Rovers v Rotherham Utd. (h) Wed. 16th Dec. 7.45pm

[bluebruce]

20 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Some good points in there.

Mowbray should pick the below and stick with them. It's a flawed team and some players have obvious weaknesses but they are the best we have at present. 

Nyambe; Lenihan, Ayala, Douglas or Downing

Elliott, Holtby, Johnson or Trybull, Rothwell

Armstrong, Gallagher

Forget about Buckley / Williams and one or 2 others. 

We are playing 3 games a week a hell of a lot this season. We can't possibly stick with any particular 11, rotation will be necessary. I know you've put a couple of 'or' in there but it will need to change more than that even if we didn't have injuries. Agree I wouldn't be playing Buckley again unless desperate. Like someone else said, even Lyons has earned a crack ahead of him now. But Williams will have his uses.

[Sparks Rover]

18 minutes ago, Wood26 said:

Firstly if Nyambe walks for nothing that’s nothing to do with Mowbray what so ever.

Secondly how has he wasted Nyambes ability?

Where have you been for the last 2/3  seasons where he has been benched in favour of the atrocious Bennett?.  Mowbray doesn't fancy him, but he is forced to play him as he is our best right sided player.  Such bad management allowing him to leave for nothing.

[darrenrover]

1 hour ago, Gav said:

 

The futures bright, the futures Blue n White......isn’t it?

Feckin' hope so. Does Tony know yet?

[Wood26]

2 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Where have you been for the last 2/3  seasons where he has been benched in favour of the atrocious Bennett?.  Mowbray doesn't fancy him, but he is forced to play him as he is our best right sided player.  Such bad management allowing him to leave for nothing.

100% agree I’ve been puzzled when Bennett played instead. But I’m sure there was reasons, there’s no doubt that wouldn’t be case now if Bennett fit. 
 

I am sure Mowbray is desperate to sign him on again, if he doesn’t it will be down to Venkys or the player, not Mowbray.

[Sparks Rover]

12 minutes ago, Wood26 said:

100% agree I’ve been puzzled when Bennett played instead. But I’m sure there was reasons, there’s no doubt that wouldn’t be case now if Bennett fit. 
 

I am sure Mowbray is desperate to sign him on again, if he doesn’t it will be down to Venkys or the player, not Mowbray.

He's leaving.

[bluebruce]

13 minutes ago, Wood26 said:

100% agree I’ve been puzzled when Bennett played instead. But I’m sure there was reasons, there’s no doubt that wouldn’t be case now if Bennett fit. 
 

I am sure Mowbray is desperate to sign him on again, if he doesn’t it will be down to Venkys or the player, not Mowbray.

'No doubt that wouldn't be [the] case now if Bennett [was] fit'. Well there wasn't any doubt in anybody's mind that it shouldn't happen last time either. But he did it, and kept doing it.

The only thing that has changed is Bennett has been injured. I know RN has had little runs where he has played ahead of EB but never sustained for especially long, and then he was quick to put JRC (who at least is a lot better than EB and is a different tactical option) ahead of him too until he was injured.

Sadly, despite what TM likes to say, he just doesn't rate Nyambe as much as the rest of us, and that really is going to be a contributor to him leaving.

I'd love to know why the last deal we signed him on was so insultingly short at just 2 years. Whether that was the player's or the club's decision. Neither bodes very well.

[Wood26]

9 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

He's leaving.

So is Dack, that Mowbray fault?

[Silas]

Last 2 weeks, considering score on 80 mins, points I wouldn't have expected us to accumulate since the darkness descended:

Millwall 2pts

Brentford 1pt

Rotherham 2pts

 

Fair play to the team for pulling them put the bag. 5 bonus pts in my view. Sounds like a good haul. But, somehow, we're now 9 pts from automatic. A realistic target not so long ago.

Potentially 2 wins from 3rd place, fair enough, but as elated as I am with a last second winner, just can't shake that feeling that this team doesn't have it in them to go the distance and compete back end of the season. 

Maybe the return of some of our "top" players in Dack and Trav will prove me wrong.  

[ben_the_beast]

2 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Douglas and Bell did a job share on the inept left back role, the former was all over the place before the latter came on to remind us something that maybe has been forgotten since he has been dropped, quite how bad he is as well, he was possibly worse than Douglas.

