v Swansea City (a) - 6/8/22

[tomphil]

40 minutes ago, Ricky said:

How many tickets did we have available? I know I left it late but I had a look on Friday on the ticket pages of the website and there was no mention of Swansea tickets. Assumed we’d sold our allocation. I know sometimes the club have to pay for the tickets up front so wondered if we’d only gone for 500 and they’d all sold.

They went off sale on Friday aft with no pay on the day available so maybe that was the case and they pulled them when nearing 500.  Wouldn't have made a whole lot of difference to the eventual number though.

[joey_big_nose]

Watched the game back just now. Few thoughts -

-Like QPR our defending, shape, workrate were all top class. Didn't really expect given who we've lost from the squad and JDTs background as a striker defending would be our strong point. But we've been superb. One of our best ever all round defensive performances in the championship imo.

-Really liked how tactically flexible we were, starting with the ultra deep 4231, then switching to an ultra deep 532 part way into second half to nullify the extra forward Swansea brought on. I think someone said JDTs deputy Remy is a bit of a tactical genius - maybe his influence?

-All the side were defensively superb. Pickering whose got a lot of stick recently looked totally solid to me. Brittain good again. It was sort of game where Swansea went at the full backs a lot and they both did well.

- Offensively we were a bit more patchy. Hedges was brilliant. Travis, Sammie and BBD took their goals well but struggled to really create too many chances, but then they finished the ones they did get so what more can you ask? Gally as usual lots of graft but little quality. Buckley surprisingly muted.

- I've been a bit indifferent about Edun but thought he looked good when he came on. Mobile, seems to have filled out a bit, and showed good technique. Maybe could play more of a role than I thought?

- If we can keep up this defensive performance we are going to have a real start to the season. West Brom real test next week... 

[47er]

2 hours ago, R0verb0y said:

Well that was a very pleasant trawl through 20-odd pages of comments on an extremely satisfactory display yesterday afternoon.

I was particularly pleased with the way we soaked up the work of the Swansea attack before showing them how it should be done. If I were a "Jack" (Swansea fan), I'd have been seriously hacked off about how easy it was for us to score, especially with BBD's goal. Fisher seemed to be nowhere near his post for it.

There can't be many teams who win 3-0 with "only" 29% possession.

Personally, my favourite was Smodics' goal; it looked like - probably wasn't - Hedges felt he had enough time to set Sam's debut goal up for him. As if to say, "Welcome to the club, pal!"😉😁

More of the same next Sunday, please.

 

 

Hedge should clearly have gone on and taken that chance on his own. He obviously did not trust his right foot. Just as well Smovics had followed up or a gilt-edged chance would have gone begging.

Not criticising Hedge's overall game by the way, he did well overall.

[lraC]

1 hour ago, 47er said:

Hedge should clearly have gone on and taken that chance on his own. He obviously did not trust his right foot. Just as well Smovics had followed up or a gilt-edged chance would have gone begging.

Not criticising Hedge's overall game by the way, he did well overall.

I was screaming for him to hit it, but when he did what he did, I was glad he couldn’t hear me. 

[Mattyblue]

3 hours ago, tomphil said:

When you look at the other away followings around the league for first away games over big distances it's poor for us.

Credit to every single one there but there is more than just ticket prices to that although the trains are probably all to cock as well.  It's dear at Sheff Utd but we better be taking a decent following there otherwise it looks shit for the new coach and new players.

Is it poor for us when it’s Swansea? It’s always our smallest following of the season. People I know that go pretty much everywhere didn’t bother.

If we start taking 500 to weekend London games or to the midlands it would be more of a worry that the away support has dropped off after a good few years of growth.

Sheff Utd will be interesting as generally when it hits £30 you see a lot of folk swerve it.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Is it poor for us when it’s Swansea? It’s always our smallest following of the season. People I know that go pretty much everywhere didn’t bother.

If we start taking 500 to weekend London games or to the midlands it would be more of a worry that the away support has dropped off after a good few years of growth.

Sheff Utd will be interesting as generally when it hits £30 you see a lot of folk swerve it.

Obviously the financial crisis we’re entering will have a massive bearing on some supporters. Watch Rovers , pay your energy bill or put food on the table ?

[Mattyblue]

Some big crowds and away followings over the first couple of weekends. Most clubs holding of reducing ST prices this summer has played a big part in that.

So high ST numbers will help to protect a lot of clubs from any potential drop off in walk ons and away followings over the winter.

Our poor ST sales will mean we are one of the few clubs that could really suffer…

 

[tomphil]

6 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Is it poor for us when it’s Swansea? It’s always our smallest following of the season. People I know that go pretty much everywhere didn’t bother.

If we start taking 500 to weekend London games or to the midlands it would be more of a worry that the away support has dropped off after a good few years of growth.

