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

[Crozzy]

1 minute ago, JoeH said:

Thoughts now after FT?

M6 northbound is shut now and we are just passed the last turn off before hitting the standstill traffic. Apparently it’s a bad crash so it puts the football in perspective. 

[Fraserkirky]

Some really bad performances out there tonight, it’s no wonder why the rest of the league think we are a bunch of fakes. 
We had a decent first 10 mins then completely collapsed.

We have seen it time and time again, Pickerings lack of athleticism is killing us, against anyone with a drip of pace it’s a bloodbath. Thought he was shocking as he has been most of the season.

Carter was wild and rash and didn’t seem to do a thing right tonight JRC too everything he did was wrong. 
Buckley just MIA from about the 10th min till he got hurt. Didn’t fancy it, couldn’t get around the pitch. 
Didn’t think sorbs was too bad would have kept him on. 
Smods and Dolan were mince, absolutely dire. Dolan looked like he was 15 tonight playing in his first game. 
Gallagher, my god, good header but it was a joke all night. 
 

Wed must win, Breo and Britain arguably out two best players start every game. Also hedges needs to start some games and try to regain some form. Play him at the 10 behind the striker, he was decent through the middle earlier in the season.

That was about as painful a game as any of our other pastings this year.

Referee absolute disgrace.

Stoke have a decent squad, no idea what they are doing at the bottom of the league. Gayle, Campbell and Smallbone would be first names on the rovers team sheet.

Still in it though.

[PotterLog]

1 hour ago, Beanie01289 said:

deserved nothing out of that but if we are awarded the stonewall pen we probably take a point.

We had a stonewall pen as well like. About 30 seconds before 

[Upside Down]

19 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

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.

Absolutely true. This is where the manager needs to come up with a different approach for some games. 

Stoke set up to nullify our game. Change it up then FFS!

[alcd]

1 hour ago, neophox said:

Think Stoke will now go on a run and hopefully they can beat our promotion and play-off rivals....

 

They play Boro on tuesday and then Norwich and Coventry.

Stoke looked uncertain defensively and the goalkeeper looked like a rabbit in the headlights. All 3 of those teams will beat them.

[alcd]

7 minutes ago, Fraserkirky said:

Some really bad performances out there tonight, it’s no wonder why the rest of the league think we are a bunch of fakes. 
We had a decent first 10 mins then completely collapsed.

We have seen it time and time again, Pickerings lack of athleticism is killing us, against anyone with a drip of pace it’s a bloodbath. Thought he was shocking as he has been most of the season.

Carter was wild and rash and didn’t seem to do a thing right tonight JRC too everything he did was wrong. 
Buckley just MIA from about the 10th min till he got hurt. Didn’t fancy it, couldn’t get around the pitch. 
Didn’t think sorbs was too bad would have kept him on. 
Smods and Dolan were mince, absolutely dire. Dolan looked like he was 15 tonight playing in his first game. 
Gallagher, my god, good header but it was a joke all night. 
 

Wed must win, Breo and Britain arguably out two best players start every game. Also hedges needs to start some games and try to regain some form. Play him at the 10 behind the striker, he was decent through the middle earlier in the season.

That was about as painful a game as any of our other pastings this year.

Referee absolute disgrace.

Stoke have a decent squad, no idea what they are doing at the bottom of the league. Gayle, Campbell and Smallbone would be first names on the rovers team sheet.

Still in it though.

Carter lacks composure and just lashes the ball anywhere. His poor clearances have cost several goals already. Pickering and JRC are both SOOO slow. 

[TugaysMarlboro]

1 hour ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Zero issue with starting the same team from last week - they all deserved to keep their places. Massive issue with no subs at half time. 

Agreed, I'm on a do in Glasgow watching it, genuinely gobsmacked for the first 5 minutes after the break that Dolan and JRC came back out for the 2nd half.

Edited March 10, 2023 by TugaysMarlboro

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Where do I start ? After 10 minutes I knew it was going to be a long night. Slow, ponderous, sloppy passing. Nobody putting a foot in. Did we win a 50/50 ball ? Did we win a tackle ? How many headed contests did we lose ? Never mind the xG, these are the stats that win you games. Walking football versus running football - only ever one winner in that contest.

