v Millwall (h) - 8/3/22

[Silas]

19 minutes ago, DE. said:

This really does feel like the best opportunity we'll ever have to go up under the current owners, and it's painful to watch that opportunity being so brutally squandered. 

Good word. Feels like death of a thousand cuts at moment. 

All going against us, both self inflicted and luck.

Ref decisions, injuries, games canceled, no striker in Jan, open goals, reds and suspended players, players unsettled in the window, rivals scoring 97th min winners.....regularly! 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

What a miserable 2/3 months. 

[Waggy76]

1 hour ago, booth said:

We keep playing midfielders up front, and a dosile lummox of a number 9 wide.

Where did it all go wrong?

The manager !

[garnersfags]

10 minutes ago, Silas said:

Good word. Feels like death of a thousand cuts at moment. 

All going against us, both self inflicted and luck.

Ref decisions, injuries, games canceled, no striker in Jan, open goals, reds and suspended players, players unsettled in the window, rivals scoring 97th min winners.....regularly! 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

What a miserable 2/3 months. 

This sums it up in a reasoned and calmly passionate way. 

It's now ticked over into Wednesday, tho, and by Saturday, you'll hear me blindly, but with conviction, telling you that Bristol City don't have anywhere near Millwall's defensive solidity and discipline, so the masochistic hope and belief will build again.

I apologise in advance, but the Sweet Caroline will be even more jubilant than before.....🤣🙄

Edited March 9, 2022 by garnersfags

[Ghost7]

10 minutes ago, DE. said:

Whilst I do agree in general, certain players have to shoulder some of the blame here. The likes of Buckley and Lenihan have now missed multiple easy chances in this awful, barren run. Khadra too, although he was the source of our single goal in the past eight matches. Gallagher doesn't look like he's ever been coached on how to play as a striker, or a footballer in general really. Our attempts at set pieces are laughable, although I concede that will at some level be down to bad or non-existent set piece coaching.   

We've had enough chances to win a fair few of the matches we've drawn and lost recently. The manager shoulders a lot of the blame for what happened in January, but a fair few of the players have let themselves and us down as well. 

 

Partly but I find it difficult to be critical of any player until they're playing in their natural position. Didn't Mowbray play Armstrong as a wide forward for years and we thought he was crap too?

The current scenario is - key player gets injured and we just carry on as is expecting someone else to play well in an unnatural position instead of having a plan B shape wise to play to an available players' strengths.

Buckley will not get you goals, we know that, we've seen it many times recently. It might look nice but he's very clearly not a goalscorer. Giles and Dolan should have been peppering Gallagher tonight in the middle at some stage to see if he could do the business.

Who saw  Gallagher - Buckley - Giles  on the team sheet in that order and thought we would score from open play tonight? Maybe Mowbray, although I'm not sure why if he was at the previous 7 matches. It shouldn't have been left like that for so long.

The manager is constantly misusing the attackers he has available and the result is over 12 hours of football without a goal from open play.

[USABlue]

11 hours ago, USABlue said:

Yes, 

Not bad guess though huh.  Prediction for our next few games is the same.  Thank god ToMo was SMART enough to know not to waste money on a striker.

  So before the ink is dry on signing Giles a lad with a peach of a cross, Mowbary informs us we don't need a centre forward type.  We will just keep pumping balls in to our 5 ft 2in forwards.  Pur genius Tony pure fuckin genius, this bloke is really takin the piss i6ut of the owners he is he really is.

[garnersfags]

It's feeling more and more like 1992, when at this point, we were starting to question King Kenny's tactics, formation, motivational skills, etc.

Could be a good omen. Just need to be in touch on the last day. Who'll be our Speedie at St Andrews? We would take 5000+ if it was all on that game. A frightening thought. 

I worry, tho, that if we get to Wembley, so many of us will(after such a difficult run)be reluctant to go and suffer play-off heartbreak, just like '89 when we had our hearts ripped out at Selhurst.

I hope that will be tempered by a chance to visit the 'new' Wembley for the 1st time.

What do you mean, we might not make it....?

[Bbrovers2288]

No match winners , and that’s the difference in this league. I don’t see us getting too 6 , we don’t have it in us. At times I just had to laugh how bad these players are at finishing 

and I hate to say it but I did warn everyone about hedges 

[roversfan99]

Boring shite, a terrible way to spend a Tuesday night watching that crap. Our incompetence in front of goal will surely cost us a play off place.

Firstly, the defence. Mowbray is not getting enough credit for how solid we are at the back, Millwall not helped by negative tactics (we werent scoring and they had won 5 on the bounce so they could feasibly have nicked a winner had they tried) never had a sniff. The wing backs were fine too, Rankin Costello aside from his miss was better than usual. Kaminski really cannot kick however.

