Huddersfield Town 29.12.19

[Paul Mani]

I don’t get the ‘they’re not trying’ tribe on here. Imo they literally give everything they have in every game. Sure they’re not good enough at times. The manager gets things wrong and players make inexcusable mistakes but I see a team who run, tackle and try very hard.

[roversfan99]

4 hours ago, PeteJD13 said:

Problem as I see it was/is just outside the play offs two home games we expected to win, one with a bumper crowd and we served up a really poor performance coupled with Dack being seriously hurt. He's gone back to Tony Tombola with his selections and I think performances have suffered Birmingham was especially poor. We're back to being devoid of any creativity and movement. We've no way of replacing the goals Dack scores, he's scored more this season than holtby has done in years and I think more than rothwells ever scored.

Rather than rolling the Tony Tombola he needs to look at how to rebalance the starting 11 to cope without Dack, if Gallagher is going to play up front put him through the middle rather than wide right, and play it to his feet with runners running off him. People moan Gallagher doesn't score he gets very little service or he's out of position for 75mins whilst we smash it long to Armstrong.

 

To be fair, Gallagher played central v Birmingham and for 2/3s of the Huddersfield game and was equally ineffective. There is no logic behind him playing wide but he has been poor when played central which he has been more than half of the time.

There is also a reason that he rarely if ever gets the chances that Dack and Graham have had because he lacks their anticipation and movement to be able to get half a yard or sniff the chances out.

I agree with much of your general post but I have to say that Gallagher is a really poor player and should never have been signed.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

3 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

I don’t get the ‘they’re not trying’ tribe on here. Imo they literally give everything they have in every game. Sure they’re not good enough at times. The manager gets things wrong and players make inexcusable mistakes but I see a team who run, tackle and try very hard.

If that really is the case we should be worried. I was thinking maybe a change of face and voice in the dressing room might get a bit more out of them.

[den]

21 hours ago, arbitro said:

 

but far worse than that was the number of times we gave the ball away or were caught in possession. Nearly every player was guilty of this.

“Take care of the ball”. Surely its the starting point for any reasonable coach? it means don’t give it away. We’re any of the players even thinking that way, because it didn’t look that way to me. I’m not sure where their heads were, or what they were trying to achieve it was that bad IMO. Didn’t Mowbray say recently that the results during the good run were down to doing the basics properly?

it seems all of that has been completely ignored since. 

[darrenrover]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

To be fair, Gallagher played central v Birmingham and for 2/3s of the Huddersfield game and was equally ineffective. There is no logic behind him playing wide but he has been poor when played central which he has been more than half of the time.

There is also a reason that he rarely if ever gets the chances that Dack and Graham have had because he lacks their anticipation and movement to be able to get half a yard or sniff the chances out.

I agree with much of your general post but I have to say that Gallagher is a really poor player and should never have been signed.

I don't get the 'Gallagher tried very hard' attitude: so bloody what?

It was £5 million and we and Birmingham fans knew he was a donkey, why sign him?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, den said:

“Take care of the ball”. Surely its the starting point for any reasonable coach? it means don’t give it away. We’re any of the players even thinking that way, because it didn’t look that way to me. I’m not sure where their heads were, or what they were trying to achieve it was that bad IMO. Didn’t Mowbray say recently that the results during the good run were down to doing the basics properly?

it seems all of that has been completely ignored since. 

Keeping the ball means the other 9 outfield players working hard to give the player in possession plenty of options. Whenever I watch Rovers play I see too many players stood still, players not showing for the ball etc. We play walking football. If you press the ball vigorously against a team playing walking football you'll always force errors and regain possession in dangerous areas.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[darrenrover]

Just now, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Keeping the ball means the other 9 outfield players working hard to give the player in possession plenty of options. Whenever I watch Rovers play I see too many players stood still, players not showing for the ball etc. We play walking football. If you press the ball vigorously against a team playing walking football you'll always force errors and regain possession in dangerous areas.

Tyrone, I couldn't agree more: We don't work off the ball.

What happened to working in triangles, running the channels etc, particularly a ball between the centre half and a full back for a winger to run on to and cross from the bye-line?

We're not hungry enough and happy to hide and pass the buck much of the time. The only time that differs is when we're on the back of several defeats and a few decent performances then come out of the bag, after which the feet go back on the desk.

It's self preservation society, for no marks who know they can't achieve more and for those on a final meal ticket before hanging up their golden boots. It stinks.

 

[chaddyrovers]

6 hours ago, PeteJD13 said:

Problem as I see it was/is just outside the play offs two home games we expected to win, one with a bumper crowd and we served up a really poor performance coupled with Dack being seriously hurt. He's gone back to Tony Tombola with his selections and I think performances have suffered Birmingham was especially poor. We're back to being devoid of any creativity and movement. We've no way of replacing the goals Dack scores, he's scored more this season than holtby has done in years and I think more than rothwells ever scored.

