ROVERS V Wigan

[Bigdoggsteel]

Williams was mixed as usual, but enormous credit to him for clattering Powell on the half-way line

 

[rovers11]

The second half performance was very impressive. The main reason for that: winning the ball back quickly in midfield and getting the ball to Dack who started dictating play. Wigan were absolutely shocking so I'm not getting overly excited with the 3-0 scoreline; they gifted us all three goals.

Rothwell was good again when he came on. An array of attacking talent in Rothwell, Armstrong, Dack, Chapman, and Brereton should reap dividends in the future. Very exciting talents with lots of pace, skill, and trickery. All traits we have been missing for many years. 

I wasn't convinced with our defensive display. A better team would have punished us with the attacking positions they found themselves in. But that's to be expected with a patched up defence (even our first choice defence isn't that good). Tyler did well, he looks like he has lots of potential. He looks like he's got pace, good powers of recovery, and decent on the ball. He needs to be a bit stronger and more commanding as he lost out on a few headers, but did very well overall.  

 

[CD_93]

22 minutes ago, Tom said:

The thing with Magloire is even at his age he was pretty much acting as the senior man in the back line; sure he got beat to some headers but I can recall 3 or 4 times when he threw himself into a block.

He May have a mistake in him but all our CB’s do, maybe more of a Hanley than.Jones (when he was good) and I think he’ll be a real asset especially with a full first team pre season 

Last night should move Nuttall behind Brereton as well, would have been a good time to give Ben a go and get a goal.

If Brereton can gain some form in the senior team, with Chapman on the way too, we do have some interesting prospects to throw in to the mix and build around in the summer.

[garnersfags]

14 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

We should have signed ollsson in January. Solid option. 

Hopefully he proves me wrong and falls over and let's us score now 

Sure this has been highlighted, but gotta be worth another reminder.

This game puts us all on our ass....

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, garnersfags said:

Sure this has been highlighted, but gotta be worth another reminder.

This game puts us all on our ass....

I loved being proven wrong on that! 

[Bigdoggsteel]

Can someone get the Sheffield Wednesday thread going?

Going off Mowbrays comments, it sounds like Graham will be rested. I just hope BB or Nuttall start up top and not Armstrong  

[oldjamfan1]

1 hour ago, Don Said said:

 

Seems fitting that he was part of the shambles of a Dingles side that got violated 5-0 at Ewood on April Fools Day!

That’s what his issue is with us. The scouse two-hat is scarred for life.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

10 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I think that's ridiculously harsh on Magloire. You talk as if  the senior players never make any mistakes. In general people tend to scrutinise young players' performance to the nth degree when senior players are making far more basic mistakes again and again week in week out and dont receive the same level of criticism.

As for Magloire specifically tonight I thought he did really well on an exceptionally difficult night due to the wind. He only made minor mistakes and when he did he looked like he had the speed to recover. He also put his body on the line where necessary which we haven't seen too much of recently.

I thought he performed far better than Mulgrew and Williams in that position recently and maybe even Lenihan and Rodwell.

Can he do it again or on a consistent basis? Who knows? But he deserves the chance to show us imo.

So he wasn't beaten in the air most times ? I never said anything about mistakes - but he did make a few (but conditions were difficult)

As I said he did some things well - but I think we should be careful not to build him up too much. 

 

[Amo]

Think it's funny fans nitpicking Magloire for missing out on a few headers. He's a raw 20 year-old making his first team debut. Did people not expect him to put a single foot wrong?

Anyway, fair play, we got the job done against a woeful Wigan side. Strangely, those enforced changes behoved us, otherwise I'm sure it would've been same old story. 'Twas good to see that Evans & Smallwood are not undroppable, but will it last?

[Ewood Ace]

Some interesting stats when Mulgrew hasn't played this season we have 21 points from 10 games. Winning 6, losing just 1, conceding 10 (with 5 coming in 1 game) and keeping 6 clean sheets. In the 27 games Mulgrew has played we have only kept 4 clean sheets 3 of them came in August and the last came on 6th October.

[Angry_Pirate]

 

5 minutes ago, Amo said:

Think it's funny fans nitpicking Magloire for missing out on a few headers. He's a raw 20 year-old making his first team debut. Did people not expect him to put a single foot wrong?

