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

[Proudtobeblue&white]

I tend to agree with the general consensus. I thought we bossed half one, and kept the ball without doing much with it, save for Pickering's wonder pass, and BBD's cool finish (pity he couldn't replicate it!). Came out well in the second, but for all I like Scott W, I didn't understand the negative substitution, whilst only one nil up, when a second would have killed a poor team off. At some point (Mowbray's spring?), the wheels may come off if he thinks hanging on is the way.

Positives, Pickering, Brittain, defence worked hard, but shouldn't have needed to. We know BBD can now finish. I agree we need a Cowans etc, Tugay, would still be good in this league!

Second, coming into the old enemy game at this stage of the season, surely we'd all have taken that!

I'd take our first draw, a win, but they will be smarting after the SU result, and its the derby......JDT's first taste. I hope he realises the history/passion, and sets up his best team, as there is a lovely little break for all afterwards. Give it your all!

 

[Exiled_Rover]

11 minutes ago, J*B said:

We absolutely must not play 4 at the back against those with 6 fingers. 

I'd play with a back 3 just to get after them on set pieces. That extra height causes havoc. 

[Exiled_Rover]

45 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Last 10 we played with 9, Dolan and Vale added nothing except to.give the ball back...it took the knackered BBD to show the way by relieving pressure...amazing decision to replace Hedges unless he had an injury.  Especially to replace with those types.

2-3 good signings in Jan and we have a real chance here.  

We're crying out for pace upfront.

Neither Vale or Dolan are a threat to run onto a long ball. We're very easy to defend against when they're on in that situation. 

[chaddyrovers]

9 minutes ago, J*B said:

We absolutely must not play 4 at the back against those with 6 fingers. 

Josh, I think that 4-2-3-1 is our best formation and we get Hedges, Gallagher, Szmodics and BBD in the team which is my preference. 

Hyam is the first choice centre back with either Ayala or Scott Wharton

[chaddyrovers]

8 minutes ago, J*B said:

No, that’s your mate Waggott’s fault!!

I've met him once, hardly a mate is it Josh? 

 

[J*B]

3 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Josh, I think that 4-2-3-1 is our best formation and we get Hedges, Gallagher, Szmodics and BBD in the team which is my preference. 

Hyam is the first choice centre back with either Ayala or Scott Wharton

They’re good up front and good in midfield, you need to get at their defenders.

At least three centre backs and at least three central midfielders. 

[chaddyrovers]

4 minutes ago, J*B said:

They’re good up front and good in midfield, you need to get at their defenders.

At least three centre backs and at least three central midfielders. 

I am fully aware of their strengths, but we have to play to our strengths. Today shown why Hedges and Gallagher are key players for us and if fit must start games

[Exiled_Rover]

18 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

im`e struggling to see anything in him that suggests he`s even a lower league player,looks totally out of his depth whenever he`s appeared,to me he looks like a production line academy product who looks great in the non contact world of the u23`s but when it comes to proper football he`s just not cut out for it

I reckon we'll end up selling him to a L2 team for a decent price. He gets bullied in the Championship, but he'll have more time to play at lower levels. 

[Andy]

Vale was poor when he came on - the most disappointing part is him barely getting out of a jog and failing to put them under any pressure. Can only assume that's been his tactical instructions?

But still, even the small bits of link up play was a lot more than Dolan offered today.

I do like Dolan, but his sole purpose today was to gift the ball back to Hudds, time and time again.

Strange how Vale seems to get worse press than Dolan.

On the flip side, previous boo-boy Pickering was very good today and has been very solid for a number of weeks now. Good to see.

Edited November 5, 2022 by Andy

[ossyian]

2 minutes ago, Andy said:

Vale was poor when he came on - the most disappointing part is him barely getting out of a jog and failing to put them under any pressure. Can only assume that's been his tactical instructions?

But still, even the small bits of link up play was a lot more than Dolan offered today.

I do like Dolan, but his sole purpose today was to gift the ball back to Hudds, time and time again.

Strange how Vale seems to get worse press than Dolan.

On the flip side, previous boo-boy Pickering was very good today and has been very solid for a number of weeks now. Good to see.

Dolan will never a footballer. Yes he runs round a lot but he's shite

[ben_the_beast]

I don't think Vale was poor when he came on. He showed some good link up play. That's his strength. 

The glaring weakness he has is he gets bullied and if he's under pressure with his back to goal the ball doesn't stick. When you're not blessed with blistering pace, he needs that strength to play as a striker. That's what needs work but I can why he's been offered a deal. 

Given his age however, and that he's trying to break into first team football, I'd really like to see more work rate from him. 

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Happy with that. Not a must win by any means but we couldn’t afford going into the derby after two defeats. Brittain and Hedges are such good footballers. Hedges in particular, so impressive on the ball. 

Puzzling switch to hold on from 20 mins out and against better teams it won’t work, but our home record speaks for itself. 

Biggest concern is the lack of depth up front. Vale put in a ‘Butterworth-esque’ performance and Hirst has shown nothing so far. We are so reliant on BBD and Gally staying fit. A serious injury to either and we’re stuck. 

[simongarnerisgod]

Just now, magicalmortensleftpeg said:

Happy with that. Not a must win by any means but we couldn’t afford going into the derby after two defeats. Brittain and Hedges are such good footballers. Hedges in particular, so impressive on the ball. 

