v Coventry (h) 19/4/23 @ 19:45

[rigger]

12 minutes ago, blue_n_white99 said:

Statistically what you say is correct, but we've won 1 game in our last  7, can barely score and are playing sides who are hitting form at the right time whilst we have declined dramatically. Current form would suggest we miss out.

Millwall and Preston, aren't hitting form, Luton are already in the play-offs, and might be eyeing up those games.

[DaveyB]

2 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I still can’t figure out why teams bring everybody back to defend corners. Would the goalie have come up if we’d have left Dolan on the half way line ? It’s not like he’d be much help in defending a corner anyway.

In answer to the question in bold - Yes. It was the last seconds of the match and they were losing - sending your keeper up at any point is essentially conceding that getting a goal back is worth risking losing another one. No matter how many players we'd left on the halfway line it wouldn't have changed the decision to send him up for that corner.

And, it was actually the ref stopping play for pushing etc before the corner that allowed their keeper time to get forward. He came into the box fairly late whilst the ref was talking to players and sorting out the melee, and no one seemed to notice him at first. Szmodics does eventually, but he's already marking a player - you could see him mentally weighing up whether to leave his man and get the keeper or not, and ultimately he stayed with his original man, which is why the keeper has such a free run into the 6-yard box. With hindsight Szmodics should have tried to block his run off, but if he had done that and then his original man had come through and powered in a header then we'd all be asking why that man wasn't marked!

1 hour ago, tomphil said:

But...

Putting on a winger at full back, installing traffic cone Morton who only has instincts to stand on the edge of his own box and putting a 5 ft player in place of a 6'4" one, asking him to do the same job, are collectively all counterproductive to whatever he was yelling i'm afraid.

I'm sure you know this, as I'm seen it mentioned more than once on here already, but all the changes last night were forced on the manager by players needing to come off. Who on our bench would you have brought on different to JDT last night? The options left on the bench were Kaminski, Phillips, and Dack.

[JHRover]

This summer is going to be similar to previous. The owners aren't interested and aren't investing other than to cover existing costs meaning we are heavily restricted as to our transfer capabilities.

Tomasson will know what he wants and what is needed, unfortunately he won't get it unless they drastically alter their approach.

Even if we miss out we should be looking forward with optimism having had a good season, with I think a good manager gearing up for a proper crack at things having settled into the role and a quite young squad a year wiser. But anticipate it will be more of the same - scratching around for cheap loans like Mola and Hirst or Liverpool's latest option who they want game time for.

Perhaps a couple of Hibs/Aberdeen or League One players.

Lets remember that this is the way some people - fully paid up members of the FFP club and we can't do anything else - say it needs to be

[tomphil]

8 minutes ago, DaveyB said:

In answer to the question in bold - Yes. It was the last seconds of the match and they were losing - sending your keeper up at any point is essentially conceding that getting a goal back is worth risking losing another one. No matter how many players we'd left on the halfway line it wouldn't have changed the decision to send him up for that corner.

And, it was actually the ref stopping play for pushing etc before the corner that allowed their keeper time to get forward. He came into the box fairly late whilst the ref was talking to players and sorting out the melee, and no one seemed to notice him at first. Szmodics does eventually, but he's already marking a player - you could see him mentally weighing up whether to leave his man and get the keeper or not, and ultimately he stayed with his original man, which is why the keeper has such a free run into the 6-yard box. With hindsight Szmodics should have tried to block his run off, but if he had done that and then his original man had come through and powered in a header then we'd all be asking why that man wasn't marked!

I'm sure you know this, as I'm seen it mentioned more than once on here already, but all the changes last night were forced on the manager by players needing to come off. Who on our bench would you have brought on different to JDT last night? The options left on the bench were Kaminski, Phillips, and Dack.

This is where the in game management nous comes in and i already explained my points there were other options to shore it up. It's not necessarily always who you put on but where you put them and what you tell them to do.

[Groundhog]

7 minutes ago, tomphil said:

This is where the in game management nous comes in and i already explained my points there were other options to shore it up. It's not necessarily always who you put on but where you put them and what you tell them to do.

But JDT isn't telling Thomas to hit a clearance on the Riverside touchline first time on the volley, miss-hitting it, skimming off the bottom of his studs and going out for a Cov throw-in, which they then move 15 yards forward to put us under more pressure...