I can't agree with Bell being worse than Douglas. I feel a bit harsh judging him so quickly but he is so far off the pace. He is truly awful. Can't tackle, can't head, no pace, no strength, can't progress us up the pitch, touch actually looks very poor. I'd genuinely be looking at other left back options on loan and look to terminate. Its rare I've seen a player so far out his depth which is even more perplexing considering his reputation. 

Don't get my wrong, Bell isn't great. No final delivery, gets caught positionally sometimes and when he has a stinker. It really is a stinker. But what he does have is the engine to get up and down and play Mowbrays system. Somebody else said it too. As bad as Bell has been at times. I don't think he has ever been as poor as Douglas was tonight (or some of his other appearances for us for that matter)

[SoldierMo]

Can’t belive TM said he played williams last game even though 80 percent fit now hes out couple of weeks...what is he thinking??? Also if Nyambe leaves wouldnt mind signing the right back from Rotherham...he looked good

[Exiled in Toronto]

2 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

After all this talk of playing passing football it was ironic that a real ale house ball un hinged them at the end.

Owen Farrell would have been proud of that one.

I must disagree Tyrone. Although it was a hopeful ball into the middle, I thought as a side foot volley it was executed perfectly by Downing - most players would not have put that ball into exactly the right area.

[onlyoneDuff]

Douglas reminds me of Mickey Gray in his last days here, but worse

[Wood26]

1 hour ago, Silas said:

Last 2 weeks, considering score on 80 mins, points I wouldn't have expected us to accumulate since the darkness descended:

Millwall 2pts

Brentford 1pt

Rotherham 2pts

 

Fair play to the team for pulling them put the bag. 5 bonus pts in my view. Sounds like a good haul. But, somehow, we're now 9 pts from automatic. A realistic target not so long ago.

Potentially 2 wins from 3rd place, fair enough, but as elated as I am with a last second winner, just can't shake that feeling that this team doesn't have it in them to go the distance and compete back end of the season. 

Maybe the return of some of our "top" players in Dack and Trav will prove me wrong.  

And Dack is a top player, which I think people forget. Remember when he got injured, our other 2 goal scorers were Mulgrew (loaned out) and Graham (last legs). Where were goals coming from?

Dack coming back is like having a Toney or a Pukki.

I think some have forgotten how good he is, and we have him in just a couple weeks.

[Fraserkirky]

1 hour ago, SoldierMo said:

Can’t belive TM said he played williams last game even though 80 percent fit now hes out couple of weeks...what is he thinking??? Also if Nyambe leaves wouldnt mind signing the right back from Rotherham...he looked good

OlaSunday was the best player on the pitch tonight

[Ossydave]

Not sure Douglas will start on Saturday, Mowbray looked pissed off when the camera panned over to him after another wayward Douglas pass went out of play and a minute or 2 later Bell was on the pitch. 

[philipl]

Woke up feeling traumatised for some reason.

Then remembered Rotherham.

Odd feeling being a Rovers supporter and having a guilt complex about a win. Hope we are not using our pay backs for games we shouldn't have lost all at once.

Armstrong with a much more mature performance rewarded with an assist and goal. 

Despite joining in the general shittery at times, Nyambe confirming he is going to be a fabulous player.

If I were Klopp, I'd keep Elliott at Ewood who will learn far more about the real game of football than ever he will at Liverpool. However, Liverpool are now one injury away from being certain to recall him.

Trybull and Downing offered more when they came on than I expected and I would love to have seen more than 5 minutes of Dolan. Rotherham looked genuinely scared of him whereas Gallagher was easy meat for them- one of their own type whom they knew exactly what to do with. In fact, Gallagher looked like he had regressed horribly- the closer Mowbray asks him to play to the touchline the worse he becomes.

Rothwell clearly has been told we must retain possession given the number of times a promising situation was halted by a backwards or sideways pass from him.

There was probably a rationale of giving Buckley the start against Rotherham asking to prove himself against giants who give no quarter and can play a bit. But if we wanted to blood a relative youngster and be more certain of the 3 points, Davenport should have started. Johnson looks closer to career end than Downing does and needs more cotton wool than Mowbray is giving him.

Which brings me to the crux.

