v Millwall (h) - 8/3/22

[LeftWinger]

Well, Bristol City next, who have failed to keep a clean sheet in 16 games.......

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

What is interesting - for a game many said we would lose - there appears a lot of doom and gloom - considering we dominated a team that had won 5 on the trot.

For a long time people have moaned at TM not focusing enough on defence (rightly so). 

During our winning run we had a certain amount of rub of the green - at the moment it just isn't going our way. Keeping the defence tight will mean we always have a chance - despite our inability to take our chances.

BTW - gotta give some credit to the 11 man defence that Millwall implemented, a lot of teams would have struggled to break them down.

[davulsukur]

9 hours ago, Sparks Rover said:

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. 

I actually don't think we'll be that much better off with BBD back. 

There should be some improvement but he can't, and shouldn't have to, do it all by himself. 

[booth]

4 minutes ago, Mellor Rover said:

Wouldn’t read too much into it, wasn’t meant to sound arsey.

Fair enough, but all of those players have been trained as midfielders. Dolan's a midfielder too. Hedges has been played as a striker but is a winger. I think we've been kind of gaslit into believing some players are something they aren't. And I think TM and a lot of fans are expecting too much of a bunch of young lads who aren't goalscorers.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

16 hours ago, arbitro said:

I do Jack. When I was coming through I looked up to the likes of Neil Midgeley, Joe Worrall and many others. They could all referee whilst imparting their character on the players and generally got a favourable response. Now there is a robotic feel about some and lots of them don't appear to have much empathy with the game.

Do you remember Maurice Fussey ? Tall, lanky guy. His party trick was to sprint backwards from the edge of the penalty area to the half way line after giving a goal kick so he was always facing the ball. I remember him bringing the players off 15 minutes early at Bolton. Everybody was stood about looking at their watches or that big clock over the main stand before starting to leave the ground. Then after about 7 or 8 minutes the players came back out drying their hair and their kit back on to play out the rest of the game.

Edited March 9, 2022 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Wheelton Blue]

58 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

If you was a Millwall Fan you be more than content with yesterday's performance seriously? offered zero attacking intent, poor performance by them. We made them look so poor 

Yes I would.

They came for a point away at one of their play off rivals, and they got that point.

That point keeps their unbeaten run going, and keeps them in touch of the top 6.

If they were so poor, what does that make us?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

14 hours ago, yankfan said:

Giles looks out of sorts on the right side. Why he’s on the right and Gallagher is on the left is a mystery 

Because the voices in Mowbray’s head keep telling him that’s how Mo Salah plays.

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, booth said:

Fair enough, but all of those players have been trained as midfielders. Dolan's a midfielder too. Hedges has been played as a striker but is a winger. I think we've been kind of gaslit into believing some players are something they aren't. And I think TM and a lot of fans are expecting too much of a bunch of young lads who aren't goalscorers.

I agree on the last point. 

The thing for me is that it looks like the false 9 and split strikers is the limiting factor. Forest looked good against us but they had Garner as a 10 (not false 9) and the split strikers we're narrow as a traditional front 2. Brennan Johnson looked good through the middle but isn't a striker. 

Buckley's best work, when he wasn't walking about, came from deep last night. So why not play him in a 10 and pull Gallagher and the other player more central? It would also help Dack when he returns, because we've tried the false 9 bollocks with him before when he was fit and he was shite at it. I remember it at Preston away and we got thumped 4-1.

Problem for us now is the back 3 cb's have been in undroppable form. JPVH has been a monster, Lenihan is captain and Wharton has been best of the 3 for me. So it's here to stay it looks like!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

14 hours ago, bluebruce said:

I'm glad JRC is dangerous in and around the box like we keep being told...

You mean our box?

[Exiled in Toronto]

1 hour ago, booth said:

Watching the highlights.

For JRC's effort why wasn't Gallagher running in and taking a chance of poking that in? If you watch it he stops running. Then he stands there head in hands at JRC's miss.

If I was his manager I'd be saying why did you stop running you stupid bloody lump?! Earn your keep.

That was the first offence.

Second offence, missing a toe poke into the goal. And his reaction to that wasn't one of frustration, just "oh well."

Third offence, the motherf**cker knocks the ball away from their goal when he's right next to it. Which striker in any league has the instinct to knock it back across goal when the gaping net is an inch from them, with goalie nowhere near them?

That's what you get from spending £5m donkeys. You can't get rid, you have to play them, you have to re-sign them to save face and they waste valuable opportunies week after week.

What an awful and uncommitted player he is. I'm more angry now than watching the game.

I felt the same watching replays of each incident - absolutely no striker’s instinct at all. Add poor technique and movement and we have a total donkey.

I think the bracketing of Buckley with him by others on here as a major culprit in our failure is ludicrous. Bucko set up two sitters, hit the post and made the keeper make a save - more than everyone else combined. Has Rothwell even had a shot or set anyone up this year? His three “off your seat” runs all ended in lost possession.

[Nuttall is lost]

22 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

Well, Bristol City next, who have failed to keep a clean sheet in 16 games.......

Another 0-0 so

[47er]

18 minutes ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

What is interesting - for a game many said we would lose - there appears a lot of doom and gloom - considering we dominated a team that had won 5 on the trot.

For a long time people have moaned at TM not focusing enough on defence (rightly so). 

During our winning run we had a certain amount of rub of the green - at the moment it just isn't going our way. Keeping the defence tight will mean we always have a chance - despite our inability to take our chances.

BTW - gotta give some credit to the 11 man defence that Millwall implemented, a lot of teams would have struggled to break them down.