They were no other options to shore it up. On paper, putting Dolan up front makes total sense, nick the ball and take it into the corner, get them turned around - he didn't make one decent touch.

The short of it is: no one marked the keeper, Diaz turns his back on the ball coming in. Pears didn't come out. That's it for me.

 

Edit: If every player put in that extra 10% that Szmodics put in last night, we'd have been fine - he clearly wants it, wants the club to do well for himself and the fans. There's that slight extra percentage of determination when it matters that separates the best from the rest. I wanted someone to put their foot through it last night, hold the ball up, win a foul, chase every last cause.

Edited April 20, 2023 by Groundhog

[47er]

55 minutes ago, blue_n_white99 said:

Statistically what you say is correct, but we've won 1 game in our last  7, can barely score and are playing sides who are hitting form at the right time whilst we have declined dramatically. Current form would suggest we miss out.

The decline has been pretty long really, interspersed with a few good results. When we played Burnley the winner went top, we are now 28  points behind them!

[TheRovers1994]

Now I’ve had time to reflect rather than go in all emotional 

1. JDT dosent deserve the stick, yes his subs can be frustrating but gets things into perspective, JRC went off almost injured so that unbalanced the team, morton is contracted to playing, he’s doing well with what he has which isn’t much, let’s not forget when he came in last June around same time as broughton he hasn’t much time to prepare and had a squad with academy players making up the numbers, in terms of recruitment june is pretty late especially  when switching over to head coach rather than a manager who comes in knowing what he wants.. there is a difference. End of the day I never liked Mowbray from day one but had to give him the benefit of the doubt and a fair amount of time regardless so same with JDT. 

2. Adam Wharton is proving his worth, he’s a special player we’ve lacked since tugay.. with the drop of a shoulder tithing defence to attack something we could have had in Tom cairns if it wasn’t for a negative bowyer 

3. brereton a waste of space not even trying so he needs binning off and told to take his holiday early, at this point we need everyone digging in and him and Morton are a liability 

4. Gallagher plays off confidence, he did well last night, he’s never short of effort but you could see the boost the goal gave him but it’s not enough, a good player performs consistently and can influence a game changing in his teams favour Gallagher is not that, he’s always gonna be that player that is capable and has proven to be but simply doesn't have the will, aggression determination to do so 

5. referees have never been so poor, one thing that does piss me off is linesmen never run the likes anymore, they are supposed to be up and down that line in view of the ball but instead they only do half a pitch so they are only responsible for the far side too, if that linesmen on that side was where he should have been for the goal he would have possibly seen the handball to atleast open discussion with the ref, but instead they are just heavily reliant on the ref now, end of the day their woeful performances don’t effect them, they just trot off leaving the fans and players/coaches to dwell on their incompetence… it’s not on yet the authorities just don’t care that the integrity and standards of the game are so far from wenger they should be 

[TheRovers1994]

18 minutes ago, JHRover said:

This summer is going to be similar to previous. The owners aren't interested and aren't investing other than to cover existing costs meaning we are heavily restricted as to our transfer capabilities.

Tomasson will know what he wants and what is needed, unfortunately he won't get it unless they drastically alter their approach.

Even if we miss out we should be looking forward with optimism having had a good season, with I think a good manager gearing up for a proper crack at things having settled into the role and a quite young squad a year wiser. But anticipate it will be more of the same - scratching around for cheap loans like Mola and Hirst or Liverpool's latest option who they want game time for.

Perhaps a couple of Hibs/Aberdeen or League One players.

Lets remember that this is the way some people - fully paid up members of the FFP club and we can't do anything else - say it needs to be

Disagree, owners can only invest so much into playing staff, we are far from alone in this, we are pretty much back to the 80s, low crowds to what we used too and a shoestring, only difference is we have a decent ground (way too big like) and a fantastic academy 

[TheRovers1994]

2 hours ago, Groundhog said:

I agree - there's, as always, been some pretty horrendous reactionary comments online - but that's online for you - someone called him the "danish steve kean" FFS. Check your head. I need to stop checking social media after games, never ends well and just makes your blood boil.

