Home V Fulham 08/02/2020

[Paul Mani]

I thought the game was pretty even. Sure they have better players but we dealt with them pretty easily. It was always gonna be settled with a bit of luck and / or magic and their goal had both. Alternatively it Looks like Lenihan’s goal was 3yrds on but whatever. 

I’ve no complaints. We gave everything in terms of endeavour but just didn’t have enough quality.

[chaddyrovers]

Just now, Paul Mani said:

I thought the game was pretty even. Sure they have better players but we dealt with them pretty easily. It was always gonna be settled with a bit of luck and / or magic and their goal had both. Alternatively it Looks like Lenihan’s goal was 3yrds on but whatever. 

I’ve no complaints. We gave everything in terms of endeavour but just didn’t have enough quality.

Bang on. 

The Lenihan's goal was on side. But that's been barely mention so far

[Paul Mani]

2 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

What do you make of Gallagher on the wing Parson?

I think he was awful. Actually looked better coming off the left onto his right foot in the second half.

[Pedro]

15 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

I thought the game was pretty even. Sure they have better players but we dealt with them pretty easily. It was always gonna be settled with a bit of luck and / or magic and their goal had both. Alternatively it Looks like Lenihan’s goal was 3yrds on but whatever. 

I’ve no complaints. We gave everything in terms of endeavour but just didn’t have enough quality.

I thought Walton made some outstanding saves. Couple of Freidel-esque ones, mixed with some Bobby Mimms ball at his feet moments.

[Pedro]

15 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Bang on. 

The Lenihan's goal was on side. But that's been barely mention so far

Clearly onside. Like - YARDS onside.

 

It would only continue to paper over massive cracks. We were poor and weak.  The effort off the ball wasn't anywhere near good enough, the quality on the ball was terrible - whether that be simple passing or crossing, for far too long the movement around us when we had the ball was lethargic at best.

[Ossydave]

21 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Bang on. 

The Lenihan's goal was on side. But that's been barely mention so far

No it wasn't 

[OldEwoodBlue]

1 hour ago, bazza said:

We were played off the park today by the best team at Ewood so far this season.

Referee was good for a change. Bryan, their left back, was excellent and gave as good as he got from Nyambe. He is a product of Bristol City youth and cost 6 million. And he was only one of 11 other excellent players.

Rovers were outclassed.  Bring on Hull.

 

yes I agree their LB was excellent.

[Tom]

I thought through our own graft we created one chance (Nyambe cross to Gallagher), plus a couple of others through slips by them (Gallagher chance and disallowed goal)

For a team at home that’s disappointing;  we didn’t really look cohesive at any point.

By far from the worst we’ve played but never really looked in danger of getting anything after it went 1-0

[Pedro]

27 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

No it wasn't 

Have you seen it back?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Today was another shot shy, dull game on a cold and dire afternoon

I thought Nyambe was outstanding today, possibly the best game I’ve seen him play and whilst travis also played well I couldn’t believe my ears when he got man of the match. The team fought hard and pressed well but where poor in possession. I was also surprised how well Armstrong did at winning the ball and his hold up play against a big centre half. Lenihan was very good defensively but gave the ball away sloppily at times.

johnson was woeful and davenport really needs to get a proper chance in the middle with travis.  Walton has potential but at the minute it is just that and to many times looked nervous under pressure. 

Rankin Costello didn’t have any effect on the game but I’m not going to comment more on a young lad still learning his trade against far superior players but substituting him was the right decision and hopefully the experience will do him good.

The substitutions 

graham made a difference when he came on and is criminally underused by mr Mowbray. Bremerton only got a few minutes but still managed to show how little bottle he has by wimping out of headers and Samuel is the same Samuel I remember struggling in league one. Two poor players who are lucky to have a squad number.

Gallagher gets some unfair stick imo. Every man with eyes can see he can’t play the position he is being asked to but he still gives 100% which brings me to my last point. The manager.  We have injuries, we are playing (on paper) a better team and the game was so poor because that’s exactly how Tony wanted the players to play. It was obvious before the interview he did. The players did as they were told and as Gary bowyer once or twice said gave it a good go. However , the Blackburn rovers I know and fell in love with isn’t a team that gets set up to nullify games at home. We should be on the front foot and going for a win whenever we play at Ewood. This is exactly what fans like myself get so mad about. If we are to get out of this league we need belief that we can beat these teams. Christ, we should at least try. One shot on target that I can remember isn’t good enough and if Dack and Rothwell played it would have been the same story because Tony is far to negative And cautious  and it cost us a relegation and it will cost us any chance of promotion. It won’t excite fans and bring them back to Ewood, if anything it will stop already committed fans renewing.  Boring, turgid crap football and ffs get Gallagher up front, on the bench or on the transfer list and play a winger who can beat a man and cross a ball. Why is he trying to cross to Armstrong. Surly his size and strength is his main attribute that needs utilising in the right way. 

