Rovers v Derby - 6pm, Friday 16th

[tomphil]

I'll never get people, young or older, switching teams. Sorry but it's just not an option i'm afraid. I can exclude kids who are so easily swayed by tv football but to just up sticks to another club you're fond of because your so called 1st love is now a bit crap ...?

Nah, you might stop attending or just get totally fed up with football but hiking off to watch someone else miles away.  Poor show really but each to their own i suppose in this era it's seen as more of an acceptable thing.

[riverholmes]

14 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Just looking back at their goal. What a typical Mowbray shambles.
 

We don’t do enough to prevent the first cross coming in. The ball sails across to the far wing. Nyambe is too narrow. The centre half jogs over like he’s going getting a half time pie. Elliot is also too slow reacting to help out. Their guy eventually puts the ball back into a huge space on the near post for Lawrence to head home. Some of our players seem to be marking each other. I would have also expected my keeper to have got out and clattered Lawrence back in the day but that doesn’t seem to be the fashion these days.

Nyambe does come very narrow and play like a third CB, at times, I think, because of his pace and the lack of it in the centre backs and left back - but, in this case, he does seem to have come in to pick up an unmarked attacker, so I don't think he was at fault there.

When the Rovers centre back rushes out to close down the second cross, Bradley Johnson or Nyambe, should have picked up Lawrence, coming back, I think, from an offside position, but weren't being attentive. I would suggest that Bradley Johnson was most culpable, as he was closest to Lawrence.

If anyone saw the game, did Gallagher and Armstrong rotate between the left forward position? It looks like it in a moment in the highlights, but, perhaps, that was just an isolated incident.

Edited April 17, 2021 by riverholmes

[Gone to seed]

7 minutes ago, WacoRover said:

This is what it means to be a fan, a die-hard, sticking to the club & loving the shirt no matter what goes on from within, or without. 

I’m an American, so everything from my point of view is different than many of you. I’m no Chicago Cubs fan, but I admire a fan base that can not only stand by their club, but pack the park for 100 years between championships. That is love for the club. 

Rovers have a smaller fan base than the bigger English clubs, but there is a core of fans who are loyal & will be totally “all in” at whatever point new leadership- the right leadership- arrives. 

I chose to support Blackburn Rovers. I had no prior history with English football prior to 2012. Blackburn Rovers are the Green Bay Packers of the EFL- based in a small town, and surrounded by other, bigger clubs vying for a big piece of the pie, but Rovers have a history that makes it an attractive club. The Packers went a long time between NFL championships/Super Bowls, too! (from 1967 to 1996)

 

Man, you've got blades of grass bigger than the Rovers in Texas! I've been up there in Green Bay too, at the GBP stadium (some years back just around the time they won the NFL), and I was struck by the similarities between the places (Green Bay in beautiful northern Wisonsin, and Blackburn on the edge of the Trough of Bowland), especially the locals' attitudes towards their team. So to me it is brilliant that you lend your long distance support to our beloved Rovers, and I completely get what the Mighty Chaffinch is saying about his support for the club too. We are bigger and with a much longer and prouder history than the past 11 years, and we always will be.

One day I hope to buy the club back and when I do, DarrenRover is being offered the Chairmanship of the Board, and we will paint the streets blue and white once again with our brand, our songs and our love for the legend that is Blackburn Rovers!

COYB!

[WacoRover]

8 minutes ago, WIR Second Coming said:

Man, you've got blades of grass bigger than the Rovers in Texas! I've been up there in Green Bay too, at the GBP stadium (some years back just around the time they won the NFL), and I was struck by the similarities between the places (Green Bay in beautiful northern Wisonsin, and Blackburn on the edge of the Trough of Bowland), especially the locals' attitudes towards their team. So to me it is brilliant that you lend your long distance support to our beloved Rovers, and I completely get what the Mighty Chaffinch is saying about his support for the club too. We are bigger and with a much longer and prouder history than the past 11 years, and we always will be.

