v Middlesbrough (h) - 16/09/2023

[Sweaty Gussets]

6 minutes ago, Exiled in Toronto Mk2 said:

Pears - keeps the shirt on Weds

Brittain - best game for us so far

Carter - our best defender IMO, give him a bigger, even longer contract.

Hyam - reliable, better than Lenihan

Pickering - learning the JDT way, did the JRC midfield switch thing well in the first half

Travis - Travis

Wharton - some silky touches but man, he needs to be better when we don’t have the ball, offered very little defensively and I’d love to see his running stats.

Hedges - good game, unlucky not to get two goals

Sammy - love the guy

Dolan - doesn’t have it to play the JDT way and that first miss was pathetic

Gallagher - see Dolan

Moran - worst home debut I can recall, little boy lost

Telalavic - I liked him, some good passes under pressure in the last ten

Hill - I liked his awareness and tracking

Leonard - not there yet but I have high hopes.

Gally was excellent apart from his headed finish.

Dolan is poor, but then Moran was no better. 

[SBlue]

11 minutes ago, Displaced Rover said:

That’s an understatement. It was Andre Ooijer levels of bad.

I feel JDT played him to prove a point. “Look at one they’ve given me, now don’t complain online when I don’t pick him for rest of the season”

Nonsense. Slipped Szmodics through really nicely for a one v one and was in a good position for a chance on the break, although sliced.

We were proper under the cosh at the time and he did ok leading the line.

[Bethnal]

12 minutes ago, Displaced Rover said:

That’s an understatement. It was Andre Ooijer levels of bad.

I feel JDT played him to prove a point. “Look at one they’ve given me, now don’t complain online when I don’t pick him for rest of the season”

The same thought crossed my mind, I can’t lie. I hope it’s not true, but he needs a lot of work.

[Cherry Blue]

Should have scored 5 today with Dolan, Gally then Szmodics missing easy chances. Telalovic was a poor static player up front, unlike Gally who runs about. Moran was slow and out of position probably knackered after his return from International - why I don't know.

Wharton's poor pass almost cost us the game but Pears was as good as he's been and probably saved us 3 points. 

 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Had high hopes for Dolan but he's just not cutting the Mustard...happy with today's result!

Sammie worth his weight in Gold to this side.

Edited September 16, 2023 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[BigBar]

13 minutes ago, OsloRover said:

Easy win if the inept officials do their job, that boro goal is one of the most blatantly offside goals I’ve ever seen.

Pears excellent, Hyam and Carter too.

Brittain very good first half but faded a little. Pickering steady as usual.

Travis good, JRC very good. I would like to see them as a midfield pair when Wharton gets his rest, he was average today.

Szmodics man of the match by a country mile, too bad he fluffed his hat trick chance but still a top performance.

Hedges good, Dolan very poor again but Moran not a lot better today.

Telalovic like every other foreign player shocked by the sheer tempo of the league, but is not slow and won quite a few headers. Deserves a chance.

Leonard did well in his short cameo. Hill I dont’t think did much but looks big.

Did he even win one? Genuine question because I was keeping an eye on that to see what type of player he actually is, didn't see him win one but maybe a missed something?

[rovers11]

Excellent result and some lovely football. Boro are not one of the top teams this year but they're still not an easy team to beat. 

Sammie has fast become our most important attacking player. No doubt he's one of best players. 

Although early days, Telalovic looks like a lower league player. His turn of pace was incredibly slow. Moran didn't do much better when he came on. 

 

[philipl]

Exhausted after watching that! We don't do easy...

But we got the 3 points again and this JDT side has the resilience to see through a tough last 30 minutes.

Officials- oh dear. It was a penalty in my opinion Dieng scything through Dolan's pirouette. And as for the linesman on the Jack Walker stand. He even had the markings of the 6 yard box to help him. Crooks 2 yards inside, no Rovers player except Pears either in the box or even parallel to the line. And he missed 3 bad fouls on Rovers players. 

Dolan didn't score in the 2nd minute not because he is too little but because it was a horrendous header. Dolan didn't score in the first minute of the second half because his chest trap was horrible.

That said, Moran sadly showed JDT was right to start with Dolan. It was also a rude welcome to the Championship for Telalovic who didn't look as greased lightning as his build-up.

Thankfully JRC was fantastic when he came on.

Phew, thank you for the 3 points and the walking survivors stagger onto Wednesday night. 

[Displaced Rover]

3 minutes ago, SBlue said:

Nonsense. Slipped Szmodics through really nicely for a one v one and was in a good position for a chance on the break, although sliced.

