Cardiff (H) - Saturday 3rd October 2020

[JacknOry]

Buckley coming on nicely in mens football now I feel...looked good when he came on. Chapman not so much.

[JacknOry]

Just now, West Yorks Rover said:

Rothwell best player on the park according to Neil Redfern on Talksport.

He was until he shot

[yellowsubmarine]

Just now, AllRoverAsia said:

The real pleasure I took from that drab affair was seeing Tomlin sent off, a fat git who spends his time time trotting about making niggling little fouls and mouthing off at all and sundry. 

Exactly, that big lump of waste, falls over like a pussy. Johnson on the other hand, was just strong, man enough, and stood his ground despite being challenged. Good game anchoring midfield by Johnson today.

[Ossydave]

Woeful game.

Mainly because of them but still. 

Ironically our best player was possibly Bell, their worst Cunningham ?

Hopefully Dolan keeps his head up, they are a dirty team and did their homework on him.

Gallagher, yep abysmal looking still.

Thinking positively another clean sheet, 3 in a row, last time that happened? Whilst given very little to do, again Kami looked cool and composed.

.

[Fraserkirky]

Just now, West Yorks Rover said:

Rothwell best player on the park according to Neil Redfern on Talksport.

Yeah MOM for me

[bluebruce]

20 minutes ago, Fraserkirky said:

Gallagher absolutely dreadful. Now looks like we need a forward on loan

We didn't learn anything new about Gallagher today though. Besides, it would be a little harsh to judge him on his first minutes of football in quite some time. Hasn't even played a U23 game to warm up has he?

We saw him last season, where he wasn't good enough for our aims, and that's what we are judging him on really. He had flashes last year though and I still think there's a player in there, but I'm sceptical that we will ever truly see it.

Edited October 3, 2020 by bluebruce

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

The fact we're keeping clean sheets is very welcome. Hopefully the foundation for a successful season. 

[bazza]

Cardiff were a very difficult side to beat today. In previous seasons we would have lost that game with a sucker punch. I'm quite happy with a point.

[Paul Mellelieu]

Had the chances to win so we should be very disappointed to have drawn against a limited Cardiff team.  Gally's first game back so may take a few games to get up to speed.

[roversfan99]

Very disappointed tonight, especially after that infuriating last 20/25 minutes in which we never looked like scoring despite the 10 men of Cardiff, we were as bad as them at slowing the game down, we have a problem whereby we dont capitalise on points that are there, we often get our goals in bursts and never looked like scoring when we had the numerical advantage.

We dont have enough genuine gamechangers and match winners. People may have got carried away with Rothwell, a couple of decent games but back to normal today, not grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck, any shots weak and off target, he has plenty of excuses, hes played out of position, hes not started enough, I am just not convinced that he is capable of really being a regular top performer for us. When Cardiff had 2 banks of four, it was slow, a couple of touches at a time, side to side, no urgency. Holtby, Johnson, Rothwell, Buckley, too much dithering, never any chance of breaking them down. Holtby needs to get more involved too. 

Dolan was totally ineffective, ultimately he is a bonus for us, if he nails down a regular start, great, brilliant news, but we cant expect it. Today was his 3rd league start, it is very early. Brereton had one of his personal good game last week, plenty of neat and tidy play, and dribbling, but no goal threat. Today he had neither, totally ineffective. Gallagher back on the wing is not what anyone wants, he was really poor and missed a sitter. Chapman was initially very bright, but then had a couple of shocking crosses/shots. Armstrong did our best couple of bits of play on his own, should have scored, but everything he did was individualistic. He has end product, so does Dack, I still think we need someone else across that front line to give us a goal threat.

We are far too dependant on the attacking output of our full backs considering how bad they are at crossing. Bell set up a couple of counter attacks for Cardiff in the first half with his wayward passing, although put in the only good ball from either wing back which Gallagher should have converted.

3 clean sheets is encouraging, the balance of the 3 CB's ie when one is out we should stil have a solid 2 remaining is good to see. Ayala was never troubled and always in control. Kaminski again has little to be judged on. Made a good save early and fine enough, bit of indecision cost us half a minute near the end that Williams shouted at him for and a very strange incident first half when he dropped the ball randomly. Reason for cautious optimism though. Think we need a left back and an added goal threat and/or craft now.

Edited October 3, 2020 by roversfan99

[Ewood Ace]

Typical for the first time this season I decided not to go to a game today because of the crap weather so paid £10 to watch that crap instead. Just like last season Cardiff came happy for a point and comfortably went away with one as we looked very short on ideas of how to break them down. 

