v Hull City (h) 15/4/23 @ 19.45pm

[Aqualung]

Best player on the pitch tonight was Hulls captain, Coyle.

As for us well... An average side with average players in an average standard league. There's nowt special about the standard of football in the championship. 

Im not one to slag off our own players and I'm not going to start now but there were more than half a dozen out there tonight who I hope find other employment for next season. 

One of them already has his head at Villareal. If he succeeds there then great. But he won't. 

[booth]

Just now, joey_big_nose said:

Gregg and JDT brought in quality imo so far. Really like Hyam, Brittain and Szmodics. Thomas also a good singing let down by nothing to aim at it in the middle. And got a lot out of strugglers like JRC and Pears. 

I'm intrigued to see what kind of proper forward we can turn up. Haven't had a good one since Graham.

Could be one of our best seasons next year imo. Feels like - despite the extreme frustrations of recent weeks - we are building to a point where we have a lot of quality all over the pitch, and just need the spearhead to make it all work.

That's a hiding I'm not willing to set myself up for.

So far Gregg's idea of a striker was George Hirst in his first transfer window and absolutely nobody in the second, despite being in an excellent league position at the time. There can be no excuses for the failure in January.

[arbitro]

Frustration doesn't even come close to describing the game tonight. Tomasson has to take a big share of the blame for me. After the best performance for years at Huddersfield there was absolutely no reason to change the team and that disappointed me. His set up was even stranger with only Dolan pressing with Gallagher, Szmodics and Brereton some ten or fifteen yards behind him. The Hull defenders had as much time as they wanted to step forwards and pick a pass. Individually there were some poor performances probably to numerous to name as the slow tempo, sideways football made an unwelcome comeback. Carter and Hyam had the most passes but out of a combined 211 passes 175 were in their own half. A shocking statistic. It was screaming out for change at half time with several strong candidates for the book but Tomasson simply left it far too late to replace under achievers on the night. Gallagher and Brereton were abysmal as time and time again they made poor decisions. I can accept that no players gets it right all the time but tonight they just didn't do anything at all, they didn't contribute anything worthwhile. 

In the current poll my vote was that we would get in the playoffs. I want to revise that because after tonight my faith has taken a huge bartering.

[islander200]

Dolan buries that chance and we went in front at that point of the game and we would have gone on to win comfortably imo.

Second half poor by JDT.Changes needed to be made Wharton on sooner and Gally very lucky to have lasted as long as he did 

We looked more potent in the spell with Brererton out of the side ,granted it's hard to leave him out as on paper he looks one of the only goalscorer but poor tonight,I still think he Is putting in the same effort and work rate is there but he has been technically poor for months now.Id leave him out on Wednesday or start him cf but I'd leave him and  Gallagher out 

Kaminski back in Goal .A Wharton starting ,S Wharton starting 

Wednesday huge we are still in the race on paper the fixtures look tough but playing the likes of Coventry,Preston and Millwall leaves it in our hands and on our day are capable of beating all 3.

[Sweaty Gussets]

1 minute ago, bluebruce said:

Not the chain of events. Night night sweetheart.

Yep, it was. Night. 

[Sparks Rover]

Just now, islander200 said:

Dolan buries that chance and we went in front at that point of the game and we would have gone on to win comfortably imo.

That's the issue, wrong people on the pitch.  Not up to the job when the crunch comes

[bluebruce]

2 minutes ago, roversR4ever said:

Well it has to be said, the loss of Buckley has hurt us badly. Simply much further ahead in his development than Morton, better defensively and much better going forwards both carrying the ball and seeing a pass. Certainly in the form he was in. Travis played better alongside him.

Wharton should be starting rather than Morton and Leonard needs more game time, both our two striker's haven't done enough to even be starting recently. At least the youngsters will get more experience. 

For me Dack a few years ago was streets ahead of both our strikers,  even now I'd trust he to put away a chance if we can get him into scoring position's when he's fit. 

The team that finished against Huddersfield should have started tonight.

 

As Wharton demonstrates, being much further ahead in your development than Morton doesn't get you in the team ahead of Morton. So Buckley being injured probably hasn't made a ton of difference. Wharton is the best of the 3 for me.

[Hasta]

2 minutes ago, booth said:

Blake was awful at this level too.

Bollocks. He wasn’t a premier league striker but was always a handful at this level.

[Waggy76]

2 minutes ago, Hasta said:

Bollocks. He wasn’t a premier league striker but was always a handful at this level.

Very true and he had pace ....

[martonrover]

4 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Wednesday huge we are still in the race on paper the fixtures look tough but playing the likes of Coventry,Preston and Millwall leaves it in our hands and on our day are capable of beating all 3.

Alas, our day never happens when the pressure is on.

[ben_the_beast]

This was our easiest game on paper. However, I actually think its a good thing we're now playing clubs in and around us. We're really struggling when sides sit back. And if we manage to pull results out the hat vs Coventry and Preston they are effectively 6 pointers. 

We've made life extremely difficult for ourselves but we're still in the mix. Right now I actually fancy our chances more against some of the better sides. JDT absolutely has to drop Gallagher though. He is no longer an option.

[RoversTilliDie]

Just got back from Ewood after another dismal performance, I wonder how much JDTs been bribed to make sure we dont make the play offs. Its a carbon copy of last seasons plummet down the table. Once again Thomas and Hedges left on the bench, once again Rovers came to life when he was introduced. I think its time Diaz was left on the bench, he's firing blanks because his minds on other things, he's off next season.

[Waggy76]

2 minutes ago, martonrover said:

Alas, our day never happens when the pressure is on.

Nowt to do with pressure , just not good enough ...