Totally inexplicable that we came out after half time with the same team. JDT must have rocks in his head.  I’d have taken either of Dolan or Thomas off and brought on a midfield player to even things up in midfield. They were playing through us all night 2 v 3. In fairness you could have taken any single player off tonight and not one of them could have complained. They were 2 v1 on their left hand side all the first half. Where was Thomas to help out the full back. Then you have Pickering thinking he’s playing centre half and not left back.

Szmodics hardly had a touch. We were set up all wrong. OK anybody can make a mistake but bloody hell change things when it’s so obvious we’re mismatched in the central areas.

More tomorrow when I’ve calmed down a bit.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

9 minutes ago, PotterLog said:

We had a stonewall pen as well like. About 30 seconds before 

Yeah but you scored seconds afterwards.

[TugaysMarlboro]

8 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

Absolutely true. This is where the manager needs to come up with a different approach for some games. 

Stoke set up to nullify our game. Change it up then FFS!

Playing devils advocate, why would you change a winning formula?

After the first half, I agree, but going into the game with the same 11, no arguments.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

6 minutes ago, alcd said:

Stoke looked uncertain defensively and the goalkeeper looked like a rabbit in the headlights. All 3 of those teams will beat them.

We never tested the keeper then we put two past him when we eventually did. He looked really nervous all night.

[superniko]

How can a keeper look nervous all night when he doesn’t touch the ball for 80 minutes?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

3 minutes ago, superniko said:

How can a keeper look nervous all night when he doesn’t touch the ball for 80 minutes?

Did you see him in the tunnel before the game ?

[superniko]

1 minute ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Did you see him in the tunnel before the game ?

No but I saw 80 minutes of him stood around doing nothing. 

[Upside Down]

10 minutes ago, TugaysMarlboro said:

Playing devils advocate, why would you change a winning formula?

After the first half, I agree, but going into the game with the same 11, no arguments.

 

Fair enough not changing a winning formula but when it's clear the opposition have got you sussed out then change it up.

[Staffordshire Rover]

Just now, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Did you see him in the tunnel before the game ?

No I watched it live at the ground, what was the keeper doing?

On keepers did you see the massive air flap by Pears and then the smashed pass/drive back to Pickering in the first half. If anyone looked a bag of nerves it was ours. Can’t fault him in the last 4-5 games but tonight he made me very nervous.

 

In general we were piss poor tonight

[rigger]

you will very rarely win a competition/ playing 2v3 in midfield. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

4 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

Fair enough not changing a winning formula but when it's clear the opposition have got you sussed out then change it up.

You could see how it was panning out after 20 minutes. We were over run in midfield. Dolan, Thomas, Szmodics were being bypassed and they weren’t in the game in an attacking sense. Time to change things then for me. We have five subs for Gods sake. Certainly changes should have been made a half time.

Edited March 10, 2023 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 minute ago, rigger said:

you will very rarely win a competition/ playing 2v3 in midfield. 

10/10

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

4 minutes ago, Staffordshire Rover said:

No I watched it live at the ground, what was the keeper doing?

On keepers did you see the massive air flap by Pears and then the smashed pass/drive back to Pickering in the first half. If anyone looked a bag of nerves it was ours. Can’t fault him in the last 4-5 games but tonight he made me very nervous.

 

In general we were piss poor tonight

He looked like a guy who hadn’t been in that position for a while - edgy.

Pears blasted it back to Pickering as if to say “;For fucks sake, you’re an outfield player, do something with the ball “.

What does my head in is when one of the players has an off day they all come out in sympathy.

[jim mk2]

6 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

You could see how it was panning out after 20 minutes. We were over run in midfield. Dolan, Thomas, Szmodics were being bypassed and they weren’t in the game in an attacking sense. Time to change things then for me. We have five subs for Gods sake. Certainly changes should have been made a half time.

