v Millwall (h) - 8/3/22

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 minute ago, jim mk2 said:

 

Mike England in the relegation season 1965-66. Stuck him up front IIRC and it worked for a while. Seems to remember him scoring in a 4-1 win at Turf Moor - I was there!! Just about the only plus point in a dire season

All this is hazy memories now but yes why not stick one of our big centre halves  in the forward line and bang crosses at him - anything's work trying and better than Gallagher

I’d say Von Hecke is the best footballer of the three. I’d be giving it a go in a full scale training match. You never know it might work, if it doesn’t what have you lost ?

[jim mk2]

1 minute ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I’d say Von Hecke is the best footballer of the three. I’d be giving it a go in a full scale training match. You never know it might work, if it doesn’t what have you lost ?

 

"It doesn't fit in with our system and the way we play" - Tony Mowbray

[Guest]

I'm sure I read that Ukrainian and Russian players can sign for new clubs in a special transfer window... surely there's some 6ft5 Eastern European who can hit the target somewhere in there?

[AllRoverAsia]

If Mowbray gets wind of suggestions to play a big aggressive defender as a striker I swear he will take to his bed, as he would if the suggestion was for a big aggressive striker as a striker.

He'd be the phone to Pep and Klopp for therapy sessions.

[Leonard Venkhater]

2 minutes ago, rovers11 said:

It's all very frustrating given what a good position we were in to at least get the play off - now we're outsiders and the odds are against us. 

There are certainly criticisms of the manager to be had but we are missing a huge amount of attacking talent at the moment - Breo, Dack, Khadra, Poveda, Markanday. With one or two of those on the pitch last night we would have won. Attacking options of Gally, Giles and Vale is just not good enough. 

But why did we not sign another striker in Jan, why have we gone back to Tony Tombola with square pegs in round holes. 

We have big problems in the summer with SIX first team players departing - Nyambe, Breo, Lenihan, Rothwell and two brighton loaness. That's a lot of talent that will be very hard to replace. 

Yep. I think next season we will see the problems we all feared for this season-unless we go up.

My youngest is a super loyalist and bites back at anyone, who he sees as pessimistic etc. Last night, he was flat, downcast and "resigned" to the fact that the club had blown it with their neglectful January window-blown it for the supporters and these honest, young players...

Other teams do seem to have the momentum at the moment, but  if we can just accumulate enough points ...until April, when the cavalry comes....

Then again, the trouble is that our team seems to have the goody goody Kevin Costners, while the others have the dirty fighters like Jack Palance...

Maybe we should have signed Volodymyr Palahniuk..Those Ukranians don't mess about....

[Nuttall is lost]

Is David Speedie available?

[booth]

Anyone who thought Millwall had a decent game and they defended well must have been watching a different match. So one sided, gifted a point.

They didn’t defend well, with better finishing they could have been battered.

[booth]

6 minutes ago, Nuttall is lost said:

Is David Speedie available?

And can someone tell him he’s a wide player who can’t score so TM will play him upfront.

[roversfan99]

5 hours ago, islander200 said:

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.

We might have created a few chances, but I still don't think we would have scored. None of the 18 man squad offer a real goal threat. Buckley always misses sitters, Rankin Costello I don't think has ever scored a league goal, we know how much of a donkey Gallagher is and Lenihan always misses chances when he comes up for corners. It told me a lot when our 3 subs were a kid who scored 1 in 10 at bloody Halifax, a kid released by Preston last season and a 200k signing from Aberdeen. We badly need Dack and Brereton back.

[islander200]

1 minute ago, roversfan99 said:

We might have created a few chances, but I still don't think we would have scored. None of the 18 man squad offer a real goal threat. Buckley always misses sitters, Rankin Costello I don't think has ever scored a league goal, we know how much of a donkey Gallagher is and Lenihan always misses chances when he comes up for corners. It told me a lot when our 3 subs were a kid who scored 1 in 10 at bloody Halifax, a kid released by Preston last season and a 200k signing from Aberdeen. We badly need Dack and Brereton back.

Agreed we badly need those 2 back.

