Rovers v Middlesbrough Tuesday 3rd November

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

19 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

Anyone expecting us to ‘crack on’ with those abstractions is dreaming.

Is this some cool new way of speaking that I need to know about? Is it 'football men' talk? I think I like it.?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

7 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

You know this whole injury tale of woe reminds me a bit of 1999. "When they're back we'll be fine" Only we weren't... 

Same in 1966. " When we get Dougie back again we'll get out of this mess ". Only we never did.  Players get injured of course, but some don't rush back to play in struggling teams.

Edited November 3, 2020 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[tomphil]

23 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Dealing with crosses is goalkeeping basics and irrelevant to the way any team plays

This ?

The basics are the basics and we got away with it tonight but he also made a couple of smart stops.  Really the bit of praise he's getting is down to the fact he didn't make a cock up and cost us a goal. After Raya and Walton it's kind of expected but he didn't make one of their blunders at least.

That's were the bar is these days with keepers here.

[SoldierMo]

The bar for keepers defence midfield and strikers have dropped...what people dont understand it will take 10 games just for dack and travis to get upto scratch half the season gone wasted season by Mowbray

Edited November 3, 2020 by SoldierMo

[RevidgeBlue]

46 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

Fuck me mate, none of us fancied Rovers tonight with the injuries and form we’ve been in.  The opposition just had 20 shots at our goal and I made a point that IT WAS A FANTASTIC RESULT IN CONTEXT. It was. 

Strange how your point of view changes, depending on the result.

After we got tubbed at Watford you loftily informed us how no-one in the know or with any football knowledge judged a team on results, you should ONLY judge it on performances.

Now we've scabbed a fortunate point at home because Boro should have, but didn't, score 3 or 4, all of a sudden we're meant to be hailing "a fantastic result!".

[Blue blood]

1 minute ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Same in 1966. " When we get Dougie back again we'll get out of this mess ". Only we never did.  Players get injured of course, but some don't rush back to play in struggling team.

Thing is I don't think it's a given even with these players back. I mean on paper yes, there's a lot of quality. But Dack has been out a long time and could take a while to get back to what he was and Ayala had always been injury prone. Armstrong looks the real deal these days but it was only a year ago he was an inconsistent chap with potential. Not saying he will regress but there's a lot of pressure on him to keep performing and a lot of eggs in that baaket. And of course, this is assuming they get back quickly which as you say isn't a given... 

[RevidgeBlue]

We actually improved and resembled a professional football team in the final 25 mins, the first 65 was an embarrassment and a disgrace to the Club and shirt. We were immensely lucky Boro were sloppy in the final third and not out of sight.

The only positive of the night for me was a decent cameo from Wharton. Two or three examples of great muck and nettles defending.

Overall though we seem to be drifting further and further away from looking capable of mounting a challenge.

[Fraserkirky]

Special mention for Gallagher tonight, didn’t do a thing right, not even accidentally. You won’t see a worse performance from any forward in any of the top four divisions. It was embarrassing.

Need to see some improvement by Christmas or Tony will be out I think. 

Edited November 3, 2020 by Fraserkirky

[RevidgeBlue]

Just now, Fraserkirky said:

Special mention for Gallagher tonight, didn’t do a thing right, not even accidentally. You see a worse performance from any forward in any of the top four divisions. It was embarrassing.

Need to see some improvement by Christmas or Tony will be out I think. 

Which Christmas. 

2025?

[Sparks Rover]

41 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

Lads, if you need any direction on what football men think just listen to O’Neill and dare I say it Cook tonight.

Dack, Arma, Trav and Ayala get in any team in that division and are currently ALL injured. No team on the planet could thrive in that situation. 

I think Kaminski and Rothwell have been as bigger losses as those above based on form this season.

Anyone expecting us to ‘crack on’ with those abstractions is dreaming....get 75% of those back and we’ll be a completely different proposition. 

Woulda coulda shoulda....its like groundhog day. 

[garnersfags]

We all agree that there was some committed, brave defending from us tonight.

Also, we ALL agree that our absentees, on and off the pitch, have negatively impacted our prospects and performances, BUT what a lot of us are frustrated about is TM's inability to organise what we had left to ensure we didn't allow an essentially defensive, robust team, to pour forward almost unchallenged for 80 minutes, to the point where we couldn't even briefly regain the ball to allow us to launch the odd pass up to our £12m, 6ft plus strikers to chase. 