It's not picking in a negative sense or a criticism of a solid and comfortable debut, but the fact is he did lose a lot of headers which will need to be an area he improves. It seemed that TM actually tactically planned for this and Williams, Raya and Nyambe all did a responsible job as sweepers. (I just said 'TM' and 'tactical plan' in the same sentence!)

It's like with Raya, he can make 3 world class saves but we can still nit pick that he kicked half a dozen straight out of play.

7 minutes ago, Amo said:

 'Twas good to see that Evans & Smallwood are not undroppable, but will it last?

It has to. Especially now were all but mathematically safe. They should be unused subs (at best) going forward. 

[garnersfags]

The the whole game changed when Conway was introduced. It brought a 1st half attacking dimesion to our play that has been lacking for months. Mowbray must have been devastated that we didn't have 9 men behind the ball til 65 min. 

We are an effective attacking unit, stifled for the 1st 70% of every home game. 

Last night showed, albeit against a poor side, that we can attack as a team in the 1st half, which set up the 2nd half perfectly.

We sometimes give relegation threatened teams too much respect for 70 min. 

[SBlue]

Just now, Ewood Ace said:

Some interesting stats when Mulgrew hasn't played this season we have 21 points from 10 games. Winning 6, losing just 1, conceding 10 (with 5 coming in 1 game) and keeping 6 clean sheets. In the 27 games Mulgrew has played we have only kept 4 clean sheets 3 of them came in August and the last came on 6th October.

It’s a shame, I like Charlie and he contributes a lot but he really can’t defend or lead a back line that well.

I think he would work effectively on the left of a 3 though, and we get to keep his wand-foot out there too if this is the way forward.

[arbitro]

1 hour ago, AllRoverAsia said:

That will be at Cook's behest. 

Will this come under the "can't profit by cheating" rule,  the one Dwight Gayle was recently banned under for "successful deception of a match official"

I honestly can't see any further action. There absolutely was contact around Reeds chest from the high foot of the Wigan player. I thought Reed was clever how he came on the blind side but for me it was nailed on. I think there is an element of the world's against us (perhaps to instil a siege mentality) from Cook as they lost to a controversial goal on Saturday.

[garnersfags]

As many have been saying for years, Charlie is an effective, classy holding midfielder who will score 12 goals a season.

Tony has had the season-long opportunity to plug our leaky defence, and we have got stadily worse. 

This glaring question is hardly ever put directly to him in pre or post match interviews.

[Don Said]

8 minutes ago, garnersfags said:

As many have been saying for years, Charlie is an effective, classy holding midfielder who will score 12 goals a season.

Does Mulgrew have the legs/physical presence to play in a midfield role at this level?

Yes he could arguably do the sitting role but none of the systems we've played under Mowbray have a sitting midfielder.

Even if we did I'd argue Rodwell would be much better there as he's stronger and more mobile.

I can see the logic, as he's got a lovely left foot, but he isn't well rounded these days and I think he'd be exposed especially as we don't have other players that would do the leg work to protect and allow a luxury role, as such.

Not writing it off, just very doubtful.

[SBlue]

He’d make Tugay look like Kante there imo

[Stuart]

3 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

What in particular did you disagree with?

I dont get how you can describe Rothwell as the most talented man at the club and the man of the match based on yesterdays cameo. Hes undoubtedly talented but he gets better by being on the bench. Definitely deserves more minutes with Armstrong deserving to be dropped. But hes done nothing substantial enough in his cameos to warrant such a tag either. Dack is undoubtedly the most talented player we have.

 

Pretty much the whole of your post, every player, to be honest.

It’s all about opinions.

[Husky]

1 hour ago, garnersfags said:

Tony has had the season-long opportunity to plug our leaky defence, and we have got stadily worse. 

This glaring question is hardly ever put directly to him in pre or post match interviews.

You can't expect anyone at LET to do that. They are like a bunch of GCSE school children scared to ask an adult any questions.

[speeeeeeedie]

It reads like it was a deserved win. Although not a vintage performance.

Wigan beat Rovers for the League 1 title last year. Rovers are sitting in a much better spot than them this season despite the iffy run since January. I'd say that Mowbray has done his job.

