v Rotherham United (a) - 14/1/23 k/o 12:30pm

[tomphil]

11 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

They aren't assets.  They've had their book value written down over 3 years.  On the books they are worthless, just a cost with wages and hassle l...assets are training centres which they are trying to flog for houses

And they are writing off money paid or potential income like it's nothing so again it's a good way to lose money they don't need.

[Sparks Rover]

37 minutes ago, tomphil said:

And they are writing off money paid or potential income like it's nothing so again it's a good way to lose money they don't need.

Yep, agree with that.  There is no evidence of planning at all.

[Oldgregg86]

7 hours ago, arbitro said:

That would make a great caption competition.

And there going to bid £20 million for him as a replacement for Bellingham 🤣

[JHRover]

Well at half time, knowing how things were going, I promised that I would leave the minute Rotherham scored a second goal. And so I did. Straight into the pub for the last half hour of the game. The earliest I have ever left a game but with the way it went I'd say entirely vindicated. I've better things to do with my time than watch that.

Simply terrible. Nothing really to add on that front. At HT I'd have brought Dolan and Travis on as a minimum, to start the second half with no changes was ludicrous.

Most of us have known for some time that the owners and their dogsbody haven't any intention or plan of getting promoted. Even then I thought they might take some interest and add to the squad in January. Seems it is groundhog day. 

[JHRover]

7 hours ago, J*B said:

So what’s the solution? And you can’t say “go out and get XYZ to get us over the line this season” because that clearly isn’t viable. 

Many clubs - Huddersfield, Hull, Wigan, Birmingham examples - have gone into the market this month and added proven quality Championship players.

We won't do that because Venkys won't even back the side to that level. 

It is viable - they're just opting not to do it.

[The1mattjansen]

6 hours ago, Upside Down said:

The plan hasn't changed since the day they bought the club.

Middle of the Championship losing between 10 and 20 million a year.

A tax write off.

 

You do realise that you don't profit from a tax write off if you have to genuinely lose the money elsewhere?

Do you think they're cunning plan is to divert Indian tax revenue to Sam Gallagher and co's back pockets?

And where does not selling Rothwell or BBD fit in to this cunning plan?

[Herbie6590]

Thoughts on brunch, why it’s called New York and abject defending…

https://www.brfcs.com/magazine/articles/500-words-after-rotherham-(a)/341

[The Mighty Chaffinch]

The thing for me, is that even the victories have been boring. Huddersfield at Ewood was an abysmal performance, clinging on against bottom of the league, sitting deep etc etc. Read the same for Cardiff, Birmingham and others I’m sure. How many times have we thought after a match that we played really well today? I can think of the odd half: Boro away, Blackpool away, Watford at Ewood being the only shining light (and I bloody missed that one!). Yesterday, the 34 second goal was irrelevant. It could have been 0-0 after 60 minutes and we were still going to lose. The sense of inevitability is there from the start and it’s permeated the players. They don’t know how to get back in games. The two times we’ve pulled a goal back after going 2-0 down (Bristol, PNE), we’ve conceded a third almost immediately. There’s zero game management or backbone in those situations. And finally…we don’t shoot enough. Rotherham showed us the way yesterday…buy a ticket etc etc. We’re never scoring a Rathbone goal and as for the 34 seconder…..when was the last time we scored one like that with a player running on to it and blasting it first time. We’d have controlled it, allowed 8 men to get behind the ball then it’ll be back with Kaminski within 15 seconds. The culture is all wrong and I’m getting sick of it. 

[arbitro]

Aside from the elementary getting out fought yesterday how many crosses did we put in that were over hit? I don't expect us to score from every cross but yesterday the lack of quality in such a basic part of the game was worrying. I'm still angry about the lack of fight which says a lot about the lack of character in the squad. Too many shoulder shruggers to whom losing doesn't hurt enough.

