2021/22 Pre-Season

[Bethnal]

5 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

It is impossible to say really based solely off a friendly and in direct opposition to a 20 million pound winger and its not as if he had a shocker.

I just thought that it was worth flagging up that he looks slow and it may be a concern against quick wingers in competitive matches, the key will be if he has the intelligence to compensate for his lack of pace. I also read that his strengths lie going forward although he tended to turn back and at one stage he took too long to get the ball out of his feet and a good counter attack fell apart. He did put a decent ball to the back post at one point that was nodded behind. 

Obviously a friendly is very much not something to take many conclusions from, it is just interesting to get a first impression of our sole new (sort of) signing and what type of player he is.

And id like to think that for a player that cost over half a million and will be our only new addition to last seasons team that will have cost money, that the standards are above merely being better than 2 incompetent players.

I think that 3/5 at the back tends to need to be played week in week out like Sheffield United did for players to get that continuity.

Does it suit our squad though, thats the question? None of our centre backs seem comfortable in bringing the ball out from the back. I personally think that Nyambe is more suited to being a full back which relies less on his attacking output which is very limited and more on his one on one defending where he is strong. Pickering with his lack of pace may also suit being a full back although im obviously less sure on him having never seen him competitively.

 

I’m really not one for quoting or getting into disagreements on here but I’ve read two or three of your posts and I just fundamentally disagree with your assessments. Magloire made at least two runs into the opposition half from the back and Nyambe is a very effective forward player. If the expectation is that he’s constantly getting balls in from out wide, then you need to broaden the scope of understanding what an effective wide player is. Overlaps, underlaps and his stamina are crucial for how this kind of system would work and he does all three well enough to be effective. Not got world class delivery as an end product, but more than effective.

 

I just don’t see how you came to your conclusions at all.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

10 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Where did I write Pickering off? I passed comment on him having been particularly interested to see how he performed as a new face in a friendly, judging as a one off performance based on what are my first impressions. I even acknowledged Raphinha's obvious quality, but I thought that Pickering looked slower than I had expected/hoped and he also was very conservative when he got the ball further up. But I have not written him off and you concluding that is an exaggeration on your behalf.

And I thought that Magloire once or twice did a couple of good bits and pieces defensivsly but technically looked well off it, touches playing himself into trouble etc. Hardly a disaster of a performance or a particularly poor one, just not one that gave me any confidence, although it was a friendly against some very good players. I do think that we need a new CB but even without one he will struggle to get into the first team in my opinion.

In a back three  I would definitely play Magloire.  Agree not technically the best, but he can tackle well and nobody is beating him for pace.  Not arsed if he can't play it out from the back.  Want a defender to defend.

[rog of the rovers]

My two penneth

Positives

Defended really well against a fluid, Premier League quality Marcelo Bielsa team, which contained several of their bigger names (Rodrigo, Raphinha, Harrison etc)

All of the younger lads acquitted themselves well and by the end, all had done their first team chances no harm indeed. Notable shout-outs to Garrett, Carter and Magloire. All played 90 minutes and defended, headed, tackled and work hard throughout. All three will be involved more this season I'll bet, and based on last night, they have something to add to the squad.

Of the others, nice run by Cirino, McBride rides his luck with the goal (but at least his free kick was on target) for his second of preseason. Him as a fourth/fifth striker option isn't the worst news.

Nyambe, getting better each season, nothing new to report.

Pickering, I think he's getting a bit of undue flack on here! Based on last night, I think he's a ''Steady Eddy'' type at left back, More of a Michael Gray/Alan Wright type than a dynamic fullback, but handled Raphinha as best he could. I can say this with absolute certainty.......He won't face too may Raphinha level wingers in the Championship!

Mention too for John Buckley, some very nice moments, some frustrating ones too, a couple of beautiful passes, a couple of ''who was he passing to there?'' moments. Never shirks a challenge to be fair to him, big season ahead.

Brereton Diaz - A different beast all together, more like a £7.5m potential star of the future than we've ever seen down at Ewood before, plus the stadium (or at least where I was sat in the Blackburn End) came to life whenever he had the ball. 