We were proper under the cosh at the time and he did ok leading the line.

Game of opinions isn’t it? Makes it interesting. I’d say your opinion is the one bordering on nonsense.

He looked immobile, lacking fitness, poor touch and tried to hide away from the ball. That isn’t negated by the one decent pass he played go Szmodics.

[1864roverite]

We have different views, the one thing that matters is 3 points and a win.

Should have been a landslide with Dolan and Gally guilty of 3 horrid missed whilst SS should have scored the hat trick he fully deserved.

We move on to Wednesday and the return of a certain Mr Dack.

Tidsy is another reversed result from last season. Again another positive 

[BigBar]

Lucky to get away with 3 points today.

[Sweaty Gussets]

Just now, philipl said:

It was also a rude welcome to the Championship for Telalovic who didn't look as greased lightning as his build-up.

Telalovic was the exact opposite of what he looked like on his YT vids. I thought he'd be quick and wiry, but he was almost Shefti-esque. He looked a big lumbering target man. There's no way he's run 100m in 10.1.secs!

The again he may well be just unfit. 

Despite all that I thought he looked decent. We'll see when he's properly fit. 

[Miller11]

No idea how that finished 2-1, relieved it did in the end.

Pears very lucky to keep his place but he did very well today. Brittain was flawless for 70 minutes and very positive in his play. Faded badly and went walkabout late on. Pickering reasonably steady, done for pace once and one really poor cut back.

Carter is our best defender. Hyam mostly steady, couple of times he came charging out to the halfway line, didn’t deal with it and left us exposed. He’s done that a few times this season. We lack leadership at the back and some very poor decisions were made late on adding to the nervy finish, Hyam seems to lead by example rather than being an organiser.

Travis wasn’t great. If he’d run in a straight line when he made the tackle that injured him the ball was his all day.

People expect Wharton to be flawless, which is ridiculous. He was very good today despite their number 25 clearly being asked to do a man marking job on him.

Hedges was very good defensively. Dolan is doing himself no favours with his detractors, dreadfully out of form, two bad misses and a terrible decision for the penalty incident. Gallagher was pretty hopeless, and that header was criminal.

Szmodics was superb and will be disappointed it wasn’t a hat trick.

New striker looks like he needs a lot of time on the training pitch. Wonder if his arse will come under as much scrutiny as Ennis’s has on here, cos it looked on the big side!

JRC is far too good and important to be on the bench. Moran surprisingly and worryingly ineffective.

[SBlue]

5 minutes ago, Displaced Rover said:

Game of opinions isn’t it? Makes it interesting. I’d say your opinion is the one bordering on nonsense.

He looked immobile, lacking fitness, poor touch and tried to hide away from the ball. That isn’t negated by the one decent pass he played go Szmodics.

The speed of the game at that time would be hard for any debutant.

Yes, he looked a little off the pace, but no more than Moran and certainly not enough to make any worrying definitive judgements.

[Exiled_Rover]

7 minutes ago, BigBar said:

Lucky to get away with 3 points today.

Lucky in the sense that Dolan missed two open goals, Gallagher missed a regulation chance and we should have had a penalty? Not to mention their GK making three excellent saves. 

[SBlue]

2 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Lucky in the sense that Dolan missed two open goals, Gallagher missed a regulation chance and we should have had a penalty? Not to mention their GK making three excellent saves. 

And their goal doesn’t count in 99% of professional games

[Miller11]

15 minutes ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

Excellent performance for the most part. Anyone saying we were lucky needs to give their Claret and Blue specs a wipe. 

Our finishing lets us down every week, but the performances in general are night and day compared to this time last season. We create so many clear cut chances and for the most part control possession. 

Boro huffed and puffed but rarely threatened. 

Great win.

 

 

 

At this point last season it was all about kamikaze defending giving goals away. The emerging pattern so far this season is missing good chances at the other end. If we can overcome that we’ll do very well this season.

[Danishfan]

I haven't read the whole thread for once. I watched the game on Rovers TV. Normally I don't like to talk bad about anyof our players.
 But Dolan!
I mean, I could have scored on this chance and even my grandmother could have scored (even though she died 10 years ago)
This is bound to be Dolan's last chance at the 1st team. He doesn't deserve it anymore :(
We had so many chances but didn't take them but luckily we won in the end. I think/hope we will see a different line up in the next game.
Why wasn't Tronstad involved?