You're ignoring context though, as if we don't have a serious on-going problem. We didn't just have a goalscoring problem today, we have one every game. 1 Goal in 8 games---that's catastrophic for a team that has promotion aspirations.

You could make those comments after every game for the rest of the season but we wouldn't be going up would we?

[islander200]

8 minutes ago, Wheelton Blue said:

Yes I would.

They came for a point away at one of their play off rivals, and they got that point.

That point keeps their unbeaten run going, and keeps them in touch of the top 6.

If they were so poor, what does that make us?

If we went away from home after winning 5 on the spin ,didn't have a shot on target and gave up 4 clear cut chances you would be happy?

They were clear chances not half chances.4 times we should have scored, we didn't due to awful finishing it had absolutely nothing to do with how Millwall defended.

[Wheelton Blue]

1 minute ago, islander200 said:

If we went away from home after winning 5 on the spin ,didn't have a shot on target and gave up 4 clear cut chances you would be happy?

They were clear chances not half chances.4 times we should have scored, we didn't due to awful finishing it had absolutely nothing to do with how Millwall defended.

Yes I would. For the reasons I keep giving.

Put yourself in their shoes.

[islander200]

5 minutes ago, Wheelton Blue said:

Yes I would. For the reasons I keep giving.

Put yourself in their shoes.

Yes but you think they defended well, when it's a fact we had 4 clear chances agreed awful we didn't take them but that had nothing to do with Rowetts game plan or Millwall defending well 

[G Somerset Rover]

35 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

Well, Bristol City next, who have failed to keep a clean sheet in 16 games.......

We all know the script here don't we?

What frustrates me so much about our lack of goals is the clear lack of set piece training. How are we so poor at them?! When you can't score from open play like us, yet you're tight at the back, set pieces present our best chance of points. Rothwell, Giles and Khadra - all often outswingers, or short corners which lead to zilch. It's tinpot. An Allardyce would have turned so many of these 0-0's and 0-1's into 1-0's and 1-1's.

Edited March 9, 2022 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[benhben]

The only positives at the moment are:

1. The defence continue to be composed and solid on the whole. I think Van Hecke will go on to big things. 

2. Despite being shite for weeks, we are still in the playoffs. Goes to show if we somehow go on a run again well climb the league. 

Desperately need Brereton back. Or even Dack. Someone with a bit of goalscoring instinct. With Chile exploits and injury weve hardly had brereton for about a month. 

Gallagher needs abandoning. For his size hes absolutely shocking. Dont think ive seen him win a header for weeks. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by benhben

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

13 hours ago, davulsukur said:

When was the last time we actually posed a threat from set pieces?

Under Allardyce at a guess?

I was watching Hudds the other night, they worked a great move off their first corner and scored from it.

[Wheelton Blue]

2 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Yes but you think they defended well, when it's a fact we had 4 clear chances agreed awful we didn't take them but that had nothing to do with Rowetts game plan or Millwall defending well 

I think they defended well because we didn't score, you don't because we missed 4 chances.

Imagine if we'd have gone to Fulham and scraped a 0-0 win, despite having no shots on target and Fulham missing a couple of sitters. Wouldn't you be pleased with a point gained? 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

13 hours ago, Ghost7 said:

Our refusal to play with an ST/ CF is costing us points and has probably already cost us any hope of promotion. We've essentially tactically chosen not to score from open play in 12 hours of football. We've had a great season but the blame for those costly stats largely lies with a very stubborn manager and poor January signings. Carry on like this and there would be no point getting in the playoffs anyway.

You mean we’ve had half a great season.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

13 hours ago, Darrenbot said:

I think Tony has never heard of trying a Plan B when Plan A isn't working.

He spent all last season pissing about with the tippy tappy stuff. He didn’t have a plan B then either.

[islander200]

4 minutes ago, Wheelton Blue said:

I think they defended well because we didn't score, you don't because we missed 4 chances.

Imagine if we'd have gone to Fulham and scraped a 0-0 win, despite having no shots on target and Fulham missing a couple of sitters. Wouldn't you be pleased with a point gained? 

I'm sure Millwall will be happy with the point I don't disagree with that and yes I would be happy with a point at Fulham in those circumstances.

But the chances we had last night were clear cut.. Costello's, Buckleys and Gallagher's.Lenihen again with a free header that he skied.

Put it this way If Millwall had had the chances we had last night and missed them like us and it ended 0-0 I would think we got very lucky, not that we defended well or Mowbray outwitted Rowett

[Wheelton Blue]

2 minutes ago, islander200 said:

I'm sure Millwall will be happy with the point I don't disagree with that and yes I would be happy with a point at Fulham in those circumstances.

But the chances we had last night were clear cut.. Costello's, Buckleys and Gallagher's.Lenihen again with a free header that he skied.

Put it this way If Millwall had had the chances we had last night and missed them like us and it ended 0-0 I would think we got very lucky, not that we defended well or Mowbray outwitted Rowett

Yes, they were arguably lucky that we didn't take a chance. Those aside, we created next to nothing, they kept us at arm's length, and defended well. .

My last post on the matter.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

13 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Markanday only made one appearance. We have no idea if he would have made a difference or not.

I think he only touched the ball once and got a season finishing injury.

[islander200]

2 minutes ago, Wheelton Blue said:

Yes, they were arguably lucky that we didn't take a chance. Those aside, we created next to nothing, they kept us at arm's length, and defended well. .

My last post on the matter.

4 clear chances should be enough to win the game.We Gave that point to Millwall.

My last post on the matter.