v WBA (a) - 15/02/23

[tomphil]

4 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

The lack of players getting in the box is really infuriating. At one point last night Dack picked up a loose ball on the left hand side and your natural instinct is to want him to sling it back into the box. Brereton sprinted over going short for him, Dolan was in the box (just) but is no target and JRC was arriving late… from fullback. Telling that our goal came from a free kick outside the box. Based not just on last night, we create very little.

Dack has been back nearly a year. The injuries are no longer a factor.

Exactly, Dack is back he isn't still on a comeback at all at his age now he is as fit and strong as he'll be.  He's been involved in countless games since the back end of last season and all that's missing has been a run of scoring form.

Which he has been in recently but still gets hooked early second half for a defensive forward.  It's sod all to do with player management it is game management .. i.e batten down the hatches from the front and hang on.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

15 minutes ago, den said:

I don’t think BBD has the technique to be effective down the middle.

We don't have anybody that does. He's the only one of the current 'Strikers' who can have a go at it.  It's a piss poor state of affairs tbh. 

[47er]

1 hour ago, RoverCanada said:

Repeating myself, but to briefly add, Benson's also apparently still a close confidante for Dean Henderson going back to their Carlisle days. Fisher's done alright since he left too (although seems to have lost the starting gig at Swansea). Stergiakis maybe a miss, but whatever.

I know fuck all about GK training, but the social media video snippets they post of the GK training appear to be relatively creative/interesting (or I'm just boring enough to bother watching them). Agreed that all good coaches must have been ex-players is silly reasoning...

I've been curious what we've had in mind with a relatively large stable of GKers. Wonder if anything will come of Hilton (had a decent Scottish loan spell last year), Eastham, Goddard, etc.

Fisher was in Swanseas's side last weekend. Don't know about this..

[RoversTilliDie]

At last BBD breaks his goal drought with the leveller a minute from time. He looked something like the BBD we all know. Could the 2  Ds (Dack and Diaz) shoot us into the play off spots. An injury concern with Carter whos played some decent football for us, Oleary should have been red carded for that intentional two footed lunge. Dolan and Thomas also added a bit of pace to the team.

Edited February 16, 2023 by RoversTilliDie

[ben_the_beast]

30 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

I would agree on Carter

Next week I'd go for Hyam and Carter starting

I do like the balance a left sided CB gives us, but for me Carter is above Wharton at this moment

He's grabbed his chance. He's a huge step ahead of where he was at when he got a few games at the start of last season. Regular playing time at this level is only going to develop him further. 

When comparing him with Wharton two things stand out for me. He's more comfortable on the ball. I feel a lot of teams press our Right Centre Back more to pressure them into playing it to Wharton. I'm always nervous when he's on the ball as there is always a suicide pass in him. 

Secondly he is more composed than Wharton. Wharton seems to have a way of playing and that is to constantly engage his opponent into a battle, leading to him being caught out of position a lot. Carter seems a better judge of when to apply pressure and when to drop. 

I'd be happy for Carter and Hyam to be our centre back pairing for now and seeing how the relationship develops. 

 

Outside of Carter I thought Jrc was good again last night until his injury. At one point he moved for a few minutes into a deep lying DM almost dropping in-between the centre backs. It was only for a couple of minutes but in that time he showed the type of play I'd expect from Morton. He also shows some fight, which is so important in the middle of the park. Jrc is a good footballer. Both his and Carter's recent form have been major bright spots for us. The more I see him, the more I'd like to see Jrc start instead of Morton. Morton has some talent but he needs time out the side. He's been utterly abysmal for months now.

[jim mk2]

3 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I couldn’t watch last nights game, I had a meeting I had to attend. Afterwards I texted my son as usual. His view - “ Good point but grim to watch “.

 

 

We were quite lively in the first 10 minutes and in the last 10  minutes but in between was 70 minutes of nothingness really

Although it was better than previous away games and we were competitive we couldn't have complained if West Brom had been 2-0 up at half time. They missed some good chances like Watford did. 

The worst thing about Rovers is we are so tedious to watch. The constant passing among the defenders and goalkeeper does not achieve anything whatsoever in leading to an attacking move and I'd like the manager to explain why we continue to do it and what he is trying to achieve. 