I give credit for the Evans substitution (tho we should have been at least 2 down by then), as that did stem the tide somewhat, but a better strikeforce wouldn't have allowed us make as many blocks and clearances. 

Descriptions such as 'fantastic' are both fantastic and incredible in the true meaning of both words.

Our play, and decision-making was poor. The point gained was more due to luck than good defending. We gave the ball away at will, and made repeated, suicidal rash challenges throughout our half. 

With better organisation and planning (starting with the team that finished tonight?), we can grind out 3 points on Saturday. 

[roversfan99]

Mowbray cannot be given a free pass for that horrible, dismal performance as much as there is an element of sympathy around the absentees. There are plenty of controllables that contributed to such a bad performance, one that cannot be celebrated at all. No chances of note at all, literally no shots in the second half. The usual suspects making the night to be a success in the circumstances, no chance.

The main thing is the obvious thing, 12m worth of shit. Can anyone accept the challenge to name a striker in the league that is worse than either of those? With Armstrong lethal in front of goal their incompetence is not a major issue when he plays, without him and Dack we needed them 2 to at least offer something and they were absolutely hopeless. Perhaps an indicator as to why Gallagher is not trusted centrally as much as he is even worse wide, touch of a donkey, and Brereton was no better. These 2 expensive mistakes will at some point signal the end of Mowbray and as soon as Armstrong inevitably goes there is reason to fear.

Set pieces are a good barometer of the manager and again they were embarassing. All short, all disorganised, all totally wasted. We had no attacking threat so surely use the set pieces to get something into the box.

I have been told that Rothwell has been such a miss for us, his second half performances can be added to the majority of appearances that he has made and donr absolutely nothing. Dolan looked again like a little boy lost, Elliott was really quiet again, Holtby again achieved nothing and Trybull can be rather ponderous, a major upgrade on Evans? Not so far.

Of course the main positive is the defence even if the defending was very last ditch. Pears made a couple of good saves although he may aswell stand outside the penalty box from corners such is his lack of presence.

We have to win on Saturday, our start has been really poor and we cant just write games off to hide behind injuries.

[jim mk2]

35 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

Dealing with crosses is also a maturity thing. Both physically and mentally. I thought Pears performance was very promising. Is he ready to be number 1? Not whilst Kaminski is a Rovers player....but he’ll be fine ??

Dealing with crosses is as basic as catching the ball. It's one of the main functions of any good goalkeeper. An amateur keeper would be embarrassed at dealing with crosses the way Pears does. Any Championship  manager watching that tonight would tell his team to pepper the Rovers box with crosses. He's a weak link and not good enough to be a No 2. 

[RoversClitheroe]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

We already told you game after game before. 

If you want Mowbray out fair enough but do we need to go over the same thing game after game day after day?.

What you on about? 

I've stated a few times we can't give names of managers who should replace him.

Bet you have never called half the managers that have been gems all over the world countless times?

[tonygreenbank]

My goodness that was 90 minutes of stress and anxiety. I’ve never been as happy to hear the full time whistle. A point gained but the performance was poor virtually throughout.

Boro were the better side tonight but our defending was much improved from recent games.

Williams MOM for me. His defending and willingness to drive forward and shoot were impressive; such a shame he got injured.

Brereton and Gallagher toothless up front and still to be wowed over Harvey Elliott. There is talent there but still like Dolan looks like a schoolboy playing a man’s game.

I agree with posters who are pointing out our injury list. It’s so frustrating watching us these last 3 games as we have the players to make us a decent outfit in this league.

[G Somerset Rover]

5 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

We have to win on Saturday, our start has been really poor and we cant just write games off to hide behind injuries.

Exactly this. We’re already 6 points off the play-offs. So regardless of injuries, any draw at home is not a good result for a team aiming for the top six (TM’s words, not mine). Some are talking like we were playing with ten men, or like we were minnows in a cup tie.

And by the looks of that injury list some people will be using it as an excuse for some time. 

Edited November 3, 2020 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[Exiled_Rover]

54 minutes ago, renrag said:

Touting for a job?

