v Sheffield United (a) - 20/8/22

[aletheia]

Said after the very first game, that, despite praising them for the win, the team badly needed reinforcements.

So, just a few points.

1.      Is the squad now better than last season? I would say no. Let’s see if we have any decent incomings to rectify this.

2.      Years of poor recruitment and losing quality finally catching up?

3.      In the past, we did manage to get something of a blend due to some good loans. Eg. Tosin, Elliot, JPH. Let’s see what happens.

On the JDT “style” to press and win the ball in midfield and quickly counter. Also to play with great energy and intensity. Great approach similar to many top sides. Sadly, you need the personnel to do this and I don’t think we do. Never good enough to pass out from the back. Not enough pace or strength. Remember thinking after the first game, how long we would be able to sustain such a game plan. Wait til the pitches get more difficult, players get tired with a small squad and teams bully us. JDT will have to alter his tactics to suit his personnel and that may not be pretty.

But it still comes down to quality and this squad as it stands will struggle to avoid relegation.

As to JDT himself, looks like he may be a lamb to the slaughter. It would only be fair to give him a few transfer windows and see if he can rapidly learn. But perhaps he will just realise the enormity of the situation and walk. Expect the Mowbray apologist muppets to be out in force soon.

[LDRover]

Yeah. I reckon we're a couple of defeats away from the Facebook MENSA crew asking for his reinstatement.

I wonder if Waggott has kept the flag warm.

[Blue blood]

To be fair losing 3 first teamers with zero income to replacement, a player of the season on loan, plus the fact we didn't replace the 2 best players from the year before (Elliott & Armstrong) - add all of that together and it's no wonder there will be a struggle. 

Last time we lost 2 very good championship centre backs with no Dosh for replacements it ended very badly for us. 

The squad is just as thin but imo at least the first 11 is better this time round. 

[StubbsUK]

  On 20/08/2022 at 15:54, WacoRover said:

Britain is a player. Any other positives from todays mess?

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Kaminski stopped it being 6 or 7 ...

[Guest]

Couple of red flags showing their heads already. 

Gallagher still on the wing, I said I’d be happy finishing 21st if I didn’t have to watch that and I stand by it. 

Not starting Dack, or even bringing him on today is a monstrosity. Some wanted him to leave on loan!!!!!! 

We need CB’s for sure, but we need a LB, a CM, a winger and a striker. There’s absolutely no goals in that team, we saw that last season and have lost goals since then.

[StubbsUK]

If you can bring yourself to do it, you can vote in our Man of the Match poll on the Match Center

Keep an eye on Twitter for the winner.

[broadsword]

This Broughton fella has got it very easy as far as I can see. Stays in the shadows, no interviews. Gets paid to recruit players, but it's Tomasson who gets to face the music. 

It's a great place to work at Rovers, if you don't want to be scrutinised. 

 

Was so full of hope after three games, but it's business as usual already. Paper thin squad exposed for what it is, and it's only August

[yankfan]

  On 20/08/2022 at 18:16, BankEnd Rover said:

He has to rotate due to the fast influx of games so I understand the swap & change. I agree about vale 1000% as whoever was at the QPR game could tell he isn’t cut out…Howveer…JDT literally has no other options. The whole point of all this is squad depth. We have none! 

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We’re only about 7 players deep. 

[Guest]

Full meltdown incoming

[arbitro]

In truth I didn't expect anything today so I'm not as flat as I was on Wednesday but there are real warning signs that losing like we have this week could become the norm. And in my view a lot of it is down to our almost non existent recruitment to strengthen the squad. And for that Broughton has to accept responsibility probably aided and abetted by that lot in another continent. We all know what we need but once again it seems that all our centre half eggs are in one basket and we are waiting for Liverpool. Well f*** them, where is the plan B or C Broughton?

My biggest disappointment today was Travis with his N'Zonzi moment as he lost the ball, tried a little kick at the Sheffield player and then just stopped. Shame on him, I expect better from our captain.

[joey_big_nose]

While today and Reading were absolutely terrible I'm at the stage that JDT is still figuring things out. His managing experience is at the most resourced team (Malmo) in the league he worked in. He's not really got the experience of handling better resourced teams. On top of that he had an incredible set of results first three games so carrying on in the same- maybe naive - vein is forgivable.

That said we've had our wakeup call now, so I'm hoping to see from him, Greg and Remy a bit of a plan on how to make us competitive in games where we can't play the way that suits us. We can't just give it a go like today.

[Upside Down]

We don't stand a chance with the squad we have, we're regularly starting a 17 year old scholar.

CB, LB, tough gritty Striker and Midfielder are the absolute bare minimum we need.