One day I hope to buy the club back and when I do, DarrenRover is being offered the Chairmanship of the Board, and we will paint the streets blue and white once again with our brand, our songs and our love for the legend that is Blackburn Rovers!

COYB!

Exactly! This is what I’m talking about! The fans still love the club. 

I’m a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan, but I still remember when the Packers played some games every year at Milwaukee County stadium...Lambeau stadium wasn’t that big at the time, and the board didn’t believe there were enough fans to sustain a club in Green Bay forever! LoL 

[USABlue]

17 hours ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Man of the Match Kaminski by a Mile indeed...Arma chance after chance!

The man city kid did really well today too.  One of a couple who gave a shit. 

[speeeeeeedie]

A win and safety assured. 4 dead rubbers ahead. 

Rooney isn't manager material.

[Darrenbot]

3 hours ago, speeeeeeedie said:

A win and safety assured. 4 dead rubbers ahead. 

Rooney isn't manager material.

Rooney will eventually end up in the Bryan Robson,Bobby Charlton- World Class Player/Shite Manager category.

[Boroblue]

7 hours ago, tomphil said:

I'll never get people, young or older, switching teams. Sorry but it's just not an option i'm afraid. I can exclude kids who are so easily swayed by tv football but to just up sticks to another club you're fond of because your so called 1st love is now a bit crap ...?

Nah, you might stop attending or just get totally fed up with football but hiking off to watch someone else miles away.  Poor show really but each to their own i suppose in this era it's seen as more of an acceptable thing.

I understand what you mean. I lived in Rochdale for years and all my friends are season ticket holders and me and my son have been home and away with dale. After one night match when my son was about 10 we where walking back and he said “I like going to the game but I just don’t care not like with Rovers”.

That sentence sums it up for me football is an emotional game and once your in your in. I guess we’re stuck on the ramparts with rovers win or lose because emotionally there’s nowhere else to go.

Having said that who would want to and leave by far the greatest team the world has ever seen

[joey_big_nose]

2 hours ago, Darrenbot said:

Rooney will eventually end up in the Bryan Robson,Bobby Charlton- World Class Player/Shite Manager category.

"World Class" ahem... Very very good player. But not world class. World class is Ronaldo (both of them), Messi, Zidane, Xavi, Iniesta, Maradona, Pele, Euasabio etc.

Rooney 1 (or arguably 2) levels below that.

[Darrenbot]

12 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

"World Class" ahem... Very very good player. But not world class. World class is Ronaldo (both of them), Messi, Zidane, Xavi, Iniesta, Maradona, Pele, Euasabio etc.

Rooney 1 (or arguably 2) levels below that.

2011 he was world class,voted into the fifpro world 11 that makes him world class that season.

[bluebruce]

1 hour ago, joey_big_nose said:

"World Class" ahem... Very very good player. But not world class. World class is Ronaldo (both of them), Messi, Zidane, Xavi, Iniesta, Maradona, Pele, Euasabio etc.

Rooney 1 (or arguably 2) levels below that.

I think Rooney didn't become as great as I expected him to be after seeing him in his teens, but I don't think there is any question for most people that he was world class.

There's a difference between world class and legends. You're mostly describing legends who were at some point the single greatest player on the planet. Although in all honesty, and as much as I loved them, Xavi and Iniesta don't qualify for that definition either.

[joey_big_nose]

11 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

I think Rooney didn't become as great as I expected him to be after seeing him in his teens, but I don't think there is any question for most people that he was world class.

There's a difference between world class and legends. You're mostly describing legends who were at some point the single greatest player on the planet. Although in all honesty, and as much as I loved them, Xavi and Iniesta don't qualify for that definition either.

I suppose it's about definitions really. I would say world class is you are set apart as one of the very best in your position, and your pretty much consistently brilliant.

All through Rooneys career there were a lot of forwards who were at a similar level or better than him. Just playing in the prem while he was playing you had Henry, Nistelrooy, Bergkamp, Drogba, Aguero, Van Persie, Suarez all at a similar level imo. If United lost Rooney they could replace him with someone like that. Ronaldo was irreplaceable.

