Barnsley v Rovers, Wed 17th Feb

[den]

11 hours ago, booth said:

 

"We only used it because we were playing Barnsley. We were just trying to nullify what they do.

Today we just tried to nullify them. I thought they put the gameplan into action very well but as you say, we fell down on basics."

https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/football-news/barnsley-blackburn-rovers-mowbray-reaction-19858728

They’re a good side so we’ll just welly it every time we get the ball? - because from where I was sitting, that’s all we did.
This is one day after saying he couldn’t play the short passing game he wanted to play because of Danny Graham.

Edited February 18, 2021 by den

[G Somerset Rover]

Elliot needs to be the first pick on the team sheet after Kaminski as he’s the only bugger who can make anything happen. Somebody else came out with a good theory that TM probably hasn’t liked the plaudits and attention he’s been receiving so given him the old back down to earth treatment.

He may have needed a one match rest but that’s it. He’s head and shoulders above anything we have creatively and given we’re not scoring and hardly fashioning anything, he simply has to start.

Edited February 18, 2021 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[den]

9 hours ago, S8 & Blue said:

Ew.

To all of them.

Thank you Alexis.

[chaddyrovers]

12 hours ago, Dan said:

Seriously???? 
 

Are you seeing this? 
 

Come on pal, this muppet is ruining our club. 

I watched the game on the Sky red button last night

10 hours ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

I prefer steve kean and coyle , they were just shite managers, mowbray is actually trying to hoodwink the fans now, utterly disgraceful 

You really prefer Kean after everything he did at the club?

10 hours ago, StevenSK said:

what a twat

really? 

He is Rovers legend and I agree with his comments about Mowbray. I will post my views on Mowbray in the proper appropriate thread in a minute. 

10 hours ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Instagram update: Arma’s bird is proud of him and he’s happy to grab his 20th of the season.

Nothing from Mr Fist Pump yet.

do you think it is really appropriate to post on here what Armstrong's girlfriend/missus has said after the recent problems with footballers being abuse online?

8 hours ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

I understand the fans frustrations but to start belittling Dunn and then dack is a step too far for me. 

You are correct Bbrovers2288

9 hours ago, StevenSK said:

Dack can fuck off the lazy twat

Do you really think that sort of comment is right and correct after what Dack has done for Rovers and the fans?

[Bbrovers2288]

12 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

I watched the game on the Sky red button last night

You really prefer Kean after everything he did at the club?

really? 

He is Rovers legend and I agree with his comments about Mowbray. I will post my views on Mowbray in the proper appropriate thread in a minute. 

do you think it is really appropriate to post on here what Armstrong's girlfriend/missus has said after the recent problems with footballers being abuse online?

You are correct Bbrovers2288

Do you really think that sort of comment is right and correct after what Dack has done for Rovers and the fans?

Hate mowbray mate, actually embarrassed he is our manager

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

18 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

I watched the game on the Sky red button last night

You really prefer Kean after everything he did at the club?

really? 

He is Rovers legend and I agree with his comments about Mowbray. I will post my views on Mowbray in the proper appropriate thread in a minute. 

do you think it is really appropriate to post on here what Armstrong's girlfriend/missus has said after the recent problems with footballers being abuse online?

You are correct Bbrovers2288

Do you really think that sort of comment is right and correct after what Dack has done for Rovers and the fans?

Do you think Dack would have still been here today if he hadn't have been injured 14 months ago ?  Most players play for themselves first and foremost, the team is a poor second and the fans are way down the list. I don't think Dack is an exception to that list. The more they get paid the less commitment you appear to get.

On another point = just how many players have been injured this season ? Or putting more simply how many haven't been injured ? Previous experience tells me the greater the number of injuries you have at the club the lower the morale of the players is. I'm not talking serious injuries like broken legs etc I mean the little niggles that seem to last for ever. Anybody know when Ayala is likely to be available for selection ? Next August maybe ? JRC ? Johnson ? Trybull ?

