Wigan Athletic (H) - Monday Night Football (urgh..)

[aletheia]

Morsy has form. Lucky not to get a second yellow for off the ball kick on Travis. Then he was responsible for nobbling Dack. Tried to apologise but Dack having none of it. They’ve been here and bullied us before. Spineless and woefully undercooked. Came alive a little when aggrieved by the Dack injury. 

Edited December 23, 2019 by aletheia

[Vinjay]

Just now, Lie_still_Rover said:

You clearly aren't.. Acl or rather the anterior cruciate ligament is at the front. The 'anterior' is a bit of a give away..  

PCL then. People usually prefer to use the initials not the full phrase. It's an easy error. Also ACL is in the middle of the knee albeit closer to front than back.

Edited December 23, 2019 by Vinjay

[grinder]

Just now, Lie_still_Rover said:

You clearly aren't.. Acl or rather the anterior cruciate ligament is at the front. The 'anterior' is a bit of a give away..  

Doh someone needs to google postion of ACL before  commenting have a look at its origin and insertion first - he was clutching his anterior lateral compartment didnt seem to be a significant twist but cant always tell from initial reaction

[Cherry Blue]

Just now, philipl said:

iFollow was not working in nearly all the second half and all the other feeds were hanging badly.

So yes I was watching... A little circle going round and round.

Nobody on here seemed to mention it though.

It was very quick bet a lot missed it. Awful night at ewood. Guess we should be use to the let downs. But what kind of manager buries his head in his hands? He should be ranting and scaring the sh1t out of his players! 

[simongarnerisgod]

to narrow,to slow and to predictable,disapointing result against a commited but limited side,armstrong and rothwell kept coming inside and on the rare occasions they stay wider we looked slightly dangerous,tbh the way mowbray sets the team up we are more effective away from home,tony is terrified of putting the hammer down and going for a win,we are going to miss dack,holtby is not as mobile but is a good passer of the ball,that is if he gets picked as his replacement

[rovers11]

How gutting that it looks as though Dack is going to be out for the season. Football really is a cruel game. The one player we’d pick to not have a serious injury, and that player goes and gets one. 

[Stuart]

Let’s start with the positive - we remain unbeaten even if we are wobbling badly.

But that was an utter shambles.

It was like watching a bunch of strangers who had never seen a football before!

First touch was too frequently so bad that the second touch was an attempted tackle - often so far away it was a desperate lunge.

We missed Adarabioyo so much. Not just his ability at the back but his calmness on the ball and his ability to pick out a pass. To be so reliant on such a young lad, a loanee, is poor. (Has there been any news on his injury?). Instead we were treated to a succession of hoofed long balls from Williams, Walton, even Downing and Lenihan. We just ended up reverting back to the dark old days of last season with the ball coming back again and again.

Elsewhere, we had a real problem stringing a few passes together, let alone any kind of final ball.

Gutted for Dack. We have Rothwell and Holtby and even Armstrong who can cover (although Arma was appalling again tonight - if it weren’t for his odd goal/assist he would be been dropped a long time ago). But we do seem to be missing something. We’ve gone from a settled side (a team) to a collection of individuals.

Another exercise in bottling it when it touching distance of the play-offs against a piss-poor side in front of a good crowd. Any walk-ons tonight won’t be racing back for half-season tickets! Or paying three times the price to come back on Thursday. Wigan were disgusting - the very image of their disgrace of a manager - dirty and cynical. The ref played right in their hands but it’s a poor do if anyone tries to blame the ref for that tonight. We could have nicked a goal but so could they. We simply froze. January is vital now.

Oh, but Mowbray now has a 10ft flag so all is well.

 

[Cherry Blue]

Just now, aletheia said:

Morsy has form. Lucky not to get a second yellow for off the ball kick on Travis. Then he was responsible for nobbling Dack. Tried to apologise but Dack having none of it. They’ve been here and bullied us before. Spineless and woefully undercooked. Came alive a little when aggrieved by the Dack injury. 

If it was off the ball he'll be punished.

[Bbrovers2288]

Wasn’t anything in dacks injury 

[rovers11]

Trying to look on the bright side, at least we have a ready-made replacement in Holtby to come in and play in his best position. He’s not as good as Dack but he is still a class player. 

[Cherry Blue]

Good post Stuart.

The ref was a joke and anyone who saw him agree. The Championship clubs should do something about lack of quality at this level. 

On a positive, don't think we'll go down but it will be close.

[1864roverite]

Too many changes for me it unbalanced the team as evidenced in a woeful first half. Dack was away with the fairies first half. I hope the injury isn’t too serious but after Holtby cane in Rivers were better especially with Johnson in the middle.

[CharlesBronson]

Just now, Bbrovers2288 said:

Wasn’t anything in dacks injury 

Happened right in front of me.. morsey did nothing.. he just went down..

[tomphil]

Sometimes we just have to accept a team have done their homework and do a job on us. Doesn't make it any easier to take and we should be able to deal with it but we are what we are.

Forever terrified of the bright lights of the top 8 !

[CD_93]

Not saying my affliction is any worse than Dack's but I thought my feet were going to drop off around 70 minutes.