If it's a very broad definition then I suppose Rooney would get in.  But then so would dozens of players across the world at any one time.

Ps. Anyway don't take my word for it. Ferguson took a different view and only said he had 4 world class players in all the time he was at United (Spoiler :  Rooney isn't one of them, and not even cited as someone who should have been included by those who challenged him) : https://www.football365.com/news/ferguson-world-class-man-utd-cantona-giggs-scholes-ronaldo

[Banzai]

Do I get a lolly for getting the result correct?

A bit of a lucky win by all accounts, but those teams below us are all gash. 2 goalies in a succession have gifted us points. All Praise the God of Butterfingers.

Unfortunately as I said in the relegation thread, this is the start of a super end to the season which Mowbray and those Rovers fans with memories like goldfish will use to try and justify the journey is going places and we will have to suffer the utterly shite one for yet another season.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

13 hours ago, Boroblue said:

I understand what you mean. I lived in Rochdale for years and all my friends are season ticket holders and me and my son have been home and away with dale. After one night match when my son was about 10 we where walking back and he said “I like going to the game but I just don’t care not like with Rovers”.

That sentence sums it up for me football is an emotional game and once your in your in. I guess we’re stuck on the ramparts with rovers win or lose because emotionally there’s nowhere else to go.

Having said that who would want to and leave by far the greatest team the world has ever seen

I had a falling out with my Rugby League team ( Hornets ) many years ago. What they were serving up was diabolical. I was getting home after games and wanting to kick my non existent cat.

After one particularly awful mid week game I left before the end and I told my pal “ Don’t bother coming for me on Sunday, that’s me done “. He phoned me on the Sunday to arrange a time to pick me up but my mind was made up - I really was done.

Later on he persuaded me to go to local games instead. Oldham one week, Leigh the next, Halifax another week. It was ok but a bit like kissing your sister. Interesting but not leading anywhere.  Eventually even that tapered off.

Then a few years later Hornets moved to playing at the Spotland Stadium near where I lived. One Sunday I’d nothing to do so I wandered over to watch a game.

It was just like meeting an old flame, I was instantly hooked again and 30 odd years later I still am.

 

Regarding Rooney - at 18 he was the finished article, he was a natural. You didn’t need to tell him anything about how to play the game. For various reasons ( injuries, life style etc ) he never really kicked on to achieve his full potential but he could have been whatever he wanted to be as a footballer.

[Blue blood]

Good news:

I predicted a win and got that right. 

Derby are still in trouble. 

We are safe from relegation. 

Bad news:

Cements TM's place here as we completely reset the clock. 

 

Sounds like we were a tad fortunate but then that has been the story in a number of wins. That's three wins I can think of now where we were fortunate not to have penalties against us. Next time our manager complains about fine margins he may want to reflect on that. 

As for Derby IF Rotherham scrape a win from somewhere are they most in danger of going down. A clueless manager? Losing even to dross like us? Brum seem to be on new manager bounce, Coventry and Huddersfield are clawing the odd win. It may be Derby that are the most likely to be caught by Rotherham. That would be one thing to brighten up this season for me. 

[Stuart]

2 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Regarding Rooney - at 18 he was the finished article, he was a natural. You didn’t need to tell him anything about how to play the game. For various reasons ( injuries, life style etc ) he never really kicked on to achieve his full potential but he could have been whatever he wanted to be as a footballer.

Have to say that’s really harsh.

Most of his career at the top English club and England’s all-time leading scorer as well as United’s, having also having had the honour of being captain for his country. Won every domestic and European club trophy. If that’s not achieving one’s full potential I’m not sure what is?

Should he have won the World Cup?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

4 hours ago, Stuart said:

Have to say that’s really harsh.

Most of his career at the top English club and England’s all-time leading scorer as well as United’s, having also having had the honour of being captain for his country. Won every domestic and European club trophy. If that’s not achieving one’s full potential I’m not sure what is?