Kaminski also looked every bit the keeper that won Player of the Year last season.

Negatives

Armstrong looked completely isolated up top in that system, and his shooting boots where on the wrong feet!  

Pike and Vale couldn't make the same impact as some of the other substitutes, poor header from Pike for the Leeds goal, but I think both need some first team football in League 1/2 this season.

No Butterworth either, which is a shame, after his MotM cameo at Fylde and he played against Bradford too.

Nothing too major in the negatives in regards to play and ball retention as it was a very young team against a team heading in the right direction in the Premier League, but still sloppy at times, particularly going forward.

Overall

Before even speaking about the match.....How brilliant it was to be back inside Ewood. Feeling that connection with the team once again, and that feeling of pride at the final whistle. Great to be home!

The kit looks fantastic, plenty wearing the shirts in the stands, saw both home and away on display!

c.9,000 fans provided a great atmosphere for a pre-season match. Thankfully Rovers fans almost matched the Leeds fans 1 to 1, so made for a nice spectacle.

Left the ground feeling more optimistic than I felt going in! In regards to almost everything!

Off the pitch, how comfortable it felt being amongst a large group of people. The euphoria of being at a live match at Ewood and the feeling when the ball hit the back of the net.

On the pitch, I still feel as though this season will be a battle from start to finish, and I'm predicting a lower middle placed finish, but I do feel we have enough to survive. Particularly with Gallagher, Johnson, Travis, Ayala and others to come in and come back.

 

 

Edited July 29, 2021 by rog of the rovers

[arbitro]

45 minutes ago, Parsonblue said:

To be honest I would prefer to see Magloire and Carter being given opportunities this season instead of Ayala.  

Without a shadow of a doubt. Mowbray talked yesterday about 'managing' Ayala which is incredible really when you consider he gave Ayala a three year deal and is one of the highest earners. Mowbrays rationale last season for Ayala's prolonged absence was the intensity in which we play and he wasn't used to it and was picking up injuries. So he committed the club to a huge amount of money for a player who struggles to play the way we want to.

Only in the warped world of Mowbray.

Note: I really struggled to write that without mentioning ex Boro.

 

[Guest]

There's plenty of sides that a 3/5ATB would work against. But you need the tactical prowess and understanding to be able to shift to that game by game when needed. Peterborough's and Hull's can be broken down by a 4-3-3 with the likes of Breo, Rothwell and Dolan. But against your Swansea's, West Brom's, Bournemouth's & Fulham's of this league, I think a solid, conservative structure would be advisable.

[tomphil]

27 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Without a shadow of a doubt. Mowbray talked yesterday about 'managing' Ayala which is incredible really when you consider he gave Ayala a three year deal and is one of the highest earners. Mowbrays rationale last season for Ayala's prolonged absence was the intensity in which we play and he wasn't used to it and was picking up injuries. So he committed the club to a huge amount of money for a player who struggles to play the way we want to.

Only in the warped world of Mowbray.

Note: I really struggled to write that without mentioning ex Boro.

 

Moving the posts yet again.

He's signed a player who is no longer up to the cut and thrust week in week out and now he's covering his arse again. I wouldn't care if Ayala looked head and shoulders above anyone else when hes played since signing. He never has but now we'll see him thrust in and out to preserve fitness and justify his contract.

This is bang on typical Mowbray and it boils my blood, i hope they both prove me wrong.

[lraC]

I only watched on TV but thought overall the display and result was fine. Looking at the comments made when the team was announced, I thought we were going to get trounced, but we deserved the draw in my opinion.

Who knows, who we will sign, but I can't see Armstrong still being here. Brererton look great when he came on and I thought Buckley was excellent in most things he did.

without wanting to sound too update and being based solely on what I saw last night, we should not be one of the worst 3 teams.

[Oldgregg86]

My biggest shock and suprised was the fox had closed 😱

when did that happen and where’s birdies crew based now 

Edited July 29, 2021 by Oldgregg86

[Admiral Nelsen]

9 minutes ago, lraC said:

I only watched on TV but thought overall the display and result was fine. Looking at the comments made when the team was announced, I thought we were going to get trounced, but we deserved the draw in my opinion.