If he wanted the job he'd have his agent ring Pune.

Nobody with any power at Rovers was watching SkySports tonight.

[Exiled_Rover]

21 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Strange how your point of view changes, depending on the result.

After we got tubbed at Watford you loftily informed us how no-one in the know or with any football knowledge judged a team on results, you should ONLY judge it on performances.

Now we've scabbed a fortunate point at home because Boro should have, but didn't, score 3 or 4, all of a sudden we're meant to be hailing "a fantastic result!".

Surely this game evens out the Watford and Reading games. They scored with every shot they had.

[Paul Mani]

2 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Dealing with crosses is as basic as catching the ball. It's one of the main functions of any good goalkeeper. An amateur keeper would be embarrassed at dealing with crosses the way Pears does. Any Championship  manager watching that tonight would tell his team to pepper the Rovers box with crosses. He's a weak link and not good enough to be a No 2. 

Eh? Crossing is about several skills and is developed over time. Decision making, timing, physicality, technique and confidence are just some and young keepers often struggle with it in men’s football.

Yep, he’s a young lad and not fully developed so he got pinned a few times but he’ll grow and get more confident. The one time he didn’t have a blocker he came out and caught a real dangerous one clean...I think he has potential. 

[roversinmyblood]

It was a pitiful performance where we could not string two passes together. I thought that it was Halloween it was so scary to watch. 
However, I was sick and tired of being the better side in matches and yet still losing. Gaining a point in an ugly way was at least gratifying. We didn’t  have strikers on the pitch who can score goals so it was always going to be difficult, but the team as a whole defended manfully and for once luck was on our side even if the games officials weren’t!!

we need our best players back and fast so that we can start winning games and get our confidence back. Fortunately there is still a long way to go so will remain hopeful for the future. 

[chaddyrovers]

5 minutes ago, RoversClitheroe said:

What you on about? 

I've stated a few times we can't give names of managers who should replace him.

Bet you have never called half the managers that have been gems all over the world countless times?

We have told you previously why we Back Mowbray as manager. But you struggle to accept it

We see people suggest Potential managers replacements

What are you about now?

[roversfan99]

54 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

Lads, if you need any direction on what football men think just listen to O’Neill and dare I say it Cook tonight.

Dack, Arma, Trav and Ayala get in any team in that division and are currently ALL injured. No team on the planet could thrive in that situation. 

I think Kaminski and Rothwell have been as bigger losses as those above based on form this season.

Anyone expecting us to ‘crack on’ with those abstractions is dreaming....get 75% of those back and we’ll be a completely different proposition. 

This has been the case for well over a year, we will be different if this that and the other happens and it is never ending. If the squad is fully fit, if Dack comes back, if we take our chances, if we fix the defence, if our 12m duo stop impersonating clowns. Do you genuinely think we will be near the play offs? There is no evidence at all, its all baseless hope.

You also said that Gallagher and Brereton needed to step up this season. Surely tonight was the perfect chance to step upand highly frustrating and worrying that they were again so out of their depth?

Rothwell has barely ever done anything, hes a myth who now hes been injured has turned into a key player.

[jim mk2]

Just now, Paul Mani said:

Eh? Crossing is about several skills and is developed over time. Decision making, timing, physicality, technique and confidence are just some and young keepers often struggle with it in men’s football.

Yep, he’s a young lad and not fully developed so he got pinned a few times but he’ll grow and get more confident. The one time he didn’t have a blocker he came out and caught a real dangerous one clean...I think he has potential. 

The lad is 22, a full time professional footballer who has just been given a 4-year contract, not a 10 year old learning the game. Not having the goalkeeping basics at his age (which he doesn't) is like an outfield player not being to control the ball. From what I've seen he should not be anywhere near the first team.  

[chaddyrovers]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

You also said that Gallagher and Brereton needed to step up this season. Surely tonight was the perfect chance to step upand highly frustrating and worrying that they were again so out of their depth

I would say Brereton has step up this season..

1 goal and 3 assists this season. 

His performances are much better than his previous seasons 

[chaddyrovers]

2 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Do you genuinely think we will be near the play offs? There is no evidence at all, its all baseless hope.

With Armstrong playing the 9 role scoring 9 goals already..get everyone back fit and we will be challenging for top 6