v Middlesbrough (h) - 29/12/22

[Guest]

Not taking one of our better chances in the first half cost us in the end. Perhaps Buckley was stupid to throw the ball at the player's head, even if it was a light dink, but it's just even more stupid that this is written in some rule book (apparently). We have too many Big Time Charlie officials in this league.

Other than that, I thought we were the better team, but it showed that our attacking options need improving upon next month.

[lraC]

42 minutes ago, Bethnal said:

They’re saying “violent conduct” on comms and with that it could also be “serious foul play” as the other option within the laws. Practically speaking, it’s unsporting conduct, which is a cautionable offence at worst. It’ll be rescinded but that doesn’t help us at all.

Very poor showing and I’m inclined to write this off. We should’ve maybe put a couple away in the first half and not conceded early but the cumulative effects after the red make a loss here easier to forgive.

If that’s violent conduct, I’m guilty of wife battery and cruelty to animals. I throw the wife’s slippers to her with more aggression and the dogs ball twice as hard, when he needs a little run. 

[WacoRover]

1 minute ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

Need a couple of players to come in and make a big difference in January. The team needs freshening up. A goal scorer is a must, as is an experienced head in the middle of the park who can dictate play. 

I know we don’t have great bench options; heck, we don’t even have a strong starting 11.

I’m not sure a huge investment in transfers would be enough to keep us in the playoff places- £5-10 mil. And, I’m relatively sure we’re not going to invest anywhere close to that. 

[Inferi]

Ridiculous decision to send off Buckley. He playfully bounced the ball on their player's head after he was elbowed by him as he passed by. A brief conversation with both players would have been appropiate. Of course the red card will be rescinded but the damage has already been done.

[Guest]

Just now, K-Hod said:

I’m almost a bit ashamed to admit this, but as soon as we went 2-1 down, having gone down to ten men, I walked out and back to my car. I didn’t want to waste any more time in the cold watching the inevitable unfold. I walked out early in the PNE game too. Before this season, I’d always stayed until the end. They’ve finally managed to find a way to break me I think….

I did the same with the PNE match, and almost felt like doing it again tonight, but we actually put in a performance and battled, which is the difference. The PNE match was a shambles and deserved to be walked out on.

[joey_big_nose]

1 minute ago, Ossydave said:

Well that was beyond frustrating. 

A great first half which rapidly went downhill. Morton again was far too weak for the goal and showed little desire to make amends.

Hugely down to the officials. Ironically not long before, Szmodics was talking about how a lot of referees are sound and enjoy a bit of banter, but some want to shift the attention to themselves and they're the bad ones. We got one of them tonight! Not defending Buckley for one minute, but no way on this planet was that a red card offence. 

As an aside, Szmodics also said the Spain break was like a lads holiday, make of that what you will after watching the Preston game that followed!

Yeah... I am a big fan of a lot of players in our team but Morton I do worry about. Very good set pieces, but his forward passing is a bit suspect and his decision making is sometimes poor, does have a habit of losing the balls in the wrong area. They are very very similar types of player and for me Buckley is the better. If we're going to stick with the 4231 I'd maybe look to give Morton a rest and try Wharton alongside Buckley.  Will give us a left foot in there too.

I suspect though from how relentlessly Morton has been included - even when looking a bit tired and out of form - it's a stipulation in the loan terms that he has to play most Championship games he is fit for.

Getting the Premier League stars is a bit of a double edged sword.

[Dolly blue]

If ANYONE offers ANYTHING for BBD we should grab their hand off. A big lad with one trick , no guts …a “ prolific “ myth 

[DE.]

1 minute ago, booth said:

We've got some utterly shit players mixed with some decent players and a few exceptional ones on their day.

We've no decent fullbacks, no centre forward that we can rely on, and the midfield consists of two misfits and a few kids.

While JDT isn't blameless I don't know if this squad can do better if I'm being brutally honest.