Shithouse of a game, that. Shite ref. Wheelbarrow on display. Man of the match had a terrible game. Lads sitting next to us needed three attempts to find what row they were sitting on. Really set the tone.

Back to the Bristol City team for Boxing Day, I think. Time for our pricey strikers to start winning football games for us.

Edited December 23, 2019 by CD_93

[Gary C]

 

20 minutes ago, Fraserkirky said:

Thought Dack was useless before his injury, not for the first time this season. Will miss his goals, but from general play not so much, we looked far better last week going forward as a 4-4-2 with Holtby and Rothwell as the wide players. 
 

Im sure Travis was embarrassed with the man of the match award, he was really bad tonight. I would just not have bothered with it tonight.

Need some new players.

Credit to Wigan, see much worse sides this year at Ewood.

Walton deserved tbe award tonight for the few saves he made 

Edited December 23, 2019 by Gary C

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

3 minutes ago, rovers11 said:

How gutting that it looks as though Dack is going to be out for the season. Football really is a cruel game. The one player we’d pick to not have a serious injury, and that player goes and gets one. 

He wont leave now!

[Exiled_Rover]

Just now, rovers11 said:

Trying to look on the bright side, at least we have a ready-made replacement in Holtby to come in and play in his best position. He’s not as good as Dack but he is still a class player. 

I think this is our opportunity to switch to a 4-4-2.

We looked more solid against Bristol City than we have for any of Mowbray's time in charge. 

[aletheia]

Dack injury, watch carefully. Morsy’s hip smashes into knee as he bundled Dack out of play. Not obvious. Rovers too polite. What is that chimp thing Mowbray does on the touch line?

Edited December 23, 2019 by aletheia

[roversfan99]

Awful performance, again stumbling against a poor team at home and the Dack injury as our only source of goals is surely the end of any play off hope.

Walton possibly our best player, made 3 saves none of which were overly difficult but he was safe in net.

Williams is not good enough, made one decent block but dreadful on the ball, Lenihan looked a different player without Adarabioyo. Nyambe frustrated the life out of me, he gets so far and has no subtelty or creativity to do the final part and turns back. Downing had one of his poorest games for us if not the poorest, his crossing was awful.

Evans and Travis lost the midfield battle. Rothwell again was totally anonymous, not taking his chances. Armstrong again very poor and Dack quiet but we certainly need to sign an attacker now. Our only source of goals in a side that is misconceived to be good in attack and bad in defence has now been taken from us. Graham quiet but good movement and so unlucky with his header.

Holtby was bright when he came on and needs a run as a number 10 although he had to score. Gallagher was stupidly played wide and did nothing and Johnson was incredibly clumsy.

 

[Paul Mani]

Languid first half. Huffed and puffed second half without ever clicking into gear. Wigan came to do a job by breaking the play up with niggly fouls and were assisted by the referee who was as bad as I’ve ever seen.

All in all. A frustrating day at the office. I didn’t think we bottled it. Dacks injury potential to derail our season.

[Gary C]

Hoping Holtby can fill the Dack void as Dack could be out a while if it's a serious knee injury

[OldEwoodBlue]

On the plus side....

Up to 8th and 2 points outside the play offs.

[jones_rover]

First match I've been on live for a year or so.

My observations:

1) Williams - Seemed very rusty and distribution poor for someone who has played LB for long periods and isn't just a big ugly CB 

2) Desperately need some genuine width in the side when we come up against teams like Wigan today.

I like Rothwell but he's more effective centrally and end product not there often enough.

Armstrong was woeful, seemed lazy and completely ineffective. Would have hooked him at half time. The amount of times he left Nyambe completely isolated on the right wing was painful.

3) We got overrun in the middle of the park, Travis and Evans never managed to get their foot on the ball and feed our creative players unfortunately.

4) Fingers crossed Dack isn't too seriously hurt, I was in the Riverside and the cries of pain weren't making it look too good.

Merry Christmas all!

 

Edited December 23, 2019 by jones_rover

[simongarnerisgod]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

Awful performance, again stumbling against a poor team at home and the Dack injury as our only source of goals is surely the end of any play off hope.

Walton possibly our best player, made 3 saves none of which were overly difficult but he was safe in net.

Williams is not good enough, made one decent block but dreadful on the ball, Lenihan looked a different player without Adarabioyo. Nyambe frustrated the life out of me, he gets so far and has no subtelty or creativity to do the final part and turns back. Downing had one of his poorest games for us if not the poorest, his crossing was awful.

Evans and Travis lost the midfield battle. Rothwell again was totally anonymous, not taking his chances. Armstrong again very poor and Dack quiet but we certainly need to sign an attacker now. Our only source of goals in a side that is misconceived to be good in attack and bad in defence has now been taken from us. Graham quiet but good movement and so unlucky with his header.

Holtby was bright when he came on and needs a run as a number 10 although he had to score. Gallagher was stupidly played wide and did nothing and Johnson was incredibly clumsy.

 

nyambe was hamstrung by bloody armstrong disapearing inside and not backing him up or overlapping,same with rothwell on the otherside,neither are to intelligent football wise but can do two things,run and dribble,why the **** they keep going inside is beyond me,i think id`e end up throwing the tea urn at both of them