For the most part, there is no urgency and pace about our game and the one ball we play from deep is always out to the left wing where, unless it is perfect, Brereton usually cannot make anything of it

I left the ground pleased at the draw in the end but then you think back it was poor overall

West Brom and Rovers are two average teams IMO and will finish mid-table. 

 

[47er]

JRC is injury prone sadly. I hope this doesn’t, damage his career.

[Sparks Rover]

1 hour ago, joey_big_nose said:

Hes a great defender and not too bad on the ball, bur we definitely were poorer getting it forward when he came on.

Not buying this, our best defending footballer should play every game.  Manager is a tit

[rovers11]

Biggest thing from yesterday was Diaz scoring again. Him and Dack are the only source of goals in our team so we need them to both be on form to have a sniff of top 6.

Also, since when did Pears become a good GK? He's really upped his levels.

[Sparks Rover]

1 minute ago, rovers11 said:

 

Also, since when did Pears become a good GK?.

When our expectations as a club were slowly but surely downgraded

[jim mk2]

2 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Not buying this, our best defending footballer should play every game.  Manager is a tit

We looked more solid when Hyam came on. S Wharton is not the player of 6-12 months ago. 

Carter was very good last night. I don't rate him when he's played full back but he looked assured and composed and good some good blocks and tackles in

Brittain was woeful and off the pace when he came on but the lad's had a long time out with injury. He's still our best right back

 

 

[superniko]

I actually thought we looked worse when Hyam came on. Didn't cover himself in glory for the goal, another time he got absolutely skinned on the left until Pickering saved him with a sliding tackle. The 2nd half performance as a team was far worse than the 1st too (though that's not necessarily down to him)

[SBlue]

4 hours ago, 47er said:

And---he wasn't playing well.

This. He was having no effect at all, getting frustrated and firing Hollywood balls across our defence on more than one occasion that we'd have murdered Morton for.

An off day happens, taking him off to try something different was the right call.

Stunned that there was booing, I know he's a cult hero but were they watching the game?

Thomas however I can only assume isn't deemed physically up to it for the whole 90 at the moment, because I thought he was playing well.

[rovers11]

24 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

When our expectations as a club were slowly but surely downgraded

He's definitely improved. But agree with your wider point that expectations have been downgraded since Venkys came in. 

[SBlue]

38 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Not buying this, our best defending footballer should play every game.  Manager is a tit

He's been injured hasn't he? Did JDT give him the Souness two-footer or something?

[tomphil]

35 minutes ago, rovers11 said:

Biggest thing from yesterday was Diaz scoring again. Him and Dack are the only source of goals in our team so we need them to both be on form to have a sniff of top 6.

Also, since when did Pears become a good GK? He's really upped his levels.

He was never that bad he just had a stinker at Wigan and was tarred with the Mowbray nepotism brush.

Keeper must be the biggest confidence driven position on the field and he's now proved himself a perfectly able number 2 to TK.

[AllRoverAsia]

Dack and Thomas were taken off to close up shop.

That tactic failed.

We were saved by BBD not putting the free kick over the bar and by a keeper gift

Edited February 16, 2023 by AllRoverAsia

[roversfan99]

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

on point 1, he makes a fair point on it JDT makes on it. 

on point 2, I guess he is just managing expectations and trying to not over promise here from moment 1. If we get a playoff place he has massive underachieved with the squad we have compare to other teams who should be up there

I think Playing Dolan as the pressing/number 9 striker is probably the best way until the summer. 

grim to watch? We were playing away from home against a team who have quality attacking players but kept them mostly quiet whilst scoring there. Only team to do in the last 7 games there. Yes we played compact when defending but we played Thomas and BBD very wide when attacking. We don't have the players to play open attacking football

Correct. Where were Dack, BBD and Dolan tho? 

Spot on post. Taking Dack off yesterday was the right decision as you need to consider the bigger picture and we played on Saturday, Tuesday and Saturday. Plus factoring in he is still on his comeback from 2 serious injuries. 

Dolan was ineffective as a number 9, he is not a striker in a million years. Most number 9's don't have to put the word "pressing" in front of it to justify their place.

He is better out wide, he doesn't hold the ball up, he doesn't really run in behind and he doesn't offer a goal threat or a presence when we get the ball wide. He is at his best fronting up full backs and getting past them.

Broughton fucked up both in the summer and in January regarding a striker so I don't doubt that our options are not as they should be, but Dolan and Vale cannot be the main 2 options. Brereton and Gallagher should be.