Genuine question, would you say the squad Mowbray left us with is better than the one he inherited? 

[jim mk2]

  On 20/08/2022 at 19:04, Mellor Rover said:

Full meltdown incoming

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Well there it is. If that happens you have to ask why we weren't in the running to get him?

Wages, or lack of interest? It can hardly be the latter- he was a key player last season

 

[The Mighty Chaffinch]

Damned lies and statistics alert: the five fixtures played brought us only three points last season (QPR being the only victory, the other 4 being defeats). That puts us 6 points up on last year. I’m consoling myself with this tonight.

These five games have certainly thrown up a myriad of positives and negatives (I list them in no order): In a parallel universe West Brom (with a functioning striker) would have beaten us at Ewood. Wharton’s injury has been crucial. Trav was outstanding in the first three games and has been diametrically abysmal in the last two. Buckley is not suited to the formations and can’t influence things. Brereton looked at his best against Swansea and the Baggies, Smodzics has scored one tap in and done nothing else. Gallagher remains Gallagher. Pickering seems to regress with every match. Edun must have a purpose but has yet to find it. I quite like Brittain. Hedges has shown glimpses but still flatters to deceive. Maybe more negatives than positives on reflection. 
 

We need some serious incomings in the remaining days of the window. Up next in the league is Stoke at Ewood…a fixture we haven’t won since Big Sam’s first game in charge (barring one FA Cup humbling). They have four points from five games, manager seriously under pressure (the Potters are revolting) and should therefore be a real litmus test for us after the highs and lows experienced so far. I’m hoping he keeps his job this week! 
 

Let’s see how things pan out. I’m not going to make any seismic predictions as yet. Early days. 

[Mercer]

I took no pleasure in drawing my winnings today but after Reading it was so predictable what would happen today.

The alarm bells aren't ringing they are feckin screaming.

If anything happens to Kaminski or Ayala then we wont have a hope in hell.

I feel sorry for Phillips - a great prospect but not ready for a team that is in real, real trouble.  He needs taking out before his confidence is permanently shot to pieces.  Not convinced by Brittain whilst Fred Pickering at 60 would have been more use than Harry Pickering.

Travis desperately needs help in midfield and his flashes of petulance are down to pure frustration.   Buckley and Edun are not, IMO, footballers - certainly not good enough for Rovers.  Why the feck sign Morton, with 10 first team games for Liverpool under his belt, and not play him.  If he's no more effective than Buckley and Edun then we do have a problem.

Szmodics looks out of his depth and has shown very, very little whilst Gallagher has to play at centre forward or not at all.  Brereton is going to be p1ssed-off with all this sh1te and I think it will only hasten his exit.

Time to put Dack in from the start to see what he has left in his locker - it has to be make or break.

Unless Broughton gets his act together within the next few days, I would take a 21st finish in the league now.

I am already on my second bottle of red tonight but sadly it is for all the wrong reasons where Rovers are concerned.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Mercer

[arbitro]

  On 20/08/2022 at 19:46, The Mighty Chaffinch said:

Damned lies and statistics alert: the five fixtures played brought us only three points last season (QPR being the only victory, the other 4 being defeats). That puts us 6 points up on last year. I’m consoling myself with this tonight.

These five games have certainly thrown up a myriad of positives and negatives (I list them in no order): In a parallel universe West Brom (with a functioning striker) would have beaten us at Ewood. Wharton’s injury has been crucial. Trav was outstanding in the first three games and has been diametrically abysmal in the last two. Buckley is not suited to the formations and can’t influence things. Brereton looked at his best against Swansea and the Baggies, Smodzics has scored one tap in and done nothing else. Gallagher remains Gallagher. Pickering seems to regress with every match. Edun must have a purpose but has yet to find it. I quite like Brittain. Hedges has shown glimpses but still flatters to deceive. Maybe more negatives than positives on reflection. 
 

We need some serious incomings in the remaining days of the window. Up next in the league is Stoke at Ewood…a fixture we haven’t won since Big Sam’s first game in charge (barring one FA Cup humbling). They have four points from five games, manager seriously under pressure (the Potters are revolting) and should therefore be a real litmus test for us after the highs and lows experienced so far. I’m hoping he keeps his job this week! 
 

Let’s see how things pan out. I’m not going to make any seismic predictions as yet. Early days. 

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In the first five games last season we won 2, drew 2 and lost 1.

[yoda's brother]

trouble with rovers is

dont score first dont win

[WacoRover]

  On 20/08/2022 at 20:02, Mercer said:

I took no pleasure in drawing my winnings today but after Reading it was so predictable what would happen today.

The alarm bells aren't ringing they are feckin screaming.

