v Millwall (a) - Monday 8th May

[Sweaty Gussets]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:30, davulsukur said:

Well, this is incredibly non committal 

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I suppose you can interpret that in a number of ways. 

[Mercer]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:18, booth said:

One man?

I won't stick the boot in as we're all suffering, but did the fact we don't have any centre halves and those players you mentioned that have no bottle not have something to do with it? I can only assume you're giving Waggott, Broughton and Venkys a free pass on this too.

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It is not one man.

However, the one man who makes the team selections and sets the tactics is the manager and in my opinion he's got it so badly wrong at times over the last 10 matches.  You look how we played in the first half at Huddersfield and Millwall today and how well we then played in the second half of those matches when personnel and tactics were changed at half time.  So galling one more point would have done the trick.  

Yes we all know about Waggott, Broughton and Venky's but I think JDT screwed up badly over the last 10 games and a glorious opportunity has been lost - for this the buck stops with him. 

[roverandout]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:01, DE. said:

Give him a pre season to get himself back to proper fitness, he'll be fine. Literally the only player we have with any real footballing intelligence. Wouldn't keep him on his current deal, but if there's a more sensible deal to be made it's an easy decision. 

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I would add Wharton with the football iq thing

[booth]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:33, bigbrandjohn said:

Who has played their last game for us after today? Thomas, Diaz, Ayala.  I would add Dack, Hedges, and Pears. 
We finished well and ironically Diaz turned up in the  second half.
We lost this campaign by the finest of margins in the last few games. No goalie goal against Coventry and we are in the playoffs. 
Truth is we are not ready. We need a season of a JDT team.  We will see if Broughton is up to the task. I have my doubts. 

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I think JDT has managed his last game.

[1874]

at half time small consolation

[davulsukur]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:35, Sweaty Gussets said:

I suppose you can interpret that in a number of ways. 

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Really? 

Not a difficult question to answer if he's planning on staying.

[lraC]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:36, booth said:

I think JDT has managed his last game.

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Me too. I think the January window and in particular the O’BRIEN fiasco has sickened him. Hope he lets the idiots know how he feels, if he does resign. I’m convinced he will. 

[Mercer]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:31, martonrover said:

Failing to beat the likes of Brum and Hull in the run in........

Every club can go through the fixtures and cite hard luck stories.

We finally got our act together when it was too late.

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Nail on head.

[Sweaty Gussets]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:36, booth said:

I think JDT has managed his last game.

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He's a bit too young to retire!

[AllRoverAsia]

Come on Amari!

 

[speeeeeeedie]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:27, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Two last minute equalizers v Cov and Nob end......could have been so different folks.

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Szmodics or Dolan against Luton. Hirst (or the ref allowing the goal) against Cardiff too. There are more as well. 

It's a shame but a team with a negative goal difference will always struggle to make the playoffs.

Bad referring decisions, missed sitters, drab draws, and spineless defeats all contributed to 7th place yet ultimately all of this falls at Venkys feet. 10+ years of abjectly bad ownership meant that Rovers started the 22-23 season already behind due to the combination of the late appointment of JDT and Broughton, and them having to deal with a threadbare squad left to its own devices.

Then they allowed whoever messed up the January window to stay in situ.

There is hope for next season. Rovers have some good young players. A goalscorer, a clever head in midfield, left back, and probably a keeper are minimum requirements. 

[booth]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:35, Mercer said:

It is not one man.

However, the one man who makes the team selections and sets the tactics is the manager and in my opinion he's got it so badly wrong at times over the last 10 matches.  You look how we played in the first half at Huddersfield and Millwall today and how well we then played in the second half of those matches when personnel and tactics were changed at half time.  So galling one more point would have done the trick.  

Yes we all know about Waggott, Broughton and Venky's but I think JDT screwed up badly over the last 10 games and a glorious opportunity has been lost - for this the buck stops with him. 

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It's galling but the buck doesn't stop with the manager on this one.

It does if you're willing to forget every other factor there is and blame him for decisions made way before he was here.

[Sweaty Gussets]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:38, davulsukur said:

Really? 

Not a difficult question to answer if he's planning on staying.