Edited February 18, 2021 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Bbrovers2288]

3 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Do you think Dack would have still been here today if he hadn't have been injured 14 months ago ?  Most players play for themselves first and foremost, the team is a poor second and the fans are way down the list. I don't think Dack is an exception to that list. The more they get paid the less commitment you appear to get.

On another point = just how many players have been injured this season ? Or putting more simply how many haven't been injured ? Previous experience tells me the number of injuries you have at the club the lower the morale of the players is. I'm not talking serious injuries like broken legs etc I mean the little niggles that seem to last for ever. Anybody know when Ayala is likely to be available for selection ? Next August maybe ? JRC ? Johnson ? Trybull ?

I think the injuries are another sad state of how we are being run, transfers not being given full medical, lot of players continually picking up niggles so not being managed correctly. You will always get a bad challenge or just an unfortunate injury but we seem to pick them up more than most due to poor conditioning. Are our players as fit as they should be?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 minutes ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

I think the injuries are another sad state of how we are being run, transfers not being given full medical, lot of players continually picking up niggles so not being managed correctly. You will always get a bad challenge or just an unfortunate injury but we seem to pick them up more than most due to poor conditioning. Are our players as fit as they should be?

Then you get the ones that don't fancy it, the ones that the Manager has pissed off.

[rigger]

3 minutes ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

I think the injuries are another sad state of how we are being run, transfers not being given full medical, lot of players continually picking up niggles so not being managed correctly. You will always get a bad challenge or just an unfortunate injury but we seem to pick them up more than most due to poor conditioning. Are our players as fit as they should be?

They are not fit enough to be winners. 

[JHRover]

On Dunn again. I'm not sure what being a 'legend' has to do with it. What does that qualify him in?

He must be good if he is able to watch our weary performances whilst sat in the dugout at Fleetwood.

[Blue blood]

Didn't post after last night in this thread as so angry. Thought it couldn't get worse than Preston but I was wrong. So many issues;

Firstly the Nayambe situation. If he isn't deemed good enough for the first 18 when people are fit, why has he been at right back for much of the season and why hasn't a replacement been brought? Additionally if our current right back/wing back is playing his first game in months due to injury why was there no backup on the bench. If it is because of a poor performance how on earth did the Everton lad keep his place? Any application of logic (not least the fact Nayambe is hands down our best RB) shows there is no appropriate and professional reason for his omission. 

This brings me onto the formation. TM talks about identity and consistency and then choses a formation we have hardly ever played and is reliant on two substandard loans to play it. How does that help us? Where's the build or logic in that? Also saying we need to change our formation to counter Barnsley, with all due respect to them, if that's the case we need to pack up and go home! We allegedly model ourselves on Liverpool (presumably their 2021 form and lack of defenders) and it would be akin to them changing their system for an away game at Palace. Good teams don't change their system for mediocre opponents. And certainly not to an unfamiliar system. 

The two young defenders - meh. Experience is so critical at CB and both are showing their lack of it. Surely for their wages we could have picked up a seasoned Championship pro who knew what he was doing. Tosin mark 2 they ain't. 

Ironically our best loan is the one who doesn't start! He gets a ton of assists and managed another despite not starting. Evidently contributing is something to be frowned upon. It's not rocket science how to use Elliott. Put him on the wing and watch him get assists. 

Speaking of contributing without Armstrong's goals we are stuffed. Who else is going to get them? For a good squad on paper we aren't half lacking threats. When he goes - and he will - then we may be looking down not up unless someone gets on their shooting boots. It also helps if you can score in the first half. Honestly tuning in at half time would be a solid move and it's highly worrying that we are getting so few goals and none in the first half. With our fitness issues this seems a recipe for trouble. 

Then there is Evans. If TM doesn't know he is not the answer 4 years into his reign then he has learned nothing. With Davenport and Rothwell also on the bench, such a move becomes even more bizarre. There is no rational or justification for bringing him on. 

To summarise I cannot think of so many stupid decisions made in one match for a long, long time. TM has clearly lost the plot and really needs to go. 

And thats before I even address his scandalous comments. 