Johnson and Bell the stand out performers, Johnson is just what you need in a game like that and Bell was a danger going forward and not put under much pressure defensively. Rothwell went on some good runs but the end product just wasn't there. Ayala was steady whereas Williams struggled with Moore and his distribution was awful. On a side note I though that Cunningham looked well off the pace for them.

Brereton was poor, his first touch is shocking and when he did get an opening all it resulted in was a feeble effort. Gallagher has to score his chance. I also can't understand why we didn't go more direct when he came on, we were never going to play be able to play through them yet we kept trying to do exactly that along with speculative shooting from range. Buckley was one of the worst culprits for this far too much short tippy tappy passing from him.

Edited October 3, 2020 by Ewood Ace

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

Very disappointed tonight, especially after that infuriating last 20/25 minutes in which we never looked like scoring despite the 10 men of Cardiff, we were as bad as them at slowing the game down, we have a problem whereby we dont capitalise on points that are there, we often get our goals in bursts and never looked like scoring when we had the numerical advantage.

We dont have enough genuine gamechangers and match winners. People may have got carried away with Rothwell, a couple of decent games but back to normal today, not grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck, any shots weak and off target, he has plenty of excuses, hes played out of position, hes not started enough, I am just not convinced that he is capable of really being a regular top performer for us. When Cardiff had 2 banks of four, it was slow, a couple of touches at a time, side to side, no urgency. Holtby, Johnson, Rothwell, Buckley, too much dithering, never any chance of breaking them down. Holtby needs to get more involved too. 

Dolan was totally ineffective, ultimately he is a bonus for us, if he nails down a regular start, great, brilliant news, but we cant expect it. Today was his 3rd league start, it is very early. Brereton had one of his personal good game last week, plenty of neat and tidy play, and dribbling, but no goal threat. Today he had neither, totally ineffective. Gallagher back on the wing is not what anyone wants, he was really poor and missed a sitter. Chapman was initially very bright, but then had a couple of shocking crosses/shots. Armstrong did our best couple of bits of play on his own, should have scored, but everything he did was individualistic. He has end product, so does Dack, I still think we need someone else across that front line to give us a goal threat.

We are far too dependant on the attacking output of our full backs considering how bad they are at crossing. Bell set up a couple of counter attacks for Cardiff in the first half with his wayward passing, although put in the only good ball from either wing back which Gallagher should have converted.

3 clean sheets is encouraging, the balance of the 3 CB's ie when one is out we should stil have a solid 2 remaining is good to see. Ayala was never troubled and always in control. Kaminski again has little to be judged on. Made a good save early and fine enough, bit of indecision cost us half a minute near the end that Williams shouted at him for and a very strange incident first half when he dropped the ball randomly.

But apart from that...?

[islander200]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

Very disappointed tonight, especially after that infuriating last 20/25 minutes in which we never looked like scoring despite the 10 men of Cardiff, we were as bad as them at slowing the game down, we have a problem whereby we dont capitalise on points that are there, we often get our goals in bursts and never looked like scoring when we had the numerical advantage.

We dont have enough genuine gamechangers and match winners. People may have got carried away with Rothwell, a couple of decent games but back to normal today, not grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck, any shots weak and off target, he has plenty of excuses, hes played out of position, hes not started enough, I am just not convinced that he is capable of really being a regular top performer for us. When Cardiff had 2 banks of four, it was slow, a couple of touches at a time, side to side, no urgency. Holtby, Johnson, Rothwell, Buckley, too much dithering, never any chance of breaking them down. Holtby needs to get more involved too. 

Dolan was totally ineffective, ultimately he is a bonus for us, if he nails down a regular start, great, brilliant news, but we cant expect it. Today was his 3rd league start, it is very early. Brereton had one of his personal good game last week, plenty of neat and tidy play, and dribbling, but no goal threat. Today he had neither, totally ineffective. Gallagher back on the wing is not what anyone wants, he was really poor and missed a sitter. Chapman was initially very bright, but then had a couple of shocking crosses/shots. Armstrong did our best couple of bits of play on his own, should have scored, but everything he did was individualistic. He has end product, so does Dack, I still think we need someone else across that front line to give us a goal threat.

We are far too dependant on the attacking output of our full backs considering how bad they are at crossing. Bell set up a couple of counter attacks for Cardiff in the first half with his wayward passing, although put in the only good ball from either wing back which Gallagher should have converted.

3 clean sheets is encouraging, the balance of the 3 CB's ie when one is out we should stil have a solid 2 remaining is good to see. Ayala was never troubled and always in control. Kaminski again has little to be judged on. Made a good save early and fine enough, bit of indecision cost us half a minute near the end that Williams shouted at him for and a very strange incident first half when he dropped the ball randomly. Reason for cautious optimism though. Think we need a left back and an added goal threat and/or craft now.

