Season finale: Rovers vs Birmingham City

[roversfan99]

4 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

As an aside how much better than Douglas has Bell been? Douglas is absolutely shocking imo. Worst first team signing in a long time.

Really hope Pickering is a good un. Left backs been a real problem position for us all the way back to Warnock....

Also I would give Bell a new contract as backup. I think we can get more out of him.

Bell will in 5 years time still be a player that people think there is more to come from him that will never materialise. He is no better than Douglas and theres no way that either should be here next season.

2 minutes ago, HowieFive0 said:

Yep no denying the amount of goals AA has scored this season its there in the record books . Thank the Lord.

The one thing that the record books dont show is that AA isnt a "clinical" finisher.

Again today the two he scored in open play the keeper should have saved ..yes .. i know if you dont shoot you dont score ..both me and my lad both said the same today ..he does get a bit of luck at times. Very rare he s sticking it in the "postage stamp" or in the bottom corners and his one on ones are a little bit hit n miss .

The  number of off target shots and even the number of shots on target at times ( nine shots on goal in one game ? ) shows hes not the clinical striker that his goals this season on paper kind of points to.

So i can see where @Bbrovers2288 is going with AA.

Clinical is the word.

He isnt clinical and that may very well prevent him from succeeding at the top level. But there seems an unhealthy obsession to dismiss his achievements, his goal record is phenomenal yet even today, he scored another hat trick and there is criticism about one or two shots thay he didnt take.

Scoring so many goals isnt lucky, its a fantastic personal achievement that deserves praise and should have left him picking up the player of the season award.

[HowieFive0]

6 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Bell will in 5 years time still be a player that people think there is more to come from him that will never materialise. He is no better than Douglas and theres no way that either should be here next season.

He isnt clinical and that may very well prevent him from succeeding at the top level. But there seems an unhealthy obsession to dismiss his achievements, his goal record is phenomenal yet even today, he scored another hat trick and there is criticism about one or two shots thay he didnt take.

Scoring so many goals isnt lucky, its a fantastic personal achievement that deserves praise and should have left him picking up the player of the season award.

Every striker needs some luck but i just think AA has had more than plenty this season. Not knocking the lad ..hes there to score goals and he has. Is he a consistent  25 plus a season at Championship level season after season ..thats definitely debatable ...and as for PL i certainly have my doubts.

[jim mk2]

Some odd views on Bell. He still passes the ball to an opponent more often than he passes to a Rovers player, he always seems to pick the wrong option such as crossing when when he should pass and vice versa, he gets caught out of position alot and his defending one on one is still poor.

Bell cannot be number one pick at left back next season. 

[Dolly blue]

1 hour ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

Though I agree he has to go - how does our budget compare to other championship clubs ?

...it compares incredibly well ...particularly when you factor he has had to sell no one ! Plus the dreadful transfer fees paid for Gallagher and Brererton...and the utterly wasted wages on Ayala, Downing, Pears, Douglas

.....we didn’t fail because of budget....we failed because Mowbray managed the budget .....

[roversfan99]

7 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Some odd views on Bell. He still passes the ball to an opponent more often than he passes to a Rovers player, he always seems to pick the wrong option such as crossing when when he should pass and vice versa, he gets caught out of position alot and his defending one on one is still poor.

Bell cannot be number one pick at left back next season. 

Or number 2 pick.

[riverholmes]

Based on the highlights, Bell was involved in four out of Rovers five goals. For the one goal Bell didn't play a pass in the build-up, (Armstrong's 71st minute long-range goal), he took up almost a forward role, as he ran in from the left.

Bell is not the future for Rovers but I think this image highlights the demands that are put on full backs now and how stamina and speed are imperative in a 4-3-3 type formation.

Edit: I feel that Mowbray has shown contempt to Billy Barr and his U23 team that did so well this season by not selecting one of the better performers for the bench in the last few games and instead fielding older players who are offering very little and on the way out.

Edited May 8, 2021 by riverholmes

[OldEwoodBlue]

Has he gone yet ?

[DeeCee]

How sad of me, I got up at half past five after a night shift and the first result I checked was Derby's. I would have been ecstatic if Wycombe and Derby's final positions had been exchanged. 

Time for us to get rid of all the passengers, get a good fee for Arms, re-loan HE and HB and fuck off TM,SW and MV

[m1st]

On 05/05/2021 at 16:08, bluebruce said:

When was the last time a season finale garnered less enthusiasm?

Oh wait, the last two seasons.

The only thing to be excited about for this finale is that finally this steaming dog shit of a season will be over.

Yet I have a feeling that this time next year we will long for these 'glory days' back.

I saw what you did in that first paragraph, @bluebruce!

[chaddyrovers]

9 minutes ago, DeeCee said:

How sad of me, I got up at half past five after a night shift and the first result I checked was Derby's. I would have been ecstatic if Wycombe and Derby's final positions had been exchanged. 

Time for us to get rid of all the passengers, get a good fee for Arms, re-loan HE and HB and fuck off TM,SW and MV

I got up for the second half after a night shift. 

I wish Huddersfield had gone down instead of Wycombe. 

I agree we need to get rid of all the passengers like Johnson, Evans, Bennett to go. Then we need to decide how we want to go as a club whether we want to bring through more under 23's players under a manager/head coach who will play them with a few signings and get them experience to be good enough to challenge in a couple of season. Or we bring in a manager who will use the Armstrong's money to reinvest in signings that can get us top 6 next season

[rigger]

1 hour ago, jim mk2 said:

Some odd views on Bell. He still passes the ball to an opponent more often than he passes to a Rovers player, he always seems to pick the wrong option such as crossing when when he should pass and vice versa, he gets caught out of position alot and his defending one on one is still poor.

Bell cannot be number one pick at left back next season. 