The result should put any talk of relegation to bed, which is nice.

It was good to see that 4 academy graduates played last night which has led to a couple of blooding the youngsters posts. My guess is that Mowbray only did it out of necessity. He'll be back to his tried and tested group as soon as they are fit.

[garnersfags]

10 minutes ago, Husky said:

You can't expect anyone at LET to do that. They are like a bunch of GCSE school children scared to ask an adult any questions.

I agree, but there a quite a few other journalists at pre and post match interviews.

My point, really, is that he has been happy to play the same 6 or 7 defenders(?) in various positions/formations all season, and decided that they were doing so well that we didn't require any defensive additions in Jan. 

It is a major tactical & recruitment failure and has cost us a strong, top ten finish.

Yes, I think he's done a good enough job and I want him to stay but we won't be competitive at the right end of the Division, until it's sorted.  

[roversfan99]

3 hours ago, Amo said:

Think it's funny fans nitpicking Magloire for missing out on a few headers. He's a raw 20 year-old making his first team debut. Did people not expect him to put a single foot wrong?

Anyway, fair play, we got the job done against a woeful Wigan side. Strangely, those enforced changes behoved us, otherwise I'm sure it would've been same old story. 'Twas good to see that Evans & Smallwood are not undroppable, but will it last?

No one has said that, he has been almost exclusively praised but he looks raw round the edges and its only fair to comment on that.

For me you are unfair on the Smallwood and Evans axis, not in terms of its admittedly lack of effectiveness but in terms of how often its used. Since Travis' emergence, when we all presumed the status quo would be resumed, Travis has in the main retained his place (his levels dipped after an excellent first few games) and the Smallwood and Evans partnership has rarely been used really. Id agree that it shouldnt be used again but its also unfair to group the two together, Evans has been one of our better players this season and certainly shouldnt be banished. Smallwood is short of the required quality but lets not group the two together. Its playing Smallwood especially with Evans that is the problem.

Last night against a poor team Reed and Travis had good second half but were both poor in the first, especially Travis. Evans certainly has a role to play going forward.

[MarkBRFC]

1 minute ago, roversfan99 said:

No one has said that, he has been almost exclusively praised but he looks raw round the edges and its only fair to comment on that.

For me you are unfair on the Smallwood and Evans axis, not in terms of its admittedly lack of effectiveness but in terms of how often its used. Since Travis' emergence, when we all presumed the status quo would be resumed, Travis has in the main retained his place (his levels dipped after an excellent first few games) and the Smallwood and Evans partnership has rarely been used really. Id agree that it shouldnt be used again but its also unfair to group the two together, Evans has been one of our better players this season and certainly shouldnt be banished. Smallwood is short of the required quality but lets not group the two together. Its playing Smallwood especially with Evans that is the problem.

Last night against a poor team Reed and Travis had good second half but were both poor in the first, especially Travis. Evans certainly has a role to play going forward.

Evans was ok until he got his new contract, now he has reverted back to type.

Been having a good laugh at the club for years that lad.

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, MarkBRFC said:

Evans was ok until he got his new contract, now he has reverted back to type.

Been having a good laugh at the club for years that lad.

Yep for 75% of his time here he's been a passenger and we know he's basically just a sitting midfielder tidying up the bits and bobs so he often doesn't get noticed but I've always felt he's a better player than that but he's just happy coasting along inbetween International call ups.

I'll bet a penny to a pound he'd have started last night if there was no Internationals soon, Saturday will tell us more though.  A very fortunate player to have the kind of contract and shelf life he's had here imo.

[Oldgregg86]

8 hours ago, Tom Stinny said:

Would add players like Buckley and Butterworth to that list as well. 

Them two definitely need some minutes now where safe

Davenport , Chapman and brereton also.

I would sell/release nuttall at the end of the season. He's had his chance and never really took it and ultimate isn't what we need going forward. 

The rest of the above mentioned need to play so we no exactly where the summer budget needs spending after we sort the defense and keeper situation. 

I'd love Butterworth to step up then and take nuttals place and Buckley to do well enough to send Smallwood down the Paul downing route.

I really believe Buckley could be ready for our bench come August.  Real talent