Cardiff-home

[RevidgeBlue]

14 minutes ago, 1864roverite said:

This for me is a problem on Saturday. Hoilett is and will always be seen as a greedy footballer who let Rovers down badly after the way the club looked after him. On the pitch his pace might be a problem for a left back and for me I think the bigger the player the worse he plays - I mean stature wise.

 

Hoillett did absolutely nothing wrong imo. He wasn't an Allardyce type player and therefore wasn't given a contract or opportunities commensurate with his ability and by the time he came to the fore under Kean (strangely) his contract was running down and he could pick and choose the best offer to go elsewhere.

In fact he's the last player Rovers fans should be calling out imo as it was largely down to him we didn't get relegated at the end of Kean's first season in charge. But there's football fans for you  I suppose.

Edited August 22, 2019 by RevidgeBlue

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, RevidgeBlue said:

Hoillett did absolutely nothing wrong imo. He wasn't an Allardyce type player and therefore wasn't given a contract or opportunities commensurate with his ability and by the time he came to the fore under Kean (strangely) his contract was running down and he could pick and choose the best offer to go elsewhere.

In fact he's the last player Rovers fans should be calling out imo as it was largely down to him we didn't get relegated at the end of Kean's first season in charge. But there's football fans for you  I suppose.

Ya, have to agree there. He was a great player for us, so exciting. Just here at the wrong time. Imagine him in Hughes team....

[Admiral Nelsen]

Just now, RevidgeBlue said:

Hoillett did absolutely nothing wrong imo. He wasn't an Allardyce type player and therefore wasn't given a contract or opportunities commensurate with his ability and by the time he came to the fore under Kean (strangely) his contract was running down and he could pick and choose the best offer to go elsewhere.

In fact he's the last player Rovers fans should be calling out imo as it was largely down to him we didn't get relegated at the end of Kean's first season in charge. But there's football fans for you  I suppose.

Spoke to some Cardiff fans on the train when I was on way to Ewood on the opening day, think they were playing Wigan. 

Asked them about Hoillett, and whilst they were happy enough with him as a squad player at this level, they definitely weren't going overboard. I still can't quite get my head around how he hasn't kicked on after leaving Rovers. The form he showed in the spell you mentioned he looked as though he had the world at his feet. 

[RevidgeBlue]

10 hours ago, Vilesinner said:

Absolutely loving Gallagher in our team. The £12.5 million he spent of the 3 is peanuts; especially when he got over £3 million for Raya. Every signing in the window is looking the business! Happy days! ?

Long way to go before Gallagher comes close to justifying his fee. He hasn't come close to having a sniff on goal yet and if we can win with him running about like a headless chicken on the wing, fair enough, but I can't help thinking we'd be better with an actual winger I.e. Chapman there.

[RoverKyle]

54 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Just had a realisation this morning 

Lenihan Williams Johnson Travis > Lenihan Mulgrew Smallwood Evans 

Those 4 positions are crucial and we are so much better there this season 

It's quite exciting to be honest. I managed to get to my first game this season against Boro and the way our midfield ticked over was brilliant to watch. How long have we been calling for the Smallwood/Evans axis to be killed off. Seems we've finally got our wish. 

Edited August 22, 2019 by RoverKyle

[Ewood Ace]

58 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

I suspect that we might try and play on the floor a bit more and leave DG on the bench. Obviously Graham's easily our best option for a target man, but given that we're playing a Warnock side I think playing direct balls for their centre backs to gobble up might be playing into their hands. 

I think it is becoming a bit of a myth that Graham is only suited to direct football. He is a far better technical footballer than any of the other striking options. Not to mention when he plays he also brings the best out of our most creative player. Also you don't play and do well in a Brendan Rodgers team unless you can play with the ball on the floor.

Edited August 22, 2019 by Ewood Ace

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, Ewood Ace said:

I think it is becoming a bit of a myth that Graham is only suited to direct football. He is a far better technical footballer than any of the other striking options. Not to mention when he plays he also brings the best out of our most creative player. Also you don't play and do well in a Brendan Rodgers team unless you can play with the ball on the floor.

Exactly... 

[Admiral Nelsen]

Just now, Ewood Ace said:

I think it is becoming a bit of a myth that Graham is only suited to direct football. He is a far better technical footballer than any of the other striking options. Not to mention when he plays he also brings the best out of our most creative player. Also you don't play and do well in a Brendan Rodgers team unless you can play with the ball on the floor.

To be fair, it's more his mobility which I think will lead us to go with another option. Agree that he's technically underrated, and he's a very, very clever player. 

I think we'll probably opt for a quicker player to get in behind, but I wouldn't want to make Graham out just to be a battering ram, I agree he's far better than that. 

[Mattyblue]

Graham will play most home games when we are largely on the front foot with more possession in advanced areas and we can play off him.

Will be on the bench for a lot of away games.

[Leonard Venkhater]

25 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Hoillett did absolutely nothing wrong imo. He wasn't an Allardyce type player and therefore wasn't given a contract or opportunities commensurate with his ability and by the time he came to the fore under Kean (strangely) his contract was running down and he could pick and choose the best offer to go elsewhere.

In fact he's the last player Rovers fans should be calling out imo as it was largely down to him we didn't get relegated at the end of Kean's first season in charge. But there's football fans for you  I suppose.

Phil Jones, anything wrong?

[Stuart]

7 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Graham will play most home games when we are largely on the front foot with more possession in advanced areas and we can play off him.

Will be on the bench for a lot of away games.

How will we know that we are on the front foot before the game starts?