Puzzling switch to hold on from 20 mins out and against better teams it won’t work, but our home record speaks for itself. 

Biggest concern is the lack of depth up front. Vale put in a ‘Butterworth-esque’ performance and Hirst has shown nothing so far. We are so reliant on BBD and Gally staying fit. A serious injury to either and we’re stuck. 

definately need a centre forward in january,if diaz is sold then hopefully the money is spent on a class one and not another hirst

[Scratch Andy]

2 hours ago, RoverDom said:

We heard that a while ago when we were on our WLWL run "it's not long till that streak turns to LLL" we promptly went on a 4 game winning run

Don't comment very often, but enjoy the ride most fans would admit they would not expect us to be 2nd at this point of the season ( New manager, Young player's ). But fans are so negative complain about everything, always can do better !!

Expecting abuse, but look at where we are and are progressing in all areas.

[joey_big_nose]

38 minutes ago, roverandout said:

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

Yeah, they basically didnt get a sniff at all until Gallagher came off, and wed fashioned 4 or 5 good chances and scored a goal. Not 1970 Brazil obviously but thats got to constitute a good day at the office?

Last 30 mins was much more fraught as we sat very deep and had no outball. But to be fair Brereton still got clean through twice and should have scored.

I do wonder what it takes to make give our team credit?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

42 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

It's JDT fault why attendances are so poor? 

over 13k Rovers fans on. 

Why won't it last? second in the league, 6 home wins on the bounce and 8 clean sheets so far. 

to do what today? 

Why is it luck tho? 

Anybody watching that on TV won’t be thinking - “ bloody hell I missed a great game today, I must get down to Ewood for the next home match. “. The last half and hour was like the “ attack v defence “ we used to play in training. This was against the team at the bottom of the league at home when we were winning 1-0. And we parked the bus ! 

[Mattyblue]

4 minutes ago, Scratch Andy said:

Don't comment very often, but enjoy the ride most fans would admit they would not expect us to be 2nd at this point of the season ( New manager, Young player's ). But fans are so negative complain about everything, always can do better !!

Expecting abuse, but look at where we are and are progressing in all areas.

Plenty of complaints on Brfcs.com, like all forums, but it’s a pretty happy fanbase in the real world.

[Oldgregg86]

It wouldn’t be as bad (not what I would do) if we had a 2 goal cushion and defended that but one goal is asking for trouble

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 minutes ago, Oldgregg86 said:

It wouldn’t be as bad (not what I would do) if we had a 2 goal cushion and defended that but one goal is asking for trouble

A more incisive team than Hudds would have punished us. They’re not bottom of the league for no reason.

[Mashed Potatoes]

Under JDT we have been ahead in 12 league games and 2 Carabao Cup games - we have won all 14 ! I see criticising the tactics of a manager with a 100% record in these circumstances as nonsensical as saying that Floyd Mayweather  should box in a different way. The game is about winning.

[ossyian]

3 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

definately need a centre forward in january,if diaz is sold then hopefully the money is spent on a class one and not another hirst

Same as the other 23 in reality . Makes it more competitive than the so called Prem. Imagine being a supoorter of a club like Everton. No chance of winning anything or little chance of relegation  Wtf are you competing for? At least we have been relegated and promoted, won trophies since they did. Even getting relegated gives us some interest

[matt83]

5 minutes ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

Under JDT we have been ahead in 12 league games and 2 Carabao Cup games - we have won all 14 ! I see criticising the tactics of a manager with a 100% record in these circumstances as nonsensical as saying that Floyd Mayweather  should box in a different way. The game is about winning.

With the boxing analogy Mayweather won 100% of all his fights so it’s not quite the same. We’ve also lost 100% of the 8 games gone behind in so the tactics are still up for scrutiny. No one can dispute the positive position we find ourselves in but the concern will always be we’re awful about 50% of the time, sometimes it’s a case of a good team winning when the chips are down and others it’s a case of a shit team blagging results until the inevitable slump. To be honest I really don’t know which one we’ll be. 

[Mr. E]

11 minutes ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

Under JDT we have been ahead in 12 league games and 2 Carabao Cup games - we have won all 14 ! I see criticising the tactics of a manager with a 100% record in these circumstances as nonsensical as saying that Floyd Mayweather  should box in a different way. The game is about winning.

The game is about winning, but such a massive amount of our ability to score goals depends on Brereton that we will be in a terrifying position if we lose him for whatever reason. Gally is doing well this season but the other strikers are miles off. 

[had.e.nuff]

27 minutes ago, Scratch Andy said:

Don't comment very often, but enjoy the ride most fans would admit they would not expect us to be 2nd at this point of the season ( New manager, Young player's ). But fans are so negative complain about everything, always can do better !!

Expecting abuse, but look at where we are and are progressing in all areas.

I had someone behind me today moaning "yes i know we keep winning but its not great to watch" no pleasing some folk

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

27 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Plenty of complaints on Brfcs.com, like all forums, but it’s a pretty happy fanbase in the real world.

I’m always happy when we win. I’ll have a big smile on my face for days. However that doesn’t blind me to what I saw today. The “ walking football “ doesn’t suit our players. Funnily enough the minute we went from back to front with one pass we scored.

JDT talks about polishing up our new style in the World Cup break. He could have whilst the next World Cup break and it still won’t work with players who lack the required technique. The likes of Ayala and Travis etc will never be ball players.

Edited November 5, 2022 by Tyrone Shoelaces