v Watford (a) - 11/02/2023

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

He is playing left of a three behind a main striker and he has to track the right back/wing back into defensive areas

Is BBD going to be able to play the main number 9 role cos he hasn't be effective when he has played there? 

Watford came on strong second half but this was surely expecting probably receiving bashing from Bilic over their first half performance. 

People were expecting us to get beat and hammering including yourself. So to come out from this game with well deserved draw is a positive as has a number of players performances

He has barely played there, surely it's worth a go. In Tomasson's really negative tactics, the wingers end up playing in a back 6. We couldn't sign a striker and none of the alternatives offer much goal threat, Brereton does usually and would not need to run back as much in areas that he isn't dangerous in. The current set up going forward isn't working, so there is no onus on keeping it as it is.

I expected a comfortable home win yes because we have been appalling since Tomasson had a month with the players during the World Cup. Watford were the dominant team and we didn't create much, it was backs to the wall (not sure how you can say well deserved when you didn't see the game) and it was frustrating to not keep a winning position but it showed some good spirit and is a good point overall.

[RoversTilliDie]

Let's hope it's not a valentines day massacre Tuesday night.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

He has barely played there, surely it's worth a go. In Tomasson's really negative tactics, the wingers end up playing in a back 6. We couldn't sign a striker and none of the alternatives offer much goal threat, Brereton does usually and would not need to run back as much in areas that he isn't dangerous in. The current set up going forward isn't working, so there is no onus on keeping it as it is.

I expected a comfortable home win yes because we have been appalling since Tomasson had a month with the players during the World Cup. Watford were the dominant team and we didn't create much, it was backs to the wall (not sure how you can say well deserved when you didn't see the game) and it was frustrating to not keep a winning position but it showed some good spirit and is a good point overall.

You’d think they’d try these things out in training.

[alcd]

How poor was Gallagher when he came on! Dolan is a fraction of his height and weight yet offered much more in a central position. Gally looks like a player going through the motions. Must be rid this summer.

[Bbrovers2288]

13 minutes ago, RoversTilliDie said:

Let's hope it's not a valentines day massacre Tuesday night.

Be impressive if it were since we play Wednesday 

[alcd]

4 hours ago, Exiled in Toronto Mk2 said:

Excellent point in the end. Played much better when the subs came on, all of who did very well. We can’t keep playing with ten by starting Brereton though.

You couldn't have watching Gallagher. He phoned in his contribution.

[rigger]

21 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

You’d think they’d try these things out in training.

I don't know what they do in training, other than injure themselves.

[Mercer]

3 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Easy with the benefit of hindsight. No-one knew at that stage we were going to amass a decent number of points by November then completely fizzle out making the second half of the season a dead rubber. (again)

No one knew how the season was going to pan out. We might have needed his goals to keep us up or we might have looked to be in a better chance of the play offs than we do right now. Imo it would have been a big mistake to let him go for £8m at that point. £15m obviously would have been a different matter I suppose.

Agree, hindsight is easy and wonderful.

However, successful executive managers all have foresight and judgement and set the agenda rather than waiting for events to consume them!

Sadly, IMO, Waggott and Broughton are just vacuous flounderers  drifting along as the tide ebbs and flows.

[47er]

Sick of all these draws!

Good point I didn't expect. Well done lads.

[davulsukur]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Great goal from Dack, that demanded a really cool head. Who knows what he could have done but for those two serious injuries.

I doubt he'd still be at Rovers.

[47er]

1 hour ago, Andy said:

And if we win at WBA, it'll be 5 points from the 3 games - which the vast majority of us would have been happy with.

tremendously big if! If we lose it'll be 2 points from 3 games, confirming our slide out of the Six.

Which is more likely?

[joey_big_nose]

Watched the whole game. Thought it was pretty even overall, we played pretty decent stuff at times, defended well. Carter particularly stood out - did everything really well in the air, on the deck, physically, how he distributed the ball. Looked very solid. Watford had a couple of sitters, but we also had quite a few decent chances beside the goal.  Travis had sort of a good game - snapped in and took the ball well, but then struggled in terms of how he used it. Morton was pretty quiet. Dolan did much better than Gallagher or Vale have recently, and agree BBD needs to be dropped. I was quite surprised he wasn't dropped today. Think maybe he will be on the bench at WBA.

I do think a lot of the criticism that people are putting JDT's way could equally be applied to pretty much any manager at any club in the Championship except the top two. Everyone has poor runs then good runs, have times looking decent then looking terrible. I doubt Watford fans will be thinking they've got a definitively better manager than us after today... 

