Watford v Rovers Wed 21st Oct 7.45pm

[RoversClitheroe]

1 hour ago, Mercer said:

Don't buy all this 'we played well nonsense'.

If you consistently play well and don't get results then there is a big, big problem.

Played 6, lost 3, points 7, league position 14th - those are the facts that count. 

Thing is we didn't even play well it was absolutely awful! 

[philipl]

Gallagher had a knock to a knee in training so was omitted.

I don't see how he even gets on the bench when we have something like a full squad fit and available.

[MarkBRFC]

13 minutes ago, philipl said:

Gallagher had a knock to a knee in training so was omitted.

I don't see how he even gets on the bench when we have something like a full squad fit and available.

I can see 5 million reasons why unfortunately.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

15 minutes ago, philipl said:

Gallagher had a knock to a knee in training so was omitted.

I don't see how he even gets on the bench when we have something like a full squad fit and available.

Possibly for his height if we decide to go long.

[rovers11]

2 hours ago, Mercer said:

Don't buy all this 'we played well nonsense'.

If you consistently play well and don't get results then there is a big, big problem.

Played 6, lost 3, points 7, league position 14th - those are the facts that count. 

I do agree that it’s a results business and if we’re still playing well and not getting results in another half a dozen games I will be concerned, but I think it’s too early to scrutinise results after 6 games. I remember our first season in this division after relegation and we were picking up good early results despite poor performances, but the poor performances caught up with us in the end and we ended up nearly being relegated. Look at last year, Charlton made a storming start but ended up being relegated. 

This fixture list can also skew the true levels of different teams - we’ve played two newly relegated teams away from home and also played 2 of the top 7 from last season. Even Derby away is not an easy fixture at all. Add to the mix that we’ve not even been able to get our best team on the pitch yet and we’ve not done too badly. 

Time for Douglas and Trybull to come into the team, and bring Williams back into the left side of the defence to give us more balance. A midfield three of Holtby, Johnson, and Evans is way too pedestrian to be successful. Rothwell, Trybull, and Holtby would give us what we need in there. 

[rovers11]

I thought Armstrong was very cavalier with his finishing last night and was looking for a spectacular goal for the highlights reel. When Elliot put him clean through he would have been far better trying to take it round the GK rather than going for the spectacular chip. He’s an ok penalty taker but if the GK guesses the right way then his pens are always a nice height for the GK. Compare that to pens taken by Mulgrew or Dack who put them bang in the corner of the net. 

[islander200]

1 hour ago, RoversClitheroe said:

Thing is we didn't even play well it was absolutely awful! 

How was it absolutely awful?

Poor result and that is what matters and defensively we were bad but we won't be the only team to fail to stop Sarr and Pedro.

Some of our build up play was excellent and we created numerous chances.

We were not absolutely awful,don't know what game you where watching

[jim mk2]

15 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Poor result and that is what matters

You should have ended it there.

We played badly against Forest and lost. We played well (apparently) against Watford and lost more heavily.

Perhaps it would be better to play badly and not lose by so many?

This obsession with performances makes no sense and is just comfort seeking to disguise the fact we're an average team that will likely finish no higher last season. 

 

[TheWeasel]

Weird performance last night, some good build up play and chances created but classic lacking a killer edge and weak at the back. I don’t know about anyone else but despite the many chances we had I never felt for a minute that we’d put them to the sword. But two of the hardest games out of the way. Young Elliott looks like he’s got a real touch of class and I’m very excited to see him play more. Trybull only had about twenty minutes but he managed to look more useful than Corey Evans has since his return, I like how quickly he looked to release the ball compared to Evans tepid dallying. We need Douglas ASAP, the guy might not be the best defender in the world but I’m sure as shit he’ll be better than Bell defensively and leagues apart going forwards. Glad Brereton was back on form as well, aside from the goal he was winning free kicks, only one of the front three who could do anything remotely close to hold up and made a nuisance of himself, he could be very useful this season.

[islander200]

Just now, jim mk2 said:

You should have ended it there.

