Pre-Season

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18608682.rovers-pre-season-plans-high-profile-friendlies-agenda/

Mowbray wanting high-profile friendlies.

[JHRover]

Expect it to be Liverpool. Klopp was impressed that we went to Anfield to play them in June so expect he will be happy to return the favour.

[arbitro]

Does anybody know from social media postings if any Rovers players are in Spain? With two weeks quarantine on returning home that would potentially give only one or two weeks pre season time if any players are currently there.

[JacknOry]

6 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Does anybody know from social media postings if any Rovers players are in Spain? With two weeks quarantine on returning home that would potentially give only one or two weeks pre season time if any players are currently there.

Think somebody said Travis was in Spain, Chaddy i think.

[Atko's Engine]

I think I read somewhere on here that Armstrong is, too.

[JHRover]

I think they are in Ibiza. Rothwell has gone out this morning too. 

Is Ibiza not now exempt from the quarantine rules?

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

Just now, JHRover said:

I think they are in Ibiza. Rothwell has gone out this morning too. 

Is Ibiza not now exempt from the quarantine rules?

Ibiza is on the quarantine list still I think. So he'll have to go into lockdown for 2 weeks when he returns. If he has only gone today you wonder why the club hasn't told him to stay, unless the players 3 week break that Mowbray mentions in the LT article only started in the last few days. Still, if he's gone for 2 weeks he can only train again at Brockhall at the end of August.

[JHRover]

They'll probably make exceptions for footballers anyway. 

[arbitro]

Only if they are part of a bubble according to the link below. I can foresee problems here not only for Rovers but a lot of Championship and PL clubs.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/07/26/manchester-city-vs-real-madrid-champions-league-tie-exempt-government-spain-quarantine-rule-13039817/

[JHRover]

Given footballers are seemingly limited to Ibiza, Dubai, Mykonos or LA for their summer holidays then a lot are going to struggle with the quarantine rules.

You'd hope Rovers had spoken to them about this or the players themselves had the sense to watch the news about this sort of thing but I wouldn't bet on it.

[Bigdoggsteel]

23 minutes ago, JHRover said:

They'll probably make exceptions for footballers anyway. 

Indeed

[matt83]

Perhaps in the minority but I think pre seasons are more important than people give them credit for. There was an era when players would finish the season go on the lash for 2 months then they were simply about regaining fitness before the season. These days with increased professionalism their fitness should be unchanged and looking to sharpen the edges giving us the extra percent.

I think more can be learnt chasing shadows losing 6-0 to a side like Liverpool than beating Barrow-in-Furness or Rochdale reserves not getting out of 2nd gear. I’m sure it’s not a coincidence between the quality of oppo we usually play and the poor starts to the season. 

[JHRover]

It comes down to planning and direction. If you want testing friendlies against quality opposition then you need to be lining them up early doors and perhaps even paying them for it. These pre season tournaments require arranging well in advance.

I get the impression that we don't do anything proactive on that front and are last to sort anything out. Also cutting costs wherever possible.

Hence very few decent standard friendlies and very few foreign games, instead lining up vs Barrow and Bury trialists.

Can guarantee a friendly game v Dunny's Barrow.

[Guest]

Baffling to me that we'd be looking to play PL sides and not L1 sides. It's not the good, footballing teams that we can't beat!

We're absolutely fine against footballing sides, more closely related to Premier League type sides like Liverpool. We've taken 4 points off Brentford, a point off West Brom, 2 points off Swansea, 4 points off Cardiff, 1 point off Forest, 6 points off Reading. But when it comes to L1 style opposition, we can't do it. So for me I'd be played 6 League One sides, away from home, and try to teach this team how to grind out an un-pretty victory at a "lump it up to big man" type set up. 

Barnsley (A) - LOST
Luton (H & A) - LOST
Birmingham (A 2x) - LOST 
Huddersfield (A) - LOST
Wigan (H) - DREW

We've got to face Wycombe, Coventry, Rotherham, Barnsley, Luton, Huddersfield etc. next season - and these are teams that we're going to struggle to beat. To be setting up for this new season and trying to perfect something we're already half decent at, whilst ignoring the huge elephant in the room, is baffling. I'd have:

Fixture One - Blackpool (A): A decent League One outfit who don't have one set out style, can turn it on on the day and will provide a test.
Fixture Two - Crewe Alexandra (A): Will sit back and be tough to break down. Will provide the kind of environment we need to improve upon working within.
Fixture Three - Fleetwood Town (A): A Joey Barton team is a team you'd love to know how to beat. If you can beat teams like that consistently, you can beat Luton's, Barnsley's etc..
Fixture Four - Ipswich Town (H): A side who have *some* Championship quality players, will sit back though and have 11 men behind the ball - we have to learn to beat that.