[tomphil]

37 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

I feel so flat and annoyed that this season will not end in top 2 finish or playoff place. 

Yesterday performance wasn't good enough. But watching the game was dull and boring from start to finish. We didn't deserve anything from last night game. I like us playing 2 up front with Gallagher and Armstrong. Gallagher and Douglas was our best players. I did think the back 3 worked 1st half to a degree and I would like to maybe carry on playing it a couple of players changes. 

Armstrong took his goal well and Elliott's through ball was good. 

But the 2 goals were poor defending from not closing down or put a tackling in. 

 

I feel flat this season and have done for months that we won't be having a good go just at getting in the top 6.  The top 3 was an absolute fantasy and like the top 6 it will remain so with this regime in charge, who have no form in getting anywhere near it for over a decade. 

And that was clearly a Coyle style one off where everything just clicked. I doubt there was a slow build or grand masterplan to it just a new voice and a few signings that worked instantly.

We are a hamster on a wheel with Mowbray and his gang.

 

[chaddyrovers]

21 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Do you think Dack would have still been here today if he hadn't have been injured 14 months ago ?

who knows? I am not Dack's agent or employ by Blackburn Rovers to conduct Transfer business

21 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

On another point = just how many players have been injured this season ? Or putting more simply how many haven't been injured ? Previous experience tells me the greater the number of injuries you have at the club the lower the morale of the players is. I'm not talking serious injuries like broken legs etc I mean the little niggles that seem to last for ever. Anybody know when Ayala is likely to be available for selection ? Next August maybe ? JRC ? Johnson ? Trybull ?

What experience have you got in medical background? 

JRC and Johnson are back in training this week. did you miss that?

[Tom]

I said recently I never like talk of ‘losing the dressing room’ as players should be professional enough to give it their all no matter what.

However last night looked like exactly that, their goal was long coming and when it did it was simply one way traffic and we were lucky they misplaced passes and fluffed lines or could have been 3 or 4, the second goal was embarrassing.

We never for a second looked like we were bothered about getting back into it, our late goal shouldn’t mask that.

Abysmal stuff, the fact the first goal came from their left and Nyambe wasn’t there to Blame was the icing on the cake 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

who knows? I am not Dack's agent or employ by Blackburn Rovers to conduct Transfer business

What experience have you got in medical background? 

JRC and Johnson are back in training this week. did you miss that?

My experience is of watching several Rovers teams that went out of the division at the wrong end. The one thing they had in common was players getting injured on a regular basis. I didn't know JRC and Johnson were back in  training. Call me a cynic but I'll be delighted if one of them doesn't go missing again before the end of the season.

[TheRoversReturn]

24 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

Didn't post after last night in this thread as so angry. Thought it couldn't get worse than Preston but I was wrong. So many issues;

Firstly the Nayambe situation. If he isn't deemed good enough for the first 18 when people are fit, why has he been at right back for much of the season and why hasn't a replacement been brought? Additionally if our current right back/wing back is playing his first game in months due to injury why was there no backup on the bench. If it is because of a poor performance how on earth did the Everton lad keep his place? Any application of logic (not least the fact Nayambe is hands down our best RB) shows there is no appropriate and professional reason for his omission. 

Because it's personal and not for the good of Blackburn Rovers FC.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

28 minutes ago, Tom said:

I said recently I never like talk of ‘losing the dressing room’ as players should be professional enough to give it their all no matter what.

However last night looked like exactly that, their goal was long coming and when it did it was simply one way traffic and we were lucky they misplaced passes and fluffed lines or could have been 3 or 4, the second goal was embarrassing.

We never for a second looked like we were bothered about getting back into it, our late goal shouldn’t mask that.

Abysmal stuff, the fact the first goal came from their left and Nyambe wasn’t there to Blame was the icing on the cake 

Nobody goes out there deliberately trying to lose. Well I can only think of one player in the past I could point that finger at. No names, no pack drill - as my dad used to say. I think we all know who I mean.

