Leicester away

[USABlue]

3 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

Only real downer of pre season has been Travis. He's been consistently excellent since breaking through so it's a bit odd. Maybe waiting to turn it on again?

Waiting for or wanting a move so he can play more like he wants to play.  Game time with the shackles taken off, perhaps he is just not liking the way he is asked to play.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

3 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

A general point - our academy players have all looked the part when they play with a few rough edges. We need to double down on them. I'd take finishing 10th again with them getting a season under their belt over finishing 8th with a bunch of journeymen and loans.

If we bring in an experienced CB and LB and just let everyone else have a go that's fine by me.

Edit - aligned to this I can't see us signing any players who are going to be genuine top six quality out of the gate. So I can't really see the risk in the above approach.

And then they all get  signed by the big boys this time next year. Then it's back to square one.

[JPTSwindon]

4 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

And then they all get  signed by the big boys this time next year. Then it's back to square one.

Maybe so, but it’d fill the coffers unlike a mid table where we have shelved out for journey men and loans.

[ossyian]

2 minutes ago, USABlue said:

Waiting for or wanting a move so he can play more like he wants to play.  Game time with the shackles taken off, perhaps he is just not liking the way he is asked to play.

Or maybe it's just pre season friendlies and like most sensible footballers he doesn't see the need to be too competitive?

[USABlue]

3 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

A general point - our academy players have all looked the part when they play with a few rough edges. We need to double down on them. I'd take finishing 10th again with them getting a season under their belt over finishing 8th with a bunch of journeymen and loans.

If we bring in an experienced CB and LB and just let everyone else have a go that's fine by me.

Edit - aligned to this I can't see us signing any players who are going to be genuine top six quality out of the gate. So I can't really see the risk in the above approach.

If we bring in an experienced Manager and just let everyone have a go that's fine by me.

Changed it for you.

[Atko's Engine]

23 minutes ago, USABlue said:

Imagine how the lad feels.  ToMo's way though isn't it.  Unless he wasn't fit enough.

It was a friendly, the most important thing is getting game time into players.  If it turns out we don't get a CB in before Bournemouth & if Lenihan picks up an injury with Ireland, then one or both of Williams & Magloire will be needed to step in. Neither have played all year so needed game time, whereas Wharton has played what, 25 games?

So quite sensible I'd say, with the added positive that it worked out pretty well.

[Fraserkirky]

Buckley was absolute quality when he came on, needs to be starting and given an extended period of time instead of the that waster Johnson. Rothwell played well when he came on too. We are we well stocked in Centre midfield. 
Where has Magloire been all preseason, comfortably better than Carter or Wharton. Bell and Williams were both excellent. Holtby our best player overall by a mile, I like having him deeper in midfield.
 

For a last match of preseason, that was excellent from us.

Edited September 5, 2020 by Fraserkirky

[USABlue]

3 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Holtby was the same when he first came, briefly.

Tony will soon knock all that nonsense and enthusiasm out of him and teach him how to 'hold his position like Evans and Smallwood.

I see Rev from a few of your posts you feel the same way about ToMo as I do.  Not only does he have us under performing as a team on match day with his stupid selections and lining up players out if position but he also killing our chances of future success with his handling of own homegrown talent.    How wonderful would it be to have a team with a nucleus of academy players performing well playing football that actually entertains and excites.

[USABlue]

3 hours ago, Vilesinner said:

Not much point talking if you didn't even watch a game free on YouTube.

Bennet had no chance of starting.

True about Bennett, resting him a bit for season kick off.

[Atko's Engine]

3 minutes ago, USABlue said:

I see Rev from a few of your posts you feel the same way about ToMo as I do.  Not only does he have us under performing as a team on match day with his stupid selections and lining up players out if position but he also killing our chances of future success with his handling of own homegrown talent.    How wonderful would it be to have a team with a nucleus of academy players performing well playing football that actually entertains and excites.

