Millwall v rovers

[WacoRover]

15 minutes ago, Tom said:

Everything seems that much rosier after a win.

I said before the game Tony was throwing a Hail Mary; you set yourself up for a beating if it doesn’t come off, it was ballsy and it paid off, fair play to him.

Risking the ire of @roversfan99 I am one that thinks we benefited from Armstrong’s absence today, Dolan took his chance to show the problems he can cause and others came into their own as well. Armstrong is a very tidy forward and his output this season is unquestionable but having a plan B has been missing this season.

Honest question by a Texan who is still trying to figure out the English game...

So, today was Mowbray’s plan B - or just a madcap attempt by him to throw 11 on the pitch to find something-anything- that works? I’ve watched American tackleball 50 years, and finding effective substitutes is nothing new. You always have to get backups ready, and the next generation of players... but, Rovers are fairly young, other than Johnson & one or two others. Tonys efforts at putting forwards and wingers in proper position seems to be good-intentioned buffoonery, at best.

Basically, It’s taken him 2 1/2 months since our last strong performance to put an effective 11 on the pitch. So, was today skill and footballing acumen on TM’s part, or luck?  

[simongarnerisgod]

1 minute ago, WacoRover said:

Honest question by a Texan who is still trying to figure out the English game...

So, today was Mowbray’s plan B - or just a madcap attempt by him to throw 11 on the pitch to find something-anything- that works? I’ve watched American tackleball 50 years, and finding effective substitutes is nothing new. You always have to get backups ready, and the next generation of players... but, Rovers are fairly young, other than Johnson & one or two others. Tonys efforts at putting forwards and wingers in proper position seems to be good-intentioned buffoonery, at best.

Basically, It’s taken him 2 1/2 months since our last strong performance to put an effective 11 on the pitch. So, was today skill and footballing acumen on TM’s part, or luck?  

the latter,coupled with millwall being abjectly bad as well,wait till the next game when tony`s bingo machine selects another 6 changes!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

13 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Just makes no sense to me, and doesnt sit right that there is so much criticism of such a prolific scorer who didnt even play today.

Over the course of this season, would you think that we would have collected more or less points had Armstrong not played a minute? Surely the former if we benefit from his absence. Same question to you @Bigdoggsteel And do you think that the 3 would have made up for his 19 goal output?

And what did you feel of the individual performances of the front 3 today? I thought Dolan was the pick, mainly through his raw enthusiasm really, his end product wasnt really of much note and he tricked himself a couple of times but he was a pain in the arse. Gallagher worked hard but often held onto the ball too long, and Brereton was very quiet. 

You could put Armstrong in any of the 3 positions, he has the pace to play that, and he would have benefitted from Dack being much closer to the striker which hasnt been the case in recent weeks, take Tuesday night when Rothwell was invisible, Evans gets a nosebleed across the half way line and Armstrong was on his own in a different postcode. Armstrong in recent weeks has been far less selfish but has shown sides to his game that I didnt think were there, holding the ball up at times and bringing others into play, and his movement (often ignored) is intelligent. 

The thing separating the 3 today with Armstrong is the goal output and that is the most important part of a forward. If Armstrong is the hindrance many are making out, and he is attracting suitors, think of the money we can make on Gallagher, Brereton and Dolan!

Armstrong's an individualist. That makes it hard to fit him into a formation if you're relying on him to make the play as well as score goals. If he was that good he wouldn't be at Rovers now. We need a front man who can lead the line. I'd have paired him with another striker/target man and gone 4-4-2 years ago, just like Dyche did.

[neophox]

So playing 

Armstrong Gallagher Brereton/Dolan would do wonders.. 

Mowbray out

[joey_big_nose]

18 minutes ago, WacoRover said:

Honest question by a Texan who is still trying to figure out the English game...

So, today was Mowbray’s plan B - or just a madcap attempt by him to throw 11 on the pitch to find something-anything- that works? I’ve watched American tackleball 50 years, and finding effective substitutes is nothing new. You always have to get backups ready, and the next generation of players... but, Rovers are fairly young, other than Johnson & one or two others. Tonys efforts at putting forwards and wingers in proper position seems to be good-intentioned buffoonery, at best.