You can't be entertained by Tomasson's Rovers, surely? 

The double sub on the hour seemed pre-planned to me and with no flexibility to how the game was going. I suppose we have to try and justify the outlay on Szmodics but he is such a downgrade on Dack who also came off with 15 to go at the weekend. Thomas was just starting to really test the full back and like Dack seemed unhappy to have to go off. The double change massively weakened us after we had started to look threatening, poor changes by the manager.

[bigbrandjohn]

Bigger picture. 
 

“Diaz’s equaliser was the first home goal the Baggies have conceded in more than 13 hours of football since Corberan’s first game in charge at The Hawthorns in October. “

I’ll take it and hopefully Diaz leaves Brereton behind for the remainder of the season. 

[RoversTilliDie]

1 hour ago, rovers11 said:

Biggest thing from yesterday was Diaz scoring again. Him and Dack are the only source of goals in our team so we need them to both be on form to have a sniff of top 6.

Also, since when did Pears become a good GK? He's really upped his levels.

Pears is an excellent stand in for Kaminski, he will have to be at his best to keep Pears out.

[RoversTilliDie]

13 minutes ago, bigbrandjohn said:

Bigger picture. 
 

“Diaz’s equaliser was the first home goal the Baggies have conceded in more than 13 hours of football since Corberan’s first game in charge at The Hawthorns in October. “

I’ll take it and hopefully Diaz leaves Brereton behind for the remainder of the season. 

I stated that fact the day before the game, 6 straight home wins without conceding a goal before Tuesday night. It makes it look a decent point.

[BankEnd Rover]

49 minutes ago, superniko said:

I actually thought we looked worse when Hyam came on. Didn't cover himself in glory for the goal, another time he got absolutely skinned on the left until Pickering saved him with a sliding tackle. The 2nd half performance as a team was far worse than the 1st too (though that's not necessarily down to him)

Yes thought hyam Struggled a little but to come on for his first game back we can give the benefit of the doubt.
I hope we see him back at captain. 

Edited February 16, 2023 by BankEnd Rover

[RoversTilliDie]

We could quite easily have won the game, Dack had a clear shot on goal but tamely tapped it into the keepers arms and Costello was clean through on goal only to dither and loose the ball.

[RoversTilliDie]

23 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Dolan was ineffective as a number 9, he is not a striker in a million years. Most number 9's don't have to put the word "pressing" in front of it to justify their place.

He is better out wide, he doesn't hold the ball up, he doesn't really run in behind and he doesn't offer a goal threat or a presence when we get the ball wide. He is at his best fronting up full backs and getting past them.

Broughton fucked up both in the summer and in January regarding a striker so I don't doubt that our options are not as they should be, but Dolan and Vale cannot be the main 2 options. Brereton and Gallagher should be.

You can't be entertained by Tomasson's Rovers, surely? 

The double sub on the hour seemed pre-planned to me and with no flexibility to how the game was going. I suppose we have to try and justify the outlay on Szmodics but he is such a downgrade on Dack who also came off with 15 to go at the weekend. Thomas was just starting to really test the full back and like Dack seemed unhappy to have to go off. The double change massively weakened us after we had started to look threatening, poor changes by the manager.

I can't understand why Thomas was took off, he was beginning to get the better of the full back.

[RoversTilliDie]

1 hour ago, jim mk2 said:

 

 

We were quite lively in the first 10 minutes and in the last 10  minutes but in between was 70 minutes of nothingness really

Although it was better than previous away games and we were competitive we couldn't have complained if West Brom had been 2-0 up at half time. They missed some good chances like Watford did. 

The worst thing about Rovers is we are so tedious to watch. The constant passing among the defenders and goalkeeper does not achieve anything whatsoever in leading to an attacking move and I'd like the manager to explain why we continue to do it and what he is trying to achieve. 

For the most part, there is no urgency and pace about our game and the one ball we play from deep is always out to the left wing where, unless it is perfect, Brereton usually cannot make anything of it

I left the ground pleased at the draw in the end but then you think back it was poor overall

West Brom and Rovers are two average teams IMO and will finish mid-table. 

 

I agree 100%, passing it around at the back does'nt win games, passing it into your opponents penalty box wins games. It's infuriating watching them piss about at the back and some nervous moments.