He can be, if it's for a different club.

[Oldgregg86]

I’m just delighted this pointless shit show of a season is over and evans is no longer a rovers player. Enjoy your summer folks , get back in the ground in august and get this clown out 

[bluebruce]

1 hour ago, OldEwoodBlue said:

Has he gone yet ?

Honestly, don't waste the mental energy wishing for this. He isn't leaving at least until the season has been underway for long enough to establish (for Venkys) that it will go the same way as this one. And even that might be wishful thinking.

His demeanour has changed back to calm, he's talking about the future, the LT has reported the club are expected to stick with him this summer and they didn't sack him before two 5-2 home wins, so they won't be sacking him after them. Don't get your hopes up, it's not worth it.

[joey_big_nose]

2 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

Honestly, don't waste the mental energy wishing for this. He isn't leaving at least until the season has been underway for long enough to establish (for Venkys) that it will go the same way as this one. And even that might be wishful thinking.

His demeanour has changed back to calm, he's talking about the future, the LT has reported the club are expected to stick with him this summer and they didn't sack him before two 5-2 home wins, so they won't be sacking him after them. Don't get your hopes up, it's not worth it.

That he's missed the playoffs by 20 points, and survived an absolutely horrendous 12 game run through Feb and March, suggests to me he's here for life now.

Venkys analysis maybe "we're not going to invest to go up, so may as well stick with Mowbray as it will be cheaper than get someone new".

Issue is all the ingredients are there for relegation next year, but I don't think Venkys can or want to see that.

[bazza]

2 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Some odd views on Bell. He still passes the ball to an opponent more often than he passes to a Rovers player, he always seems to pick the wrong option such as crossing when when he should pass and vice versa, he gets caught out of position alot and his defending one on one is still poor.

Bell cannot be number one pick at left back next season. 

Can't take away the fact that Bell had a very, very good game today; best I've seen him play.

[tomphil]

41 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

That he's missed the playoffs by 20 points, and survived an absolutely horrendous 12 game run through Feb and March, suggests to me he's here for life now.

Venkys analysis maybe "we're not going to invest to go up, so may as well stick with Mowbray as it will be cheaper than get someone new".

Issue is all the ingredients are there for relegation next year, but I don't think Venkys can or want to see that.

They never see what is staring them directly in the eyes their heads will be buried again. They'll just sign off the budget and leave these self servers to it.

But of course it's always bad advice that catches them out.....

[Fraserkirky]

1 hour ago, bazza said:

Can't take away the fact that Bell had a very, very good game today; best I've seen him play.

Last week too he was excellent. Absolutely no issue giving Bell another contract, especially at the likely cost. 

[47er]

10 hours ago, Roverall said:

Get him out, for the love of God

To quote Ted---"for the love of Jesus,Mary and the wee donkey"

[47er]

9 hours ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

Your not getting it as usual, it’s not about individual performances it’s a team effort and as a collective they have been poor 

TBF, the players suffer from poor management. The team changes every game---supposedly to counter the strengths of

the other side. Players are regularly forced to play in not their natural position. He makes several subs a game, seemingly

at random with little relation to how the game is going.

No player can flourish in this environment and they haven't.

[47er]

9 hours ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

Though I agree he has to go - how does our budget compare to other championship clubs ?

Its much greater than Barnsley's.

[WacoRover]

Rovers took 11 of the last 18 points. Much better than we did in the previous 36 pts, but still nowhere near good enough to be a top-6 club. 

Rovers had a goal diff of +11. Hooray. And finished 15th. ugh. 

Going back to New Years 2021, the owners were asked by Mowbray to give him 2 loaners & 2 permanent signings. They gave him exactly what he wanted, alas, Rovers were worse on the pitch than before. 

By his own statements, Rovers did not reach the goal he had set, and by no measurement known to man, have Rovers been successful. 

It’s not that the fan base haven’t given Mowbray time. It’s not that he hasn’t been given chances. Simply put, he has failed to compete with the top-10 in the Championship (I have more stats, but is it worthwhile to look at them? Rhetorical question), and he has been given ample opportunities to do so. 

It’s time to give someone else a try. Not that I expect it to happen anytime soon, but our situation dictates new leadership. 

[tomphil]

8 hours ago, 47er said:

Its much greater than Barnsley's.

And PNE

These are the only comparisons that matter. The Mowbrayism ares where he regularly drags up the clubs with parachute money. Or he'll point to Derby, Sheff Weds as the other side of the coin.

We are all at different junctures with those and bear more similarity these days with the Prestons and Barnsleys.   

[booth]

17 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Some odd views on Bell. He still passes the ball to an opponent more often than he passes to a Rovers player, he always seems to pick the wrong option such as crossing when when he should pass and vice versa, he gets caught out of position alot and his defending one on one is still poor.

Bell cannot be number one pick at left back next season. 

If Mowbray is in charge he'll have ample opportunities, as has Evans and Bennett this season.

[Sparks Rover]

1 hour ago, tomphil said:

We are all at different junctures with those and bear more similarity these days with the Prestons and Barnsleys.   

I wouldn't say that mate, at least they have someone making decisions separately from the management.

We are miles behind.

[yeti-dog]

19 hours ago, davulsukur said:

Eh? Didn't you see Mogga shrug his shoulders and say "Doesn't matter if we win or not" the other day?

The man bleeds blue and white!

I get what you're saying and to a large extent I agree. Winning is a good habit to develop and something we should always aspire to. Mowbray saying what he did is just wrong but that's also why I don't like it when people on here say I hope we lose. It just sticks in my craw.

By the way, that doesn't mean I want to keep Mowbray - he needs potting. Dreadfully disappointing season after some early promising signs. The time is right for a younger, more dynamic and motivational manager who can hopefully take us to the next level.