Basically, It’s taken him 2 1/2 months since our last strong performance to put an effective 11 on the pitch. So, was today skill and footballing acumen on TM’s part, or luck?  

Well everybody who played today had played in those positions previously under Mowbray, but I think Dolan as a 9 only a couple of times as a sub (and he had looked decent when he did it). So from Mowbrays perspective it would have been pretty consistent with how he's approached formations previously (strikers on the wing, wingers at 9, winger at RB).

That said outside of Mowbrays own tactical universe it was pretty unusual! But for him not too weird.

Edited March 6, 2021 by joey_big_nose

[neophox]

First game I've missed this season and we win. Thought this was the only game we could win coming up but said after last game that I would not watch until Tony's walked out. Can say I am happy we won but still think the Manager has to leave. We need someone who can make the best out of this team. Hope I'm wrong but think this was a one off and it will be as normal on Tuesday again with players playing out of position and a loss. 

[neophox]

And yes we rode our luck as both our goals was fluke. 

[Wood26]

13 minutes ago, WacoRover said:

Honest question by a Texan who is still trying to figure out the English game...

So, today was Mowbray’s plan B - or just a madcap attempt by him to throw 11 on the pitch to find something-anything- that works? I’ve watched American tackleball 50 years, and finding effective substitutes is nothing new. You always have to get backups ready, and the next generation of players... but, Rovers are fairly young, other than Johnson & one or two others. Tonys efforts at putting forwards and wingers in proper position seems to be good-intentioned buffoonery, at best.

Basically, It’s taken him 2 1/2 months since our last strong performance to put an effective 11 on the pitch. So, was today skill and footballing acumen on TM’s part, or luck?  

For starters we didn’t give the team a goal, which we done so many times this season.

As much as I love Travis, the balance of 3 in middle who are all comfortable on the ball helps (albeit Buckley took time to settle).

But as I have said before, players need to stand up. Gallagher was superb today. He doesn’t always play that well.

JRC was a good addition. I feel when Nyambe plays a lot of our football is pass to him, let him run down the line, then pass backwards again.

The CBS played well today.

We have only been losing by the 1 goal, so we always have a win in us and today we got it.

Hard week ahead though, we will have to take today’s performance and raise it to get points this week.

And Dolan was superb!

[des]

For the first time in who knows when we had s target man up front who could hold the ball up and bring others into play. Will he learn when Armstrong goes back I doubt it

[joey_big_nose]

2 minutes ago, neophox said:

And yes we rode our luck as both our goals was fluke. 

The goals were fluky, but we were completely and utterly the better team. Should have won by more.

Can't really shake the feeling though that we won because Millwall were terrible.

 

 

[neophox]

5 hours ago, West Yorks Rover said:

Looks like a poor performance from them today, but they've only lost 9 all season including this game, we've

lost 15, makes you wonder how good we'd be with a better manager though.

We'd be awesome with a better manager. 

[Wood26]

10 minutes ago, neophox said:

And yes we rode our luck as both our goals was fluke. 

Yes if we had a new manager Dacks shot wouldn’t have deflected, it would of gone straight in top corner 

[roverandout]

The defeat to Croatia was worse.  Great start. Then we hold on till that goal. Still believing.  I felt numb after

[jim mk2]

Was the win that convincing? Millwall hit the post, Smith missed a simple header and there were several goalmouth  scrambles where we could have conceded. 

[Torgeir]

6 minutes ago, Wood26 said:

Yes if we had a new manager Dacks shot wouldn’t have deflected, it would of gone straight in top corner 

Dack was robbed of a penalty as well. Listened to the first half on the radio and caught the second on iFollow. Hopefully we can build on this and if Dolan continues this level of performances I'll have to seriously reconsider my ability to 'spot a player'. Douglas picked up the gauntlet after being dropped vs. Reading.

Harwood-Bellis is miles better than Branthwaite and good to see players coming back from injury. 

