v Huddersfield Town (h) - 5/11/22

[roverandout]

Better than being a Sunderland fan with him in charge 

[roverandout]

1 minute ago, Exiled_Rover said:

All this with a 5 week dead period between Mowbray leaving and JDT coming in during the summer, leaving us very little time to get our transfer business in order - Mowbray left him a very weak, inbalanced squad.

From my seat in the Jack Walker you can see what style of football he's trying to play and the players he's missing to play it consistently. You can also see him adapting to the situation and getting the team to work hard for each other to put in professional performances.

Hyam, Brittain and Szmodics all look like very good permanent signings. We haven't seen Mola yet and the less said about Hirst the better at the moment, but Morton has become the rock of our midfield on loan too.

Added to that the improvement in Pickering, Gallagher and Hedges (he's literally a key player for us now) in such a short period of time is astounding. Not to mention he's sensibly blooding some very impressive Academy graduates in Phillips, Garrett and A. Wharton (I'm hoping Batty and Leonard join them soon). 

I'm excited to see what this side looks like in August 2023. 

Best manager we've had since Allardyce 

[matt83]

As a side note the side jdt inherited (initially Mowbray’s fault, then swags fault and always the Venkys fault) was pretty shocking. To be in 2nd playing so badly is mind boggling. 

[RevidgeBlue]

Terrible performance but we got the 3 points which was all that mattered really .......especially with the Dingles getting stuffed.

Strange decisions on the substitute front, Gallagher was atrocious and rightly hooked but bringing on a defender for an attacker lost us all momentum and we never got it back. Rather fortunate to hold onto the three points in the end.

Best performance from Brittain since he's been at the Club.

Streaky to say the least but onwards and upwards..... If only we could put a performance in next Sunday!

[roverandout]

1 minute ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Terrible performance but we got the 3 points which was all that mattered really .......especially with the Dingles getting stuffed.

Strange decisions on the substitute front, Gallagher was atrocious and rightly hooked but bringing on a defender for an attacker lost us all momentum and we never got it back. Rather fortunate to hold onto the three points in the end.

Best performance from Brittain since he's been at the Club.

Streaky to say the least but onwards and upwards..... If only we could put a performance in next Sunday!

I wouldn’t call it terrible.  I would call it laboured.

[Exiled_Rover]

10 minutes ago, West Yorks Rover said:

Dack.

Ah, now I know why JDT can do no right in your eyes. 

[Exiled_Rover]

4 minutes ago, matt83 said:

As a side note the side jdt inherited (initially Mowbray’s fault, then swags fault and always the Venkys fault) was pretty shocking. To be in 2nd playing so badly is mind boggling. 

I don't know if it even is playing 'badly' - by my count Huddersfield had one chance and that was a blocked cross that their winger toe poked back into the box.

We looked very, very good in the first half and on another day Brereton could have had a hattrick (how he missed that chance that Hedges put on a plate for him I'll never know). 

At some point in every second half JDT reverts to a very defensive look to see the game out - it's clearly by design, but it's certainly not enjoyable for the fans. 

[Miller11]

Relief today. Should’ve killed the game off several times, and while I’m delighted with the three points we will need a better performance next week. I’d have liked to see a more positive change earlier on, think Dack could’ve had an impact and we tried shutting up shop very early. We won’t get away with it every time. Vale showed some nice touches but disappointed with a lack of graft. 

Pickering was sensational today. Great for our goal, cleared one of the line, let nothing down his side. Head and shoulders the best performer.

[RevidgeBlue]

3 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

I don't know if it even is playing 'badly' - by my count Huddersfield had one chance and that was a blocked cross that their winger toe poked back into the box.

We looked very, very good in the first half and on another day Brereton could have had a hattrick (how he missed that chance that Hedges put on a plate for him I'll never know). 

At some point in every second half JDT reverts to a very defensive look to see the game out - it's clearly by design, but it's certainly not enjoyable for the fans. 

It's a game of opinions isn't it, I thought we were shocking first half and much better second until the rather strange decision to replace Gallagher with a defender.

[Tugayisgod]

9 minutes ago, roverandout said:

I wouldn’t call it terrible.  I would call it laboured.

Wouldn’t even call it laboured, we were in complete control for an hour or more and playing some good stuff. Then for some reason we go to trying to see out the game by sitting back and inviting pressure. 

[West Yorks Rover]

11 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Ah, now I know why JDT can do no right in your eyes. 

I have absolutely no idea what you mean by that.

[Irish_Rover]

1 hour ago, West Yorks Rover said:

3 Points, but another poor performance from the manager.

Hudds deserved at least a point. Not surprising crowds are so poor with this guy in charge.

Are you harking back to the halcyon days when Tony was in charge and we had yearly death spirals?

[ossyian]

14 minutes ago, West Yorks Rover said:

I have absolutely no idea what you mean by that.

Sorry but that display today was utter shit. Good job we were playing poorer shit. God knows what the Danish Messaih is thinking. Sammie Szmodics ffs. Send him back to Peterborough pronto. Good god he's shit.

 

[Mercer]

Another win and 2nd in the table but to be brutally frank we looked, again, far from convincing against the league's bottom club.

Without doubt, Hyam is our best permanent signing.  Brittain showed why he should start every game.  Jury well and truly out on Szmodics.  Opinion not changed on either Gallagher or Vale!!!

My hope for a little while has been that JDT is on a learning curve but some of his selections and substitutions continue to totally baffle me.