Why play Liverpool? Get beat 6-0, run around a pitch and say "we pressed them well didn't we". Who's that benefiting? It's certainly not Blackburn Rovers that that's benefiting.

[roversfan99]

Its a bit of a myth that we are totally comfortable v the bigger teams in the division.

Out of the 20 games we played v teams that finished above us, we collected 20 points. And 29 points from the bottom 10. We need improvement across the board, not just v the smaller teams.

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

Its a bit of a myth that we are totally comfortable v the bigger teams in the division.

Out of the 20 games we played v teams that finished above us, we collected 20 points. And 29 points from the bottom 10. We need improvement across the board, not just v the smaller teams.

Indeed. We're good at beating the bottom-half shyte as shown by most of the teams we've beaten this season:-

Hull (twice), Reading (twice), Sheff W (twice), Bristol City (twice), Barnsley, Millwall, Brentford, Derby, Stoke, Boro, QPR, Charlton, Cardiff. 

We need to be a lot better against the teams near the top, who invariably play good football. Playing PL teams in friendlies is obviously going to help with that, certainly more than playing lower league teams who just don't have the quality.  

[A Northern Horde...]

1 hour ago, JHRover said:

Given footballers are seemingly limited to Ibiza, Dubai, Mykonos or LA for their summer holidays then a lot are going to struggle with the quarantine rules.

You'd hope Rovers had spoken to them about this or the players themselves had the sense to watch the news about this sort of thing but I wouldn't bet on it.

My heart bleeds for 'em...don't know how they will cope.

[roversfan99]

9 minutes ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

Indeed. We're good at beating the bottom-half shyte as shown by most of the teams we've beaten this season:-

Hull (twice), Reading (twice), Sheff W (twice), Bristol City (twice), Barnsley, Millwall, Brentford, Derby, Stoke, Boro, QPR, Charlton, Cardiff. 

We need to be a lot better against the teams near the top, who invariably play good football. Playing PL teams in friendlies is obviously going to help with that, certainly more than playing lower league teams who just don't have the quality.  

I dont think we are anywhere near good enough against the lower teams, the points record shows that, the teams we have lost to shows that, there is a weakness there. Its just that theres a misconception that its our only weakness.

But people often peddle this myth, "be typical Rovers to lose v bottom and beat top" and that we are good v the better teams. We need to improve v them too. Surely pre season should have a mix of teams we can try and break down and one or two better teams.

We seem to be best against lower mid table also rans.

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

I dont think we are anywhere near good enough against the lower teams, the points record shows that, the teams we have lost to shows that, there is a weakness there. Its just that theres a misconception that its our only weakness.

But people often peddle this myth, "be typical Rovers to lose v bottom and beat top" and that we are good v the better teams. We need to improve v them too. Surely pre season should have a mix of teams we can try and break down and one or two better teams.

We seem to be best against lower mid table also rans.

It is a myth. Out of 22 games against the top half we won 6, and 2 of those were against BCFC who finished 12th. That's really poor considering we finished in the top half. 

[roversfan99]

Just now, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

It is a myth. Out of 22 games against the top half we won 6, and 2 of those were against BCFC who finished 12th. That's really poor considering we finished in the top half. 

Definitely. It is also certainly true that we are nowhere near good enough against the bottom teams. I think its 15 points out of a possible 42 against the bottom 7. So there is a credible point. But lets not make out that we are good enough v the top teams either.

[JacknOry]

Yeah its acoss the board. We do noticably have a problem breaking down teams that come to play for a draw or nick a point. We probably look better on the eye against top half teams as the games are ore open and we do create a few chances/score goals. The problem is, we often concede more as they are generally just as good in an open game, dont have misfiring strikers/wingers and actual goalkeepers and left backs. 

[JacknOry]

Can we just win the first game of the season - for once!

[rog of the rovers]

32 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

Can we just win the first game of the season - for once!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8902482.stm

14th August 2010 - Rovers 1-0 Everton, and that was thanks to a huge gaff from Howard too!

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

35 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

Can we just win the first game of the season - for once!

We usually get one of the newly promoted teams - go into the game with totally the wrong attitude - and lose.

The time to play newly promoted teams is about 7 to 8 games in when the shine of promotion has been worn off by a few batterings and injuries and suspensions have started to wreak havoc on what are usually limited squads. First game up is when not to play them

[JacknOry]

24 minutes ago, rog of the rovers said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8902482.stm

14th August 2010 - Rovers 1-0 Everton, and that was thanks to a huge gaff from Howard too!

 

Exactly, 10 years since our last opening day win. Makes you wonder what we are doing preseason to prepare for the new season with a record lie that.