By the way Rotherham had two debutants in their defence yesterday. They didn't give us a sniff and will now give Rotherham a good chance of staying up. That's what new signings can do, they give the club a fillip and give us some encouragement. But we will prevaricate until the very last day of the window and then bring in some cross that nobody else wants. But never mind we are only at the beginning of the project so let's not be too dissenting 😠😠

[Ossydave]

17 minutes ago, The Mighty Chaffinch said:

The thing for me, is that even the victories have been boring. Huddersfield at Ewood was an abysmal performance, clinging on against bottom of the league, sitting deep etc etc. Read the same for Cardiff, Birmingham and others I’m sure. How many times have we thought after a match that we played really well today? I can think of the odd half: Boro away, Blackpool away, Watford at Ewood being the only shining light (and I bloody missed that one!). Yesterday, the 34 second goal was irrelevant. It could have been 0-0 after 60 minutes and we were still going to lose. The sense of inevitability is there from the start and it’s permeated the players. They don’t know how to get back in games. The two times we’ve pulled a goal back after going 2-0 down (Bristol, PNE), we’ve conceded a third almost immediately. There’s zero game management or backbone in those situations. And finally…we don’t shoot enough. Rotherham showed us the way yesterday…buy a ticket etc etc. We’re never scoring a Rathbone goal and as for the 34 seconder…..when was the last time we scored one like that with a player running on to it and blasting it first time. We’d have controlled it, allowed 8 men to get behind the ball then it’ll be back with Kaminski within 15 seconds. The culture is all wrong and I’m getting sick of it. 

Bang on.

I've not been entertained all season.

If its getting results OK it's acceptable. If you're getting hammered off teams who have about 50p to spend it's unacceptable.

[roverblue]

21 minutes ago, The Mighty Chaffinch said:

The thing for me, is that even the victories have been boring. Huddersfield at Ewood was an abysmal performance, clinging on against bottom of the league, sitting deep etc etc. Read the same for Cardiff, Birmingham and others I’m sure. How many times have we thought after a match that we played really well today? I can think of the odd half: Boro away, Blackpool away, Watford at Ewood being the only shining light (and I bloody missed that one!). Yesterday, the 34 second goal was irrelevant. It could have been 0-0 after 60 minutes and we were still going to lose. The sense of inevitability is there from the start and it’s permeated the players. They don’t know how to get back in games. The two times we’ve pulled a goal back after going 2-0 down (Bristol, PNE), we’ve conceded a third almost immediately. There’s zero game management or backbone in those situations. And finally…we don’t shoot enough. Rotherham showed us the way yesterday…buy a ticket etc etc. We’re never scoring a Rathbone goal and as for the 34 seconder…..when was the last time we scored one like that with a player running on to it and blasting it first time. We’d have controlled it, allowed 8 men to get behind the ball then it’ll be back with Kaminski within 15 seconds. The culture is all wrong and I’m getting sick of it. 

Feel exactly the same way. We have scraped through in almost all our victories and been smashed in most defeats. Had a tonne of luck holding out in the victories as well. 
 

We just don’t have the players for this system to work at the moment and he is too stubborn to compromise to suit the ones we do have. Hence no plan B or even A against teams where you need to go more direct instead of allowing pressure and bullying in the build up.

[Danny O.Brien]

44 minutes ago, The Mighty Chaffinch said:

The thing for me, is that even the victories have been boring. Huddersfield at Ewood was an abysmal performance, clinging on against bottom of the league, sitting deep etc etc. Read the same for Cardiff, Birmingham and others I’m sure. How many times have we thought after a match that we played really well today? I can think of the odd half: Boro away, Blackpool away, Watford at Ewood being the only shining light (and I bloody missed that one!). Yesterday, the 34 second goal was irrelevant. It could have been 0-0 after 60 minutes and we were still going to lose. The sense of inevitability is there from the start and it’s permeated the players. They don’t know how to get back in games. The two times we’ve pulled a goal back after going 2-0 down (Bristol, PNE), we’ve conceded a third almost immediately. There’s zero game management or backbone in those situations. And finally…we don’t shoot enough. Rotherham showed us the way yesterday…buy a ticket etc etc. We’re never scoring a Rathbone goal and as for the 34 seconder…..when was the last time we scored one like that with a player running on to it and blasting it first time. We’d have controlled it, allowed 8 men to get behind the ball then it’ll be back with Kaminski within 15 seconds. The culture is all wrong and I’m getting sick of it. 