This squad undoubtedly has the capability of winning promotion, Douglas/Bell not withstanding.

Sadly, Mowbray has the capability of not enabling them to do it. 

Edited December 17, 2020 by philipl

[tomphil]

5 hours ago, nathan_rovers1 said:

This site is just hilarious, crying out for Mowbray to go when everything that he has done has improved us year on year.... 

 

The reality is, is that we are not a top six side in any aspect especially financial. That is the unfortunate reality of it. 

 

The reality is he stifles the life out of this team at times and actually plays into the oppositions hands. They come to stop us so we sit back and let them.

Last 2 games he was clearly settling in for the point it's just a good job one or two of these players actually have some belief we can knick it.

He's done a decent job here but his real abilities as a manage are way overhyped.

[JacknOry]

I was really happy at the time when we had made those signing in the window. Douglas seemed to be the ultimate upgrade, Trybull was meant to be everything that Evans is not, and Ayala was finally the defender that came. Douglas has been very poor up to now, Trybull has been a carbon copy of Evans, and Ayala looks and plays the part but it injured more than he plays.

The two good pieces of business so far are the keeper and Elliott. oh, and Dolan lol.

I would not be adverse to sending Trybull and Douglas back and looking for alternatives. 

[HowieFive0]

8 hours ago, 47er said:

The main difference between last season and this is that we are scoring late goals rather than conceding them.

Otherwise its the same old story. A better squad than last season but isn't reflected on the field.

If we'd played a top team with that performance we would have been hammered.

Last season we had the 2nd best record for not  conceding between the 81-90+ minutes .

We conceded 6 goals in that period ..2 at Home  ..4 Away.

Brentford had the best record only conceding 3 goals in the last 10+ minutes.

This season we ve already conceded 5.

But  the 2018/19 season we had the worst record in the championship at 17 !! ..so i think you re possibly thinking of that season 47ER.

(UP EARLY AND BORED !)

[davulsukur]

6 hours ago, nathan_rovers1 said:

This site is just hilarious, crying out for Mowbray to go when everything that he has done has improved us year on year.... 

 

The reality is, is that we are not a top six side in any aspect especially financial. That is the unfortunate reality of it. 

 

Didn't someone post during the last game that we are in the exact same position (position and points) at this stage of the season for the last 3 seasons?

That's not a year on year progress.

[tomphil]

I think he is making the squad stronger and one or two individuals are getting stronger. However he isn't making it count positional wise and doesn't look like doing again.

As per it'll all be down to getting the best players fit and relying on the dead rubber run at seasons end. That is what nets us the marginal gains and if it's unkind to us this season there won't be any/

Otherwise it is very much does what it says on the tin time again.

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

Dack, BB and Travis get better by the week. We'll see how good we are when they are back and firing. I can't wait to see how Dack and Elliott link up. 

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

12 minutes ago, tomphil said:

I think he is making the squad stronger and one or two individuals are getting stronger. However he isn't making it count positional wise and doesn't look like doing again.

As per it'll all be down to getting the best players fit and relying on the dead rubber run at seasons end. That is what nets us the marginal gains and if it's unkind to us this season there won't be any/

Otherwise it is very much does what it says on the tin time again.

I think the only difference this season is we are winning games we shouldn't be. I'm not sure that has happened much over the last 2 seasons. Still it's a team above us next and we all know what happens then... 

[Mashed Potatoes]

9 hours ago, LDRover said:

Good on you.

You'd have been proud of me earlier, I did my research before posting and checked out the post match messages after the Norwich and Bristol City defeats for some balance from you. Strangely I didn't find any contributions.

Funny that.

I was banned at the time.

[arbitro]

A win is a win however it's achieved and I would certainly take another twenty scabby, ugly wins between now and May. Digging a bit deeper there wasn't one player who played well in my view, the tempo was weak, passing poor and movement pretty non existent. It's games like this were Mowbray really annoys me with his awful body language and gesticulations. From what I saw he was sat down with his shoulders hunched pretty much offering nothing most of the time. His negativity was apparent so the players must feel that. A good manager can really earn his corn in these games by encouraging, cajoling and offering advice to the players. 

I saw a post earlier where somebody wrote that we have a top six team. Hard to disagree really but we have to countenance that with the fact we have a mid table manager. And that is a big problem.