We played badly against Forest and lost. We played well (apparently) against Watford and lost more heavily.

Perhaps it would be better to play badly and not lose by so many?

This obsession with performances makes no sense and is just comfort seeking to disguise the fact we're an average team that will likely finish no higher last season. 

 

On another day we don't miss as many chances.We created an awful lot of chances.

We also won't come across a 50 million forward line many times either.

Yes the result is what matters and the last few games the results have not been good enough.

But it is absolutely ridiculous to be saying things like "out of the play off race already" ,"we will be closer to relegation than the top 6" etc so early in the season.

We signed 4 players 6 days ago 3 of those players will be first team regulars.

Against Forest we had multiple players unavailable.

In spells we did look good last night.

[K-Hod]

For me and I think many others- our best front three would be- Elliott, Arma, Dolan.

However, let’s assume that TM still believes in the ‘2.5 attackers’ thing, I can’t imagine him being that risky. With a strong enough midfield behind them though, I think that’s the way to go. As ever though, our problem is at the back, rather than at the front....We do seem to ship a lot of goals!

Only early days like, but if we get our best players out there and defend better, we should win more than we lose....

[Fraserkirky]

7 hours ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

1st goal was BB's fault for not tracking the runner.

Nyambe at fault for the 2nd for not tracking his runner. 

 

1st goal was quality

Ayala was in good position to block the Sarr shot for the 2nd. Don’t know what happened

[Exiled_Rover]

1 hour ago, islander200 said:

How was it absolutely awful?

Poor result and that is what matters and defensively we were bad but we won't be the only team to fail to stop Sarr and Pedro.

Some of our build up play was excellent and we created numerous chances.

We were not absolutely awful,don't know what game you where watching

The MOM was their goalkeeper - but it was awful, apparently. 

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

1 hour ago, K-Hod said:

For me and I think many others- our best front three would be- Elliott, Arma, Dolan.

However, let’s assume that TM still believes in the ‘2.5 attackers’ thing, I can’t imagine him being that risky. With a strong enough midfield behind them though, I think that’s the way to go. As ever though, our problem is at the back, rather than at the front....We do seem to ship a lot of goals!

Only early days like, but if we get our best players out there and defend better, we should win more than we lose....

I like Dolan - but on last nights showing (and improvement since lockdown) would persist with BB.

[Bbrovers2288]

For those saying mowbray is on a shaky peg unless he starts to win, I really don’t think he is. I’m also of the thinking he won’t get us anywhere but mid table and believe there to be better out there but he has his feet so far under the table here that I don’t see him going even if we were relegated. Iv long have up on that notion of him being replaced 

[USABlue]

Still trying to figure out how we lost that.  Also after reading comments on here I am still trying to figure out what game I watched.  Why was Evans played, also ToMo's typical half time team talk makes us worse than the first half.

Edited October 22, 2020 by USABlue

[m1st]

16 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

If it doesn't what are we paying him for ?  I get the impression at Rovers there is no " buck ", we exist in a responsibility vacuum. The manager can make as many mistakes as he likes and we all know nothing will happen. Same with the players, certain players can phone in performances on a weekly basis and nothing happens.

Dead right, Tyrone.

Since reading that post of yours, I've been in contact with a Wolves-supporting former colleague who joined me at their first-ever Premier League game in 2003 at Ewood.

He sent me the following link: https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/football/2020/07/23/matt-maher-owners-are-proving-to-be-the-dream-ticket-at-wolves/

which sets out clearly how their Chinese owners are represented locally by a man who was accepted by Sir Jack Heyward, their equivalent to Uncle Jack.

If only our owners had established a similar set-up, TM wouldn't now be in such a stress-free zone as he and Waggott seem currently to inhabit. And who knows, we might even be back in the Premier League.

Aren't 'if' and 'only' two very big words?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

3 hours ago, rovers11 said:

I thought Armstrong was very cavalier with his finishing last night and was looking for a spectacular goal for the highlights reel. When Elliot put him clean through he would have been far better trying to take it round the GK rather than going for the spectacular chip. He’s an ok penalty taker but if the GK guesses the right way then his pens are always a nice height for the GK. Compare that to pens taken by Mulgrew or Dack who put them bang in the corner of the net. 

