Derby County (A) - Sunday 8th March [3pm KO]

[Tom]

Well it felt avoidable and super frustrating but we probably expected it 

‪An opportunity missed but we’ll wake up tomorrow and the world will still turn and there will still be a team running out at Ewood park next week in the blue and white halves, there’s worse things than being mid table in the championship with brief flirtations with the playoffs‬

Friends of mine are Bury fans, memories of going on with their grandad and they have no clue what the future holds, Bolton will be in league 2 next season

We want to be back at the top and believe we will be in time but probably none of us thought it would be this year, still annoying when you see an open door!

[Stuart]

14 minutes ago, Beanie01289 said:

So what your saying is everyone has to agree with you or they are a Johnny come lately. 

I support the manager I dont think we are world beaters but I think we are so much better than before he came in.

I could reply in kind to that obtuse post but it would only be deleted.

Having seen K-Hod’s post, I’ll add ‘Johnny Come Lately’s’ referred to managers, not posters on here.

Edited March 8, 2020 by Stuart

[K-Hod]

17 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Rich Sharpe is adamant that theres nothing in the Mulgrew contract theory, but I'm guessing he has no idea and doesn't want to upset anybody again after that negative, horrible and scathing attack on Gallagher the other week.

I honestly don’t know how Sharpe sleeps at night after asking a question, the monster....

[Stuart]

2 minutes ago, Tom said:

Well it felt avoidable and super frustrating but we probably expected it 

‪An opportunity missed but we’ll wake up tomorrow and the world will still turn and there will still be a team running out at Ewood park next week in the blue and white halves, there’s worse things than being mid table in the championship with brief flirtations with the playoffs‬

Friends of mine are Bury fans, memories of going on with their grandad and they have no clue what the future holds, Bolton will be in league 2 next season

We want to be back at the top and believe we will be in time but probably none of us thought it would be this year, still annoying when you see an open door!

The thing is Tom, while we may try to brush over it, that’s three or four chances to take advantage of other teams slipping up.

It’s not even about wanting to be back at the top - we need to be, financially.

[K-Hod]

15 minutes ago, Beanie01289 said:

So what your saying is everyone has to agree with you or they are a Johnny come lately. 

I support the manager I dont think we are world beaters but I think we are so much better than before he came in.

 

Well that was quite a strange attempt at putting words in someone else’s mouth. 
I don’t think that was what he said at all!

Edited March 8, 2020 by K-Hod

[Miller11]

7 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

Smallwood must either have the shittest agent in world football or simply have no desire to play at levels he believes are below him. If I was in his situation I'd 100% be demanding a move even if it did mean an inevitable pay cut.

Like Mowbray, and Coyle and Lambert before him, Smallwood is with HSH.

HSH stands for Honeyman, Sheron and Horner... all three are ex SEM employees or directors. Quick google search of “Gavin McCann agent” gives a good bit of background on these fellas, and some insight into who still has their grubby snout in the trough at Ewood.

 

[Waggy76]

In my time seen my Rovers teams , flirt with promotion to Division One,  the 3 Mackay teams were far superior to our present team, albeit the last one beaten by Swindon were poor in comparison...

[Tom]

1 minute ago, Stuart said:

The thing is Tom, while we may try to brush over it, that’s three or four chances to take advantage of other teams slipping up.

It’s not even about wanting to be back at the top - we need to be, financially.

I think we keep slipping up at Unfortunate moments because we just aren’t there yet With the squad or manager.

Teams like Leeds and Preston have mastered faltering at key moments of the season, Leeds now look like having gradually improved they can overcome that, Preston may get lucky and finish in the play offs, hopefully we get there or close this season then next season make the jump.

What we can’t afford to do is rest on our laurels and do what Sheffield Wednesday and others have done in getting close then dropping off the next season.

The youth it exciting, Bucky O’Hare was foolish today but has talent, JRC behind him and some young lads hopefully to break through, they need supplementing with 2-3 crucial first team players, that will cost though.

The question is do you trust Mowbray to bring those key players in, my view is he’s probably not the man to help us to the next stage but there’s a lack of stand out alternatives.