Sheff Utd will be interesting as generally when it hits £30 you see a lot of folk swerve it.

Yes we never take a lot there but i'd expect double that for the first away on a Saturday afternoon.  That wouldn't be unusual for us s for me it's the overall cost of living crisis starting to bite not just the ticket price alone.

Hopefully it's just one a one off lot decided to swerve but it was small and lets be brutally honest if they'd brought that up here it would have been looked on the same.

[arbitro]

2 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Yes we never take a lot there but i'd expect double that for the first away on a Saturday afternoon.  That wouldn't be unusual for us s for me it's the overall cost of living crisis starting to bite not just the ticket price alone.

Hopefully it's just one a one off lot decided to swerve but it was small and lets be brutally honest if they'd brought that up here it would have been looked on the same.

It's also available (albeit illegally) through various means. My understanding of this is limited but isn't it free using this way? With extortionate ticket and fuel prices I don't think there was much change from £70 for those travelling by coach. Something to eat and a few drinks would likely take that to £100.

[Upside Down]

I thought 500 was a decent number of away fans. The ticket price was extortionate and Swansea is miles away from anywhere and not exactly easy to get to.

[Waggy76]

24 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

I thought 500 was a decent number of away fans. The ticket price was extortionate and Swansea is miles away from anywhere and not exactly easy to get to.

Put into the mix a Saturday in the middle of school holidays..

[Hullrover]

Anyone know how many we took last season. 5:30 KO. February 5th. 

[arbitro]

24 minutes ago, Hullrover said:

Anyone know how many we took last season. 5:30 KO. February 5th. 

Similar I think. The last three matches there have been 7.45 midweek twice and a 5.30 Saturday which all from memory had in the region of 500.

[R0verb0y]

Some of us - well, okay then, me! - with no dependents to support, kind-of "collect" grounds where we're playing an away game on a ground where I've never seen us play before.

However, even when it's a new-to-me ground, I wouldn't necessarily return in following seasons to explore the neighbouring area and catch another game there. Specially when it's so comparatively far from Ewood.

[Admiral Nelsen]

Pleased to hear that Edun had a decent cameo. Didn't really impress much at all last year, especially after his injury, so hopefully it was just a case of acclimatising to a new league. 

[Sparks Rover]

1 hour ago, Waggy76 said:

Put into the mix a Saturday in the middle of school holidays..

Aye, has nobody heard of the Blackburn 2 weeks, Darwen the week before..🤷‍♂️

[tonyoz]

16 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

Pleased to hear that Edun had a decent cameo. Didn't really impress much at all last year, especially after his injury, so hopefully it was just a case of acclimatising to a new league. 

I thought he did well too. He was decent in some of the warm-up games also. He could be useful this season.

[joey_big_nose]

17 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

Pleased to hear that Edun had a decent cameo. Didn't really impress much at all last year, especially after his injury, so hopefully it was just a case of acclimatising to a new league. 

Yeah, I thought he was too lightweight last year to deputise for Travis, but maybe that is achievable for him based on what I saw on Saturday. Based on who we have been linked with it doesn't seem we are after a physical midfielder, so if Travis gets injured/suspended we are going to be looking at either Edun or Garrett to put the tackles in.

Travis is such an animal though they will be very big boots to fill. I'd prefer if we sign someone experienced in that role either on loan or perm.

[Colt Seavers]

I can see Pickering making way for Edun before too long. If he picks Edun at left back in the cup match and Edun performs, it might give him an interesting decision to make in the near future.

Edited August 8, 2022 by Colt Seavers

[roversfan99]

Pickering has started the season well and has been an important part of a very impressive back 4. Edun had a good cameo at the weekend but historically has been poor at left back. Not sure why there would be a decision to make.

[roverandout]

To take 500 to a foreign country is a good number 

[joey_big_nose]

2 hours ago, Colt Seavers said:

I can see Pickering making way for Edun before too long. If he picks Edun at left back in the cup match and Edun performs, it might give him an interesting decision to make in the near future.

Have to disagree - after our last two defensive performances I can't see JDT having any issues with Pickering.

That back four will be chiseled in stone - QPR didn't create a sniff, and Swansea cut through maybe twice and had a few long shots.

[Hullrover]

Would be mightily surprised if he changes any of the defenders after 2 clean sheets.

[simongarnerisgod]

i read this morning the swansea manager martin was complaining to the press about the rovers bench mocking his tactics🤣,if you have 70% of the play and concede three goals you really should be taking a good look at yourself and not whinging about the other side

[Colt Seavers]

25 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

i read this morning the swansea manager martin was complaining to the press about the rovers bench mocking his tactics🤣,if you have 70% of the play and concede three goals you really should be taking a good look at yourself and not whinging about the other side

That's tremendous. I love our bench for this!