Rather than rolling the Tony Tombola he needs to look at how to rebalance the starting 11 to cope without Dack, if Gallagher is going to play up front put him through the middle rather than wide right, and play it to his feet with runners running off him. People moan Gallagher doesn't score he gets very little service or he's out of position for 75mins whilst we smash it long to Armstrong.

 

Been my point for months on Gallagher that we don't created any chances for him, when we did he produced 3 goals for us. (2 goals and own goal). The service to him is appalling most of the time. Sadly people expect him to play like Graham type but he aint that type of striker. 

very good post Pete

[USABlue]

On 29/12/2019 at 11:51, DE. said:

Have noticed a few comments about Walton bring rooted to the line for Hudds goal, but on replay you can see he actually is out initially then starts backpedalling when the ball comes in leaving him in a vulnerable and ultimately useless position. 

It was a peach of a cross to be fair.

[K-Hod]

Just read that Huddersfield came from behind to beat us for the first time in 2 and a half years.

Good old Rovers, helping teams get out of slumps. It’s the season of giving, I suppose....

[USABlue]

23 hours ago, Boroblue said:

I wouldn’t bother with new signings we are going nowhere. Sack Mowbray or as tomphil suggested send him upstairs. Appoint Johnson for the rest of the season and see how he does. Use the youth team and at that point we’ll know who may make the grade. If it doesn’t work out appt an experienced manager in the summer.

Possibly the best option this.

[USABlue]

21 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Yet when he played well in the exact same formation ,nobody credited the manager for his performances. The players,for whatever reason,have reverted to the bad version since the Wigan game. Maybe Tosin plays that and we win. Its small margins. I have major doubts about mowbray,but the players need to step up too. They cant blame the formation or tactics for lack of application or effort. Travis tries in fairness, but we just dont help ourselves. Looked a nervous wreck of an outfit today. Its baffling. 

However if they see, like us that what he is doing is ridiculous what is their reaction likely to be, not 100% effort I'll bet.  Glad to read some others cottoning on to my Mowbary, like Bowyer, self preservation theory.

[USABlue]

What would have been wrong with, Chapman on the right, Armstrong left, Gally central?  MOWBARY goes Chapman left, Armstrong middle, Gally right.  WTF?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, USABlue said:

What would have been wrong with, Chapman on the right, Armstrong left, Gally central?  MOWBARY goes Chapman left, Armstrong middle, Gally right.  WTF?

I'm old fashioned but I like to see right sided players playing on the right and left sided players on the left. Gallagher in the middle is where I thought we'd signed him to play.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 hours ago, darrenrover said:

Tyrone, I couldn't agree more: We don't work off the ball.

What happened to working in triangles, running the channels etc, particularly a ball between the centre half and a full back for a winger to run on to and cross from the bye-line?

We're not hungry enough and happy to hide and pass the buck much of the time. The only time that differs is when we're on the back of several defeats and a few decent performances then come out of the bag, after which the feet go back on the desk.

It's self preservation society, for no marks who know they can't achieve more and for those on a final meal ticket before hanging up their golden boots. It stinks.

 

Another beef of mine with some Rovers players is that they'll get in a tricky situation on the ball and then they'll pass the ball to somebody else who's in a worse position than they were. Good teams only do that occasionally, we do it all the time.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[USABlue]

4 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I'm old fashioned but I like to see right sided players playing on the right and left sided players on the left. Gallagher in the middle is where I thought we'd signed him to play.

I thought that was my point, unless I am reading your post wrong.

[Waggy76]

5 hours ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

The Bowyer tenure was a significant wasted opportunity. What an experienced manager might have achieved with those resources!

Very true ...

[Waggy76]

4 hours ago, Tom said:

In fairness we often said similar about Cairney here then he showed there is still a place for that sort of player 

Cairney is a lot younger than Holtby but there are similarities , he just doesn't do enough for me...Likes to hide probably should play in the Dack role....

Not impressed by him or Johnson , who is not in the same league has Holtby ...

[Doogs]

2 minutes ago, Waggy76 said:

Cairney is a lot younger than Holtby but there are similarities , he just doesn't do enough for me...Likes to hide probably should play in the Dack role....

Not impressed by him or Johnson , who is not in the same league has Holtby ...

Waggy 76  Holtby apart from being injured half the time has done nothing for me. Johnson is far to slow for me...

[DE.]

4 hours ago, darrenrover said:

I don't get the 'Gallagher tried very hard' attitude: so bloody what?

It was £5 million and we and Birmingham fans knew he was a donkey, why sign him?

There are a lot of players who 'work hard' but achieve nothing in matches. None of them cost £5m. We should expect far more than just hard work from Gallagher. What worries me most about him is that he doesn't seem to have that instinct that all decent forward players need to be in the right place to score goals. He's got a good shot on him but he's rarely in a position to show that. People can blame the other players in the team for 'not creating enough' but it hasn't stopped Dack or Graham from notching regularly since they've been here. Rhodes was similar in that even when he wasn't getting great service (particularly towards the end) he was still scoring because he just had/has that instinct of knowing where to be. I don't see that in Gallagher at all.