Who knows, who we will sign, but I can't see Armstrong still being here. Brererton look great when he came on and I thought Buckley was excellent in most things he did.

without wanting to sound too update and being based solely on what I saw last night, we should not be one of the worst 3 teams.

 

Not basing on this on last night, but I agree in that I'm confident that we won't be overly worried when it comes to going down (caveated on not having a total disaster of the rest of the transfer window). Equally, I can't see us being anywhere near the top 6 equation either, which is obviously where we all want to be.

 

I think generally we are all (as will fans of other clubs) be slightly guilty of not really appreciating the state of plenty of other clubs at this moment in time. We're struggling, and we can only put a certain amount of that down to covid, but some other clubs are absolutely in the mire. I expect bottom half, but I doubt that there'll be much between a big clump of teams in the middle this season. I expect us to be in that conversation rather than scrapping to stay in the division. 

[joey_big_nose]

2 hours ago, Parsonblue said:

To be honest I would prefer to see Magloire and Carter being given opportunities this season instead of Ayala.  

That's a certainty really, Ayala will do well to play 30% of games. 

[joey_big_nose]

48 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

 

Not basing on this on last night, but I agree in that I'm confident that we won't be overly worried when it comes to going down (caveated on not having a total disaster of the rest of the transfer window). Equally, I can't see us being anywhere near the top 6 equation either, which is obviously where we all want to be.

 

I think generally we are all (as will fans of other clubs) be slightly guilty of not really appreciating the state of plenty of other clubs at this moment in time. We're struggling, and we can only put a certain amount of that down to covid, but some other clubs are absolutely in the mire. I expect bottom half, but I doubt that there'll be much between a big clump of teams in the middle this season. I expect us to be in that conversation rather than scrapping to stay in the division. 

It's hard to be sure with a very transitional squad. Only players with a proven track record at this level are Armstrong (probably going) Travis (injury prone) Johnson (34) Lenihan, Rothwell (going?), Nyambe (going?) Kaminski. If you are being generous you could throw Brereton and Gallagher in there.

Only 100% solid players to plan the season on are Lenihan & Kaminski really. Everyone else has question marks or unknowns.

I think making predictions almost impossible. Could end up having a weirdly good season as the kids turn out to be the real deal. Could end up stick to the bottom of the table. Only wil be able to get an inkling around October.

[Admiral Nelsen]

46 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

It's hard to be sure with a very transitional squad. Only players with a proven track record at this level are Armstrong (probably going) Travis (injury prone) Johnson (34) Lenihan, Rothwell (going?), Nyambe (going?) Kaminski. If you are being generous you could throw Brereton and Gallagher in there.

Only 100% solid players to plan the season on are Lenihan & Kaminski really. Everyone else has question marks or unknowns.

I think making predictions almost impossible. Could end up having a weirdly good season as the kids turn out to be the real deal. Could end up stick to the bottom of the table. Only wil be able to get an inkling around October.

 

I think you're basically right, only thing I take issue with is that I think our 'floor' is a bit higher than that. Certainly agree that it's a season that's difficult to predict the league (when is the Championship not, I suppose?) and Rovers more so than most other teams. 

My view is that even if most of the question-marks all over our squad (which I agree with) don't come back with the answers we like, so to speak, I'd still be surprised if we aren't some way ahead of at least three clubs. It seems as though most of the Championship has gone backwards since last year, probably not the worst season to be relegated from the Prem in terms of those clubs' chances of bouncing back. 

[Uddersfelt Blue]

Dashed over the Pennines for this game, getting to Ewood bang on kick off so didn't get chance to catch the team news. What a surprise to see several players I didn’t recognise. Where were Travis, Rothwell, Gallagher etc.? 

Against a Leeds team that held its own in the Prem last year my immediate thoughts were that we would get battered. The Yorkshire hordes would then delight in abusing us and traipse back to their caves in the hills. How wrong I was! 
 