If anything happens to Kaminski or Ayala then we wont have a hope in hell.

I feel sorry for Phillips - a great prospect but not ready for a team that is in real, real trouble.  He needs taking out before his confidence is permanently shot to pieces.  Not convinced by Brittain whilst Fred Pickering at 60 would have been more use than Harry Pickering.

Travis desperately needs help in midfield and his flashes of petulance are down to pure frustration.   Buckley and Edun are not, IMO, footballers - certainly not good enough for Rovers.  Why the feck sign Morton, with 10 first team games for Liverpool under his belt, and not play him.  If he's no more effective than Buckley and Edun then we do have a problem.

Szmodics looks out of his depth and has shown very, very little whilst Gallagher has to play at centre forward or not at all.  Brereton is going to be p1ssed-off with all this sh1te and I think it will only hasten his exit.

Time to put Dack in from the start to see what he has left in his locker - it has to be make or break.

Unless Broughton gets his act together within the next few days, I would take a 21st finish in the league now.

I am already on my second bottle of red tonight but sadly it is for all the wrong reasons where Rovers are concerned.

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Mercer, I agree with all you say. 

If we KNEW we could get £15 mil for Brereton-Diaz right now, and merely invest half of that in bringing in 2-3 solid players, I am “for” it. 

[Proudtobeblue&white]

The Loons will trouser any Diaz money. I was really pleased at JDT's appointment, but he needs funds. I doubt the fools have any thoughts about going for promotion. Why, who knows?

[SuperBrfc]

I think most of us have been guilty of over stating how good our players are at some point over the years, but the past few games have shown that Buckley and Travis are nowhere near what people were making them out to be.

They aren't crap, they've done well for us at times, Buckley has shown flashes of promise and an eye for a pass. However, as a pairing they will get mullered by most midfields in this league, imo. They do not have the ability to impose themselves on a game and get us on top.

We saw it at Reading and again today, and it didn't come as a surprise to me to see that they were out played. They have been overhyped, in my view.

It seems like many were hoping that Buckley would drop deep and that it would just work. He's not the next Scholes and we don't have the 'Class of '22' either. We are so short of quality in the centre of the park, the centre of defence and upfront, it's frightening.

I don't know how we fix this, as the rebuilding job is huge. We need so many incomings, quality ones at that too.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

  On 20/08/2022 at 20:14, yoda's brother said:

trouble with rovers is

dont score first dont win

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How long as that been going on for now ? And why do you think that is ? 
 

 

[Upside Down]

12 years 

[MarkBRFC]

  On 18/08/2022 at 07:59, MarkBRFC said:

Turn up like we did last night and this could be embarrassing, never been sure about there mana but he's got some very good players at his disposal.

Sheff 3 Rovers 0

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Most obvious result of the weekend 

[Exiled_Rover]

  On 20/08/2022 at 19:26, joey_big_nose said:

While today and Reading were absolutely terrible I'm at the stage that JDT is still figuring things out. His managing experience is at the most resourced team (Malmo) in the league he worked in. He's not really got the experience of handling better resourced teams. On top of that he had an incredible set of results first three games so carrying on in the same- maybe naive - vein is forgivable.

That said we've had our wakeup call now, so I'm hoping to see from him, Greg and Remy a bit of a plan on how to make us competitive in games where we can't play the way that suits us. We can't just give it a go like today.

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I assume you've not been watching the games?

We lined up with 3 at the back today (Pickering at LCB and Edun at LWB) - on Wednesday we ran out in our 4-2-3-1. Obviously we've also tried different philosophies - against Swansea and Sheffield Utd we tried to absorb the attack and hit them on the counter. 

We simply don't have the players to compete 3 times a week at this level - there's probably 7 really good First XI players in the squad - so we need 4 really good First XI players bringing in at a minimum. If we can get into a situation where the likes of Pickering, Hedges, Gallagher et al are squad players rather than nailed on starters we'll be ok. 

At the end of the day this is a long-term project. Mowbray has left JDT and Broughton holding the bag after years of mismanagement.

[Exiled_Rover]

  On 20/08/2022 at 18:51, Mellor Rover said:

Couple of red flags showing their heads already. 

Gallagher still on the wing, I said I’d be happy finishing 21st if I didn’t have to watch that and I stand by it. 

Not starting Dack, or even bringing him on today is a monstrosity. Some wanted him to leave on loan!!!!!! 

We need CB’s for sure, but we need a LB, a CM, a winger and a striker. There’s absolutely no goals in that team, we saw that last season and have lost goals since then.

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Either JDT doesn't fancy Dack, or he doesn't think he's anywhere near full fitness. I'd love to be a fly on the wall there...