Jon Dahl Tomasson - Sweden coach

[Sparks Rover]

No game till next Monday, should have played a better attack.

Can't remember who was on here a couple of days ago saying Mola is up to LWB/LB needs to give their head a wobble.  Sadly, the lad isn't up to this level and should be sent back....same for Dave's lad.

Markandy is just too small

Archer and Joe Geldhardt on loan please.

[SoldierMo]

Chaddy said he knows Hirst will come good and give him till end of season

[DE.]

We put a weakened team out last night but there should have been enough there to give Forest a challenge. Travis, S. Wharton, Hedges and Szmodics have all been considered first teamers at some point during the season, two of them were first teamers all of last season. Mola is supposed to be our primary cover on the flanks. Hirst is supposed to be our primary cover in attack. A. Wharton and Garrett have both impressed in the first team occasionally this season. It wasn't exactly a ragtag crew of no hopers, but they certainly played like it. I didn't see any major effort put in by anyone except Pears, and that's a shame. 

Still, it's the Carabao Cup. Ultimately one of the usual suspects will win it and nobody will really care. An abject performance against Mowbray's Sunderland (especially after our pathetic performances against Burnley and Preston) would be far more angering to me than the Forest result. 

[booth]

3 minutes ago, DE. said:

We put a weakened team out last night but there should have been enough there to give Forest a challenge. Travis, S. Wharton, Hedges and Szmodics have all been considered first teamers at some point during the season, two of them were first teamers all of last season. Mola is supposed to be our primary cover on the flanks. Hirst is supposed to be our primary cover in attack. A. Wharton and Garrett have both impressed in the first team occasionally this season. It wasn't exactly a ragtag crew of no hopers, but they certainly played like it. I didn't see any major effort put in by anyone except Pears, and that's a shame.

p

A team which includes Pears, Philips, Mola, Garrett, Markanday and Hirst along with the disappointing Travis and Szmodics should send fear into any supporter. It's the very definition of no hopers combined with kids.

Add to that the Wharton brothers seem to have been replaced by pod people and Ryan Hedges can't do it on his own.

3 minutes ago, DE. said:

Still, it's the Carabao Cup. Ultimately one of the usual suspects will win it and nobody will really care. An abject performance against Mowbray's Sunderland (especially after our pathetic performances against Burnley and Preston) would be far more angering to me than the Forest result. 

A poor performance against struggling Sunderland won't be acceptable. Especially when Tony will be letting his lot eat their weight in mince pies and revels before kick off.

[DE.]

12 minutes ago, booth said:

p

A team which includes Pears, Philips, Mola, Garrett, Markanday and Hirst along with the disappointing Travis and Szmodics should send fear into any supporter. It's the very definition of no hopers combined with kids.

Add to that the Wharton brothers seem to have been replaced by pod people and Ryan Hedges can't do it on his own.

For me a lot of that is on the players rather than JDT. We have seen most of them (Mola and Hirst aside) have some ability. Pears actually did well last night. Most of them just opted not to show up for whatever reason. Granted you can argue motivation is also down to the manager, but still. I don't think we can brush it aside as "weak team of nobodies fielded, performance expected". A lot of these are in and around the first team, in most cases direct backup. For them to play that poorly is pretty concerning to me. 

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

15 minutes ago, DE. said:

For me a lot of that is on the players rather than JDT. We have seen most of them (Mola and Hirst aside) have some ability. Pears actually did well last night. Most of them just opted not to show up for whatever reason. Granted you can argue motivation is also down to the manager, but still. I don't think we can brush it aside as "weak team of nobodies fielded, performance expected". A lot of these are in and around the first team, in most cases direct backup. For them to play that poorly is pretty concerning to me. 

 

Far be it for me to make excuses but given the fact we no longer have a reserve team as such - how many of those players will have played together as a team ? Although they are mostly decent players in their own right they lack the cohesion that playing together regularly brings. That cohesion is vital and it was obviously missing last night.

[DE.]

2 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Far be it for me to make excuses but given the fact we no longer have a reserve team as such - how many of those players will have played together as a team ? Although they are mostly decent players in their own right they lack the cohesion that playing together regularly brings. That cohesion is vital and it was obviously missing last night.

Effort was my issue with last night, not cohesion. I didn't see the bare minimum of 100% from a lot of the players and I think that's reflected in the stats. I genuinely think a team much further down the pyramid would have given it more of a go last night and I can't really accept that regardless of who was on the pitch. 

[booth]

20 minutes ago, DE. said:

For me a lot of that is on the players rather than JDT. We have seen most of them (Mola and Hirst aside) have some ability. Pears actually did well last night. Most of them just opted not to show up for whatever reason. Granted you can argue motivation is also down to the manager, but still. I don't think we can brush it aside as "weak team of nobodies fielded, performance expected". A lot of these are in and around the first team, in most cases direct backup. For them to play that poorly is pretty concerning to me. 

 

Four of that team are kids and Hirst and Mola need to go. Travis, Wharton and Szmodics need to take a look at themselves. When I saw the teamsheet I immediately wrote the game off. Starting with Hirst and Mola is a loss before a ball is kicked, playing with 9.

[arbitro]

26 minutes ago, DE. said:

Effort was my issue with last night, not cohesion. I didn't see the bare minimum of 100% from a lot of the players and I think that's reflected in the stats. I genuinely think a team much further down the pyramid would have given it more of a go last night and I can't really accept that regardless of who was on the pitch. 

I honestly didn't think a lack of effort contributed to our defeat last night. I thought Forest were far, far better in almost every aspect and our own unenforced errors aided them.