It's an easy narrative to sell yourself that if we just had a better manager everything would happen for us, but realistically it's more complicated than that. He's still doing okay for me.

 

[booth]

14 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Watched the whole game. Thought it was pretty even overall, we played pretty decent stuff at times, defended well. Carter particularly stood out - did everything really well in the air, on the deck, physically, how he distributed the ball. Looked very solid. Watford had a couple of sitters, but we also had quite a few decent chances beside the goal.  Travis had sort of a good game - snapped in and took the ball well, but then struggled in terms of how he used it. Morton was pretty quiet. Dolan did much better than Gallagher or Vale have recently, and agree BBD needs to be dropped. I was quite surprised he wasn't dropped today. Think maybe he will be on the bench at WBA.

I do think a lot of the criticism that people are putting JDT's way could equally be applied to pretty much any manager at any club in the Championship except the top two. Everyone has poor runs then good runs, have times looking decent then looking terrible. I doubt Watford fans will be thinking they've got a definitively better manager than us after today... 

It's an easy narrative to sell yourself that if we just had a better manager everything would happen for us, but realistically it's more complicated than that. He's still doing okay for me.

 

Good post, BBD hasn't been dropped yet because there isn't much choice and JDT will be thinking he may produce a moment of quality. Personally I think he's already gone.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, booth said:

Good post, BBD hasn't been dropped yet because there isn't much choice and JDT will be thinking he may produce a moment of quality. Personally I think he's already gone.

He’s the strangest player I can remember. When he went out to Chile he didn’t stop off at the crossroads in Mississippi at midnight did he ? It’s like he made a pact with the devil and came back a new player. Maybe the devil has reneged on the deal.

[ageoftherover]

I think the appropriate response with BBD depends on the reason for his form dip. Theres the (rather cynical) suggestion going round that he's just phoning it in and while thats certainly possible it strikes me as a move very much not in his long term best interest and I think other factors are more likely contributing. If you look at what's going on in his life, he's on the cusp of a massive step up in his career and he's recently become a first time dad. Both are potentially tumultuous events, particularly the latter which is a huge adjustment even if everything goes smoothly (which it quite often doesn't). It's not hard to imagine those factors disrupting a rhythm that he's only relatively recently discovered.

Not saying we should keep playing him or shouldn't expect more out of our best player, but casting aspersions on his character is poor imo given the potential range of reasons he might be struggling. Personally I hope he realises he'd do well to spend a bit more time working on his game at this level. Money is not everything and there'll be plenty of time for elite leagues/paychecks if he goes and bangs in another 20 odd for us next season.

[simongarnerisgod]

38 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Watched the whole game. Thought it was pretty even overall, we played pretty decent stuff at times, defended well. Carter particularly stood out - did everything really well in the air, on the deck, physically, how he distributed the ball. Looked very solid. Watford had a couple of sitters, but we also had quite a few decent chances beside the goal.  Travis had sort of a good game - snapped in and took the ball well, but then struggled in terms of how he used it. Morton was pretty quiet. Dolan did much better than Gallagher or Vale have recently, and agree BBD needs to be dropped. I was quite surprised he wasn't dropped today. Think maybe he will be on the bench at WBA.

I do think a lot of the criticism that people are putting JDT's way could equally be applied to pretty much any manager at any club in the Championship except the top two. Everyone has poor runs then good runs, have times looking decent then looking terrible. I doubt Watford fans will be thinking they've got a definitively better manager than us after today... 

It's an easy narrative to sell yourself that if we just had a better manager everything would happen for us, but realistically it's more complicated than that. He's still doing okay for me.

 

it`s the way he sets the team up that brings on the criticism,it does`nt create many chances and does`nt work with the players he has,personally i don`t think he`ll be here next season with the s**tshow behind the scenes

[Polky]

There was a few Waggott out/Sack the board chants in the first 20 minutes of the game. As soon as the goal went in, they didn’t return.

Edited February 12, 2023 by BRFC_Polky

[booth]

Just now, ageoftherover said:

I think the appropriate response with BBD depends on the reason for his form dip. Theres the (rather cynical) suggestion going round that he's just phoning it in and while thats certainly possible it strikes me as a move very much not in his long term best interest and I think other factors are more likely contributing. If you look at what's going on in his life, he's on the cusp of a massive step up in his career and he's recently become a first time dad. Both are potentially tumultuous events, particularly the latter which is a huge adjustment even if everything goes smoothly (which it quite often doesn't). It's not hard to imagine those factors disrupting a rhythm that he's only relatively recently discovered.

