Sheffield Wednesday away Sat 16th March

[JHRover]

Groundhog day stuff again. I was bored to tears watching that yesterday. So predictable in every aspect.

I agree we played quite well, but once again it means absolutely nothing as time, after time, after time, we got into a decent position or were on top in the game but failed to seriously test the Wednesday GK. Not quick enough, decisive enough or ruthless enough when we get on top or into a good position. Its always the same - take another touch, find another pass, go backwards when on the edge of their area. A lack of decent balls into the danger area.

There was an occasion in the second half when a Wednesday player tried his luck from the half way line seeing Raya off his line. He missed the target but it wasn't far off and was closer to a goal than we'd had all day until that point. Just by having someone in midfield with an eye on the opposition goal and with the balls to try something like that.

Likewise when they brought on Nuhiu i said to my mate that he would immediately cause problems for our defence and lo and behold within a couple of minutes he's nodding in their 2nd goal.

To be totally honest I find the performances and football to be extremely dull and predictable. People talk about a nice passing game but it is utterly pointless if there's no end product. Meanwhile Wednesday can turn up and score 4 without really doing very much due to our inability to defend properly. We have no identity. We aren't defensively strong, infact we're one of the worst in the league, we are wasteful in attack. I'm fed up with it. Another 8 games to go - if things don't pick up during those games then I'd personally be reviewing the operation and potentially making a change at the end of it. But we're a club that doesnt even have the foresight to get tickets on sale early so I doubt there's anyone with any interest in such important matters as that.

[AllRoverAsia]

37 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

Hell fire people STILL harping on about the big money we've spent when you don't actually know the terms of the deal! 

Neither do you,  yet still seem to claim it as some sort of defence. 

I also see those who claim that the fee is nowhere near the £7 million,  that's millions!, often quoted. Not that they have a clue either. 

[Tom Stinny]

45 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

Hell fire people STILL harping on about the big money we've spent when you don't actually know the terms of the deal! 

What I do know is that Rovers were never in a position to spend one of their larger fees on an unproven teenager whose become the main issue and talking point among the fans because of the managers piss poor excuse for recruitment and tactical setup.

 

It was all about balance in the summer. Yes we needed a forward but we needed defenders as well. Instead we got 101 inverted wingers and a team full of central midfielders and utility players. 

 

You made a point earlier as well about players in this league starting regularly and doing well. 

 

Leeds have two young lads below 20, Middlesbrough have a lad called wing. West Brom have been playing field and Harper (who ironically was shit under this manager)

 

Brentford had merpham I think his name is for the first half of the season who went to bournmouth. They also play Konsa at centre back.

 

Tyler Roberts up front for Leeds is 20/21? Plays in near enough every game either starting or 30 minute cameos.

 

So I'll ask you the question. Is it normal to commit one of your larger figures to a teenager and play him for very little minutes if at all?

 

And can you honestly say he's the managers signing because I don't know anymore. If he is he should fall on his sword for negligence of financial funds. If he isn't he should have walked and stated why. His stock was on the up and he would have had offers.

 

He's also doing the same with Chapman but that's another story on it's own. Fit for pulis, unfit for Mowbray. Why?

Edited March 17, 2019 by Tom Stinny

[arbitro]

40 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

Hell fire people STILL harping on about the big money we've spent when you don't actually know the terms of the deal! 

The deal has been reported asup to £7m presumably with add ons. That tells me that Rovers believed him to be worth that much and the down payment and subsequent instalments I believe would have been a big chunk of Mowbrays budget. And what have we got? A lad who can't get on the pitch for the first team and now plays for the under 23's. I honestly don't know who put the ridiculous valuation on him or who watched him apart from Mowbray saying he was played well against us in our relegation season.

Somebody has to be accountable for this.

[47er]

1 hour ago, Ossydave said:

Go on then, who's all these amazing 19 year old starters?

There are loads. Do what everyone else does--JFGI!

[arbitro]

6 minutes ago, Neal said:

Or he is simply trying to create and make things happen. I've seen it before with Josh King. Bowyer wasted him away on the bench only for him to simply move to another club under a better manager and perform. 

 

I genuinely think he's just on another level of thinking than the rest of the players around him. Would TM accuse other more well known footballers at  bigger clubs of being like "little kids" for expressing themselves? 

 

Why has he not said the same about Dack? That fella's first touch was bloody awful yesterday. Trying to beat the man before he'd even touched the ball. 

 

He's talking absolute cobblers. 

If he wants to be critical and call out individuals he should have a go at Armstrong as his cameo appearance was poor in the extreme. He was caught offside several times and he has a first touch like an elephant in several promising positions.