4 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Keeping the ball means the other 9 outfield players working hard to give the player in possession plenty of options. Whenever I watch Rovers play I see too many players stood still, players not showing for the ball etc. We play walking football. If you press the ball vigorously against a team playing walking football you'll always force errors and regain possession in dangerous areas.

What's strange is that for the first 15 minutes or so against Huddersfield we were pressing them and causing all sorts of problems... then we just stopped. The entire team seemed to get rattled after a couple of mistakes, collectively retreated into their shells and never recovered. I'm convinced it's poor mental conditioning. Once our confidence is rocked we really struggle to come back from it, and unfortunately rather than just spanning 90 minutes it tends to span entire portions of the season. 

[47er]

7 hours ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

The Bowyer tenure was a significant wasted opportunity. What an experienced manager might have achieved with those resources!

Credit to him (and/or his staff) for getting them on a shoestring in the first place though? I do agree with your post however.

[JHRover]

17 minutes ago, DE. said:

 

What's strange is that for the first 15 minutes or so against Huddersfield we were pressing them and causing all sorts of problems... then we just stopped. The entire team seemed to get rattled after a couple of mistakes, collectively retreated into their shells and never recovered. I'm convinced it's poor mental conditioning. Once our confidence is rocked we really struggle to come back from it, and unfortunately rather than just spanning 90 minutes it tends to span entire portions of the season. 

How many times have we seen this. For some reason we start most games brightly for the first 10-15 minutes and often catch the opposition out.

Bristol, Swansea, Huddersfield, Preston, West Brom, Stoke, Reading away - we go ahead in the first 10-15 minutes. At Ewood we usually have a bright first 10-15 minutes but rapidly regress into insipid dreadful football for the next 30.

On the occasions we do get ahead we often immediately sit back and change our approach to the game. This gives the opposition time and opportunity to fire back quickly - WBA, Swansea, Huddersfield we concede soon after going ahead. QPR away concede soon after scoring. Home games v Birmingham and Forest almost immediately conspire to allow them straight back in. Despite Bristol being a good win they had numerous good chances after we had scored to get back level.

We can't cope when we have a lead to protect. Heads go.

It's a very serious problem that goes back to last season which Mowbray has been unable to address. It isnt down to personnel. It is mindset, fitness, game management.

I'm bored of watching it. Very predictable.

[Leonard Venkhater]

Just now, 47er said:

Credit to him (and/or his staff) for getting them on a shoestring in the first place though? I do agree with your post however.

Yes, credit where it is due, all right. And didn't he have a strong squad to pick from!. So-so much better than the current one.

To think we were only in a playoff position for a couple of hours or something!

 

[DE.]

Just now, JHRover said:

How many times have we seen this. For some reason we start most games brightly for the first 10-15 minutes and often catch the opposition out.

Bristol, Swansea, Huddersfield, Preston, West Brom, Stoke, Reading away - we go ahead in the first 10-15 minutes. At Ewood we usually have a bright first 10-15 minutes but rapidly regress into insipid dreadful football for the next 30.

On the occasions we do get ahead we often immediately sit back and change our approach to the game. This gives the opposition time and opportunity to fire back quickly - WBA, Swansea, Huddersfield we concede soon after going ahead. QPR away concede soon after scoring. Home games v Birmingham and Forest almost immediately conspire to allow them straight back in. Despite Bristol being a good win they had numerous good chances after we had scored to get back level.

We can't cope when we have a lead to protect. Heads go.

It's a very serious problem that goes back to last season which Mowbray has been unable to address. It isnt down to personnel. It is mindset, fitness, game management.

I'm bored of watching it. Very predictable.

It's a strange one as last season we were starting a lot of games quite poorly, rarely scoring in the opening twenty minutes. We seem to have solved that problem to some degree but only for the first 15-20 minutes of games, then we revert to type. I'm not really sure what to make of it. The overarching issue of only being able to perform well for parts of matches rather than significant portions remains, despite our openings tending to now be brighter and more intense. It's almost like we throw everything we have into the first 20 minutes of games and then only have a little bit left for the rest of the match.

[PeteJD13]

I still don't really see a style or pattern of play, we are so devoid of creativity Mowbray spends half the time on the touchline with his head in his hands, yet he continually goes for triangle and square pegs in round holes. Walton has cost us numerous points it was critical we brought a senior keeper in we didn't. The midfield lacks any dynamism or creativity there's a real lack of penetration we also have no natural width. His nonsense ploy of sticking strikers wide doesn't work, Armstrong gets in some great positions but he can't pass or cross half the time so its wasted. The squad and how we play is a reflection on TM its stale lacking ambition and confuse. We are just as likely to go on a 9 match non winning run post the good run we had