You think a new manager would come in and make Academy players the nucleus of his team? Of course he wouldn't; like all new managers he would look to bring in his own choice of players from elsewhere as his key men and use them to supplement what comes through from the academy.

If you want Academy players to thrive at Ewood in numbers and be given game time, Mowbray is probably the most likely to give them that opportunity I reckon given how well he knows them after 3 years here and how many he has integrated into the squad already, with the help of Damien Johnson assisting them in the transition. Yes he might dig them out every now and then but isn't that part of helping them develop & grow in the long term to become better, more rounded professionals?

[USABlue]

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

I have no doubt that Mowbray is respected in the footballing world, but Rodgers is hardly going to say "I am really disapointed not to win because I have little respect for Mowbray and they will be struggling with him as manager."

And ultimately I think we did pretty well today and indeed even if I have various doubts about us and our current squad, I also am happy with quite a few players and indeed if Mowbray left tonight I would consider him to have done a good job. But managers will always support one another.

He was just downplaying his own teams inability to beat, on paper, an inferior team.  What dies ToMo himself do, yes, big up the opposition albeit (wrongly) before the game

[bigbrandjohn]

Side note, I was impressed by Leicester TV. Matt Elliott and the other bloke were knowledgeable about the Rovers team and launched into interesting side discussions about Centre forwards who were good Centre backs. They even remembered Warhurst. Not your usual one dimensional stuff. 

[USABlue]

5 minutes ago, Atko's Engine said:

You think a new manager would come in and make Academy players the nucleus of his team? Of course he wouldn't; like all new managers he would look to bring in his own choice of players from elsewhere as his key men and use them to supplement what comes through from the academy.

If you want Academy players to thrive at Ewood in numbers and be given game time, Mowbray is probably the most likely to give them that opportunity I reckon given how well he knows them after 3 years here and how many he has integrated into the squad already, with the help of Damien Johnson assisting them in the transition. Yes he might dig them out every now and then but isn't that part of helping them develop & grow in the long term to become better, more rounded professionals?

Could not the very same Damien Johnson, who is currently helping, be the perfect candidate to replace Mowbary given his in depth knowledge of those same players.  Players who he has already guided to some levels of success as a team.

[USABlue]

4 minutes ago, bigbrandjohn said:

Side note, I was impressed by Leicester TV. Matt Elliott and the other bloke were knowledgeable about the Rovers team and launched into interesting side discussions about Centre forwards who were good Centre backs. They even remembered Warhurst. Not your usual one dimensional stuff. 

It was a decent effort from them I agree.

[Herbie6590]

1 hour ago, USABlue said:

When you do this can you give us a clue on what is about to download, thank you.

When I uploaded it, it looked like this....no idea what happened to make it appear as a link ?‍♂️

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I watched the game on youtube earlier this evening. We stuck at the task well and matched Leicester for large parts of the game. That was encouraging. There were lots of good individual performances but we lacked a cutting edge up front. I like Holtby playing deep but we need more mobility from the other two that are playing in central midfield. Neither of Johnson or Travis got forward enough today. Nobody was carrying the ball forward, we were reduced to passing it forward lots of the time. Quite a few of the passes were picked off and set Leicester back on attack.

After the subs we looked a bit livelier up front and Rothwell had one really good run were he carried the ball into the heart of their defence. Chapman and Dolan looked busy. Buckley looked class when he came on, so much so that they had to man mark him after about 10 minutes.

Fisher 5

Nyambe 7, Magloire 7, Williams 7, Bell 6

Travis 6, Holtby 7, Johnson 5

Rankin Costello 7, Armstrong 6, Brererton 5

Can't really  mark the subs because they didn't have enough game time but they all had an impact at some point.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

30 minutes ago, Fraserkirky said:

Buckley was absolute quality when he came on, needs to be starting and given an extended period of time instead of the that waster Johnson. Rothwell played well when he came on too. We are we well stocked in Centre midfield. 
Where has Magloire been all preseason, comfortably better than Carter or Wharton. Bell and Williams were both excellent. Holtby our best player overall by a mile, I like having him deeper in midfield.
 