Gallagher missed a sitter when they were down to 10 men

[garnersfags]

Just now, bluebruce said:

We didn't learn anything new about Gallagher today though. Besides, it would be a little harsh to judge him on his first minutes of football in quite some time. Hasn't even played a U23 game to warm up has he?

We saw him last season, and that's what we are judging him on really. He had flashes last year though and I still think there's a player in there, but I'm sceptical that we will ever truly see it.

If we are judging Gally, it's on 2 or 3 season's performances. 

Has anyone asked Mowbray what he saw in Gallacher to pay so much money for him? Was it his reserve performances for Saints, or his on-loan efforts? 

Poor Gally and Ben will always take stick when we don't perform, but they are very easy targets, and they are the difference  berween us finishing 6th and 9th....sigh....

[Commondore]

0-0 against Cardiff at home with them having a player sent off, but also third straight clean sheet and still in the top 6 after this round no matter what the rest of the teams do.

[roversfan99]

Another point I think needs mentioning, we seem really poor from set pieces this season. Rothwell cant take them at all. The last minute short corner was very poor. Maybe missing Downing there.

[Guest]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

Another point I think needs mentioning, we seem really poor from set pieces this season. Rothwell cant take them at all. The last minute short corner was very poor. Maybe missing Downing there.

The main issue is nobody can get on the end of these chances. Bell (whilst below average in general) but a great ball in and Gallagher can’t score a tap in at the back post. Our squad depth was shown up today for what it was

[G Somerset Rover]

Just now, islander200 said:

Gallagher missed a sitter when they were down to 10 men

Gallagher will always miss sitters - he’s a ridiculously bad finisher with both head and feet. I called it that he’d be straight back in at RW. What’s the betting he knocks either Brereton or Dolan out of the starting 11 to start there in our next match. Slim odds I reckon. 

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

I think this has always been the issue with Mowbray's Rovers...and it's something he hasn't addressed. Dack's return will help, so will giving Buckley more game time. But BB and/or Gally on the wings will always be a waste of time IMO. Neither have a creative bone in their bodies. 

 

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

Just now, JoeH said:

The main issue is nobody can get on the end of these chances. Bell (whilst below average in general) but a great ball in and Gallagher can’t score a tap in at the back post. Our squad depth was shown up today for what it was

He cost £5m. Should have been spent better. 

[roversfan99]

Just now, JoeH said:

The main issue is nobody can get on the end of these chances. Bell (whilst below average in general) but a great ball in and Gallagher can’t score a tap in at the back post. Our squad depth was shown up today for what it was

The thing is, those 2 full backs will not create many chances and indeed that Bell cross was the exception. He was stretching which made it a bit more difficult but he should have scored.

As soon as they went down to 10 men, I instantly thought to myself, we wont score now. It was grimly predictable. There was so much slow, side to side passing with the players having no idea of how to break down an organised team. Indeed, using the full backs as extra men rarely works because their crossing is invariably poor.

It sounds stupid considering the goals we scored in the last 2 weeks but in both games, we blew them away early on, if and when a team gets past that period and into the second half, or more obviously if they go down to 10 men or the onus is on to break someone down, we seem to struggle. Our record v teams with 10 men is really bad.

[bluebruce]

6 minutes ago, Commondore said:

0-0 against Cardiff at home with them having a player sent off, but also third straight clean sheet and still in the top 6 after this round no matter what the rest of the teams do.

I dunno if you were posting that meme with full awareness of this, but that clip and quote is from the mini series Chernobyl. Let's just say things turn out terrible, not great, not all that long after he says it...

Hopefully our fate is very different though!

[Bbrovers2288]

Feel like our chances that fell to our two strikers highlight their weaknesses, I’d rather have had gallagher on the one v one and armstrong on the instinctive just get it on target. armstrong will never be premier league unless he gets more clinical on them, can’t score worldies every week

[tonyoz]

30 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

Staying up till 2am on a Saturday night is now a feat? Youngsters today...

Sadly, I was a youngster in 1969......and this is my last post of the night. Goodnight one and all.

[RevidgeBlue]

Really poor performance, seemingly as soon as we came up against a well organised outfit we didn't have a clue how to break them down.

The stand out performers in recent weeks Dolan, Holtby, Brereton and Rothwell didn't get going and I thought Armstrong was poor again, in a game that scrappy you have to take your odd chances when they come.

Most worrying for the future was the fact that Mowbray seemingly couldn't wait to withdraw Brereton and Dolan and reintroduce the useless Gallagher back into the fray.  A bit of a wake up call after the last 2 games.