v Derby County (h) - 15/3/22

[OsloRover]

Ludicrous starting lineup. HT team talk from hell almost gave Tony a heart attack and he had no energy left for any second half facial expressions.
Gally changed the game and deserves praise, he actually looked a little angry and put himself about, I’d love to see more of that passion from him as he usually looks far too placid.

Dack is class. Dolan is good and has twice the brain of Khadra who was bad today.
I don’t really want to see Johnson play for us again.

[G Somerset Rover]

Death of the three at the back after that second half. Surely? Fair play to Sam Gallagher, evidence he has something there. 

Tonight needs to be the catalyst.

[AllRoverAsia]

4 minutes ago, Gav said:

Traffics cleared, 60 mile trip home.

Let the haters hate, brilliant 2nd half performance, Mowbray did his job and changed the game.

10,000 Rovers singing Ooo ahh Gallagher, just brilliant.

Onwards and upwards.

 

Have a safe journey and nice evening.

We are all happy, that's good.
 

[Dan]

4 minutes ago, Gav said:

Traffics cleared, 60 mile trip home.

Let the haters hate, brilliant 2nd half performance, Mowbray did his job and changed the game.

10,000 Rovers singing Ooo ahh Gallagher, just brilliant.

Onwards and upwards.

 

Safe journey Gav, I don’t agree with your posts, but at least we can both have a nice evening with 3 points ☺️

[joey_big_nose]

13 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

So let me get this straight, Bradley Johnson the defensive midfielder was up front.

What

The 

Fuck‽

He's used him as a false 9 to replace Buckley a few times this season. Pretty mad. I guess the thinking is he provides some sort of aerial capability. Terrible today, could barely run. 

4231 looked good when we switched at half time. Totally overran Derby. Playoffs looks just about possible. So tight though. We have played so many more games than teams behind us. 

Sheff Utd, Luton and Notts Forest all have enough points in their games in hand to over take us.

[Dan]

1 minute ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Death of the three at the back after that second half. Surely? Fair play to Sam Gallagher, evidence he has something there. 

Tonight needs to be the catalyst.

I’ve been thinking this recently. We’ve been mostly very good at not conceding, but poor at scoring. I guess it’s trying to find a balance. 

[Giant]

12 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Keeps the dream alive.  Lovely double win on the betting (Rovers' win and Rovers to score more than 2!).  Going to get my feet up and enjoy a Famille Gonnet Font du Vent Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

Needs a nice steak to go with it.

[Admiral Nelsen]

Less said about that disgusting first half the better. As bad as I've seen us in a long, long time. 

I didn't think we had a response like the one we showed in us, so credit to the players is due for that. 

Special praise to Wharton, who was as bad as I've seen him in the first half. He was class in the second though, & it's no exaggeration to say that his goal may have saved our season. 

[Dan]

Just seen the goals again, nice to see Bradley looking so happy with his contribution with Rothwell. He didn’t even miss a beat with that cross, was ready to plat the ball into a great area before he even got the ball. That’s what we’ve missed, we take too many touches around the oppositions box at times. 
 

The cross by Giles was one of the best this season. Nice to actually have a decent corner delivered too ☺️

[Upside Down]

8 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

He's used him as a false 9 to replace Buckley a few times this season. Pretty mad. I guess the thinking is he provides some sort of aerial capability. Terrible today, could barely run. 

4231 looked good when we switched at half time. Totally overran Derby. Playoffs looks just about possible. So tight though. We have played so many more games than teams behind us. 

Sheff Utd, Luton and Notts Forest all have enough points in their games in hand to over take us.

Do that sort of shit in the Premier League and we'll be 4-0 down after 10 minutes. 

[1864roverite]

First half was utter shite Mowbray at fault sending 10 men out from the off as Johnson was absent useless and clueless it simply allowed no defending from the front whilst bringing faff all to the team. Had to change second half and bingo a cross to a 6ft4 cents half seals the game. Mowbray has to learn his lesson for the remaining games Saturday is must win.

We move on 61 in the bag 4 wins should see us sneak into the 6th spot 

[Admiral Nelsen]

30 minutes ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Death of the three at the back after that second half. Surely? Fair play to Sam Gallagher, evidence he has something there. 

Tonight needs to be the catalyst.

 

Personally, I hope not. No doubt this system has been partly responsible for our shocking run in front of goal, but typically we've been creating more chances than we've been giving away. The issue is that the personnel haven't been able to take the chances that we should have, but Brereton coming back could make all the difference and take some of the pressure off Khadra, who isn't up to being the main man for me. 

 

Very nice to know we have a genuine plan B if we go behind though. 

Edited March 15, 2022 by Admiral Nelsen

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Who’d have thought that - we get Giles out wide left on his good foot and he gets around the back of the Derby defence to sling in a perfect cross right onto Gallys head. Wouldn’t he have been better playing out wide right like Mahrez and coming inside all the time !

Football is a simple game made complicated by some managers.

Edited March 15, 2022 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Cherry Blue]

22 minutes ago, Gav said:

Bullshit.