Should he have won the World Cup?

He should have been up there with Ronaldo and Messi, but he never made it.

He was our most talented player since Gazza as a teenager.

Edited April 18, 2021 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[broadsword]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He should have been up there with Ronaldo and Messi, but he never made it.

He was our most talented player since Gazza as a teenager.

Yeah, his performance level seriously dropped off. I would bet a lot of money that he didn't look after himself. It doesn't matter how talented you are, if you want you reach your potential and stay there, it's early nights and eating right. 

With him it was more like up all night banging granny box. 

[Stuart]

3 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He should have been up there with Ronaldo and Messi, but he never made it.

He was our most talented player since Gazza as a teenager.

Bit of a false premise there. Rooney was a hell of a lot more successful than Gazza.

Interesting take on it though that Rooney had to go to Real Madrid or Barcelona to be considered as having achieved his potential.

That’s the only reason Ronaldo, and especially Messi are considered greats. Rooney in his pomp would have been a world beater in Spain for either club, and would have won more Champions Leagues than he did. Instead he stuck it out in the toughest league in Europe. Unpopular opinion but I would even go as far as to wager that Messi would not have been as successful as Rooney in the PL. He knew it which is why he ignored overtures from City.

The only real criticism is the longevity of his playing career but, let’s be fair, Cristiano Ronaldo is a one-off. A freak of nature considering his physical age compared to his actual age. Nobody else can touch him.

[broadsword]

More of a freak of discipline

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

43 minutes ago, Stuart said:

Bit of a false premise there. Rooney was a hell of a lot more successful than Gazza.

Interesting take on it though that Rooney had to go to Real Madrid or Barcelona to be considered as having achieved his potential.

That’s the only reason Ronaldo, and especially Messi are considered greats. Rooney in his pomp would have been a world beater in Spain for either club, and would have won more Champions Leagues than he did. Instead he stuck it out in the toughest league in Europe. Unpopular opinion but I would even go as far as to wager that Messi would not have been as successful as Rooney in the PL. He knew it which is why he ignored overtures from City.

The only real criticism is the longevity of his playing career but, let’s be fair, Cristiano Ronaldo is a one-off. A freak of nature considering his physical age compared to his actual age. Nobody else can touch him.

Did you see much of Gazza before his injury Stuart ? The lad was world class.

[Stuart]

3 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Did you see much of Gazza before his injury Stuart ? The lad was world class.

Course I did but Rooney certainly achieved his potential when compared to Gazza.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, Stuart said:

Course I did but Rooney certainly achieved his potential when compared to Gazza.

I just thought I’d ask, after all my youngest son is 40 and he can just about remember him in his prime. But for the injury he would have been in the Bobby Charlton bracket in terms of reputation.

[Ewood Ace]

11 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Regarding Rooney - at 18 he was the finished article, he was a natural. You didn’t need to tell him anything about how to play the game. For various reasons ( injuries, life style etc ) he never really kicked on to achieve his full potential but he could have been whatever he wanted to be as a footballer.

The thing with Rooney was that he peaked early, as a young lad he was sensational at Euro 2004 had he not got injured I think we would have won it he was only 18 at the time but was nearly unplayable.

In his early days at United he was was a better player than Ronaldo but whereas Ronaldo just carried on getting better and better as he got older Rooney stagnated in his mid 20's and then started to go backwards. Rooney is a few months younger than Ronaldo and his career has been finished at the top level for 3 or 4 years already whereas Ronaldo is still performing at the highest level.

[Stuart]

13 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I just thought I’d ask, after all my youngest son is 40 and he can just about remember him in his prime. But for the injury he would have been in the Bobby Charlton bracket in terms of reputation.

I remember watching him injure himself against Forest with an awful, over-enthusiastic tackle (against Des Walker?) in I think it was an FA Cup semi?

If anyone wasted their talent, and didn’t reach the levels they could have, it was Paul Gascoigne.