v Middlesbrough (h) - 16/09/2023

[arbitro]

5 minutes ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

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. 

I knew the Boro goal was close to offside but how on earth has a full time, professional official missed that. Shockingly bad. The same linesman missed two clear fouls on Pickering and Hyam right under his nose. And when he finally flagged for a foul on Szmodics later he was wrong.

[DE.]

Is it me or was O'Brien playing on left wing? I thought he was a CM.

Shocking defending from Boro for our second, it's incredible how they stood there and let Sammy tee his shot up before belting it in. Little wonder they're on -9 GD. 

Dolan's miss looks even worse watching it a second time. It's a shocking lack of composure. Head it anywhere other than upwards and it's going in. 

Edited September 16, 2023 by DE.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Great clearing header from Dolan ! How did he miss that ?

[Sweaty Gussets]

9 minutes ago, sharpysharps86 said:

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

Yep, that was a brilliant moment with his face up on the big screen at the same time as SS slotting the opener. Think he would have enjoyed that one!

[Ossydave]

Enjoyed it, bit nervy at the end like but we survived.

Might just be me but we're far more enjoyable to watch this season, not quite Keegan-esque but it's better than last season when we created 3 chances a game at this stage (granted we seemed more clinical then).

I'm calling it now, Carter will be our next biggish money sale, he's improved so much and motm for me today. Under the guidance of Ayala and Hyam I guess.

Dolan on the other hand has taken bulking up too far and is looking a shadow of the player that burst onto the scene.

Finally, time to start docking wages of these officials, absolutely appalling. 

[Sweaty Gussets]

1 minute ago, arbitro said:

I knew the Boro goal was close to offside but how on earth has a full time, professional official missed that. Shockingly bad. The same linesman missed two clear fouls on Pickering and Hyam right under his nose. And when he finally flagged for a foul on Szmodics later he was wrong.

I sit level with the edge of the 18 yard box and close to the pitch. It's amazing how bad the lino's are at keeping up with play.

That really is an appalling decision though. You didn't even have to be in line to call that.

 

[chaddyrovers]

JDT's post match interview 

https://x.com/BBCLancsSport/status/1703098052645388311?s=20

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2023 by chaddyrovers

[Colt Seavers]

I wonder if Carrick is on borrowed time?

Hilarious how that generation (Lampard, Gerrard, Parker) appear clueless and way over promoted.

[matt83]

41 minutes ago, Cherry Blue said:

. Telalovic was a poor static player up front

Wasn’t this the guy who was meant to have run the 100m in 10 seconds or something like that 

[Darwen Rover 007]

Main takeaways from the game today:

1.  Let's be clear Boro are lacking confidence.

2.  Hyam / Carter are an upgrade on Lenihan.

3.  Brittain is best going forward.

4.  Pickering is not good enough, hot caught out and struggled to get back.  Would play Brittain and JRC as full backs, would even consider bring back the bull ie Nyambe.

5.  Travis played well, Wharton has a lot to learn.

6.  Hedges played well.

7.  Dolan is a great sub and a poor starter.  Fact. Morgan should be playing this position.

8.  Gallagher plays well but isn't a goalscorer!?

9.  Telalovic - clearly off the pace, but saw some excellent touches, needs work but has talent clearly.  We need both Leanord and this lad to step it up, in other teams they would have a strong goal scored ahead of them, big opportunity for both!

10.  Smodic, huge upgrade on Dack, I mean huge, our star man.

Final word for the boss.. he has got us playing some excellent football, seriously this guy is best we have had in a long time, I hope we can keep him for a few years! 

Great win, although as others have said should have been 4 or 5! 

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

13 minutes ago, Beanie01289 said:

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

For me it was a case of missed opportunities - we took 2, missed some very clear chances. But they also had some good chances. We would have been unlucky not to win - but it could have been so different. Boro look a good side - can't see them at the bottom come the end of the season.

[neophox]

People saying everyone was poor...winning games when poor is what wins you trophies...

[BigBar]

32 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. 

Yeah lucky that we got away with those misses and they didn't equalise when clean through, after 3 had 3 players make a mess of it 6 yards out and it dropped to one of their players, lucky that van den berg heads over from 6 yards. Pears made excleents saves too. 

[glen9mullan]

Was a decent championship game, with both sides having moments of quality and then not so.

More positives than negatives,  and at ths stage of the season I think Boro have more issues than us, particularly at the back where they were closed down quickly, and the mistakes crept in.

Pears must be on borrowed time, looked suspect on a number of occasions and it's rather when than if, before we see the new boy.

Brittain put some superb balls into the box that both Dolan and Gallagher wasted, though creating chances does not appear to be our issue.

Sammy, getting two is critical, we need to share goals out and he was very sharp today.

Carter continues to improve and JRC was crucial change at right time and did excellent when coming on.

