v Norwich City (a) - 17/12/22

[tomphil]

3 minutes ago, Gav said:

Stop making things up.

Only one person on this site talking in such terms and that’s you tomphil.

Great win, Gallagher instrumental, just enjoy it. 

 

First cast 😜

If you ventured into social media land you'd understand what i'm getting at there is an element waiting for him to fail.

I enjoyed the win thank you and Gallaghers part in it but the only thing made up is your fantasy of him under Mowbray.

Don't snatch at the first bait so quick in future.

This is the virtual version of me chucking you back in the pond.

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, bigbrandjohn said:

One of the reasons they were terrible was passing from the back 🤣

We chased everything. They were unsettled with that. Maybe we learned something from Burnley and Preston.   

I really think this is some kind of EFL directive creeping into lower level or something now because lots of teams are doing it. We at times most definitely are the blueprint of why Not to do it though but it's happening all over the place.

I did wonder if it might be down to trying to get less heading into the pro game, long balls obviously encourage defensive headers. The winger is dead means less crosses per game and less attacking headers etc.

Food for thought.

[K-Hod]

47 minutes ago, only2garners said:

He deserved to be dropped - he was poor at West Ham and rightly substituted.

Just back at my son’s in London tucking into a really nice Chilean Pinot Noir.

Evening @mercer 👋.

[Miller11]

7 minutes ago, tomphil said:

I really think this is some kind of EFL directive creeping into lower level or something now because lots of teams are doing it. We at times most definitely are the blueprint of why Not to do it though but it's happening all over the place.

I did wonder if it might be down to trying to get less heading into the pro game, long balls obviously encourage defensive headers. The winger is dead means less crosses per game and less attacking headers etc.

Food for thought.

Bigger than the EFL.

[tomphil]

1 minute ago, Miller11 said:

Bigger than the EFL.

Wide forwards as well (although not many 6'4" ones) alongside false 9s etc all the rage but when you think about it it's all about balls in front of them and so called through the middle.

Maybe just a push through the pyramid to create better players on the ball and more football on the deck but it does make you wonder.

[47er]

We must be honest though and admit this was a terrible game--apart from the result.

It really looked like 2 mid-table sides slogging it out. We out-muscled them and out-chased them and deserved the win, that's it.

[Oldgregg86]

4 minutes ago, 47er said:

We must be honest though and admit this was a terrible game--apart from the result.

It really looked like 2 mid-table sides slogging it out. We out-muscled them and out-chased them and deserved the win, that's it.

That’s all I ask for

[47er]

7 minutes ago, Oldgregg86 said:

That’s all I ask for

I'll take that but I want more!!

[tomphil]

But it shows you don't have to be a great side to win games anywhere in this league you just have to apply yourself correctly.

We haven't been doing that recently or indeed in many away games this season but it really isn't that difficult. Cut out the experiments and do the basics right first then build on that.

[Ossydave]

54 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Makes you wonder why he's not getting a sniff though.....🤷‍♂️

We were all saying the same about dack, now he's getting a go. 

[jim mk2]

Toyed with going to Norwich and so glad I didn't - I haven't seen us win this season yet

Great result and so unexpected after the Preston debacle. I had a look around some Norwich sites and fans are clearly not happy with Smith. It doesn't seem a happy camp and we probably played them at a good time

Have we stopped playing Pep ball at the back? I certainly hope so.

Preston apparently were woeful losing at home to QPR today - which puts last week's result in some perspective

Which side of Tomasson's Jekyll and Hide team will turn up in the next match? 

 

 

[Oldgregg86]

25 minutes ago, 47er said:

I'll take that but I want more!!

Sound like my kids on Xmas morning 😂 

[booth]

2 hours ago, Mike E said:

We were actually 2nd place when Kean left.

Not when he left, when the atmosphere was toxic at Ewood.

[arbitro]

Well, well, well. I honestly don't think anybody saw that coming. Tomasson has rightly been hammered by the vast majority of Rovers fans over the last few weeks but to give him his due credit he got it pretty much spot on today. His team selection and tactics were what won us the game today. The pace, aggression and intensity so obviously missing recently was there tonight in abundance. Tomasson went back to his front four tonight and rotated them to share the workload particularly when pressing the Norwich defenders. And it worked a treat. After twenty minutes the home crowd were agitated about how their team were trying to play out when the players aren't really good enough to. We all know how that feels 😂. I didn't think there was a real stand out performance tonight but Buckley and Dolan deserve real credit in my opinion.

Hopefully Tomasson has seen the error of his ways and continues to mix up the long and short passing. Two incidents aside the risk taking was minimal and the reward from longer passing resulted in a goal and several other chances.

[Upside Down]

2 hours ago, tomphil said:

First cast 😜

If you ventured into social media land you'd understand what i'm getting at there is an element waiting for him to fail.

I enjoyed the win thank you and Gallaghers part in it but the only thing made up is your fantasy of him under Mowbray.

Don't snatch at the first bait so quick in future.

This is the virtual version of me chucking you back in the pond.

I am honestly intrigued as to how a total dolloper like Mowbray has such a messianic hold over a section of our fans. I don't ever remember experiencing anything like that with Dalglish, Souness or Hughes and they have by far been our best managers probably since the early 20th century. 

[Mike E]

(TLDR: First real shoots of JDT coaching results, imo.)