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Really. He says he doesn't want to speculate.

We also don't know how him and Broughton are getting on.

We also don't know if any other clubs are in for him. 

He also referenced his contract.

He gave a good answer that tells us nothing,

[Mashed Potatoes]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:38, lraC said:

Me too. I think the January window and in particular the O’BRIEN fiasco has sickened him. Hope he lets the idiots know how he feels, if he does resign. I’m convinced he will. 

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None of us are admirers of the owners but I suspect that if the manager did want to "walk" to another club they would demand full compensation of his outstanding contract plus those of any staff members who left with him - that is likely to run in to millions.

[booth]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:39, Sweaty Gussets said:

He's a bit too young to retire!

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He looked positively youthful when he arrived, so I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't walk away from football altogether. After a year with that grim bunch in the offices, it'd put anybody off!

[DaveyB]

Has the manager made mistakes over the course of the season? Yes, as have all of the players at one time or another. 
 

But, in the last minute of each of the last 4 games before today, we have had some incredible bad luck - a handball goal against us, a freakish own goal, a stonewall penalty not given and hitting the underside of the bar.
If just one of those things had gone the other way we’d be in the playoffs tonight. 
 

I’m cautiously optimistic for next season - I don’t think we’ll lose any players from the squad, other than BBD and Thomas, and hopefully we can make some astute signings and improve during the summer. 
My only real concern is losing JDT, but hopefully he will want to stay and see the ‘project’ through for at least another season. 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Lot of trouble around the ground I hear...careful Rovers fans.

[martonrover]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:38, davulsukur said:

Really? 

Not a difficult question to answer if he's planning on staying.

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Agreed, JDT's answer certainly suggests he might leave.

Very non - committal.

[Exiled_Rover]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:38, lraC said:

Me too. I think the January window and in particular the O’BRIEN fiasco has sickened him. Hope he lets the idiots know how he feels, if he does resign. I’m convinced he will. 

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He won't resign, but he'll be taking interviews in the summer. 

I don't think the O'Brien fiasco sickened him - the lack of a goal scorer did. He even said so in February. 

[B16Rover]

Can't help but feel like we chucked this away in the last 5 or so games 

 

Coming into new season can look one of two ways.  Hopefully with JDT, a better resourced wage bill and a structure for the club.  However the fear and my gut says insert bog standard yes man British manager (you choose there's many), limited investment in lower end championship players and a push for a project on our kids 

 

Hope I'm wrong

[had.e.nuff]

The lack of goals was always going to be our problem

[bigbrandjohn]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:36, booth said:

I think JDT has managed his last game.

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Interesting call.
I think we will know quickly. If he gets no joy from the owners he will be off. I think he feels let down by Broughton and he won’t waste another season having to play without at least two new quality forwards. 

[Spankus Munky]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:01, yankfan said:

Feeling a bit of pride after that.  Excellent way to end the season but really should have been in the bag weeks ago. Poor run since the World Cup, but can’t help be feel undone in part to bad luck. Can easily point to 3 or 4 matches where a point has been stolen from us. We return nearly the entire squad who played meaningful minutes. Need at least 4 in. 2 center forwards, a left winger and a left back. If GN can get the necessary paperwork over the line in the summer we should be top 6 next year. 

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Really? With the 3 coming down from the Prem and the 2 (Watford & Norwich) from this season that underperformed that are still here is 5 that should be gunning for the top 6 straight away, then we have the 3 that will miss out this time in the play-offs. You think we are 4 signings away from making the Play-offs when we are losing 2 almost ever presents from the team this season? minimum 6 needed and one of them needs to be a top, repeat *TOP* striker. Our transfer record tells me not a chance and another season of mid-table mediocrity is beckoning in what will be a much tougher division next season.

[Mashed Potatoes]

  On 08/05/2023 at 16:50, bigbrandjohn said:

Interesting call.
I think we will know quickly. If he gets no joy from the owners he will be off. I think he feels let down by Broughton and he won’t waste another season having to play without at least two new quality forwards. 

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Off where, though ? As I wrote above, any new club is probably going to have to compensate us, probably for a couple of million or so.

[NeilInBristol]

211 days in top 6 !! So close.