On last night though for me it was a similar performance to the one that got the 3 points at QPR, we just managed to find the net in that game.

Professional footballers at any level should not be missing the chances we had last night.Costello and Gallagher not even hitting the target and Buckley straight at the goalkeeper from 6 yards.And is someone going to tell Lenihen to start heading the ball downwards.

We handed Millwall the point last night.

[TheRoversReturn]

14 hours ago, rigger said:

Gallys problem seems to be, that when our midfield get good control of the ball, his first instinct is to go towards the ball instead of towards the box. He should be being told to let the midfield do their job, and get in the danger area. I thought the team as a whole played fairly well. Bring on Brizzle.

He should be told to stop looking for the ball. Just stay up front. By his very position, he'll force at least one opposition centre back to stay near him, opening up space for the rest of the attackers to exploit.

Not having someone staying up front is making it easy (game AFTER game) to defend against us. We're not giving them anything to have to think about.

Either play Gally up front as a striker, or don't play him at all. He offers us nothing on the wing. 

[roversfan99]

5 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Agreed we badly need those 2 back.

On last night though for me it was a similar performance to the one that got the 3 points at QPR, we just managed to find the net in that game.

Professional footballers at any level should not be missing the chances we had last night.Costello and Gallagher not even hitting the target and Buckley straight at the goalkeeper from 6 yards.And is someone going to tell Lenihen to start heading the ball downwards.

We handed Millwall the point last night.

That QPR was the exception to the rule in the last 8, and even in that game, the goal was a free kick that their keeper easily should have saved.

[rigger]

5 minutes ago, TheRoversReturn said:

He should be told to stop looking for the ball. Just stay up front. By his very position, he'll force at least one opposition centre back to stay near him, opening up space for the rest of the attackers to exploit.

Not having someone staying up front is making it easy (game AFTER game) to defend against us. We're not giving them anything to have to think about.

Either play Gally up front as a striker, or don't play him at all. He offers us nothing on the wing. 

Playing in that wide forward position, I think Sam Burns would be a better option than Gally. Shame that he was allowed to go out on loan.

Edited March 9, 2022 by rigger

[roversfan99]

3 minutes ago, rigger said:

Playing in that wide forward position, I think Sam Burns would be a better option than Gally. Shame that he was allowed to go out on loan.

He has 2 goals in 10 games for League 2 Scunthorpe. He may impress playing v kids but like with Vale, their loan spells suggest that they are a million miles away from Championship level, they are not the answer.

[TheRoversReturn]

8 minutes ago, rigger said:

Playing in that wide forward position, I think Sam Burns would be a better option than Gally. Shame that he was allowed to go out on loan.

I think George Burns would be better in that position...

and he died in 1996. 

[rigger]

6 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

He has 2 goals in 10 games for League 2 Scunthorpe. He may impress playing v kids but like with Vale, their loan spells suggest that they are a million miles away from Championship level, they are not the answer.

But as a wide forward he is better than Gallagher. Or do you think Gallagher is doing a good job where he is playing ?

[roversfan99]

21 minutes ago, rigger said:

But as a wide forward he is better than Gallagher. Or do you think Gallagher is doing a good job where he is playing ?

Obviously I don't. But I am saying that a kid who is struggling to score in League 2 is clearly not the answer either.

[rigger]

28 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Obviously I don't. But I am saying that a kid who is struggling to score in League 2 is clearly not the answer either.

I agree not the answer most people would want. But an option that is within the clubs means to at least try.

[yankfan]

2 hours ago, Mellor Rover said:

So why play Dack behind closed doors the day before when he knew Khadra wouldn’t make it? He scores all 4 of the chances we had last night. 

Still getting used to our system. Maybe in a few weeks he will learn to play our style 

[joey_big_nose]

4 hours ago, benhben said:

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. 

To be honest I would say everything was a positive except actually scoring. Everyone played well up until the penalty box and then we became terrible.

If John Buckley had some shooting boots we'd been about six points better atm. He's young though and obviously has the quality so hopefully it will come.