The likes of Magloire, Garrett, Davenport, Buckley and Dolan did not let themselves or the team down. OK some mistakes but overall we competed well. A goal from another youngster was icing on the cake and certainly quietened the Yorkies down. Kaminski was also at his best but his kicking (to the delight of the their fans) left something to be desired. 
 

A number of late substitutions gave Leeds the upper hand and an eventual equaliser, which they deserved, didn't take away from the overall performance. 
 

It was good to watch live football again and although still cautious I’m looking forward to getting back to Ewood regularly. Watching online is no substitute 

 

 

 

[roversfan99]

3 hours ago, Bethnal said:

I’m really not one for quoting or getting into disagreements on here but I’ve read two or three of your posts and I just fundamentally disagree with your assessments. Magloire made at least two runs into the opposition half from the back and Nyambe is a very effective forward player. If the expectation is that he’s constantly getting balls in from out wide, then you need to broaden the scope of understanding what an effective wide player is. Overlaps, underlaps and his stamina are crucial for how this kind of system would work and he does all three well enough to be effective. Not got world class delivery as an end product, but more than effective.

 

I just don’t see how you came to your conclusions at all.

Fair enough, appreciate differences in opinion although I do find your comments about broadening the scope of my understanding as to what an effective wide player is to be a little patronising.

Nyambe for me is still better defensively than he is going forward. I felt that last season, he did start contributing from an attacking sense which he hadnt before but his crossing is obviously still really poor. I felt that he showed intelligence to appreciate that his strengths are his power and pace rather than his crossing, so he isolated full backs more and got in behind, a perfect example was his assist for Armstrong I think v Barnsley at home.

To clarify, I don't think that Magloire had a shocker or a bad game necessarily but if he was in our starting 11 for a Championship game I would be nervous. Although I would with Garrett and he didn't necessarily do anything wrong. Magloire over ran the ball a couple of times surrendering possession and also made quite a few dodgy passes that he sliced. He did a few bits of decent defending too, again its a hard one to judge especially defensively as he was in a back 3 against Rodrigo who is far better than any Championship player but equally not typical of what he would face.

2 hours ago, JoeH said:

There's plenty of sides that a 3/5ATB would work against. But you need the tactical prowess and understanding to be able to shift to that game by game when needed. Peterborough's and Hull's can be broken down by a 4-3-3 with the likes of Breo, Rothwell and Dolan. But against your Swansea's, West Brom's, Bournemouth's & Fulham's of this league, I think a solid, conservative structure would be advisable.

Would you be happy if we regularly changed between the 2 formations? I personally think that, especially considering how different 3 at the back is, we should stick predominantly to one formation.. If that is 3 at the back, so be it, you can obviously make more subtle changes whilst keeping that same formation especially with the players that you use but Mowbray loves to tinker and it invariably leads to a lack of cohesion.

I know that England did it to an extent at the Euros and it worked against Germany in particular but I feel that international tournaments are a little different to the regularity of 2 games a week most weeks in the Championship with less intelligent players and less depth to a squad, consistency can be king.

I am not convinced that there is enough end product between the trio that you mentioned to expect them to be able to see off the lower teams within a 4-3-3 top be honest, Dolan is obviously very raw, Rothwell's end product is regularly questioned and the 3 got 13 goals between them last season. Without Armstrong and Elliott, we need attacking reinforcements.

[Oldgregg86]

16 hours ago, Fraserkirky said:

Someone with a hint of nonse around Ewood needs to check the length

[Fraserkirky]

Sheff Utd had no problems trotting out the 3-5-2 every game to great affect two years ago, stormed the league.

[Roverthechimp]

Also hope that our 2nd choice keeper (whoever that is this week) gets to play next game - understand that the result was actually important last night (for morale) so keeping Kaminsky on was a reasonable decision

[Wheelton Blue]

2 hours ago, Uddersfelt Blue said:

Dashed over the Pennines for this game, getting to Ewood bang on kick off so didn't get chance to catch the team news. What a surprise to see several players I didn’t recognise. Where were Travis, Rothwell, Gallagher etc.? 