I'm sure we can do better than losing 4-1 to Preston at home and losing 5 from the last 6. We are realistically a mid-table team at best right now, but it's obvious the current style of football suits very few of our players. We aren't going to get a host of new players coming through the door in January, and likely not in the summer either, so JDT needs to get a grip on this and adapt before things start to really spiral downwards. The warning signs are glaring at the moment and we need the manager to take heed and find a way to get us back on track. We can't radically change the playing personnel, so it needs to come from the management and coaching staff. 

[BigBar]

1 up at half time...conceed within 30 seconds of the restart. Have a player sent off for a stupid act of petulance. Go 2-1 down soon after. Create next to nothing to even try get back into it. That's the ultimate recipe for a weak mentality and a losing culture right there.

[Bethnal]

“JDT out” shouts are premature for me. Entirely fine to be dissatisfied with recent performances (would take a lot of exceptional performances to overturn the bad feeling after Burnley) and concerned about what it means for us going forward.

Having said that, I don’t think many of us would have put us where we are at this stage of the season and a great number of us expected a transitional season as well.

I have to assume we spend a bit in January and subsequent windows to get the squad where it would need to be for a genuine promotion assault. I wanted us to do it this year and potentially tie BBD down to a deal but I’ll be supporting Rovers long after BBD retires and with the long-term in mind, we’d take 20 batterings in the Premiership at least. It simply might not be our time.

Either way, I always expected a transitional season, a build season and a push from there.

I don’t enjoy watching us lose but I’ve some sympathy for everyone involved tonight. Ref made a show of himself with help from the twat in the hat on the sidelines and you can’t legislate for that.

[joey_big_nose]

4 minutes ago, RTM08 said:

Jesus please stop with the third nonsense, we're a relegation level team who fluked a few wins, and now it's catching up to us. We'll be in the bottom half within 3 to 4 league games and it's unlikely we'll get back out.

Lets have a look where we are in six games..

[G Somerset Rover]

8 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

I’m almost a bit ashamed to admit this, but as soon as we went 2-1 down, having gone down to ten men, I walked out and back to my car. I didn’t want to waste any more time in the cold watching the inevitable unfold. I walked out early in the PNE game too. Before this season, I’d always stayed until the end. They’ve finally managed to find a way to break me I think….

Don’t feel guilty, pal. The moment we go behind in a game, we could play til New Year ‘23 and still not get back into matches.

I’m joining the ‘concerned’ camp. Our forte was holding onto slender leads and we can’t even do that any more; dress it up whichever way you want with the Buckley red but we’ve been ahead in two matches and came out with zero points. 

As an aside, if the plan is to add value to the squad (lol) why aren’t we playing our best two prospects in A Wharton and Phillips? Baffling in the extreme that Wharton in particular can’t get a kick.

Edited December 29, 2022 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[alcd]

4 minutes ago, booth said:

We've got some utterly shit players mixed with some decent players and a few exceptional ones on their day.

We've no decent fullbacks, no centre forward that we can rely on, and the midfield consists of two misfits and a few kids.

While JDT isn't blameless I don't know if this squad can do better if I'm being brutally honest.

So you think Rankin-Costello has been useless in the last 3 matches (plus West Ham)??Do you actually watch these matches or just sit at a keyboard? And Brittain is out injured.

[BankEnd Rover]

5 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

I’m almost a bit ashamed to admit this, but as soon as we went 2-1 down, having gone down to ten men, I walked out and back to my car. I didn’t want to waste any more time in the cold watching the inevitable unfold. I walked out early in the PNE game too. Before this season, I’d always stayed until the end. They’ve finally managed to find a way to break me I think….

I’d be ashamed of that also sorry. Just my opinion. 
 

Pne yes, but tonight?

Edited December 29, 2022 by BankEnd Rover

[Bethnal]

5 minutes ago, lraC said:

If that’s violent conduct, I’m guilty of wife battery and cruelty to animals. I throw the wife’s slippers to her with more aggression and the dogs ball twice as hard, when he needs a little run. 