And he paid £1.75m for him.

[OJRovers]

I really don’t know why Mowbray buys the players he buys. 

There’s only Smallwood who is a Mowbray-style player.

Yet he buys the like of Rothwell, Chapman, Armstrong, Brereton and just doesn’t play them in their proper positions or doesn’t trust them to play every game.

He’s completely reliant on the players inherited from Colye. Despite spending millions.

[tomphil]

We can argue all we want about the player himself and if he'll ever be any good but the main problem with the Brereton situation has always been questions about the wisdom of investing a large chunk - and it will be - of this seasons budget on a deposit/first instalment of a player like him.

It's a long term punt / a gamble with probably making money on him the first thought and football the second so was it wise doing that right now when even back in summer the team definitely needed vital strengthening elsewhere ?   There were no guarantees at that stage that we'd do ok once the season started we could've lost ten out of the first 16 for all anyone knew as we all expected it to be a battle.

So no it wasn't wise at all it was downright daft by people who should know better if it was their call, do we really think it was though ?  As usual at Rovers under Venkys there's probably another angle to it and as to why it actually happened.  It's been said a few times that this kind of money was only available for a certain kind of signing, well ask yourselves just WHY that was and what good it actually does the team ?   It's never been there before so why has it suddenly appeared and all gone into one lad ?

Last time there was a little bit of unexpected investment out of the blue was when Bowyer squeezed a couple of million out of somewhere and got in Cairney, Marshall, Evans, Rudy etc.  Then the tap turned straight off they grew the team, began to sell it from under him, didn't reinvest, sold off the rest them we went down with not so much as a whimper.

Rinse and repeat is on its way imo 

[AllRoverAsia]

In just a single interview Mowbray has a childish pop at Rothwell and publically lets it be known that Mulgrew is going nowhere,  near Scotland. 

Raya has already been a target for Mowbrays public temper tantrums. 

Just how closely knit is the dressing room.

[Stuart]

One of the most alarming things for me is that, regardless of who is playing in the back four, teams always seem to score with their first shot on goal.

And very often their second.

We need coaching staff who can get them working on the basics. Listening to those who went yesterday though it does sound like the players are not working well together.

The Championship isn’t like League One, mistakes are punished more readily and chance converted more easily. I’ve not done any real research but I’d wager that these days a lot of clubs bounce back up from L1 first time - Wigan did it twice IIRC.

For Mowbray to have stuck with his L1 team so long he’s either loyal to a fault, or is covering something up.

[G Somerset Rover]

11 minutes ago, arbitro said:

If he wants to be critical and call out individuals he should have a go at Armstrong as his cameo appearance was poor in the extreme. He was caught offside several times and he has a first touch like an elephant in several promising positions.

And he paid £1.75m for him.

This summer may be the best chance we have to get shot while someone will pay similar to what we did while his stock is still relatively high(ish). 

[JHRover]

I don't like Mowbray's body language on the touchline. Quite often when the opposition score Mowbray goes and sits down in his seat for a few minutes. I want the manager to be shouting and screaming at players. Compare to Bruce/Agnew/Clemence who spend the entire game issuing instructions and making adjustments to their team. Their response to conceding against us was to go and get a 3rd to finish us off. Our response to conceding is for heads to drop and the manager to go and have a sulk.

[G Somerset Rover]

Just now, JHRover said:

I don't like Mowbray's body language on the touchline. Quite often when the opposition score Mowbray goes and sits down in his seat for a few minutes. I want the manager to be shouting and screaming at players. Compare to Bruce/Agnew/Clemence who spend the entire game issuing instructions and making adjustments to their team. Their response to conceding against us was to go and get a 3rd to finish us off. Our response to conceding is for heads to drop and the manager to go and have a sulk.

Yep - commented on this yesterday. Our body language to conceding every time yesterday was sickening. Nobody rallying the players, nobody grabbing the ball. I genuinely don’t think he’s brought in one ‘leader’ during his time here.

[Stuart]

Just now, OJRovers said:

I really don’t know why Mowbray buys the players he buys. 

There’s only Smallwood who is a Mowbray-style player.

Yet he buys the like of Rothwell, Chapman, Armstrong, Brereton and just doesn’t play them in their proper positions or doesn’t trust them to play every game.

He’s completely reliant on the players inherited from Colye. Despite spending millions.

While I agree, I think only Mulgrew was a Coyle signing. Mainstays like Bennett and Graham were Lambert’s - a guy who was even bringing a young lad called Mahoney through until Uncle Knob’ead outbid “Colin”.