We were good out of possession today but with the ball absolutely clueless and that’s down to Tony. As long as he his hear it’s going to Be more poor signings, players out of position, boring uninspired football, we gave it a go nearly men. I don’t care how nice he is he can’t take us forward and his interview saying Costello would never be a Dack in a million years must have done his confidence the world of good. I will give him credit for actually giving the lad a game. I’m sorry but Tony hasn’t got what we need.

 

That sums up my feelings. The team play in the image of the manager. Predictable, dull, uninspiring. Laboured passing, not enough movement off the ball, players going through the motions knowing they'll still get a game next week. 

Listening to Mowbray on the radio being followed by Neill was like your TV going from black and white to colour. It was a totally different outlook and way of seeing how games should be played. I hate saying that but it's true.

[Uddersfelt Blue]

Game played out as many probably expected. Fulham much the better team technically and Rovers lacking any creativity.

what surprised me the most was that we really didn’t put them under any pressure until they scored. Too many nervous wayward passes, Travis didn’t really get going until Johnson went off (a clue there). 

I don’t like criticising players who give their all and Gallagher certainly does that but why on earth do we keep him out on the wing. On one occasion he won a header only to see it go out of play. Surely he should be doing that in a central position and leaving the wing play to someone with the relevant skills (Chapman?).

Overall a reasonable performance in the circumstances we find ourselves in, a bit of luck for their goal was the difference in terms of goals scored. 
 

This league is not really that strong and it’s just a shame we aren’t really in a position to put in a serious challenge.

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by Uddersfelt Blue

[roverblue]

Probably the worst performance since the Barnsley game. Out of sorts, terrible in possession and was actually looking forward to full time so I could go home.

With all the link players out injured this formation simply doesn’t work. I just hope Tony isn’t too stubborn and changes it up.

Agree with comments above about giving younger players a chance to grow into the team for the rest of the season. Davenport, Brereton, Chapman, Buckley should be starting to see if they have a future as donkeys like Johnson and Gallagher have had enough chances. 

[jim mk2]

1 hour ago, Parsonblue said:

I thought it was a very tight game with one goal always likely to settle it.  Personally, I thought we didn't do too badly with the number of injuries to our creative players.  Fulham were better in possession but didn't create that many clear cut chances.

Travis was excellent and I thought Lenihan and Nyambe had decent games.  JRC didn't do too badly in a different role for him.  As Mowbray said in his interview, he's not a Dack or Holtby but has other attributes that he brings to the game and that it's a case of adopting a different style for the team whilst we are without the injured players - which seems fair comment.

A disappointing result but I thought it wasn't all doom and gloom.  There were positives, particularly the performance of our younger players, and on the whole I didn't think we did too badly against a side that could well be destined for automatic promotion.

 End of the day it was another defeat, another season now written off, no signs of significant progress that I can see, a manager who has run his course and needs replacing, the club in dire straits financially and the team farther away from the PL as ever.

[47er]

2 hours ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Doesn't matter if we finish 7th or 20th in the scheme of things.

We seem to like 12th for some reason! That's where we'll finish I predict.

[Amo]

1 hour ago, Paul Mani said:

I thought the game was pretty even. Sure they have better players but we dealt with them pretty easily. It was always gonna be settled with a bit of luck and / or magic and their goal had both. Alternatively it Looks like Lenihan’s goal was 3yrds on but whatever. 

I’ve no complaints. We gave everything in terms of endeavour but just didn’t have enough quality.

 

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Bang on. 

The Lenihan's goal was on side. But that's been barely mention so far

Cope cope cope.

[Bohinen 22]

Has Mowbray ever explained his thinking behind playing a tall winger like Gallagher out wide? It hasn't worked, ever, and yet he persists in it. Not one other Rovers fan would play Gallagher out wide.      It is bizarre. Like Parker playing Mitrovic out wide and Reid through the centre. Why does he do it. Anyway another season over. Blame the injuries. Or we could blame the chronic lack of January investment when our best player is out for a year, or Mowbray wasting 12 million on two donkeys and then single handedly draining them of any confidence by playing them out wide. It's boring and predictable. Just like Mowbray's tactics.

[TBTF]

4 hours ago, arbitro said:

Fulham deserved to win as they controlled the game for large parts without really creating too many chances. We ended the game with players all over the shop in what looked like disorganised chaos. Interestingly when we had all the strikers on Fulham went to a back five and Parker looked worried. Perhaps if we had been more adventurous from the start we might have got something. I don't think anybody played particularly well and a couple aside nobody was particularly bad. I felt sorry for JRC as he looked uncomfortable in the role he was given. Gallagher once again looked like an expensive flop.