[Mattyblue]

I’m talking about game plans and generally teams plan to be more on the front foot at home. Ergo he’ll pick Graham, obviously doesn’t mean the match will unfold that way.

[frosty]

48 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Hoillett did absolutely nothing wrong imo. He wasn't an Allardyce type player and therefore wasn't given a contract or opportunities commensurate with his ability and by the time he came to the fore under Kean (strangely) his contract was running down and he could pick and choose the best offer to go elsewhere.

In fact he's the last player Rovers fans should be calling out imo as it was largely down to him we didn't get relegated at the end of Kean's first season in charge. But there's football fans for you  I suppose.

Agreed. At the time of our relegation he looked like mid-table PL player at least, so you can understand him not wanting to play in the Championship for an abysmally run club that had Kean as 'manager'.

QPR was an awful career choice though. That's where he went wrong.

[joey_big_nose]

I was pretty certain Hoilett would progress into the CL. Don't think he really wanted it enough unfortunately, plus maybe I over estimated his quality.

[joey_big_nose]

2 hours ago, Ewood Ace said:

Surely Graham has to start this game up against two big strong centre backs in Morrison and Flint.

Not necessarily, we will have the long relief  ball into Gallagher on the wing so that opens up a quicker striker to play on the shoulder of the Cardoff Centrebacks. Could be difficult for them.

[arbitro]

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Hoillett did absolutely nothing wrong imo. He wasn't an Allardyce type player and therefore wasn't given a contract or opportunities commensurate with his ability and by the time he came to the fore under Kean (strangely) his contract was running down and he could pick and choose the best offer to go elsewhere.

In fact he's the last player Rovers fans should be calling out imo as it was largely down to him we didn't get relegated at the end of Kean's first season in charge. But there's football fans for you  I suppose.

Technically he didn't do anything wrong but I felt he was disloyal after Rovers pushed the boat out for him and his family. He was brought over as a kid and went to St Bedes, he was then loaned out to a German club whilst he got the necessary permits if I remember correctly. He was on a huge contract here as Rovers gave him the platform to showcase his ability but he chose to turn down a new deal to leave on a Bosman. I thought at the time he might have repaid that faith by staying longer but that was misplaced.

For somebody who shows open disdain to one of our (by popular opinion) most important players your last sentence seems a bit hollow.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Graham would hold his own up against those two, but i just wonder would Armstrong with Downing, Dack and Rothwell off him scare those two big lumps a bit more. If we are planning on playing long, it has to be Graham. If we do it and play Gallagher he will get owned, even though he is bigger than Graham. Our other strikers just don't have the same cuteness of the dark arts of solo center forward play that Graham has. 

Edited August 22, 2019 by Bigdoggsteel

[Stuart]

8 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

I’m talking about game plans and generally teams plan to be more on the front foot at home. Ergo he’ll pick Graham, obviously doesn’t mean the match will unfold that way.

I think Graham is going to be super sub this year. He isn’t going to last for ever and it’s the right thing to be looking to reduce our reliance on him. The problem is that in failing to bring in a quality replacement - despite throwing £12m - £14m at it - it means that we now have to change to a different style of play and this false 9 nonsense.

I guess it depends on your point of view. If this is our last chance to get promoted before the fire-sale begins then you would play him. But I can’t decide if they will back him or not. They must have been disappointed with 15th last season and will surely expect play-off places to continue to believe in his approach.

[Admiral Nelsen]

Just now, joey_big_nose said:

I was pretty certain Hoilett would progress into the CL. Don't think he really wanted it enough unfortunately, plus maybe I over estimated his quality.

His final ball was pretty dodgy, but the thing which surprises me is the way that he's gone backwards in the area he was so strong at, beating players.

In the K**n years, he seemed to be torturing full backs every time he got the ball. He seems as though he's still doing it in flashes, but like you I expected him to get somewhere near the top by his mid 20s.

[G Somerset Rover]

6 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I was pretty certain Hoilett would progress into the CL. Don't think he really wanted it enough unfortunately, plus maybe I over estimated his quality.

So were the players. Remember Roberts talking about how much quality he had and saying he'd go all the way in his career. Surprised at how very little he's gone on to achieve. Usually it's what's going on between the ears that separates the good from the very good/great.

Edited August 22, 2019 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[Amo]

Have put a raaaather large wager on BTTS on Saturday. Should really know better than to bet on Rovers.

License to shred money.

[Gary C]

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Long way to go before Gallagher comes close to justifying his fee. He hasn't come close to having a sniff on goal yet and if we can win with him running about like a headless chicken on the wing, fair enough, but I can't help thinking we'd be better with an actual winger I.e. Chapman there.

Totally agree hes getting game time for the under 23s. Exciting player would like to see him getting a chance

[Bigdoggsteel]

Brereton and Tosin close to being back for the weekend. Going to be some unhappy campers left out of the squad completely.. 

[tomphil]

48 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I was pretty certain Hoilett would progress into the CL. Don't think he really wanted it enough unfortunately, plus maybe I over estimated his quality.

Never ever thought that you could tell he was another little billy big balls straight off but like a lot of players with genuine talent it seems part of their make up, just not prepared to do the dirty work week in week out.

He did look like he might be a Prem regular though and maybe catch the eye of a genuinely big club but more likely a West Ham or some other plodders.

Think he was taking his advice from Samba though judging by his pursuit of the biggest wages rather than the football.

[Maji]

26 minutes ago, Amo said:

Have put a raaaather large wager on BTTS on Saturday. Should really know better than to bet on Rovers.

License to shred money.

It's a decent shout that, I'd be disappointed if we did not score and very surprised if Cardiff don't.

both teams only have one game with 0 goals scored so far, so fingers crossed.