Going forward, we wouldnt have scored if the game was 12 hours long. The best summary of Gallagher is that when we need a goal, he was replaced by a kid who scored 1 in 10 for Halifax this season. I get the desperation but he isnt the answer. Giles was ineffective on the wrong side, as were both Dolan and Hedges. Buckley was good in the first half but its no use if he is going to miss sitters.

Mowbray is getting the blame for the January window as if we had a massive kitty available to which there is no evidence. Although perhaps a forward on loan would certainly have helped. The options we had today, a 200k winger from Aberdeen, a kid released by Preston last summer and another kid who couldnt score in the Conference shows where we are at in terms of options. No ambition even in January from the owners to reinvest any of the Armstrong proceeds. Brereton and Dack both out, Gallagher is a waste of money of which there is no doubt but 2 out of 3 signings over 1m have been proven goalscorers so I suppose its not a bad record there but why he signed Gallagher is beyond me.

He did certainly get his selection and his subs wrong today though. Giles on the right needs to stop, totally neutralises him. The subs were too late and didnt do anything, the Vale one was desperate.

Badly need Dack back, I suspect he will be needed for a cameo on Saturday as I cant see us scoring prior to that. Brereton is being missed more and more by each passing game too.

[J*B]

Didn’t watch tonight because I was working. Wasn’t disappointed because this is oh so predictable. To the away fans travelling to these upcoming matches, I commend you. I can’t bring myself to put myself through it because I feel like it’s so predictable. Which is such a shame. 

[Sparks Rover]

28 minutes ago, Ghost7 said:

Giles and Dolan should have been peppering Gallagher tonight in the middle at some stage to see if he could do the business.

This is the thing for me...these are professional footballers who don't seem to think for themselves.   We all know if anything Gally can head a ball in from a cross, why only once in the whole game did Giles turn back onto his left and send a ball in for Gally to gamble on....no plan, no clue, no coaching, Mogadon must sit there at tea time and pick the team.....absolutely no idea going forward without BBD. 

[roversfan99]

2 hours ago, Mercer said:

and there will be more looking for Travis...............what goes around comes around.

Words fail me.  IMO, unbelievably bad management whilst Lenihan, Nyambe and Rothwell will all likely wave bye bye at the end of the season with zilch in the coffers.

 

Can't believe what I have just watched.

We've conceded about 8 goals in about 20 games now and all we need to win a game of football is one feckin goal.

Each game we have 10 outfield players and it says it all when not one of those is capable of scoring a goal.

I thinks Mowbray's tactics, game management, player selection, team / player set-up all stink.

Only one man is responsible for this appalling run after the Rovers being on the cusp of something sensational.  He's blown it big time. 

When Rothwell goes, that will be on the owners who refused to consider allowing the manager to sell in January whilst he had value and bring in 2 players that he wanted.

Out of interest, does Mowbray get any credit for that excellent defensive record?

Also, does he get credit for getting us "on the cusp of something sensational" and indeed still being in the top 6 now?

I stood there in the freezing cold being bored to death like others did whilst you sat at home having to fork out for a takeaway after yet another misplaced bet so I could easily allow my frustration to lead to one sided comments but its important to have balance. Half of our game is excellent, half is in crisis at the moment. We are in a good position as things stand. 

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, DE. said:

Mainly because it's a league where 90% of the teams are of roughly the same relatively poor quality, and any team with some momentum behind them can suddenly go on a good run out of nowhere. We went on our own run from November to the start of January on the back of our heaviest ever home defeat. 

This really does feel like the best opportunity we'll ever have to go up under the current owners, and it's painful to watch that opportunity being so brutally squandered. 

Millwall were awful and show no ambition to even score..

We change our formation and starting keeping clean sheets and winning games after Fulham defeat

[yankfan]

1 hour ago, Ghost7 said:

 

Partly but I find it difficult to be critical of any player until they're playing in their natural position. Didn't Mowbray play Armstrong as a wide forward for years and we thought he was crap too?

The current scenario is - key player gets injured and we just carry on as is expecting someone else to play well in an unnatural position instead of having a plan B shape wise to play to an available players' strengths.

Buckley will not get you goals, we know that, we've seen it many times recently. It might look nice but he's very clearly not a goalscorer. Giles and Dolan should have been peppering Gallagher tonight in the middle at some stage to see if he could do the business.

Who saw  Gallagher - Buckley - Giles  on the team sheet in that order and thought we would score from open play tonight? Maybe Mowbray, although I'm not sure why if he was at the previous 7 matches. It shouldn't have been left like that for so long.

The manager is constantly misusing the attackers he has available and the result is over 12 hours of football without a goal from open play.