[DE.]

3 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I honestly didn't think a lack of effort contributed to our defeat last night. I thought Forest were far, far better in almost every aspect and our own unenforced errors aided them.

Could you not argue that unforced errors (particularly multiple ones) are down to a lack of concentration though? Maybe I'm being too harsh, people have been eulogising the Norwich performance, but sitting at Carrow Road freezing my arse off it just looked like two mid-table plodders scrapping it out to me. 

[tomphil]

I saw plenty effort last night from most of them but we were chasing shadows at times which you might have expected. One or two of them looked nervous and didn't want to take any responsibility though.

Despite what we might think in terms of disappointment it is still good game time for some of them which is important. They've stretched their legs against two Prem sides in the last two rounds.  Out of the two Forest are clearly taking it more seriously as we saw on the pitch and in the stands last night.

[arbitro]

2 hours ago, DE. said:

Could you not argue that unforced errors (particularly multiple ones) are down to a lack of concentration though? Maybe I'm being too harsh, people have been eulogising the Norwich performance, but sitting at Carrow Road freezing my arse off it just looked like two mid-table plodders scrapping it out to me. 

In the case of Wharton and Travis I think their form has fallen off a cliff. Wharton in particular looks like he is having a confidence crisis. He is taking too much time on the ball, delaying the obvious pass and his timing is all over which was epitomised by a free header in the second half in which he was forward of the ball and it skimmed off the top of his head. It's almost like he has the yips. The best thing for anybody like that is to take them out of the limelight and slowly rebuild their confidence.

[roversfan99]

I am not convinced that many of our players individually have thrived under Tomasson as opposed to prior to his arrival. Scott Wharton has had a really poor season, Travis has really struggled and his limitations on the ball are clear for all to see, Buckley has spent much of the season in the kids team, Brereton has been no better although he has been effective still of course, Hedges had a good spell that soon waned and he has been poor for a while now, Kaminski is maybe an obvious exception but he has always been a good keeper.

The fact of the matter is that football is judged rightly on results and somehow we are third so fair play, but an interesting and I think valid observation nonetheless.

[Sweaty Gussets]

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

The fact of the matter is that football is judged rightly on results and somehow we are third so fair play, but an interesting and I think valid observation nonetheless.

We'll be the judge of that😉

I agree though, player performance has been generally poor. BBD and Hyam has been generally good, Ayala and Pickering too. Morton had a good spell, as have Gally and BBD. I can't think of anyone JDT has improved. 

Ironically, given the abuse Ben Benson gets from some quarters, GK is the only position that has been consistently very good. 

[Rogerb]

A successful manager or head coach identifies their players strengths and develops a system to maximize this. They do not impose a system that the players cannot adapt to.

[J*B]

14 minutes ago, Rogerb said:

A successful manager or head coach identifies their players strengths and develops a system to maximize this. They do not impose a system that the players cannot adapt to.

The players are more disposable than the system nowadays. 

[Rogerb]

24 minutes ago, J*B said:

The players are more disposable than the system nowadays. 

Looks like the entire squad will be leaving then!

[Upside Down]

2 hours ago, J*B said:

The players are more disposable than the system nowadays. 

All hail the mighty system.

The mind doth boggle.

[Sweaty Gussets]

3 hours ago, Rogerb said:

A successful manager or head coach identifies their players strengths and develops a system to maximize this. They do not impose a system that the players cannot adapt to.

Yet we're third, mainly because the players are very good at what is known by football hipsters as the 'low block'. So they've adapted to that very well after we take the lead. Travis mentioned it in pre-season, basically that they've been working on it and they were confident it would serve them well. He was right. We're also quite good on the counter in fairness.

It's the other side of the game we can't do, passing out from the back in a way that gets us up the pitch and creates chances. We're fucking appalling at that. 

[tomphil]

6 hours ago, Rogerb said:

A successful manager or head coach identifies their players strengths and develops a system to maximize this. They do not impose a system that the players cannot adapt to.

It's the development line though, Mowbray did similar but his favourite was clearly playing players out of position to try and let them get to grips with their weaknesses.  Again often spoiling the team instead of concentrating on moulding a side around as many players strengths as possible. Points and league position didn't matter he publicly stated as much on numerous occasions once the heat began to turn up on him.

Nowts changed we now just have a development coach who thinks his style is teaching players to be more comfortable on the ball,  instead of trying to get a well oiled machine with making the best of what he has. So annoying but how do you blame them if this is the idea they've sold to the owners or have been asked to implement by the middlemen.

Edited December 23, 2022 by tomphil

[Sweaty Gussets]

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/23209853.jon-dahl-tomassons-positive-assessment-blackburn-rovers-season/

'Tomasson has continued to stress that his time at Rovers is a project, and it will take three summer windows to get the squad into the perfect place. In the meantime, he is working to develop and improve the current squad of players and is putting performances above results in the pursuit of the long-term goal of promotion'

It's definitely another long-term project, and JDT's views suggest he has been given assurances over transfer-spends for the next few windows. 

Not sure putting performances over results is working out, it's definitely been the other way round since he joined. 

 

[Upside Down]

What a load of total bollocks. 

Venkys out.

[Mattyblue]

Only professional team in history in which *performances* come before results.

What even is this club.

[AllRoverAsia]

Vague sound bites with no substance and from the buying time playbook by you know who.

Claptrap.

[Sweaty Gussets]

It's worrying that 2 successive managers are coming out with exactly the same stuff. I always thought Mowbray was just buying time for himself. Clearly not. He was just following orders and implementing the owners 'vision'.