bragging rights.

I too now think Preston will top that after recruiting well pre season and again in January.

We were about 12 points ahead of Preston at one stage. Not to mention they and Wigan have already dicked us.

I saw the game. We were impotent.

[RevidgeBlue]

6 minutes ago, Miker said:

I stick by my thoughts in the first half, Graham wasn't offering enough in attack.

Missed the game today but what a surprise.

Unbelievable decision to drop Bell for Williams. Another example of just giving one of the old faithfuls a game to keep them happy.

Wasted season, we need to completely rebuild the starting eleven in the summer if we're to be competitive in the top half next season imo.

[jim mk2]

Just now, West Yorks Rover said:

Shame we got knocked out of the cup, we'd have something to look forward to.

We were concentrating on the league apparently. Couldn't you tell with today and last week's performances? 

[Ewood Ace]

Awful. The last two weeks have been a reality check of just how far away from being top 6 contenders we really are. The manager's negligence in the transfer market is starting to show as today we looked stale and devoid of any ideas. Absolutely no fight or hunger after they scored sadly the great team spirit that the manager talks about was missing again as heads dropped immediately. Another late goal which has been the story since the first day of the season the manager clearly has absolutely no idea how to stop this problem, I personally still believe that we aren't up to the level of other teams in terms of fitness.

A special mention for Elliott Bennett today as he played in 3 different positions and was equally ineffective in all 3. To me the manager is shoehorning him in ahead of better players I mean seriously we need a goal and he takes Dack of and put's Bennett in the number 10 role what on earth was he thinking. I'm no fan of Bell but he has done ok recently and certainly much better than Bennett dropping Bell for Williams was to me Mowbray thinking I better give Del a run out today. Harrison Reed is our best central midfielder by some distance yet Mowbray seems to only rate him as our 4th best, he's wasted on the right. 

Today showed that some of the managers favourites are not up to it at this level and in the summer we must be offloading the likes of Bennett, Williams and Smallwood we won't ever get past mid table if those 3 are regularly in the team. All in all another drab afternoon at Ewood I could count on one hand the amount of halves of football that I have enjoyed at home this season. Mowbray keeps talking about changing our style but the question is when are we ever going to see it.  

Edited February 9, 2019 by Ewood Ace

[Hasta]

I thought we had our best spell, and had most momentum, in the 10 or 15 minutes leading up to the Dack and Palmer substitution. After we made our change, we never had a sustained attack again until the final few minutes. Dack obviously didn't want to come off so I think Mowbray has been outmanoeuvred there.

The ref was atrocious but his biggest mistake was not sending Travis off.

 

[DE.]

8 minutes ago, West Yorks Rover said:

TM probably just trying to keep everyone reasonably happy, your turn this week, kind of thing.

The problem with that mindset is that you end up keeping everybody unhappy. No player in decent form wants to lose their place for no good reason, especially to a player who has been in poor form.

7 minutes ago, OnePhilT said:

iFollow's commentators suggested that, without an old-school defender at the back in the form of Lenihan, that Williams was brought in to bring some solidity.

That's a strange deduction from whoever that commentator was, as "solid" is not a word that comes to mind when it comes to Williams playing left back (or at all, really). 

[Husky]

Just now, West Yorks Rover said:

Shame we got knocked out of the cup, we'd have something to look forward to.

It's worse than that Bowyer season.

Back then we had Swansea, Stoke and Liverpool and all this with players in our squad like King that were blatantly not good enough for mid table flumpers.

Oh the memories.

[AllRoverAsia]

1 minute ago, Leveller said:

Yeah. We keep winning one nil. It’s not good enough. Where’s the champagne football??

But seriously, we seem to have found the knack of keeping it tight and nicking a winner. One nil away wins seem to be our speciality recently.

I admire your players taking the field in that kit! It made our worst ever home kit bearable to look at for eye relief.

[Cherry Blue]

8 minutes ago, OnePhilT said:

Just a thought, but in a game like today's, we could have done with a bit of magic from the bench in the form of Harry Chapman. I honestly think we would've won it with that injection of magic. I'm guessing he's quite far off being in the match-day squad, though. ?

That's exactly what we needed today. Instead poor all round. Dack was lost, Bennett played in almost every position and with no service to Graham it was unlikely we would score.

Still disappointed about last week.

[jim mk2]

Just now, Ewood Ace said:

 Another late goal which has been the story since the first day of the season the manager clearly has absolutely no idea how to stop this problem, I personally still believe that we aren't up to the level of other teams in terms of fitness.

 

First match at Ipswich set the tone for the season in terms of conceding late goals. Getting tired of it. 

[DE.]

Just now, Husky said:

It's worse than that Bowyer season.

Back then we had Swansea, Stoke and Liverpool and all this with players in our squad like King that were blatantly not good enough for mid table flumpers.

Oh the memories.

I dunno, that was the season we finished 9th wasn't it? We underperformed so badly that season that the cup run just seemed to make a mockery of our inconsistent league form and suggested our players weren't giving their all in the lesser matches. This season I feel like we're overachieving given the lack of talent across the squad and the manager's limitations both tactically and in terms of team selection. 

[jim mk2]

Mowbray has to bring in at least 5 Championship oven-ready players this summer, or it will be the same story next season. No more £7m misfits who may or may not become players in the 3 years' time but solid, ambitious players who will improve this team. Otherwise he can take a hike.