I've never seen him try to go around a goalkeeper yet in a straight on 1 on 1. If I know that so do all the keepers he's likely to come up against. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 hours ago, DE. said:

The fact remains we are yet to get a win against a decent team. We smashed Wycombe and Derby but the former have lost 6/6 and the latter have lost 5/6 so far this season. I can't really feel particularly optimistic until we actually start beating good teams. We couldn't break down Forest or Cardiff and Bournemouth and Watford both put three past us, even if the performances were good. There's still a lot of work to do - the new players should help but the proof is in the pudding and we haven't seen that yet.

We also lost at Newcastle when we were " the better team ". There's a bit of a thread emerging here.

[darrenrover]

5 hours ago, DE. said:

The fact remains we are yet to get a win against a decent team. We smashed Wycombe and Derby but the former have lost 6/6 and the latter have lost 5/6 so far this season. I can't really feel particularly optimistic until we actually start beating good teams. We couldn't break down Forest or Cardiff and Bournemouth and Watford both put three past us, even if the performances were good. There's still a lot of work to do - the new players should help but the proof is in the pudding and we haven't seen that yet.

You're correct DE but in the recent past we've lost to the poorer teams, so that must be a positive!

Perhaps Mowbray needs to learn to be a little less gun-ho and less focussed on possession stats against the better teams, sit back a little and pick them off on the counter. That said, we need to have a superb defence as a team, which is something we haven't had for yonks and will ultimately be Mowbray's nemesis. We have a brilliant armoury now in terms of attacking options but still totally suspect at the back. Perhaps those are the directions from India?

For me, whatever funds were available in the summer, we should have really pushed the boat out and ensured we had at least a couple of cracking centre halves who complemented each other. We've probably got decent full backs now but Lenihan has never really impressed me as a consistent performer at centre half and Ayala is injury prone. It's saying something really that Williams is probably our most capable centre half!

I'm sick of saying it really, successful teams build from the back. TM must have his hands tied because being a centre half himself, surely he must know this too.

[islander200]

12 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

We also lost at Newcastle when we were " the better team ". There's a bit of a thread emerging here.

Douglas and Trybull know how to win and know how to get out of this division.Even Elliot coming from Liverpool joins with a winning mentality.

Those 3 players will be key for us this season along with Dack who is also a winner.

From your posts you seem to understand the game, so you  think those players mentioned won't make a difference?

Trybull has had 7 games since new year and Douglas 1 match this season surely they deserve a little time to bed in before we all decide we are destined for midtable mediocrity once again?

Yes it's a results business but if we create half the chances we did last night against Coventry and Reading then we will be 6 points better off come 10pm Tuesday night.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

4 minutes ago, islander200 said:

 

Yes it's a results business but if we create half the chances we did last night against Coventry and Reading then we will be 6 points better off come 10pm Tuesday night.

Issue isn't creating chances - it is taking them

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 minute ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

Issue isn't creating chances - it is taking them

Exactly, we only have one striker who you can see getting 20 goals in a season and he's not at the races at the moment.

[islander200]

1 minute ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

Issue isn't creating chances - it is taking them

Still if we had those chances again last night would expect us to score more than the one.

Armstrong can be a bit hit n miss in front of goal but still expect him to score into double figures and Bradley Dack is the most clinical finisher at the club,if he was playing last night we score more than one goal.

There was some bad misses last night no doubt but their Goalkeeper was also in inspired form

[islander200]

Just now, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Exactly, we only have one striker who you can see getting 20 goals in a season and he's not at the races at the moment.

We are missing our best finisher in Dack.We scored 4 and 5 against Wycombe and Derby,2 Vs Bournemouth.We created nothing of note vs Forest and a couple of decent chances against Cardiff.

Last night some of our finishing was bad but their Goalkeeper also had an unreal game, possibly the best goalkeeper in the championship.

Just my opinion but if we created the same amount of chances on Saturday we would score more than once.