We will go into the W.C. break no worse than 3rd and possibly even top - it really is unbelievable and perhaps it's indicative of just how p1ss poor a league this is.

More money from the bookies and another reason to enjoy a nice red tonight.

Onwards and upwards.

 

[jim mk2]

The performance sounds as bad as the one at Coventry except with a different result. How we’re in second place I don’t know except you have to say playing so poorly and expecting to get promotion is unsustainable over the course of a season. 
 

Is Tomasson a lucky manager? You’d have to say that he is so far because we’ve been very lucky with some of our wins. We’re in a great position though and I’d love the owners to give him the money to buy a bit of quality in January. We need some better players especially up front 

Edited November 5, 2022 by jim mk2

[booth]

41 minutes ago, roverandout said:

I wouldn’t call it terrible.  I would call it laboured.

And... It was clearly by design. Rovers allowed Huddersfield to come at that them with the gameplan of defending the 3 points. It's been done a few times and is how JDT wants to play. Maybe if we had more firepower he'd be less defensive.

[arbitro]

As ever the most important aspect of the game is winning and nobody can dispute that and our record of twelve wins is outstanding but in eight of them we have ended up defending the edge of our own box and finishing the game hanging on. It's so frustrating because many Rovers fans believe we are more than capable of getting a second (Watford and Sunderland spring to mind) and being comfortable in the closing stages. I think it's a Tomasson mind set particularly after his 'low bloc' comments yesterday and I have a feeling we'll see a lot more of it when we score first.

It's difficult to be over critical given our win record but we can't keep doing it and without sounding disrespectful we simply shouldn't be hanging on against the likes of Huddersfield.

[DeeCee]

Wasn't the greatest match I've seen at Ewood but the first from the JWL.

Strange tactics again from JDT but 3 points gained from a poorish performance will do. 

Diaz could have had 3 on another day.

[The Mighty Chaffinch]

Well that was crying out for Adam Wharton. The number of sideways and backwards passes was excruciating at times and I’m going to be bold and say that was the least satisfying victory I can remember witnessing. The last 15 minutes were purgatory. JDT is getting away with the sit back and hold what we have tactic…Birmingham last time out and again today have seen sides leave Ewood wondering how they’ve lost. The luck will run out at some point. You can keep trying for the second goal without compromising your defensive structure…today was pure inertia and frankly awful to watch. Happy, not happy. 

[booth]

4 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

The performance sounds as bad as the one at Coventry except with a different result. How we’re in second place I don’t know except you have to say playing so poorly and expecting to get promotion is unsustainable over the course of a season. 
 

Is Tomasson a lucky manager? You’d have to say that he is so far because we’ve been very lucky with some of our wins. We’re in a great position though and I’d love the owners to give him the money to buy a bit of quality in January. We need some better players especially up front 

Nah, nowhere near as bad. It was only near the end that Huddersfield threatened to nick a point but it was clear that every Rovers player was ordered to get behind the ball and defend it.

The player that looked dangerous for them was Sorba Thomas, what a good winger he is. Every attack went through him.

In the first half Huddersfield were hear to defend a point and make it difficult for Rovers to get forward.

The Coventry match mirrored Wigan.

[yankfan]

To start Huddersfield was content to sit deep and defend their half. What our side is missing is a player who can break down a defense by winning 1 v 1. BBD is great on the counter ad possibly quicker with the ball, but he's not great in tight spaces. Gally doesn't have h touch to pay off of and neither are dominate in the air. The side is going to need someone who can generate chances when opponents park the bus. Pickering had a great game but he's not an attacking wing back. Briattan can play a great ball in, but who's going to get on he en of it  Hedges is our best creative player but he's better suited to finding space than being the source of creativity. It's probably why we've ye to get points from a loving position. Good 3 points, clean sheet but more team will sit back if we stay near the top. 

Onward and upward

[booth]

2 minutes ago, arbitro said:

As ever the most important aspect of the game is winning and nobody can dispute that and our record of twelve wins is outstanding but in eight of them we have ended up defending the edge of our own box and finishing the game hanging on.

That's exactly what boring Arsenal did in the 90s. I do think JDT will rely on the defence less if we have better attackers to call on, and it's good that the players can do it. Under Mowbray I had no faith in the defence at all.

[West Yorks Rover]

17 minutes ago, ossyian said:

Sorry but that display today was utter shit. Good job we were playing poorer shit. God knows what the Danish Messaih is thinking. Sammie Szmodics ffs. Send him back to Peterborough pronto. Good god he's shit.

 

I think you are arguing with the wrong fella.

[Admiral Nelsen]

A few wins like this one wouldn't have gone amiss after Christmas last year. 

 

We now have around half of what we'll likely need for a top 6 spot - which is an impressive achievement for the management team given the tricky situation they inherited. 

 

As a pointless bit of trivia - when you look at our results this season compared to the same fixtures last term, we're 14 points up.  Obviously you can't read too much into that, but it's good to see that we're picking points in games that we didn't last time out. 

 

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

The performance sounds as bad as the one at Coventry except with a different result.

At Coventry, we didn't create any clear-cut opportunities, whereas we had several against Huddersfield. While we were hanging on for the win, we were also very resolute. Against Coventry, we were calamitous.

Away from home, particularly mid-week, we never look up for it, and look like we just want to go back home. While today's performance was far from comfortable, there's a confidence and belief that we will hold out. That's the difference.