Don’t confess!!!

[LDRover]

Easiest dismissal in the world, find all those that signed on the dotted line to sanction 5 million for Sam Gallagher - Sack the lot of em.

[matt83]

I hope there isn’t a 5 year journey project with this clown. 

[Herbie6590]

 

[joey_big_nose]

1 minute ago, Dolly blue said:

If ANYONE offers ANYTHING for BBD we should grab their hand off. A big lad with one trick , no guts …a “ prolific “ myth 

Forms dropped off hugely last couple of months, I doubt anyone will be paying a decent fee in Jan. 

It's beginning to get into that weird territory where by the end of the season if he continues to struggle we may end up having a chance to extend his contract as there is little interest.

Can't see any top end Championship teams being interested at the moment let alone Premier League / La Liga.

When you're hot you're hot, when you're not you're not. 

Needs a little 5 goal run to get himself back on the radar.

[West Yorks Rover]

2 minutes ago, DE. said:

I'm sure we can do better than losing 4-1 to Preston at home and losing 5 from the last 6. We are realistically a mid-table team at best right now, but it's obvious the current style of football suits very few of our players. We aren't going to get a host of new players coming through the door in January, and likely not in the summer either, so JDT needs to get a grip on this and adapt before things start to really spiral downwards. The warning signs are glaring at the moment and we need the manager to take heed and find a way to get us back on track. We can't radically change the playing personnel, so it needs to come from the management and coaching staff. 

Ain't going to happen and the worst thing is, if we finish in the bottom 6 ,the manager will still be here next season,

with no pressure on him whatsoever.

[K-Hod]

2 minutes ago, BankEnd Rover said:

I’d be ashamed of that also sorry. Just my opinion. 
 

Pne yes, but tonight?

Still had PTSD from losing in the 90th minute at Sunderland, having set off at 7am Boxing Day to get there tbh.

(That and my mate I usually sit with wasn’t there tonight).

[Andy]

5 minutes ago, Bethnal said:

“JDT out” shouts are premature for me. Entirely fine to be dissatisfied with recent performances (would take a lot of exceptional performances to overturn the bad feeling after Burnley) and concerned about what it means for us going forward.

Having said that, I don’t think many of us would have put us where we are at this stage of the season and a great number of us expected a transitional season as well.

I have to assume we spend a bit in January and subsequent windows to get the squad where it would need to be for a genuine promotion assault. I wanted us to do it this year and potentially tie BBD down to a deal but I’ll be supporting Rovers long after BBD retires and with the long-term in mind, we’d take 20 batterings in the Premiership at least. It simply might not be our time.

Either way, I always expected a transitional season, a build season and a push from there.

I don’t enjoy watching us lose but I’ve some sympathy for everyone involved tonight. Ref made a show of himself with help from the twat in the hat on the sidelines and you can’t legislate for that.

This times a thousand.

Shouting for the manager’s head after a few poor results, yet we remain very high in the league, is ludicrous.

Performances on the whole haven’t been good, but we can’t ignore the positive performances either.

We as a support are better than that.

[roverandout]

Tired of this long term project bollocks.  Mowbray has Sunderland in the play off positions in just a few months.  Carrick has boro in the play off positions in just 9 games.  Its just another way of saying I'm here for a jolly up and we have no ambition 

Edited December 29, 2022 by roverandout

[Exiled_Rover]

The club should take legal action against that referee - he's cost us 3 points tonight.

If he referees again then the EFL aren't fit to govern the game I'm afraid. 

[Upside Down]

Just now, Andy said:

This times a thousand.

Shouting for the manager’s head after a few poor results, yet we remain very high in the league, is ludicrous.

Performances on the whole haven’t been good, but we can’t ignore the positive performances either.

We as a support are better than that.

The games we have lost have been beyond poor.

He doesn't know what he's doing.