v Luton Town (h) 11/9/21

[JacknOry]

4 hours ago, Miller11 said:

There’s some ridiculous slating of Nyambe going on. Granted, it’s mostly from people who have stated they only watched very limited highlights.

I know it’s the done thing these days to attribute blame for every goal we concede to a single player, but singling out Nyambe for their first is lazy at best. We didn’t deal with big switch, then let their man waltz around and put in a really dangerous ball. It’s horrendous defending a ball like that as you are moving towards your own goal, and the forward player is always favourite!

Nyambe has had his critics since he broke into the side as a 17 year old, and many of the people who were critical of him then stubbornly and inexplicably remain so. To claim he has made no improvement, lacks effort, or has never had a performance above mediocre is fucking ridiculous, frankly.

Why aren’t any of the other nearly dozen out of contract players being questioned over their commitment? I know Pickering was anointed by the local press and others as the answer to all our problems, and there are some really encouraging signs with him, but defensively there are a few questions, which is absolutely fine considering he’s just played just his 6th game at this level. We were far more solid down our right hand side than our left yesterday, as we usually are

Spot on.

[Oldgregg86]

4 hours ago, Miller11 said:

There’s some ridiculous slating of Nyambe going on. Granted, it’s mostly from people who have stated they only watched very limited highlights.

I know it’s the done thing these days to attribute blame for every goal we concede to a single player, but singling out Nyambe for their first is lazy at best. We didn’t deal with big switch, then let their man waltz around and put in a really dangerous ball. It’s horrendous defending a ball like that as you are moving towards your own goal, and the forward player is always favourite!

Nyambe has had his critics since he broke into the side as a 17 year old, and many of the people who were critical of him then stubbornly and inexplicably remain so. To claim he has made no improvement, lacks effort, or has never had a performance above mediocre is fucking ridiculous, frankly.

Why aren’t any of the other nearly dozen out of contract players being questioned over their commitment? I know Pickering was anointed by the local press and others as the answer to all our problems, and there are some really encouraging signs with him, but defensively there are a few questions, which is absolutely fine considering he’s just played just his 6th game at this level. We were far more solid down our right hand side than our left yesterday, as we usually are

Glad you said it. Nyambe was our second best player yesterday and his effort on the field can never be questioned . 

[tonyoz]

8 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Glad you said it. Nyambe was our second best player yesterday and his effort on the field can never be questioned . 

I like Nyambe!

[StubbsUK]

On 11/09/2021 at 18:01, booth said:

It’s a brilliant feature, but please let us be able to rate the manager. Please allow us some catharsis.

I'd like to add manager & referee. I'll see if the data lets us do it.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

20 hours ago, lraC said:

After 24 hours to reflect on the result, I go back to the best form of defense is attack. If we had come out for the second half, with the mentality that it was 0-0 gone for the jugular, we would have won the game.

Its down to the manager to ensure the attitude is right, so come what may, that’s the reason we didn’t kill the game off. Luton were second best and we simply gave them the impetus to peg us back.

O could probably stomach it, but know that lessons won’t be learnt and we will go on to do it again, in the near future.

Irrespective of tactics - we had enough chances to kill the game. There was a number of opportunities on the break we just wasted, as well as other chances. Just prior to their goal - Gallagher had the ball - and rather than pass to the player clear through and unmarked - he decided to go to the corner flag - and promptly gave the ball away. It was just one of those matches - TBH we were lucky to not be down to 10 men after 10 minutes.

[RevidgeBlue]

36 minutes ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

Irrespective of tactics - we had enough chances to kill the game. There was a number of opportunities on the break we just wasted, as well as other chances. Just prior to their goal - Gallagher had the ball - and rather than pass to the player clear through and unmarked - he decided to go to the corner flag - and promptly gave the ball away. It was just one of those matches - TBH we were lucky to not be down to 10 men after 10 minutes.

The point is though there'll be a lot more of "those matches" as our inept recruitment department failed to bring in any sort of replacement for an outgoing 29 goal striker.

Should have been done and dusted within 2-3 days of Armstrong leaving.

And, to flip the argument on its head, irrespective of chances missed, the manager cost us the 3 points on Saturday with his negative substitutions.

We'll always struggle as long as he remains in charge.

[Mashed Potatoes]

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

The point is though there'll be a lot more of "those matches" as our inept recruitment department failed to bring in any sort of replacement for an outgoing 29 goal striker.

Should have been done and dusted within 2-3 days of Armstrong leaving.

And, to flip the argument on its head, irrespective of chances missed, the manager cost us the 3 points on Saturday with his negative substitutions.

We'll always struggle as long as he remains in charge.

I'm not sure we have to directly replace a striker if the team as a whole are more likely to score goals. So far this season we have scored 9 goals from 6 games which is a slightly better rate than last season ( 65 in 46 games)

[Wheelton Blue]

It's one thing saying that the rest of the team need to contribute more goals.

Whether they are capable of doing so is another thing entirely. I'd say that the evidence suggests otherwise.

[Mashed Potatoes]

1 hour ago, Wheelton Blue said:

It's one thing saying that the rest of the team need to contribute more goals.

Whether they are capable of doing so is another thing entirely. I'd say that the evidence suggests otherwise.