I was at the Disables Supporters Party a couple of Tuesdays ago and, chatting to Adam Wharton, I asked him what JDT meant by 'transitions'. As an average fan, I'm a bit clueless on jargon.

To paraphrase him, it's getting the ball back and turning it into an attack. Makes sense.

JDT said about 2 months ago, he wants to see John Buckley with 'more intensity in the transition moments' before dropping him and I saw exactly what he meant in the Norwich 2nd half. Several times tonight, including for our second goal, Buckley held fort in the middle of the park, chasing down for an interception and IMMEDIATELY passing forward or cross-field.

It was great to see and easily Buckley's best game this season, allowing Breo, Dack, Gally, Dolan, Hedges all to press for most of the game and (crucially) our defense to maintain its shape. Almost like a midfield general!

We're not perfect by any stretch, but it's the first real evidence I've seen of JDT saying something about training a player and it coming to fruition.

I hope it's the start of a wave of these and it's come just a bit later than we expected, rather than it being a one-off. We (and JDT) needed it after the last few weeks.

If we get that Buckley every game and (imo) alongside Adam Wharton, we'll have plenty of the football JDT first talked about.

[bluebruce]

Just a lil observation. Tyrhys Dolan has played 881 minutes this season in the league, which is less than 10 games worth of football. With that, he has 3 goals and 4 assists. So 7 goal contributions, in less than 10 full games worth. That really isn't bad going for a lad who takes a lot of stick from some quarters on here.

[speeeeeeedie]

A great 3 points. Were Norwich bad? Rovers good? Probably a bit of both. Either way, quality was lacking across the board. Rovers worked hard without creating many chances. Norwich never looked like scoring. 

It's halfway through the season and Rovers lie 3rd in the table. I don't think anyone on here predicted that would be the case. Rovers are an odd team. They've not drawn a game and have looked worse than abject in some of their losses. Score first and they win, concede first and they lose. 

JDT needs to sort out what he wants and go with it. So far, for me, he is an improvement on Mowbray.

[USABlue]

We win but again I end up feeling like we did not really deserve it. we rode our luck at times.  Credit to JDT and the biys fir this most un expected result.  Norwich have the feel of a team on the verge of crisis..  They sub off a 6 million player we bring on a couple hundred grands worth.  Niw ket's keep building in this.  Komoany and his lot look like they will be hard to stop.  Dion a great job there is Vincent, thing is given who he is it won't take much success for him to end up elsewhere.

[Herbie6590]

7 hours ago, tomphil said:

I really think this is some kind of EFL directive creeping into lower level or something now because lots of teams are doing it. We at times most definitely are the blueprint of why Not to do it though but it's happening all over the place.

I did wonder if it might be down to trying to get less heading into the pro game, long balls obviously encourage defensive headers. The winger is dead means less crosses per game and less attacking headers etc.

Food for thought.

I think the catalyst was the change in the laws that allowed a goal kick to be taken short (inside the area). Sides started to look to exploit this…with (shall we say) mixed results.

[Ossydave]

10 hours ago, WacoRover said:

One of our players at games end took off his shirt to give a young fan, but the camera cut away. Who was the player? 

It was Hyam

[Ossydave]

5 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Just a lil observation. Tyrhys Dolan has played 881 minutes this season in the league, which is less than 10 games worth of football. With that, he has 3 goals and 4 assists. So 7 goal contributions, in less than 10 full games worth. That really isn't bad going for a lad who takes a lot of stick from some quarters on here.

JDT's comments alluded to his lack of game time being down to fitness, which I find hard to believe really with Dolan as he always seems a bundle of energy. He looked a lot more confident and ultimately productive last night and should definitely start boxing day. I've always maintained I'd absolutely hate to play against Dolan and it was clearly how Hanley felt as he gripped him at one point and also another of their players fumed at him late on.

[The Mighty Chaffinch]

After 23 games last season we were third with 42 points. After 23 games this season we are third with 39 points. Which 23 games did we prefer? 

[jim mk2]

8 hours ago, tomphil said:

I really think this is some kind of EFL directive creeping into lower level or something now because lots of teams are doing it. We at times most definitely are the blueprint of why Not to do it though but it's happening all over the place.

I did wonder if it might be down to trying to get less heading into the pro game, long balls obviously encourage defensive headers. The winger is dead means less crosses per game and less attacking headers etc.

Food for thought.

That hadn’t occurred to me and it’s an interesting idea and although it might explain the obsession of playing from the back i think if the EFL had made such a directive the story would have been in the media.

It was good to hear Rovers mixed it up more yesterday. We could not carry on as we were. Has Tomasson seen the light or have the players had a word with him? 
 

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

4 hours ago, speeeeeeedie said:

A great 3 points. Were Norwich bad? Rovers good? Probably a bit of both. Either way, quality was lacking across the board. Rovers worked hard without creating many chances. Norwich never looked like scoring. 

It's halfway through the season and Rovers lie 3rd in the table. I don't think anyone on here predicted that would be the case. Rovers are an odd team. They've not drawn a game and have looked worse than abject in some of their losses. Score first and they win, concede first and they lose. 

JDT needs to sort out what he wants and go with it. So far, for me, he is an improvement on Mowbray.

I thought both teams played well in patches - but over the 90 minutes just another average Championship game. Without doubt we were lucky - the first goal is so important at this level.