While I’ll concede it’s maddening to see our 5 million pound 6’4” center forward play wide, it’s less troubling than seeing his inability to control a ball, win a header or make any movement into a dangerous position in anticipation of a ball played in and then get handed a contract extension 

[roversfan99]

30 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Millwall were awful and show no ambition to even score..

We change our formation and starting keeping clean sheets and winning games after Fulham defeat

If the game was still playing now we still wouldnt have scored. Millwall missed a trick not showing some ambition because an away win was there for the taking in what was an abysmal quality football match. Still waiting for the rest of the attackers to start chipping in as predicted sadly.

[yellowsubmarine]

Who's the guy who in the highlights, shot straight at the keeper when he could have shoot anywhere else, it will be a goal.

The lack of striking instinct and conviction in our finishing is alarming! Our forwards have to take the blame if we cant make the playoff by not scoring enough decisive goals. The defence this season, bar those lapses here and there, did well this season.

We have four 0-0 draws in the last 12 games. Any goals scored from these games would have given us a couple more points.

[OldEwoodBlue]

4 hours ago, Sparks Rover said:

 send a ball in for Gally to gamble on....

But Gally literally never gambles Sparks.

Anticipation = nil point.

[Upside Down]

The spiral continues....

[cesus]

We can only pin any sort of hope now on BBD and Dack hitting the ground running ASAP. I still believe we are not going to concede many and history shows Dack WILL score goals. Unfortunately I think it will be too little too late.

For my absolute fury at lack of strikers and Sam Gallaghers weak performances, the defence like for the vast majority of playing 5 at the back looked superb again.

[islander200]

5 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

If the game was still playing now we still wouldnt have scored. Millwall missed a trick not showing some ambition because an away win was there for the taking in what was an abysmal quality football match. Still waiting for the rest of the attackers to start chipping in as predicted sadly.

We created enough to win the match comfortably.We just can't find the back of the net.

Excellent move to create Rankin Costello opening in the first half.Great ball by Buckley for Gallagher that he should have slotted in.Buckley missing from 6 yards.Lenihen again with another missed header.

Earlier in the season during our run those chances we're finding the back of the net.

Not saying we deserved to win the game you need to be clinical and score for that but we were well on top last night very similar to the QPR game difference being we got the winner in that.

[G Somerset Rover]

3 hours ago, yellowsubmarine said:

Who's the guy who in the highlights, shot straight at the keeper when he could have shoot anywhere else, it will be a goal.

Pretty sure it was Buckley missing yet another absolute sitter.

[cesus]

6 minutes ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Pretty sure it was Buckley missing yet another absolute sitter.

Correct 

[Wheelton Blue]

8 hours ago, islander200 said:

Dealt with us fairly well? Costello's miss, Gallagher's miss, Buckleys miss, Lenihens miss.

That's 4 easy goalscoring chances they gave up.They didn't have a shot at our goal.We had more possession.More corners.

We didn't score..we didn't deserve to win the game but Millwall were 2nd best by far tonight.

Yes, I'd call not conceding a goal as dealing with us fairly well.

Those chances weren't easy enough for us to score. And that's what's matters, not possession, corners or near misses.

[47er]

7 hours ago, garnersfags said:

It's feeling more and more like 1992, when at this point, we were starting to question King Kenny's tactics, formation, motivational skills, etc.

Could be a good omen. Just need to be in touch on the last day. Who'll be our Speedie at St Andrews? We would take 5000+ if it was all on that game. A frightening thought. 

I worry, tho, that if we get to Wembley, so many of us will(after such a difficult run)be reluctant to go and suffer play-off heartbreak, just like '89 when we had our hearts ripped out at Selhurst.

I hope that will be tempered by a chance to visit the 'new' Wembley for the 1st time.

What do you mean, we might not make it....?

I'm just hoping the season will end with us somehow, somewhere in the 6. Unthinkable just a few weeks ago.

Our team is so lop-sided and I've said this so many times. We can defend but, unless Kaminski stuffs up, every game is odds on 0-0 draw.

[islander200]

11 minutes ago, Wheelton Blue said:

Yes, I'd call not conceding a goal as dealing with us fairly well.

Those chances weren't easy enough for us to score. And that's what's matters, not possession, corners or near misses.

Bad finishing.Millwall second best all night.They came to defend evident by not having one shot at goal we had 4 clear chances.

Buckley, Costello, Gallagher and Lenihen should have all scored.

It was a draw due to bad finishing not because Millwall defended well.

[Hullrover]

If we get the same results in the remaining games as we did earlier in the season, many of which were in our great unbeaten run after Fulham, then we will get 23 more points. Obviously relies on someone finding the net but hopefully Diaz will be back soon.