 

Two home games against two good sides coming up, this win was vital.

[ben_the_beast]

19 minutes ago, neophox said:

And yes we rode our luck as both our goals was fluke. 

We often concede from shots just outside the area which deflect. Getting a player in that pocket of space in a dangerous position (Dacks goal) is something we have been doing very, very rarely, yet allowing it at the other end. Bit of luck involved yes, but the amount of play we had around their area today means you hugely increase the likelihood of that happening.

 

[ben_the_beast]

3 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Was the win that convincing? Millwall hit the post, Smith missed a simple header and there were several goalmouth  scrambles where we could have conceded. 

Pretty much most of which was contained to a 5 minute flurry at the end when we were 2-0 up. I don't think we ever looked like losing. 

[booth]

16 minutes ago, neophox said:

We'd be awesome with a better manager. 

Along with a striker and a defender or two.

I've got to say I'm seeing some hysterical reactions on social media. It was a win against a very poor Millwall, 4 points out of 24 and despite the performance Millwall had their chances.

"We'll piss the league next year with Mowbray." Would love to be proven wrong but I can't see it.

[Wood26]

2 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Dack was robbed of a penalty as well. Listened to the first half on the radio and caught the second on iFollow. Hopefully we can build on this and if Dolan continues this level of performances I'll have to seriously reconsider my ability to 'spot a player'. Douglas picked up the gauntlet after being dropped vs. Reading.

Harwood-Bellis is miles better than Branthwaite and good to see players coming back from injury. 

 

Two home games against two good sides coming up, this win was vital.

What do you mean by spot a player? Did you doubt Dolan once?

Spot on about Harwood-Bellis, I love his passion he looks so emotionally involved in everything.

Dacks was a clear pen, but what shocked me about that was Buckley actually has pace. Either that or the guy he skinned is terribly slow

[Wood26]

8 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Was the win that convincing? Millwall hit the post, Smith missed a simple header and there were several goalmouth  scrambles where we could have conceded. 

You could say same about most our defeats this season 

[Torgeir]

Just now, Wood26 said:

What do you mean by spot a player? Did you doubt Dolan once?

Spot on about Harwood-Bellis, I love his passion he looks so emotionally involved in everything.

Dacks was a clear pen, but what shocked me about that was Buckley actually has pace. Either that or the guy he skinned is terribly slow

Jury is still out on Dolan for me. Apart from his bright start he's had little impact and struggles with his end product. But happy to be proven wrong, and the from little I saw of him today he looked very sharp.

[booth]

I've always thought Dolan was an exciting young player, he just hasn't been given a run in the team. Only 19, I hope he's given the opportunity to build on it.

[Wood26]

2 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Jury is still out on Dolan for me. Apart from his bright start he's had little impact and struggles with his end product. But happy to be proven wrong, and the from little I saw of him today he looked very sharp.

Know what you mean, but what I love about Dolan is how well he does a simple pass and keeps the ball. I think his final killer ball/finish will only get better as he gets older and more confident. Great work rate too

[Exiled_Rover]

41 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Armstrong's an individualist. That makes it hard to fit him into a formation if you're relying on him to make the play as well as score goals. If he was that good he wouldn't be at Rovers now. We need a front man who can lead the line. I'd have paired him with another striker/target man and gone 4-4-2 years ago, just like Dyche did.

By 'individualist' you mean a hugely limited player, right?

The free role he's been granted by Mowbray has led to a lot of goals, but that's the only way he's contributing to the team. He was shown up today by an 18 year old winger who was thrown upfront - Dolan linked up more play in 90 minutes than Armstrong has all season.

[Exiled_Rover]

6 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Jury is still out on Dolan for me. Apart from his bright start he's had little impact and struggles with his end product. But happy to be proven wrong, and the from little I saw of him today he looked very sharp.

His end product is still poor, but he was a nightmare for Millwall today. Never stopped harrying their back line when out of possession and never shied away from receiving the ball when we had it.

He made the wrong decision a fair few times with the ball today (head down, mainly), but I'd be fine with him playing that role again on Tuesday.