It's like any other line of work. If you think the management don't know what they're doing and they're holding the company back you still keep battling on in your own individual role but your level of effort and commitment to the greater cause is bound to suffer. 

People who should know better equate team spirit with high fives, knee slides, holidays snap out in the sun. That's all bollocks. Team spirit is coming from behind when you're up against it. Team spirit is geeing each other up when things are tough. I don't see that at Rovers. The stat of how many games we've gone on to win from a losing position in the last few years is damning.

Edited February 18, 2021 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Roversider]

Ok, so what did we learn last night?

Another team has a pitch as bad as Ewood but they have learned how to compete on it.

Gallagher looks more comfortable playing in the central role.  Dack (in my opinion through needing to complete his recovery) isn't contributing enough to start a game, particularly in the formation last night where the lack of numbers in midfield where Downing and Travis were playing meant we had to bypass that area and we were vulnerable on every attack.

Lenihan feels he has to dive in when he shouldn't, one of the goals occurred when he chose to compete for the same ball as Branthwaite and effectively took two defenders out of the equation.

Substitutions seem to be on a random basis, how many attackers can we put on to chase a game?

What I learned more than anything is that we are up a blind alley and unless someone switches to reverse and finds a different way then we will only have tears and anguish.  That has to start from the manager and the coaches but it needs the players to finish the job.  If the communication isn't happening or there is a lack of ideas then there needs to be a change in personnel.

The manager picks the team, sets them up and gives the vision, he chooses the coaches and formation.  I see the management team as a single entity, that is why it's rare for a change in manager not to be reflected in a complete swap out of the whole coaching team too.

My preference would be for Mowbray to galvanise the team and staff and turn this around, sadly I don't think that will happen.

Grim at the moment and we are all angry.

[47er]

2 hours ago, Richard Oakley said:

You are dismissive of the whole idea of dismissing Mowbray. You have a cavalier attitude to our losing three on the trot and, according to other posters, have not been playing well for a lot longer. You're quite content for us to be relegated, come the end of the season. You agree that we are playing relegation football, yet are unable to grasp that only a change of manger is capable of turning things around.

Mowbray's said he's aiming for 70 points, whereas 75 points is required, usually, for the playoffs. Mowbray has admitted the playoffs, which was the minimum acceptable standard at the beginning of the season, cannot be achieved under him. We will not end the season in the top 6, under Mowbray. We know that already, yet you're not on board with a change of manager, now.

We won't get 70 points either.

[47er]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

feel so flat and annoyed that this season will not end in top 2 finish or playoff place

Spare some sympathy for me then. I've been like this for months.

[Mattyblue]

3 minutes ago, 47er said:

We won't get 70 points either.

Forget that, target has to be 50/51 from now on, and that’s with all the top sides to come in late Feb and March...

[TonyM]

Even allowing for the awful weather/pitch conditions - last night was dreadful - clueless and lacking any sign of a game plan.

He's had his time -  we need a change desperately. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

3 minutes ago, 47er said:

Spare some sympathy for me then. I've been like this for months.

Seasons for me. The way we huffed and puffed to get promoted spoke volumes. I lost count of the number of games were all we had was a good 20-25 minutes. Usually that was enough, given the talent we had in the team. Even then I couldn't see a well coached or well organised team. We just had better players.

Now we haven't got better players than most teams we play we are crying out for a way of playing that highlights what strengths we may have. Given the totally random collection of players Mowbray has signed that's not going to be easy.

[LDRover]

1 hour ago, RoverDom said:

True but tony will put that down to covid impact on peoples livelihoods rather than accept it as a reflection of his actions

I doubt it. Given his change of tack recently he'll blame it on 'entitled fans' expecting the Premiership.

[den]

Gallagher might have been better playing central, but he’s still hopeless as a centre forward. He must be one of the worst we’ve ever had - and we’ve had some bad ones.

Name me one successful rovers team that has had only one goal scoring striker? I mean, even 10/12 goals from a proper centre forward would have had us up there challenging.

 

Edited February 18, 2021 by den