He also brought in Jordi Gomez, one of several loans, and a couple of forgettable freebies. Venkys have backed three managers with funds for players: Kean, Bowyer and Mowbray. Ignoring the former for obvious reasons, neither of the latter two have excelled when spending actual cash. But looking back, Souness and Hughes were far better at picking up bargains and blooding youngsters than spending cash.

[blueboy3333]

16 minutes ago, OJRovers said:

I really don’t know why Mowbray buys the players he buys. 

There’s only Smallwood who is a Mowbray-style player.

Yet he buys the like of Rothwell, Chapman, Armstrong, Brereton and just doesn’t play them in their proper positions or doesn’t trust them to play every game.

He’s completely reliant on the players inherited from Colye. Despite spending millions.

Dack apart, I agree. Yet, the 'give him more time brigade' (I do love a brigade!) think he'll suddenly become a transfer market genius this summer and sort out all our worries. The man is as clueless in the transfer market as he is at organising a defence.

[JHRover]

8 minutes ago, Stuart said:

While I agree, I think only Mulgrew was a Coyle signing. Mainstays like Bennett and Graham were Lambert’s - a guy who was even bringing a young lad called Mahoney through until Uncle Knob’ead outbid “Colin”.

He also brought in Jordi Gomez, one of several loans, and a couple of forgettable freebies. Venkys have backed three managers with funds for players: Kean, Bowyer and Mowbray. Ignoring the former for obvious reasons, neither of the latter two have excelled when spending actual cash. But looking back, Souness and Hughes were far better at picking up bargains and blooding youngsters than spending cash.

The only 3 that went to India and bowed down before Madame and then recieved funds.

Which is why the worry if we do have to change manager because the next one will have to fly out and kneel at her feet for any sort of transfer kitty.

[Neal]

17 minutes ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

This summer may be the best chance we have to get shot while someone will pay similar to what we did while his stock is still relatively high(ish). 

Really? The lad has had a pretty decent season on the whole and was unplayable not so long ago. There is tons of crap I'd get rid of before I'd consider selling Arma. 

[Ewood Ace]

Mowbray simply doesn’t know how to get the best out of Rothwell, like with Palmer he is a flair player who is capable of winning games. Mowbray doesn’t know what to do with those sort of players. He would much rather have someone like Bennett or Smallwood who run around like headless chickens but lack any quality that is going to win you a game.

[blueboy3333]

Just now, Neal said:

Really? The lad has had a pretty decent season on the whole and was unplayable not so long ago. There is tons of crap I'd get rid of before I'd consider selling Arma. 

he's had about 3 good games. 

[Neal]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

he's had about 3 good games. 

Disagree. 

[G Somerset Rover]

Just now, Neal said:

Really? The lad has had a pretty decent season on the whole and was unplayable not so long ago. There is tons of crap I'd get rid of before I'd consider selling Arma. 

I’m probably being a tad harsh on him - just peeved off with the lot of ‘em right now. He could do with being played in his natural position for a start.

[Neal]

Just now, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

I’m probably being a tad harsh on him - just peeved off with the lot of ‘em right now. He could do with being played in his natural position for a start.

Was best player on the pitch for us against Brentford out wide. I somewhat agree though, I think the manager needs to use him more wisely, needs to pick his moments when to play him through the middle and when to put him out wide. Often he puts him out wide in the wrong situations when he would have been better bringing him on in the last 30 up top. 

[Stuart]

6 minutes ago, JHRover said:

The only 3 that went to India and bowed down before Madame and then recieved funds.

Which is why the worry if we do have to change manager because the next one will have to fly out and kneel at her feet for any sort of transfer kitty.

That’s a great point. Most proper football managers would expect kissing Desai’s ring to be Waggott’s job not theirs.

[1864roverite]

I’ll simplify my view

 

Raya is a problem keeper who does not command the 6 yard box. Great shot stopper but that’s it! Time for a goalkeeping change for the rest of the season pack Raya off for his nose job and get him back fitter after a big close season work out.

[Exiled in Toronto]

4 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

In just a single interview Mowbray has a childish pop at Rothwell and publically lets it be known that Mulgrew is going nowhere,  near Scotland. 

Raya has already been a target for Mowbrays public temper tantrums. 

Just how closely knit is the dressing room.

That thought struck me too. Sounds like he’s had enough of the lot of them, but then he has either bought them or given them extended deals, and is now basically telling them he’s buying better players in the summer. Mulgrew, Williams, Rodwell, Reed and Evans play like they don’t give a shit. The only glimmer of light I can see is that the lads from the U23s, plus Graham to be fair, are our best players, still putting in a shift. Dack I’m not sure ever cared about anything but himself and is showing why he was at Gillingham so long.

It’s going to be a long last 8 games.