Bang on. If we were playing well and getting beat by the odd goal. Or hammering teams but getting caught with a sucker punch. Atleast it'd be good to watch. The other style would be being defensively solid and etching out games 1-0 but doing it consistently and being hard to beat. We do neither and I've never looked less forward to going to the football as I have this season. For me and I know it's been said a thousand times since. To try and go to turf moor and out football the best footballing side in the division was ridiculous. And alarm bells have been ringing ever since.

I fear that no matter how bad it gets the club won't sack jdt. Mainly due to a lack of interest in the football side of things from the people who matter. Also of it would cost money to get rid and get a replacement in. It really reminds me of working for the nhs. If he can do it for cheap and cope whilst reducing the budget and not spending anything. The board will be happy to let this go on for longer than I'd bet any other club in the championship.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Danny O.Brien

[arbitro]

Five of our last seven games league games have been 12 or 12.30 kick off times and the four defeats we have suffered in these five games have been riddled with lethargy, ineptitude and a general lack of intensity which in turn resulted in defeats, some embarrassingly so. I honestly don't know what to read into this but surely it's more than coincidence when the commonality of the defeats appears in them all.

[MarkBRFC]

I just think we have a lack of intensity amd are lethagic by nature as a side. Especially when we go a goal down.

April 2nd last time we equalised in a game 😴

[Herbie6590]

This from Rich Sharpe is damning…ONE FOUL 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

8 hours ago, JHRover said:

Well at half time, knowing how things were going, I promised that I would leave the minute Rotherham scored a second goal. And so I did. Straight into the pub for the last half hour of the game. The earliest I have ever left a game but with the way it went I'd say entirely vindicated. I've better things to do with my time than watch that.

Simply terrible. Nothing really to add on that front. At HT I'd have brought Dolan and Travis on as a minimum, to start the second half with no changes was ludicrous.

Most of us have known for some time that the owners and their dogsbody haven't any intention or plan of getting promoted. Even then I thought they might take some interest and add to the squad in January. Seems it is groundhog day. 

I was chatting to my son at half time when the possession stats came up. We’d had about 70 % of the ball. I said “ the thing is they look much more like scoring a second goal than we look like equalising even with that possession.”

Edited January 15, 2023 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Herbie6590]

3 hours ago, The1mattjansen said:

You do realise that you don't profit from a tax write off if you have to genuinely lose the money elsewhere?

Do you think they're cunning plan is to divert Indian tax revenue to Sam Gallagher and co's back pockets?

And where does not selling Rothwell or BBD fit in to this cunning plan?

I think it was Harry Berry (an accountant by trade) who noted on these pages some years ago that Indian tax law precludes losses in the UK being offset against profits generated in India….so even that theory doesn’t hold water…🤷‍♂️

[Herbie6590]

2 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I was chatting to my son at half time when the possession stats came up. We’d had about 70 % of the ball. I said “ the thing is they look much more like scoring a second goal than we look like equalising even with that possession.

It’s where we have possession that is crucial…it’s rarely in the opposition penalty area for sure…

[arbitro]

5 minutes ago, Herbie6590 said:

This from Rich Sharpe is damning…ONE FOUL 

I looked at half time and we hadn't even fouled an opponent and I mentioned this to several people who were aghast. I always found as a referee that when a team is losing, not playing well and being out fought I needed to heighten my awareness because invariably the players would be angth and want to kick their opponents. Our lot just melted and to me it speaks volumes about the players and management.

I remember the infamous Spurs game under Kean when we committed an extremely low number of fouls and Gary Neville couldn't believe it.