As the end of the season gets closer the real worries for me start with loan players going back and out of contract players who will need replacing. Using the awful January window as the yardstick I can't see us really improving the squad with new players. I would like to see some of the youngsters given game time as we paddle along in mid table.

Problem is Arbitro our 2 star youngsters are JRC and Buckley based in U23 performances and both look some way short . However they probably will continue to be so unless we given them a run of games and that will require a fair bit of patience and understanding from us lot . That’s why the manager has to be ready to wear his tin hat in respect of our abysmal January window .The excuses for not doing any business just astound me tbh. Clowns , the lot of them . 

[Parsonblue]

2 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

I love reading your opinion and particularly look for your posts as they are well written, fair and you clearly have a good knowledge of the game and all things rovers. I would ask though, regardless of injuries and the opposition , at home, one half baked shot from Gallagher 20 minutes from time doesn’t strike you as worrying  ? With the ball we looked clueless until the substitions  when we reverted to hoofing at the big lads, hardly a tactical masterclass and something big Sam got slated for. So the question is are you happy with watching a manager serve up football with so little entertainment and virtually no goal threat. And it isn’t a one off through injuries or opposition 

I think there have been times in a number of games this season where one can see the progression that Mowbray is trying to make in terms of the style of football.  Bristol City and Sheffield Wednesday away were two games when it clicked for the majority of the game.  In other games there have been spells when we've played well but lacked the finishing touch in the six yard box.  I think the football has been better this season than last despite the loss of Dack, who to be fair had been very in and out prior to his injury.  

I didn't have a problem today when we started to go long in the final stages of the match.  It seemed to be the tactic that unsettled Fulham the most - although I thought Michael Hector was outstanding for them at the heart of their defence.  

For me, we are still very much a work in progress in terms of transitioning from a long-ball, direct style, to a more possession based style.  It's clear the players are very much with Mowbray and what he is attempting to do.  Ultimately, he will need the new emphasis on European scouting to come up with the goods in the summer to improve the team.  It was clear from the meeting on Thursday that the domestic market isn't going to work given the club's welcome, if belated, decision to impose a sensible wage structure.

[chaddyrovers]

2 hours ago, Ossydave said:

No it wasn't 

Clearly on side from the footage I've seen. Another poor set of match officials at this level

[Tom]

5 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Clearly on side from the footage I've seen. Another poor set of match officials at this level

 Can you link that?
 

The footage I saw from sky didn’t show the incident, would be interested to see as I almost missed it as thought they were going to comfortably clear the ball 

[chaddyrovers]

2 minutes ago, Tom said:

 Can you link that?
 

The footage I saw from sky didn’t show the incident, would be interested to see as I almost missed it as thought they were going to comfortably clear the ball 

On the EFL show on Quest

Even at the time he look onside

Edited February 8, 2020 by chaddyrovers

[Blue blood]

Perhaps the most obvious result in the circumstances. Haven't seen or listened to any of it but it seems like it played out as expected - we were defensively dogged, offered little and they had the quality to edge it. Feel like there may be a number of games like this with the available squad between now and the end of the season. 

In the circumstances what was probably to be expected and yet despite this am a bit disappointed with a couple of decisions. 

5 strikers on the pitch at once - by definition at least 2 or 3 must have been out of position. 2 of them Samuel and Bereton aren't good enough and should t be playing full stop but 5 strikers on the pitch cannot be a balanced or effective team, and by definition  (unless playing 3 or 4 up top) has too many players out of position. 

Bereton got 5 minutes. Blimey. No one will improve on so little football. A really pointless use of a sub and way to help Bereton regress even further. 

Feel the rest of the season could be a bit of a slog from the reports I've heard today. With no chance of going down it could be difficult to watch/drum up interest. 

 

[Angry_Pirate]

We are 7 games away from having our £12 million "strike force" go the entire season without either of them getting a single goal at Ewood.

Sack the manager.

Edited February 9, 2020 by Angry_Pirate

[jim mk2]

Just now, Angry_Pirate said:

We our 7 games away from having our £12 million "strike force" go the entire season without either of them getting a single goal at Ewood.

Sack the manager.

 An indictment of Mowbray, assuming he sanctioned the transfers.

Besides all his other deficiencies, their failure alone would have seen most managers sacked

[roversfan99]

3 minutes ago, Angry_Pirate said:

We are 7 games away from having our £12 million "strike force" go the entire season without either of them getting a single goal at Ewood.

Sack the manager.

That is absolutely embarassing.