v Stoke City (a) - 10/3/23

[Herbie6590]

Vote now in the MOTM poll in the Match Centre

 

https://www.brfcs.com/magazine/football/match/881148/stoke-city-blackburn?tab=voting

[Gav]

Bad days at the office but showed some real fight towards the end.

5 wins on the bounce, unbeaten since January, 4th in the league and FA cup Quarter final to look forward to.

Shout out to the superb support, hero's every one of you.

[AllRoverAsia]

1 minute ago, Gav said:

5 wins on the bounce, unbeaten since January, 4th in the league and FA cup Quarter final to look forward to, who else is frustrated?

I am tonight, having stayed up to expect at least an effort not just in the dying embers by which time Stoke should have had us slaughtered.

I expect us to win at the Thugs in the Cup and no way is Ince doing a double over us 😎

[Exiled_Rover]

3 minutes ago, AllRoverAsia said:

I am tonight, having stayed up to expect at least an effort not just in the dying embers by which time Stoke should have had us slaughtered.

I expect us to win at the Thugs in the Cup and no way is Ince doing a double over us 😎

Don't be so sure - this season could still go either way. 

[joey_big_nose]

3 minutes ago, booth said:

I'm pretty sure we weren't set up tactically to repeatedly lose possession and for some players to lazily stroll about generally not being arsed.

Id characterise it as ultimately they stopped us having any options to pass it out of the back and through the midfield. Pressed both centre backs, marked out Buckley, found the spave behind our full backs. I dont think effort was the decider.

In my view who wins a match is rarely about who runs the most, its more about how well you can move the ball back to front and make opportunities.

[jim mk2]

9 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Can't really agree, it was as stonewall tactical victory as Ive seen in 25 years of following Rovers. Neill had obviously watched our last five games in detail and knew we would play the same way to a man (as when a team is on a run you always know they will replicate their approach) and set his side up absolutely perfectly to counter.

Only positive (if you can call it that) is that due to the comprehensive nature of our defeat there will now be doubt put into Readings mind about if we will go the same way on Wednesday. 

 

So a canny manager, knowing he's coming up against another canny operator, should do the unexpected and change a winning team. Tough on those playing well, but that's football. The best managers - Guardiola etc, - do it all the time. If Tomasson had switched us about it might have thrown Neil's game plan. But then again, if the players aren't up for it (like Rovers tonight) nothing makes much of a difference

[roversfan99]

Woeful performance, have we ever lost a game all season and not embarrassed ourselves?

No positives, Dolan was as bad as anyone and didn't fancy it, Szmodics looked like a player that was in and out at Peterborough, Carter was all over the place, Thomas looked like a player that Huddersfield happily let go, Pears was very shaky, Buckley was half arsed although his injury is a massive worry. Broughton and co fucking up the O'Brien deal having previously signed the useless Morton with the only alternative (bar the unfancied Wharton) being Garrett who isn't good enough either could leave a huge hole in our midfield.

There is huge pressure on these next 2 games, we have been knocked down so often under Venkys, Tomasson can play things down all he wants but negative results leading to slipping down the league and losing a golden chance to get to Wembley and people will really get frustrated and it could simmer over the break. Or we can beat Reading, get to Wembley and really for once make people excited.

[AllRoverAsia]

1 minute ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Don't be so sure - this season could still go either way. 

Sure can in the Championship and Cup.

Predictions heart not head based.

[Crozzy]

Not sure where we were for 85 minutes tonight. Not very good.  Very glad we got 2 goals back and something to cheer at the end. Their goals were all poor from us especially the third someone’s gotta put a foot in. 
At the end of the day they wanted it more than us. Simple as that. 

Spare a thought for me in the car home with two Stoke fans now 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[Cherry Blue]

Beaten by an experienced manager who did his homework.  Dolan was never in game and closest player to their first 2 goals. Although we got away with tipitapa passing at back it did unsettle us.

Their midfield worked. Ours didn't want to work and didn't focus leaving Gally to run about. Sami too ran but they had him sussed. 

Final score made it look close. Another lesson for JDT is don't leave it until 86th. 