[Upside Down]

This is what you get when nobody at the club, from top to bottom, gives a fuck.

Every single one of them is just there to pick up a wage and nothing more.

[Ossydave]

We're near the bottom of the table with regards to discipline, although that's largely due to the silly red cards, 54 yellows and 2 red.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

Aside from the elementary getting out fought yesterday how many crosses did we put in that were over hit? I don't expect us to score from every cross but yesterday the lack of quality in such a basic part of the game was worrying. I'm still angry about the lack of fight which says a lot about the lack of character in the squad. Too many shoulder shruggers to whom losing doesn't hurt enough.

By the way Rotherham had two debutants in their defence yesterday. They didn't give us a sniff and will now give Rotherham a good chance of staying up. That's what new signings can do, they give the club a fillip and give us some encouragement. But we will prevaricate until the very last day of the window and then bring in some cross that nobody else wants. But never mind we are only at the beginning of the project so let's not be too dissenting 😠😠

We can’t even do the basics right. That’s what’s really worrying. As I said earlier we look like 11 guys who just met up on the car park before the game. Playing away from home it’s essential you quieten the crowd in the first 15 minutes or so. What do we do  - our left back elects to go right across field with his weaker foot in the first 30 seconds of the game. A fucking gift. That tells me all I need to know about the mentality of the players. As he was shaping to pass the ball I was shouting “ No, No, No” at the TV. Why weren’t alarm bells going off in his head like they were in mine ?

So after 30 seconds their tails were up and we had a mountain to climb

There was that much wrong with that performance it’s hard to know where to start. The walking pace football, the passing to feet all the time and rarely into space, the total lack of physicality, the complete absence of leadership all over the pitch and on the bench. I’m still shaking my head now, I felt sick walking into town after the game. It was that bad. I can still see the midfield players dropping back to receive the ball square on facing our goal and getting robbed every time in the second half - it was truly shocking.

It was bad enough at 1-0 but once that second goal went in we just downed tools as a team and started playing for ourselves. We became a disjointed shambles. This idea of playing left footers on the right and vice versa has had it’s day. We had Markanday and Dolan coming inside into heavy traffic all the time they were on. They were beating players but Rotherham were content to funnel them towards the midfield tacklers. We played in front of them all afternoon, we hardly ever got down the sides and turned them around. 
 

As I said in another post - if JDT walked tomorrow I wouldn’t be bothered in the slightest. He’s made a very average team a lot worse in my eyes.

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[tomphil]

18 minutes ago, Herbie6590 said:

This from Rich Sharpe is damning…ONE FOUL 

Nothing highlighted how powder puff Rovers are than yesterday it was pathetic but when you look at the two midfielders it's no wonder. It's like a schoolboys team in there i struggle to think of a tackle Morton has made let alone won he is a real weak link in this side and Garret is out of his depth.

The engine room has no engine and the coaches just want soft slow little passes instead of a ball winning mentality.

[cesus]

We are simply just too predictable, we don't have a single full back who will give the opposition a worry. To know that nobody is going to bomb on gives your opponent so much less to worry about. Without Brereton (woefully out of form) or a Dolan (recovering from injury) or even a Markanday (not yet trusted) we can barely even break away out of own half.

We've had it for years and days like yesterday bring it all back, playing for Blackburn Rovers is all too easy, all very nice. Nobody really expects anything at the club, keep getting paid, 4-0 defeat or 4-0 win the world keeps turning. 

[Ossydave]

5 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Nothing highlighted how powder puff Rovers are than yesterday it was pathetic but when you look at the two midfielders it's no wonder. It's like a schoolboys team in there i struggle to think of a tackle Morton has made let alone won he is a real weak link in this side and Garret is out of his depth.

The engine room has no engine and the coaches just want soft slow little passes instead of a ball winning mentality.

For Rathbones goal, as good as it was to be fair, there must have been 3 maybe 4 players stood watching. When I played football I'd never, ever let a player shoot from that distance if I had the physical means to stop it.