 

[RoversTilliDie]

2 minutes ago, martonrover said:

Alas, our day never happens when the pressure is on.

Every time someone says the game is huge, rovers fall to pieces.

[Exiled_Rover]

21 minutes ago, Hasta said:

At this level I’d swap Blake for a Gally in a heartbeat.

He's 51, but I agree with you. You'd still be playing with 10, mind.

[Exiled_Rover]

47 minutes ago, all you need is duff said:

Morton really wasn’t the problem tonight. So many players worse than him. The ridiculous scapegoating needs to stop.
 

The problem at the moment is clearly at the top end of the pitch and due to poor recruitment, I’m not really sure what the solution is unless BBD can go through a purple patch 

Morton was really good for 20 minutes, then he disappeared. 

[all you need is duff]

14 minutes ago, roversR4ever said:

Well it has to be said, the loss of Buckley has hurt us badly. Simply much further ahead in his development than Morton, better defensively and much better going forwards both carrying the ball and seeing a pass. Certainly in the form he was in. Travis played better alongside him.

Wharton should be starting rather than Morton and Leonard needs more game time, both our two striker's haven't done enough to even be starting recently. At least the youngsters will get more experience. 

For me Dack a few years ago was streets ahead of both our strikers,  even now I'd trust he to put away a chance if we can get him into scoring position's when he's fit. 

The team that finished against Huddersfield should have started tonight.

 

Just checked and only 5 of our league wins this season have come when Travis and Morton start together in midfield. Two of those five (Birmingham, Middlesbrough) were alongside Wharton in more of a midfield 3 than an 2 with Dack/Szmodics in front and two were in a 3-4-3 (Milwall, Watford). Therefore Reading at home is the only league game where we’ve started Travis and Morton in a 4-2-3-1 and won 

[roversR4ever]

13 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

As Wharton demonstrates, being much further ahead in your development than Morton doesn't get you in the team ahead of Morton. So Buckley being injured probably hasn't made a ton of difference. Wharton is the best of the 3 for me.

Buckley was starting, our midfield looked much better. I will agree that Wharton looks a real prospect so should be playing.

Our manager seemed to have found confidence in Buckley so was willing to play him and doesn't in Wharton, that's why I said losing Buckley has hurt us.

[Exiled_Rover]

1 hour ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

We cant cut the mustard when required.Fear we are going to fall just short.

I think we're going to fall well short - I'm not sure if we pick up another point this season. It's a very tough run in and we just can't score goals.

We were playing with 9 today with Gallagher and Brereton-Diaz on the pitch. You can't ask an 18/19 year old just making his debut to bag your goals... so where are they coming from? 

[had.e.nuff]

a lot of very nervous player out there tonight they look scared of making a mistake so never took a chance, all they seem to want to do is pass it across the back when are they going to learn it is not working now every side just lets us pass knowing that we will slip up and give it away,and Brereton looks and plays like he does not want to be here frighted to death of getting injured twice he pulled out of challenges when he was favorite to get it .Not hopeful for the run in.

[superniko]

9 minutes ago, all you need is duff said:

Just checked and only 5 of our league wins this season have come when Travis and Morton start together in midfield. Two of those five (Birmingham, Middlesbrough) were alongside Wharton in more of a midfield 3 than an 2 with Dack/Szmodics in front and two were in a 3-4-3 (Milwall, Watford). Therefore Reading at home is the only league game where we’ve started Travis and Morton in a 4-2-3-1 and won 

Wow - I’m not a fan at all of the two of them together, but that’s even surprised me how low it is. 

[chaddyrovers]

My thoughts we created one great chance in the game for Dolan and we got into several good areas to shoot or even put a ball in or cross the box and failed to do so. Disappointed with players not willing to shoot like Travis, etc on the edge of the box. Just shoot please. Dolan should have scored and why BBD just didn't pass to Pickering when he overlap him in a similar situation to the SHeff Utd one where Pickering scored and won Goal of the month I just don't know

I didn't why you picked Gallagher then play him wide right. Surely Thomas would have been better to provide some width and pace. Thought JDT was far too late with his subs and Leonard should have come on 25 mins early same as Thomas and probably Hedges. Gallagher, BBD and Dolan can't have any complains at being sub either. 

Now back to 6th with tonight point so not the result we all wanted but still in 6th place and its in our hands to get this playoff spot. 5 games left now. 

Szmodics deserved his MOTM tonight. Was our best player 

I didn't understand Hull and Darlow time wasting in the game when Hull are safe and nothing to play for. Bizarre to be honest

Now on the Coventry game on Wednesday night

Edited April 15, 2023 by chaddyrovers

[Gaz85]

Very frustrated and angry after that performance tonight. Slow, passive, unimaginative, lacked bravery, lacked desire, lacked quality, lacked ambition….I could go on. Pretty much everyone was a sack of shit tonight. Brereton can fuck off to Spain if that’s how he is going to “perform” for the rest of the season.

[bluebruce]

11 minutes ago, roversR4ever said:

Buckley was starting, our midfield looked much better. I will agree that Wharton looks a real prospect so should be playing.

Our manager seemed to have found confidence in Buckley so was willing to play him and doesn't in Wharton, that's why I said losing Buckley has hurt us.

One off game and he'd have gone back to Morton. He really rates that lad for reasons I can't fathom.

[Miller11]

Dismal and demoralising display. A pathetic performance that feels like a loss.

We found a way to cover for Morton’s weaknesses and play to his strengths against Huddersfield. He’s been consistently poor in a midfield two for ages, so why revert back to that.

We put in our best attacking performance in ages when Gallagher was nowhere near the pitch, yet today he’s back in and plays over 80 minutes despite being completely useless.

Hyam has gone well off the boil - crap today. In fact most of them were.