We're basically a bundled last minute goal away from 3 points against a playoff rival. He's working with so little. It's not JDT's fault that Dolan and Diaz did nothing to alleviate pressure in the final 5 minutes. Two injuries so he had to go to a back 5, that's a normal thing to do, fair enough it hasn't worked well in recent games but it's such fine margins, it's also won us points.

People calling it "suicide football", I agree it's hard to watch, but what's the alternative, go for broke with an exhausted side and push forward? It's not always so black and white.

We've barely got a squad. We're missing a leader, some experience and a striker. 

 

 

Agree! If the ref had disallowed the goal or we simply hung on in general everyone would feel it was exactly the right move, another day it’s a win but it was a stroke of complete mis fortune

[Miller11]

2 hours ago, BankEnd Rover said:

You really think you would find anyone getting us higher than we currently are with this squad. I don’t reckon so.

Would you swap squads with Luton or Millwall?

[AllRoverAsia]

15 minutes ago, 47er said:

The decline has been pretty long really, interspersed with a few good results. When we played Burnley the winner went top, we are now 28  points behind them!

The decline in league games in April has been acute.

P 5, W 0, D 3, L 2, 3 goals scored, 6 conceded, 3 points from 15 available.

Yet we are still in a playoff position and our fate in our own hands. This highlights how, outside the top 2, bang average the league is.

On current form/results/plain luck, and looking at whom/ where we pay in our remaining fixtures, I struggle to see where our next point is coming from.

Let's hope the "twists and turns" favour Rovers.

[Guest]

For what it's worth, I thought the changes were the right idea in principle, but Scott Wharton trying to bring the ball down invited pressure, Dolan invited pressure, Thomas invited pressure, we had a free kick in our own half in the 94th minute and were caught OFFSIDE from it, allowing Coventry to counter, win a corner, and score. Pears lets the goalkeeper score from 4 yards out after Szmodics left his man completely alone. It's shocking game management from individual players that cost us last night in my opinion. 

We seem to have a general consensus that we can't hold onto leads very well under JDT. We won our first 16 games out of 16 when we took the lead, and I think that's only the third match we've not seen through having taken a 1-0 lead. Anyway, all this is completely irrelevant if the ref sees the clear, obvious, handball he's stood 4 paces away from. 

We don't have enough in the squad to get top 6, never had at any point during the season. Still in our hands, Preston are a wounded animal, Luton have already qualified, Burnley have taken their foot off the gas and Millwall look just as nervy as us. Still 2 spots very much up for grabs and it's completely in our hands with 4 games left. It's not all doom and gloom as it felt at 10pm last night.

[Hasta]

I'd be happy now to get to the last game against Millwall knowing it is a "win and your in" scenario. 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

43 minutes ago, TheRovers1994 said:

 

3. brereton a waste of space not even trying so he needs binning off and told to take his holiday early

So sad if that is the case,in our great position too...what this Club and fans have done to help this player over the last two years.How about some timely payback Ben?

Dont know where to start tbh....its just not happening is it folks☹️

[islander200]

1 hour ago, JHRover said:

This summer is going to be similar to previous. The owners aren't interested and aren't investing other than to cover existing costs meaning we are heavily restricted as to our transfer capabilities.

Tomasson will know what he wants and what is needed, unfortunately he won't get it unless they drastically alter their approach.

Even if we miss out we should be looking forward with optimism having had a good season, with I think a good manager gearing up for a proper crack at things having settled into the role and a quite young squad a year wiser. But anticipate it will be more of the same - scratching around for cheap loans like Mola and Hirst or Liverpool's latest option who they want game time for.

Perhaps a couple of Hibs/Aberdeen or League One players.

Lets remember that this is the way some people - fully paid up members of the FFP club and we can't do anything else - say it needs to be

Last summer we had the highest net spend in the championship.Not fortunes no but we ain't the only club who are reluctant to spend millions on the squad . 

[roversfan99]

10 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

That's is my opinion if you disagree fine but we kept their star striker quiet all game plus restricted their chances

I don't think we were very passive at all. 

We had 4 blocked shots and 2 shots on target. 

We got into good areas tonight but final decision making at times poor. 

Coventry were coming at us and JDT wanted to make us solid at the back which worked until the final corner which the Keeper handball it in the ref. 

We missed Gallagher after he went off. Couldn't keep hold of the ball after that. 