 

Travis was in the JW; saw him at half time. Presumably he's injured.

Edited July 29, 2021 by Wheelton Blue

[JohnGo]

2 minutes ago, Wheelton Blue said:

Travis was in the JW; saw him at half time. Presumably he's injured.

It was reported he was ill, probably drinking iffy Chorley water!

[rigger]

13 minutes ago, Roverthechimp said:

Also hope that our 2nd choice keeper (whoever that is this week) gets to play next game - understand that the result was actually important last night (for morale) so keeping Kaminsky on was a reasonable decision

Why ? The likelyhood of our second choice keeper being needed for the first team, is remote. Get the first team used to playing together.

[RevidgeBlue]

18 hours ago, Ossydave said:

Could it be that after the Brockhall plan went tits up he's been told in no uncertain terms that he can go and bloody well use that academy talent now and no further funds are available? It's not cheap to run and they want some kind of return on it.

Was Barr getting wind of this too and realised half the players he'd worked with last season wouldn't be available this?

 

1st para: That's what Mowbray should be told in no uncertain terms imo.

2nd para: I'd read it more that the Coventrio were clearing the decks at the Academy to try and make the case that a facility the same size isn't needed and to have another crack at selling it. 

If that's the case they mustn't be allowed to get away with it.

[Roverthechimp]

1 hour ago, rigger said:

Why ? The likelyhood of our second choice keeper being needed for the first team, is remote. Get the first team used to playing together.

If Kaminsky gets injured/covid/suspended/kids(?) then it could be 3 games out. Given that our backups are young and inexperienced then anything that can help their confidence and the defenders confidence in them could make a huge difference if the situation arises. 

[rigger]

2 hours ago, Roverthechimp said:

If Kaminsky gets injured/covid/suspended/kids(?) then it could be 3 games out. Given that our backups are young and inexperienced then anything that can help their confidence and the defenders confidence in them could make a huge difference if the situation arises. 

 

2 hours ago, Roverthechimp said:

If Kaminsky gets injured/covid/suspended/kids(?) then it could be 3 games out. Given that our backups are young and inexperienced then anything that can help their confidence and the defenders confidence in them could make a huge difference if the situation arises. 

Or, more likely, Kaminsky will play at least 90% of all games next season, as most first choice keepers at this level do. Remember when teams didn't even bother naming a sub keeper. There was always someone would cover for an injury to a keeper( Ritchie Smallwood ). 

[riverholmes]

Looking back at the goals and chances conceded in the highlights against Leeds, I think there do seem to be some pointers that last season's disorganisation may continue to haunt us. Admittedly, the highlights don't show much of the effective defensive work that must have taken place to keep Bielsa's free scoring team down to 1 goal. Presumably, also, we won't often play this experimental 5-4-1, ultra defensive formation, this season.

Despite there being at least 6 Rovers players defending in our own penalty box, for the Leeds goal, there were two Leeds attackers free in the box - one of whom, Struijk, received the ball and scored, via a deflection. The Rovers player who made a last ditch effort to block the shot was Connor McBride, who, presumably, was meant to be in a wide role but found himself in DM.

Pike's clearing header wasn't effective, in the lead up, but the Leeds goal was borne of team disorganisation, with supposed DMs, Garrett and Davenport pulled out of position, leaving the centre vacant, and the three centre backs, apparently, not spotting the danger of the pull back. It's reminiscent of some of the goals we conceded last season, with players out of position and inadequate shape - with forwards or strikers trying to stop attacks, in vain.

Then, for the first major chance shown in the highlights, a long, accurate switch by Leeds eventually gets into the box and, as with the goal, two Leeds midfielders are free in the box - albeit, this time Davenport is in the vicinity and puts the attacker, Klich, off and the shot is saved well by Kaminski.

The result was good but I think it might paper over ongoing inadequacies and simply putting 5 defenders in front of Kaminski, is not going to solve the problem.

Edited July 29, 2021 by riverholmes

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Is the Bo!ton game being televised anywhere?