The evidence I provided shows that so far they have been successful.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

6 minutes ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

The evidence I provided shows that so far they have been successful.

The one issue that remains - Armstrong gave us a "get out" ball with his pace, where a lump up field could be turned into a good ball because of his pace. We also miss the effect that his pace has on the opposition defence - it was noticeable that Luton were able to play a fairly high line most of the time because we don't have a electric pace up front any more.

We suffered when we had Rhodes - because lack of pace up front meant they could squeeze us in our half. There is a similar risk at the moment - though our front three are quicker than Rhodes - none really have outstanding pace. Be interesting to see if any of the wingers we brought on loan can change that dynamic. 

[tomphil]

When you play the way we do you need a line leader despite us doing ok that has been evident in every game so far.

Gallagher might do it but in a clumsy grafting way rather than hold up or serious goal threat way.  Not sure that will see us prosper in the long term although it's better than seeing him losing the ball as wide striker all afternoon.

We need something in the spearhead of attack though that's for sure. Instead we are as predicted in for a season of rotation gone off the radar in that position.

Mowbray is in heaven like a bagheed getting his brown when able to mess around like that.

Edited September 13, 2021 by tomphil

[rigger]

27 minutes ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

The one issue that remains - Armstrong gave us a "get out" ball with his pace, where a lump up field could be turned into a good ball because of his pace. We also miss the effect that his pace has on the opposition defence - it was noticeable that Luton were able to play a fairly high line most of the time because we don't have a electric pace up front any more.

We suffered when we had Rhodes - because lack of pace up front meant they could squeeze us in our half. There is a similar risk at the moment - though our front three are quicker than Rhodes - none really have outstanding pace. Be interesting to see if any of the wingers we brought on loan can change that dynamic. 

They have to get fit first.

[bluebruce]

Anyone else that would have brought Butterworth on for Gallagher? His pace on the break instead of Gally lumbering around in his worst performance in the shirt would have seen us through IMO.

[Wheelton Blue]

2 hours ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

The evidence I provided shows that so far they have been successful.

Evidence of what? 6 whole games?

OK then. Let's give it the benefit of the doubt, and see where we are by say Christmas. I hope that I'm wrong.

[bazza]

Whenever Luton had a corner, why was little Dolan not in the centre circle to give them something to worry about and maybe hit them on the break?

[roversfan99]

Have to see a close replay to appreciate quite how bad that dive was by Dolan.

[simongarnerisgod]

1 hour ago, bazza said:

Whenever Luton had a corner, why was little Dolan not in the centre circle to give them something to worry about and maybe hit them on the break?

absolutely brainless team shape,dolan would probably draw 2 players with him,as it stands the ball comes right back at us,he`s got no business in our box anyway,he`s likely to be a liability,was`nt it gallagher giving away a penalty against brentford last season with a forwards tackle in our box??

[bluebruce]

5 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Have to see a close replay to appreciate quite how bad that dive was by Dolan.

Wow, yeh. This one actually caught me out in the moment, I thought it was probably a penalty. The speed of it and the picture quality I had may have been contributors, but now I can see the booking was fully deserved.

[bluebruce]

1 minute ago, simongarnerisgod said:

absolutely brainless team shape,dolan would probably draw 2 players with him,as it stands the ball comes right back at us,he`s got no business in our box anyway,he`s likely to be a liability,was`nt it gallagher giving away a penalty against brentford last season with a forwards tackle in our box??

True, we play with three forwards though who could all be liabilities, and you could add Rothwell to that at times, we can't stick them all up top on set pieces, and people do need to cover others so attackers can end up in our box in open play. But definitely Dolan, of all of them due to his height and inexperience, should be the last man we see in our own box 

[dallydally]

2 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Anyone else that would have brought Butterworth on for Gallagher? His pace on the break instead of Gally lumbering around in his worst performance in the shirt would have seen us through IMO.

Gallagher is an embarrassing carthorse. Butterworth is surely worth a shot?

[RevidgeBlue]

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

Have to see a close replay to appreciate quite how bad that dive was by Dolan.

I've seen worse. There was contact of sorts but it was manufactured by Dolan running into the Luton player.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

4 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Anyone else that would have brought Butterworth on for Gallagher? His pace on the break instead of Gally lumbering around in his worst performance in the shirt would have seen us through IMO.

No - not for his centre forward play - but his height at defending set pieces (not that it helped much when they equalised). 

[Oldgregg86]

it was a blatant dive and cheating. i dont want to see that from any rovers player. Brereton drives me mad falling all over the place. i dont want to watch dolan do it on the other side either

[RevidgeBlue]

1 minute ago, Oldgregg86 said:

it was a blatant dive and cheating. i dont want to see that from any rovers player. Brereton drives me mad falling all over the place. i dont want to watch dolan do it on the other side either

Brereton does annoy me as well, he has started playing to the adage "I felt contact so I was entitled to go down."

Look at the size of him now, he's huge, he would be far more effective if he did his best to stay on his feet.

[roversfan99]

51 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I've seen worse. There was contact of sorts but it was manufactured by Dolan running into the Luton player.

Was blatant cheating, Oldgregg86 is spot on. Manufacturing contact, simulation, lets cut straight to the point, it was a simple dive trying to con the ref and cheat. A blot on the copybook of an otherwise very impressive performance.