Big summer, but one way or another I’m sure we’ll both be there come August!

[tomphil]

17 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

Smallwood must either have the shittest agent in world football or simply have no desire to play at levels he believes are below him. If I was in his situation I'd 100% be demanding a move even if it did mean an inevitable pay cut.

SEM group plc

He'd probably have jumped if he'd been paid up and whilst i'm glad we don't do that anymore you'd think they'd have been able to exert some kind of pressure to get him out the door and free up some space. He's taken a big gamble with his career though so he must have something sorted for next season.

[Exiled_Rover]

7 minutes ago, tomphil said:

SEM group plc

He'd probably have jumped if he'd been paid up and whilst i'm glad we don't do that anymore you'd think they'd have been able to exert some kind of pressure to get him out the door and free up some space. He's taken a big gamble with his career though so he must have something sorted for next season.

Or he knows he's not going to see this type of money again, so is refusing to move until his contract is up. 

He's only just turned 29, he has 4+ years left in the pro game once he leaves us. 

[Stuart]

13 minutes ago, Tom said:

Big summer, but one way or another I’m sure we’ll both be there come August!

We must be bloody mad!

[tomphil]

11 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Or he knows he's not going to see this type of money again, so is refusing to move until his contract is up. 

He's only just turned 29, he has 4+ years left in the pro game once he leaves us. 

Which is the same as wanting to be paid up and refusing to go out on loan or play for the U23s as he was earlier in the season.

Bit of a shithouse really when you think about it but they gave him the contract so basically he's doing as he pleases. Being allowed to by the looks of it, not a good look or example.

[Doug]

We must never play that formation, with those players, ever again, absolutely shocking!

Playing away, to one of the best home teams in the division you set your stall out not to lose and assess the game as it plays out.

That was embarrassing, Brereton, Armstrong, Rothwell, Bennett, Gallagher, Bell, Downing were passengers.

There wasn't a position on the pitch which we bossed and Derby were poor IMO.

Thankfully Lenihan is back and hopefully normal service will follow.

Back to the trusted back 5, Travis and Johnson, Armstrong, Downing that's our best available starting 9, then the last 2 places are up for grabs, maybe start Graham?

Season isn't over yet by a long chalk, but we have to learn that we cannot play Gally, Arma and Brereton in the same team for the rest of this season.

Thoroughly disappointed because we are better than that horror show today.

 

 

[47er]

4 hours ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Yep he was terrible - every second touch was a half-arsed attempt at a tackle. The performances from our 3 ‘forwards’ today were just horrific.

I hate that set-up. If we had Shearer/Sutton and Speedie in it, it still wouldn't work. 

So how's it going to work with this "quality" we have currently?

[Dreams of 1995]

1 hour ago, Tom said:

Well it felt avoidable and super frustrating but we probably expected it 

‪An opportunity missed but we’ll wake up tomorrow and the world will still turn and there will still be a team running out at Ewood park next week in the blue and white halves, there’s worse things than being mid table in the championship with brief flirtations with the playoffs‬

Friends of mine are Bury fans, memories of going on with their grandad and they have no clue what the future holds, Bolton will be in league 2 next season

We want to be back at the top and believe we will be in time but probably none of us thought it would be this year, still annoying when you see an open door!

It’s an opportunity missed but it isn’t the end of the season by a long way. We have to play Bristol yet and PNE are losing points the same way as us. 
 

Gutting performance but Lenihan is back next week and we go again. This season isn’t over yet, believe it or not. 

[JPTSwindon]

2 hours ago, Stuart said:

Did they just fall from the sky onto the pitch?

Does he not pick the team?

Did he not think to change that at any point during the first half or at half time?

Why do we have such an imbalance? Poor recruitment? Where does the book stop for that then?

Agreed. TM chops and changes, chops and changes.  At the very least he needs to play players in the correct positions.  No wonder our strikers can’t hit a barn door, they don’t get chance to settle and invariably are sent out to graze on the wing.