[yankfan]

44 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

To be honest I would say everything was a positive except actually scoring. Everyone played well up until the penalty box and then we became terrible.

If John Buckley had some shooting boots we'd been about six points better atm. He's young though and obviously has the quality so hopefully it will come.

It was quality up until the final third, but thats been the case for 8 matches now.  Playing a right left back at right forward, a center mid as a false 9 and Gally at all, but wide left....it was the only outcome that we'd struggle to score.  The thing these last 8 matches have proven is that we dont have many proven finishers in the side.  And the opportunities we are creating are falling to center backs, wing backs or others who have less than 10 goals to their name in their careers.  It's really not surprising were struggling to score.  We create chances but those chance need to fall to players that can finish, and unfortunately at the moment we dont have any of those players. 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Just don't know what to make of Gallagher,a Striker who flatters to deceive so much,a Player his physical size you would expect to  command a presence.

All signed up with cozy new contract.

[Bbrovers2288]

Still annoyed at this game last night. 
when Millwall are showing no signs of wanting to attack bar some break aways do we need three at the back, or could we be doing with having more in the box for our players to try and hit. Granted we really are an appalling team for wanting to score, I don’t fancy any of them to score. 
this badly needs addressed in the summer, hopefully with a new manager. 
 

iv largely defended gallagher but last night he was god awful, I think it’s safe to say he is a 5 mill donkey for a striker, we may have to try and turn him into a joelinton holding midfielder. Or just accept he will never be very much.

It’s ashame a lot of our chances in these games have fell to either buckley- never be a prem midfielder, and lenihan- never be a prem defender. I’m not that bothered about him going these days. 
wharton I like in defence but he has a Derek Williams heed, ie useless from corners as they just fly anywhere off his dome. 
van hecke is our best defender and sadly not ours. See somebody saying he has a big career ahead, I wouldn’t necessarily agree as he can be a big gangly and awkward at times- see Fulham. But he is a really good champ defender. 

our slow descent down the table continues, missing out top 6 is inevitable and quite frankly we don’t deserve it if we can’t score. Some of the finishing was laughable last night 

[chaddyrovers]

6 hours 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?

We were good in spells and had we taken our chances would have the game. 

We have to agree to disagree on Millwall's approach to the game. far too defensive for me. 

Also given that Jed Wallace is regarding by EFL pundits as one of the best players in championship where was he last night. Rovers stop him having such an influence on the game

5 hours ago, Mellor Rover said:

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!

But playing the false 9 was one of the reasons why would Mowbray change it in his mindset? 

I do think you make a good suggestion on how the front 3 should play from now on. 

4 hours ago, Mellor Rover said:

So why play Dack behind closed doors the day before when he knew Khadra wouldn’t make it? He scores all 4 of the chances we had last night. 

Reading and listening to Mowbray's comments about Dack today, its sounds like Dack isn't really going to be ready match fit this season and is going to struggle to play the closing down of opposition defence. 

3 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

We might have created a few chances, but I still don't think we would have scored. None of the 18 man squad offer a real goal threat. Buckley always misses sitters, Rankin Costello I don't think has ever scored a league goal, we know how much of a donkey Gallagher is and Lenihan always misses chances when he comes up for corners. It told me a lot when our 3 subs were a kid who scored 1 in 10 at bloody Halifax, a kid released by Preston last season and a 200k signing from Aberdeen. We badly need Dack and Brereton back.

Mowbray left his subs including Jack Vale for too long and late. Mowbray should have gone 4 at the back(as @glen9mullansuggested tho I would got a different way) after 60/65 mins after we didn't score after good spell in the 1st 15 of the second half. risk losing the point for 3. Yes I have faith in Vale more than you do. I also wouldn't have taken Buckley off. He was pulling the strings that why Rowett change it at half time and then again 10/15 mins into the second half. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

3 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

He has 2 goals in 10 games for League 2 Scunthorpe. He may impress playing v kids but like with Vale, their loan spells suggest that they are a million miles away from Championship level, they are not the answer.

Bottom of League 2 Scunthorpe to be exact.