For a last match of preseason, that was excellent from us.

Buckley certainly has something.  Problem with taking Johnson out is we lose a combative player (granted he only turns up every now and then).  

We need a bit of height and muscle in the team as we're going to have to cope with physical sides. As Chaddy pointed out, Buckley could play the Holtby deeper role.  

A powerful CB, a solid  partner for Travis and a left back and we could be onto something.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

13 minutes ago, bigbrandjohn said:

Side note, I was impressed by Leicester TV. Matt Elliott and the other bloke were knowledgeable about the Rovers team and launched into interesting side discussions about Centre forwards who were good Centre backs. They even remembered Warhurst. Not your usual one dimensional stuff. 

Me too, they were obviously watching both teams.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

1 minute ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Me too, they were obviously watching both teams.

Yes I enjoyed the commentary.  Much better than the usual fare.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

21 minutes ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Buckley certainly has something.  Problem with taking Johnson out is we lose a combative player (granted he only turns up every now and then).  

We need a bit of height and muscle in the team as we're going to have to cope with physical sides. As Chaddy pointed out, Buckley could play the Holtby deeper role.  

A powerful CB, a solid  partner for Travis and a left back and we could be onto something.

Playing Holtby, Travis and Johnson in midfield means we've too many bodies playing too deep in central midfield. Possibly that's ok for away games like today but it won't do at Ewood against teams that park the bus. We could do with a mobile ball winner like Chowdrey to cover every blade of grass.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2020 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[joey_big_nose]

4 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

The problem is that the situation isnt as straightforward as your hypothetical scenario. Its an immeasurable difference. What if that 2 place gap was 6th and 8th?

There needs to be a balance in the squad and at the moment im not sure there is. Signing a couple of extra players doesnt cause a total block on the younger lads either.

Take the front line, across 3 places we have 2 proven goalscorers in Armstrong and Dack. We have a couple of players with reasonable experience in Gallagher and Rothwell who have convinced very few then beyond that, kids with promise and potential but none of which have proven capable of starting regularly for a Championship side in the upper regions of the table.

You chuck 1 more first team quality player in there, and theres still plenty of scope for the younger lads to break through and establish themselves beyond that, for 3 positions, where subs are most common and necessary across 46 games. Indeed, you look at a couple beyond the (slightly) more established ones such as Rankin Costello and Brereton, and maybe one or two could do with a loan as its unlikely that 5 or 6 will all break in at once. 

Hey I don't mind signing more top quality players if we can, but I don't think we will. Just saying if we can't let's go for it with the youngsters. 

[Exiled_Rover]

16 minutes ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Buckley certainly has something.  Problem with taking Johnson out is we lose a combative player (granted he only turns up every now and then).  

We need a bit of height and muscle in the team as we're going to have to cope with physical sides. As Chaddy pointed out, Buckley could play the Holtby deeper role.  

A powerful CB, a solid  partner for Travis and a left back and we could be onto something.

Johnson's legs have gone - he looks heavy now.

I'd try Travis, Holtby and Rothwell in CM to start the season.

[joey_big_nose]

2 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Johnson's legs have gone - he looks heavy now.

I'd try Travis, Holtby and Rothwell in CM to start the season.

I'd keep giving Evans game time too. Rarely fit but when he is he has looked good the last couple of years. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, joey_big_nose said:

I'd keep giving Evans game time too. Rarely fit but when he is he has looked good the last couple of years. 

It's the same problem with Evans as it is with Johnson albeit Evans is a better player. Too many playing too deep.

[roversfan99]

To be fair, with our porous defence and against a good side away from home, I think the additional solidity that Evans brings would be necessary.