 

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, Tom said:

Well it felt avoidable and super frustrating but we probably expected it 

‪An opportunity missed but we’ll wake up tomorrow and the world will still turn and there will still be a team running out at Ewood park next week in the blue and white halves, there’s worse things than being mid table in the championship with brief flirtations with the playoffs‬

Friends of mine are Bury fans, memories of going on with their grandad and they have no clue what the future holds, Bolton will be in league 2 next season

We want to be back at the top and believe we will be in time but probably none of us thought it would be this year, still annoying when you see an open door!

To be fair we can surely aspire to more than to simply exist.

[47er]

Once again we have nothing to play for and our season will fade out. We are no nearer promotion than we were under Bowyer several years ago.

We are producing some good youth players, they will be snapped up by bigger clubs.

We are on a downward spiral to nothingness. its the 1980's again with no Jack in sight.

Our only hope of getting out of this is to turn up a manager like Dyche. 

[Exiled in Toronto]

It’s only a missed opportunity if we are good enough to take it, which we aren’t. There’s more holes in this squad than Swiss cheese, the biggest ones being the Brereton and Gallagher-shapes ones (plus scorer of great goals not great goalscorer Armstrong.)

A decent season, IMO, depended on two of those three hitting 15+ goals, and two of them aren’t going to have 15+ goals Rovers careers. Add in the awful Rothwell and that’s four “goal threat” players who all looked League 2 standard today. Gallagher, Rothwell and Brereton together have 41 starts with four goals and two assists between them. Pathetic. 
 

If we start with Nyambe, Lenihan, Tosin, Bell, Travis and Johnson we can stay in a game. As to the other four, Armstrong Graham, Downing and Rankin-Costello would be my picks. Still a midtable team though.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

6 hours ago, Dan said:

If they are as clueless as they are on the pitch they’d probably end up in Cornwall.

Or Northern Italy.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 hours ago, Mercer said:

Davies and Kalanic were ten times the player Brereton will ever be.

Kalanic had more footballing ability in his left testicle than Brererton has in his whole body.

[JHRover]

2 hours ago, MarkBRFC said:

Rich Sharpe is adamant that theres nothing in the Mulgrew contract theory, but I'm guessing he has no idea and doesn't want to upset anybody again after that negative, horrible and scathing attack on Gallagher the other week.

Richard Sharpe will stick up for his mates at the club who feed him stories and make him cups of tea every Thursday pre match conference.

To be turning up two games running supposedly chasing promotion with no defenders on the bench whilst our promotion winning vastly experienced former captain sits at home collecting his wage is simply inexplicable.

You must be born yesterday if you think there isnt more to that particular story, sadly it seems the majority were born yesterday judging by the number who happily lap up the nonsense.

Edited March 8, 2020 by JHRover

[Miller11]

6 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Kalanic had more footballing ability in his left testicle than Brererton has in his whole body.

You could swap Kalinic with Chris Brown, Nathan Delfouneso, David Goodwillie, Corrado Grabbi, Luke Varney or Maceo Rigters and that comment is still valid.

[Bohinen 22]

We never win after going behind because the team has no bottle. The same reason why we never take advantage of other teams slipping up. The same reason why we let leads slip on a regular basis. Drawing after being 2-0 up at Brentford was unforgivable. Then following it with two draws in winnable home games was pathetic. No character and no bottle. It also shows how ineffective Mowbray is at changing the game with subs. So boring and so predictable.

[Bohinen 22]

13 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Richard Sharpe will stick up for his mates at the club who feed him stories and make him cups of tea every Thursday pre match conference.

To be turning up two games running supposedly chasing promotion with no defenders on the bench whilst our promotion winning vastly experienced former captain sits at home collecting his wage is simply inexplicable.

You must be born yesterday if you think there isnt more to that particular story, sadly it seems the majority were born yesterday judging by the number who happily lap up the nonsense.

Absolutely spot on. And nobody asks the question. Not the LT. Not Andy Bayes or any of his mates at Radio Lancs. It is a very Venkyesque situation. Reminds me of Nelsen's injury under Kean and then he left and was straight in the Spurs squad. Fast forward eight years.