You probably never saw Mowbray on Tv coverage, he was absolutely ripping, he’d tore strips off then at HT, no doubt about that.

He probably did raise his voice and made them earn their pay second half but like I've said before at the start of games it's a polite go and play football. 

[J*B]

4 minutes ago, 1864roverite said:

We move on 61 in the bag 4 wins should see us sneak into the 6th spot 

Very dangerous mindset, I hope the players aren’t thinking like that. As far as I’m concerned there’s 8 teams above Rovers with their own destinies in their own hands. Us finishing in the top six relies on others failing. 

[doctorryan]

8 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

Do that sort of shit in the Premier League and we'll be 4-0 down after 10 minutes. 

Whoa tiger! Let's get back to The Show first before we start worrying about our performance in it.

[Oldgregg86]

Shocking first half 

superb second half

gallagher mom

gallagher was the difference today , he really was superb. He jumped and everything 😂

[Guest]

4 more wins to go…

[Paul Mellelieu]

17 minutes ago, J*B said:

Very dangerous mindset, I hope the players aren’t thinking like that. As far as I’m concerned there’s 8 teams above Rovers with their own destinies in their own hands. Us finishing in the top six relies on others failing. 

I assume points will be lost through fixtures involving teams around us playing each other.

[Mercer]

9 minutes ago, J*B said:

Very dangerous mindset, I hope the players aren’t thinking like that. As far as I’m concerned there’s 8 teams above Rovers with their own destinies in their own hands. Us finishing in the top six relies on others failing. 

By the time we go to Deepdale, we'll already have secured a top six place.

This league other than Fulham and to a lesser extent B'mouth is bang average and it's why a bang average team like Rovers, despite a horrible run, are still in the top six.

We make the play offs then we go up despite a manager like Mowbray.  Fortunately, we have a number of players who can produce some almost magical moments, sadly not consistently or frequently enough and it's such moments that win 'big' matches.

Edited March 15, 2022 by Mercer

[simongarnerisgod]

i nearly walked off the ground after the first half,it was beyond dreadful,bradley johnson,about as mobile as an oil tanker up front🤬,whoever decided to change things at half time,fair dues to you,i suspect it was`nt mowbray,it worked a treat,4/4/2,with gallagher showing us he can be a centre forward and play his size and dack just behind him(even 50% match fit he stands out),dolan was excellent out wide,he must be a nightmare to defend against

iv`e never figured out why we can`t play this formation every week,let the opposition worry about us,not the other way round,keep it simple and let our pace hurt the other side,this is mowbray though and iv`e no doubt there will be some more of his weird selections on saturday

by the way,that van hecke tackle was like bobby moore against pele,absolutely perfect

 

[Admiral Nelsen]

5 minutes ago, J*B said:

Very dangerous mindset, I hope the players aren’t thinking like that. As far as I’m concerned there’s 8 teams above Rovers with their own destinies in their own hands. Us finishing in the top six relies on others failing. 

 

Or them all playing one another, which fortunately is pretty much the case!

Agree that we can't really be counting our chickens on 73 points being enough though. It probably will, but there are so many teams in the chasing pack that it will take until at least a week or two after international break to get a proper sense of what we'll need, maybe even after Easter.

Hopefully by that time we'll have picked up most of what we'll need already.

[J*B]

1 minute ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

I assume points will be lost through fixtures involving teams around us playing each other.

Points will be dropped but it’s the stage of a season where 4th and 5th decide to settle on a 1-1 for both of their safety. We had the same thing when we where second, unless you’re picking up maximum points it’s better to have games in hand in a chase. 

[arbitro]

The objective of any match is to win and that feeling eclipses anything else and hopefully we can get a win on Saturday, reset during the break and come back with a fit and healthy squad for the run in.

The specifics of tonights game are a real worry for me though. Why on earth Mowbray thought Johnson could play this ridiculous false nine role is beyond me. He hung Johnson out to dry in my book. Derby took advantage of the lack of a press and played through us at will and deservedly went in at half time one up. We simply stood off them and sat in far too deep for my liking. The lack of intensity was worrying. Mowbray is his own worst enemy with his bird brained ideas which just don't suit us. He over thinks and consequently comes up with nonsense decisions. The changes had to come and even then something didn't sit right as Dack and Gallagher went in just before the interval ended and Derby and the officials were out for some time before we emerged. The impact of the changes and playing further forward had an immediate effect as Gallagher closed down their keeper which didn't happen once in the first half. From my vantage point the technical areas are in my eyeline all the time and Mowbray wasn't seen until the last minute of stoppage time when he spoke to Rooney and Rosenior. There was something really odd about that and the way the half time substitutions came about.

Anyway as I said the most important thing was the win.

[speedies gonna get ya.]

Mowbray looks like he's been booted in the knackers in the post match interview. So uninspiring and dour. You'd never know we had won buy his demeanour. Does suggest something went off at half time. He's probably gutted that his over complicated false 9 wide striker madness was questioned by senior players. Back 3 or flat back 4 not the issue. Playing with central forwards and players in natural positions is. He's so stubborn and infuriating.