 

Again, 4 blocked shots and a meagre 2 shots on target all game hardly scream exhilarating performance!

Business end of the season, grind out a 1 nil win and deserved praise, that's all that matters but I can't fathom how it can be seen as a very good performance. Offered nothing in attack and sat back too long offering nothing on the break unfortunately.

I would say that the last 5 games overall have been nowhere good enough both in performances and results. Continuing is not the mindset we need, things need to change to get over the line.

[BankEnd Rover]

49 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

Would you swap squads with Luton or Millwall?

Luton probably yes, Millwall probably not, but we are literally in the same position as them…

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Last summer we had the highest net spend in the championship.Not fortunes no but we ain't the only club who are reluctant to spend millions on the squad . 

Through necessity due to asset mismanagement though... wouldn't have spent anywhere near that outlay had Nyambe, Lenihan and Rothwell not walked for free.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, DaveyB said:

In answer to the question in bold - Yes. It was the last seconds of the match and they were losing - sending your keeper up at any point is essentially conceding that getting a goal back is worth risking losing another one. No matter how many players we'd left on the halfway line it wouldn't have changed the decision to send him up for that corner.

And, it was actually the ref stopping play for pushing etc before the corner that allowed their keeper time to get forward. He came into the box fairly late whilst the ref was talking to players and sorting out the melee, and no one seemed to notice him at first. Szmodics does eventually, but he's already marking a player - you could see him mentally weighing up whether to leave his man and get the keeper or not, and ultimately he stayed with his original man, which is why the keeper has such a free run into the 6-yard box. With hindsight Szmodics should have tried to block his run off, but if he had done that and then his original man had come through and powered in a header then we'd all be asking why that man wasn't marked!

I'm sure you know this, as I'm seen it mentioned more than once on here already, but all the changes last night were forced on the manager by players needing to come off. Who on our bench would you have brought on different to JDT last night? The options left on the bench were Kaminski, Phillips, and Dack.

They might have still sent the keeper up or they may not have done. At least you’re asking them a question, to come up with an answer.

[RoversTilliDie]

The reason were miss firing look no further than Diaz, after Sam Gallagher put us ahead Diaz was caught offside 3 or 4 times were we could have finished the game off. For the remaining last 4 fixtures, lets play Blackburn Rovers players who will be at the club next season and give 100%. One thing about last night, I got a ticket for the Burnley game. COME ON THE ROVERS lets embarass them at Ewood.

Edited April 20, 2023 by RoversTilliDie

[roversfan99]

18 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Last summer we had the highest net spend in the championship.Not fortunes no but we ain't the only club who are reluctant to spend millions on the squad . 

As pointed out, its a bit of a false figure that could be avoided if we were run normally. We could have made over £12m within 6 months, spent roughly double the amount we did in the summer (£8m compared to £4m) and then would have had a net profit of £4m rather than a net loss on transfers. As it is, very limited in what we can do. Seems like frees and loans this summer.

2 minutes ago, RoversTilliDie said:

The reason were miss firing look no further than Diaz, after Sam Gallagher put us ahead Diaz was caught offside 3 or 4 times were we could have finished the game off. For the remaining last 4 fixtures, lets play Blackburn Rovers players who will be at the club next season and give 100%.

Next season is not the focus. We need to play the best players we have in the here and now.

[Miller11]

20 minutes ago, BankEnd Rover said:

Luton probably yes, Millwall probably not, but we are literally in the same position as them…

Then we are literally in the same position as Coventry, Sunderland and PNE too. So it’s not exactly a miracle is it.

[roversfan99]

When you reel off the teams. Luton. Millwall having lost their star man. Coventry, we nabbed their best defender for a pittance during their run in in which they couldn't play home games. Sunderland, managed by Mowbray and left with no strikers with their star man having picked up a bad injury and his back up being recalled at the end of the window. Preston, barely spend a penny, team full of loans and journeymen. That's a big reason why dropping out of the top 6 would be so unavoidably frustrating.

[Mattyblue]

We are a decent enough second tier side, however we’ve hardly a striker to our name.

That is what will cost us… and it ain’t on the manager.

[Groundhog]

If Mowbray gets Sunderland into the top 6 at the first attempt with no striker we're going to collectively lose our shit