So bleeding obvious - I was bellowing at the screen for Tomasson to change it even then. Huge gaps in the middle, we were far too open and not pressing and defending as a team like we did to perfection at Leicester

Really - after the improvement over the past month of so where did that performance come from? I suppose you have to hand it to Neil for spotting our weaknesses but there was no excuse for the apathetic demeanour of the players. 

We looked better as always with Brittain at right back and later with the extra man in midfield but the match was lost by then

Tomasson has to get his head round this because Championship managers would have been watching tonight and making notes. 

[Crozzy]

Not moved for over an hour on m6. What a night 

[Staffordshire Rover]

2 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He looked like a guy who hadn’t been in that position for a while - edgy.

Pears blasted it back to Pickering as if to say “;For fucks sake, you’re an outfield player, do something with the ball “.

What does my head in is when one of the players has an off day they all come out in sympathy.

The players should have seen that in the keeper and gone at him, but we didn’t and never created enough.

If you are blasting it back to your own player on purpose then that’s inexcusable, knock it to the half way line or beyond and then bollock Pickering. 
 

I’ll be honest we were not up for it tonight, you have to be at it on a cold night in that shit hole and we simply weren’t.

[R0verb0y]

2 hours ago, BankEnd Rover said:

Awful performance, left the pub at 3-0 & was shocked that we got it back to 3-2….back down to realisation…that was a lot like many of performances we’ve seen. What is this team & manager?! How can we go from the past 2 games to what we’ve just witnessed. Confused & fustrated!
We will react? F*CK KNOWS…

I switched the Radio Lancs commentary off at the same point as you left the pub @BankEnd Rover; finished the washing-up; turned off the sound on my phone (so that I wouldn't hear any gloating WhatsApp message from my Burnleh-supporting schoolmate in NZ) and went to bed.

Have just woken up for a nocturnal pee and am staggered by the final score.

I can't remember on which thread I posted earlier this week about how it took Johnny Carey 4 seasons to get his BRFC team - the first one I can just about remember - promoted from the old Division Two. But in those first four seasons before we won promotion in the last game of the 1957-58 season, we finished 8th, 6th, 6th, and 4th.

There was, of course, no social media back in those days - Yuri Gargarin had only just orbited the planet! - and, I'm guessing, more patience.

If my Dad was typical - and I like to think he was - he was just pleased that Rovers were getting so close. Obviously he - and I - were ecstatic when we heard final whistle blow on the radio commentary on Rovers' final game of the 1957-58 season. But I'm sure that, if Charlton Athletic had won at home that afternoon and been promoted instead, he and I would have just concentrated on the cricket until the next football season began.

So I just guess this is just a plea for patience. When JDT arrived, he spoke about us being "a Project", with the implication that it would take at least a couple of seasons - he spoke of transfer windows - before we'd be back in the Premier League.

At present, we seem to be ahead of that schedule; but what worries me is that, if we qualify for the play-offs - surely the only way we'd win promotion this season - and were successful, people will assume that we'll be fine in the Premier League.

But if we were to get to the Promised Land that way, I fear we'd have to do at least what That Lot did in the first years of Dyche's management. Viz, get relegated and use the parachute payments to continue strengthening the squad until we can hold our own in the Premier League.

Oh; and maximum Respect to all who travelled to Stoke tonight. Ignoring the final score, I wouldn’t have braved the elements to go there on a night like last night (as it is now).

Edited March 11, 2023 by R0verb0y
Paying respect to hardier souls than me!

[arbitro]

What really hurt me tonight was that the things we have done so well recently (intensity, pace and effort) were our weaknesses for most of the game. To be truthful 3-2 flattered us as Stoke relaxed and gave us a glimmer of hope but it was more than we deserved. Was it attitude with us having been on a great run and the players thinking turning up would be enough? They were better than us all over the pitch and when we did get forward usually a poor final pass killed our momentum. Decision making wasn't very good all night and until we went three down we hardly win a tackle. Hopefully Tomasson uses this as a wake up call to his players to demonstrate that if you aren't at it every game this league will find you out. I think there will be several changes for Wednesday night and then plenty of places up for grabs to play in an FA Cup Quarter Final in the next game. Just wanting it more than your opponent is sometimes enough to get you over the line but tonight we were found wanting.