Not saying we should keep playing him or shouldn't expect more out of our best player, but casting aspersions on his character is poor imo given the potential range of reasons he might be struggling. Personally I hope he realises he'd do well to spend a bit more time working on his game at this level. Money is not everything and there'll be plenty of time for elite leagues/paychecks if he goes and bangs in another 20 odd for us next season.

In his last two matches there's been occasions where he hasn't challenged for the ball, or given the ball up under pressure easily. Just an observation but he does seem as if the physical side of his game is suffering for whatever reason.

[Sweaty Gussets]

BBD appears to be the ultimate confidence player. When he's scoring he looks like he'll never stop, and then when the goals dry up it's like he has no idea how to get his mojo back. 

[booth]

5 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

it`s the way he sets the team up that brings on the criticism,it does`nt create many chances and does`nt work with the players he has,personally i don`t think he`ll be here next season with the s**tshow behind the scenes

I thought he set the team up well. It was just when he brought Gallagher on, the gameplan seemed to suffer.

We have an unbalanced first team, with a weak attack and central midfield - and a second team that's almost entirely utter gash.

I hope they can keep him and we have a decent Summer of signings to make up for the shitshow of January. And yes I know how stupidly optimistic that sounds.

[simongarnerisgod]

1 minute ago, booth said:

I thought he set the team up well. It was just when he brought Gallagher on, the gameplan seemed to suffer.

We have an unbalanced first team, with a weak attack and central midfield - and a second team that's almost entirely utter gash.

I hope they can keep him and we have a decent Summer of signings to make up for the shitshow of January. And yes I know how stupidly optimistic that sounds.

jdt knows what he wants and needs,wether he will get it is doubtful,half the squad need offloading imo and we need 5/6 quality players in,a few  of our current team are content to pick up their wages and the others just ar`nt good enough to go any further up the league

[AllRoverAsia]

Thanks to Watford FC via YouTube I found these 5 minute highlights, having missed the game live.

I'll watch the full game later.

 

[Exiled_Rover]

No highlights I've seen (extended or otherwise) have shown the blatant dive for their FK. Poor, that.

Also no highlights have shown Sarr's run down their left where he rinsed JRC and Carter (both tried to slide in and foul him, but they couldn't get near him) - it was the most impressive thing that happened today.

[lraC]

I watched The Who game on Rovers TV. I have to admit, I logged on with a bit of a heavy heart and expected a bit ofa mauling.

First half I thought we played well and for me, defending from the front was good to see, especially with Dolan, putting the work in he did and making sure the Watford back line knew he was there. The goal was well worth cheering and the way Dack kept he head, to do what he did was delightful. 
 

Second half was a different tale and although Watford were wasteful, our backline held out well. Once the equalizer went in, the dreaded feeling came back and I will as grateful to finish with a point, in the end.

My man of the match was Carter. If the plan is the improve players and sell them on, then potentially he is one who would fit the bill right now. Hopefully that’s not the plan though and we start to move forward again soon.

Im looking forward to getting Adam Wharton back and if we stay injury free and create a bit more, we might still sneak into the top six. 

[yellowsubmarine]

Overall, a draw is what we deserved, minimum at least. Really pleased with the effort we put in. Putting pressure on their defence. While our attacking play still has much to work on, the performance is easily one of the better ones in recent months. can't fault the players for the effort.

Pears - a wall, caught everything thrown at him. He has form and confidence. Happy with him being our no.1 at the moment. The goal conceded probably caught him by surprise and also had his view blocked in a congested penalty box.

Carter - strong, athletic and also very confident. Like him alot. Probably MOTM.

Sorba - Great he took a shot really early in the game. Shown what's he can do and the rest of the midfielders should do too, take a shot when there's an opportunity. Strange he came off when Gally was brought on. Probably tired.

Dack - back to his best, trying to create, link up play and of course good composure for his goal. Very happy for him.

Travis - love/hate with his performance. did win quite a few tackles, busy trying make his mark in midfield. But often when he is in an attacking position, he doesnt seem to be able to pass the ball quick enough and wasted possession.

JRC - Dack's goal came from his neat move with Thomas and his shot. Although almost gave a goal away. But overall performance is good. Probably just ran ragged by Sarr towards the end. Can tell he's a very much improved player since the start of the year.

Dolan - doesnt lose the ball as much now with his fancy stepovers, its a tough role to play but he's definitely has more energy and threat than Vale.

The rest probably not much to mentioned about.. Diaz is still poor but did try to help out Pickering at times in defence. 

Ideally nice to get 3 points. One point is not a bad result.