[Crozzy]

Can anyone tell me what Buckleys injury looked like. It was at opposite end. Could see by his hands over his face he was genuinely hurt 

[bluebruce]

31 minutes ago, neophox said:

The second half we were descent... The first half abysmal display and Dolans poor marking ruined it for us tonight....shows why you must focus and I've seen it before with Dolan and in my eyes he should not have started with a fit again Diaz in the team.

Nah, the first half is when we had our descent.

[jim mk2]

Neil did his homework on us and set up his side accordingly. Did Tomasson do the same with Stoke? It didn't look like it. 

[AllRoverAsia]

4 minutes ago, Crozzy said:

Can anyone tell me what Buckleys injury looked like. It was at opposite end. Could see by his hands over his face he was genuinely hurt 

I think it was a self inflicted knee bend/ twist caused by him trying a clearance against a fast incoming Stoke player on his blind side, almost resulting in a deflection into goal. Definitely a real injury.

[Silas]

36 minutes ago, PotterLog said:

Eeem.. phew. 
 

Not a massive amount to say about that that you won’t already know, I’ll not rub anything in.. the Chilean Stokie finally scores against his boyhood club at least…

thanks for having me, best of luck going for promotion, see you next time.

Are your lot always so pacey?

Several times all over the pitch we had metres of head starts, and your players just galloped past them regardless. 

I.e. Is that a strength you've noticed all season, or did our players have lead in their boots?

[bigbrandjohn]

Back down with a bump. Hope we can learn from this quickly. Sounds like a few thought they just needed to turn up. Winning 5-1 away should have been a hint. 

[roversfan99]

Dogs abuse? Its people commenting on individual displays which were totally lacklustre on a messageboard, just like on Saturday those people eulogising the same players. People will comment on what they see. No one has said that they should play well in every game but they are players who put themselves in a position whereby everyone watching will have opinions on what they see.

[Crozzy]

6 minutes ago, AllRoverAsia said:

I think it was a self inflicted knee bend/ twist caused by him trying a clearance against a fast incoming Stoke player on his blind side, almost resulting in a deflection into goal. Definitely a real injury.

Yeah that’s how I saw it. Was just hoping it wasn’t a knee injury and maybe something else. He limped all the way round to our end where the dressing room is. 

[PotterLog]

10 minutes ago, Silas said:

Are your lot always so pacey?

Several times all over the pitch we had metres of head starts, and your players just galloped past them regardless. 

I.e. Is that a strength you've noticed all season, or did our players have lead in their boots?

It’s been literally years since I’ve seen us break with pace like we do now. It’s partly fitness instilled by Neil, partly Ty Campbell getting back to his best and partly some very shrewd loan signings.

[bluebruce]

19 minutes ago, Silas said:

Are your lot always so pacey?

Several times all over the pitch we had metres of head starts, and your players just galloped past them regardless. 

I.e. Is that a strength you've noticed all season, or did our players have lead in their boots?

Lead in the boots does seem likely. Something I was a bit concerned about after a couple of stellar performances against Leicester and Sheff U. You can pay players whatever you like, but the human body has limits, and isn't capable of 100% every match over an extended period. Those extra midweek games take their toll, no matter how much people like to make out otherwise.

[johnradfordsubbuteo]

I need this thread so badly when we lose.

Love all you guys.

[toogs]

3 minutes ago, johnradfordsubbuteo said:

I need this thread so badly when we lose.

Love all you guys.

😂😂

[Guest]

3 hours ago, yeti-dog said:

No way you can drop Pickering after last few games though. Strong performances capped off with a goal.

Thoughts now after FT?

[Staffordshire Rover]

My favourite player is Dolan and I love his attacking flair but he cost us for the 1st two goals, switched off and didn’t fully track back. What pisses me off is our manager is on his wing in the 1st half and wasn’t telling him! He has to do this and for me that’s not acceptable to me. Let’s face it that performance was shit, the score line doesn’t reflect the performance, could and should have been a bigger defeat! 
 

Bad day at the coldest ground in the world, hopefully results go our way tomorrow and we go again Rovers!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, booth said:

Like I said earlier, it would have ended up 2-2 but for Gallagher prancing about at the back.

That’s what happens when your centre forward ends up playing right back.