[arbitro]

Three points is always the objective so it's mission accomplished. The main reason we weren't more comfortable was there for all to see and it's an area which is starting to worry me. In our last two matches we have created enough chances to have won several games but we simply haven't taken enough of them. I thought the majority of other aspects of play we were good at. Intensity, passing, movement and creativity were good today and it we can just convert a higher percentage of good chances we will do well. Once again Tomasson deserves credit for his set up and changes he made. It was telling that Carrick played more on the counter attack in the second half as a testimony to his well we played in the first half. That said I would be making changes for Wednesday with Dolan and Travis being my choices to be replaced. Both of them were under per today and Dolan in particular with his awful decision making. Hopefully the talismanic Szmodics will be fit. His importance to us was never more evident than today up until getting injured.

 I'm happy tonight as I a!ways am with a win and if we can follow this up with another on Wednesday I'll be delighted.

[Exiled_Rover]

1 hour ago, BigBar said:

Poor performance today. Delighted with the 3 points. Gonna have many of these this season I feel. Lucky to get the 3 points but don't care.

I thought we absolutely battered them, but we couldn't finish our dinner.

If this Telalovic isn't a gem we're in the same position as we were post-January last year - playing lovely football with nobody able to consistently put it in the back of the net. The chances Dolan and Gallagher missed were criminal. 

[Sweaty Gussets]

Blackburn Rovers 2-1 Middlesbrough | Championship highlights | Video | Watch TV Show | Sky Sports

Crooks was a yard offside.

Great dummy by the excellent Gally for our first goal. Shame he missed his header. 

A good clearing header from their FB in the first minute. Oh no, that was Dolan trying to score!

Edited September 16, 2023 by Sweaty Gussets

[sharpysharps86]

What a surreal and yet typically Rovers game. It could've been a 4 or 5 nil victory when you think back to some of the missed chances, but it's also incredible as to how Boro didn't get anything out of it in the end with how open Rovers were at times in the 2nd half.

That being said, when JDT 's style clicks, it really is a joy to watch. I thought some of the passages of play were exceptional at times.

Some thoughts:

• Brittain was outstanding today.
• Szmodics really grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck. Two brilliant goals, he is such a likeable player. Shame he didn't get his hat-trick.
• I actually thought Dolan did ok aside from the sitter near the start of the game, and Moran seemed to be much poorer when he came on for him. Very much a rabbit in headlights type performance from him.
• Gally also did ok but again was guilty of missing a sitter. Same old Gally really.
• Telalovic I thought showed some good instinctive touches and movements at times, but its clear he's very raw at this level. What a moment it would've been if he'd stuck that chance in to make it 3-1 near the end. He's going to be the next Fode Koita or the 2003/04 season Jon Stead 😂.
• I still want to see us switch goalkeepers. Pears was ok today but I'm uneasy about him when the defence is under pressure.
• Hedges played really well. I think him and Brittain link up nicely down the right.
• Adam Wharton showed his class again on the ball, but he looked to be really struggling off the ball as the game went on. Too many lacklustre challenges and some sloppy touches as he tired.

I should also add - Szmodics goal coming in the 30th minute during the applause for Matt Sillitoe was absolutely wonderful.

Edited September 16, 2023 by sharpysharps86

[Sweaty Gussets]

5 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

At this point last season it was all about kamikaze defending giving goals away. The emerging pattern so far this season is missing good chances at the other end. If we can overcome that we’ll do very well this season.

First half of last season we couldn't play out from the back. We we hopeless at it. We'd just lose it as soon as we tried to play into midfield. We defended deep and defended well and got a lot of 1-0 wins at home ( apart from when we lost it fannying about at the back and conceded...but that didn't happen as much as people claimed)

This season we are just incredibly open, and much more attacking.

We're a really good watch at times, my worry is we are very susceptible to the counter because we commit so many players forward. 

[Beanie01289]

28 minutes ago, BigBar said:

Lucky to get away with 3 points today.

go on how come? I'd say unlucky to not walk out on back of a hammering of boro

Edited September 16, 2023 by Beanie01289

[JohnD]

7 minutes ago, Danishfan said:

I haven't read the whole thread for once. I watched the game on Rovers TV. Normally I don't like to talk bad about anyof our players.
 But Dolan!
I mean, I could have scored on this chance and even my grandmother could have scored (even though she died 10 years ago)
This is bound to be Dolan's last chance at the 1st team. He doesn't deserve it anymore :(
We had so many chances but didn't take them but luckily we won in the end. I think/hope we will see a different line up in the next game.
Why wasn't Tronstad involved?

Couldn't agree more on Dolan, I can't think of one attribute he has that merits a place at this level.

I don't think he's signed a new contract yet (thankfully), I never want to see him in a Rovers squad again 😡