Jury out on new boys, but far too early to judge them.

It's a big 3 points and a wins a win

 

[BigBar]

16 minutes ago, Beanie01289 said:

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

Read above. Is it ok that I feel we were lucky to get the win in the end? 

[arbitro]

6 minutes ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

I sit level with the edge of the 18 yard box and close to the pitch. It's amazing how bad the lino's are at keeping up with play.

That really is an appalling decision though. You didn't even have to be in line to call that.

 

I sit in the JW Upper in a similar position to you and in the immediate aftermath the linesman was pointing at a Rovers player who he was saying played Crooks onside. That made it even worse for me. Not long after he gave an offside in which the Boro player looked at least level to me. I said to my brothers that the pressure he was under from the crowd got us that decision.

[chaddyrovers]

Delighted with that win and the performance. 

We played some good attacking football and should have been 3 nil at half time if we took our chances with Dolan and Gallagher missing clear cut chances. Szmodics scored a good goal Pears made 2 good saves. 

Second half started well and Szmodics scored a great goal with his shot. His performance was excellent and well deserved Man of the match award. 

Their goal was clearly off side and how the officials missed that I don't know. At least EFL chairman Rick Parry got a first hand account how poor EFL officials are now. Time him and Howard Webb sorted this out. 

After that Boro push and push but we kept resolute and make tackles or blocks in. Szmodics should have had a hat trick today. Hedges had a good chance. Telalovic had a chance and I thought he should have got it on target at least. He put himself about and did well in his first goal. 

Carter managed his game very well after his early yellow card. Sign of maturity and experience he has gained. 

Also post match it was great that every player and JDT came to the fans and thanks the fans with clapped of thanks and support. 

Pre match it was good to see so many former Rovers players come out and was given a good reception by the Rovers fans. Some fans in the Blackburn End gave their opinion to Waggott when him and Rick Parry came out for the presentation

Very much deserved win and I will enjoyed my Chinese takeaway tonight. Well done Rovers!!!

JDT's Blue and White Army 🔵⚪   

Edited September 16, 2023 by chaddyrovers

[Sweaty Gussets]

3 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I sit in the JW Upper in a similar position to you and in the immediate aftermath the linesman was pointing at a Rovers player who he was saying played Crooks onside. That made it even worse for me. Not long after he gave an offside in which the Boro player looked at least level to me. I said to my brothers that the pressure he was under from the crowd got us that decision.

Spot on. He was pointing to a Rovers player, but I think he knew he'd fucked up and was trying to justify it. And he did give offside soon after against their guy who was on the RS side of the pitch who was clearly on!

I think what unnerved the lino was the guy who, after the Crooks goal, ran out from the section of singers near the DE, and followed the lino all the way back to the Halfway line giving him shit! 

[roversfan99]

Probably a game that sums us up. Going forward, we create chances far better than we have in the past, although we dont take anywhere near enough.

Defensively we look very ragged this season and the balance of the midfield especially without Travis wasnt right. Massive gaps that a better team than Boro (we have had a favourable first 6 games) would have done far better with, their striker in particular was really poor when presented with big spaces especially at the end. The Tronstad situation is so strange, surely he would be ideal to help to close some space deep in our midfield.

Pears was shaky as we expect, the back 4 were left exposed but in the main did well. Wharton has been a mixed bag this season, fantastic on the ball but exposed at times, Travis did well when on. Hedges was a threat, Szmodics deserved man of the match, Gallagher was ok without offering much goal threat and Dolan again nowhere near good enough. Moran was really poor too and Telalovic looks very raw, think he was given offside when he missed that sitter but aside from one excellent pass he struggled to lead the line.

We are dying for some experience to provide some stability and some know how. The last 30 minutes is not a sustainable way against better teams to see results out.

[JamieUK]

Jesus 😕

 

[Crozzy]

3 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I sit in the JW Upper in a similar position to you and in the immediate aftermath the linesman was pointing at a Rovers player who he was saying played Crooks onside. That made it even worse for me. Not long after he gave an offside in which the Boro player looked at least level to me. I said to my brothers that the pressure he was under from the crowd got us that decision.

I sit just by the away dugout and noticed the linesman pointing to Pickering after their goal. Certainly looked offside from here I was. 
JDT went over to the fourth official not long after and was saying something that looked along the lines of the goal was certainly offside. 
 

Very open game today. We look so dangerous going forward this season. Also think we have become so much better playing out from the back. The triangles to beat the press work so much better. 
 

As I left one minute after the full time whistle, bumped into Tronstad outside who was on his phone and leaving. He turned and acknowledged me back which was good of him. Anyone know why he’s not even in the squad today?

[chaddyrovers]

https://x.com/Rovers/status/1703085130196062636?s=20

 

 

 

 

[roversfan99]

VAR would have ruled out their goal.

[Crozzy]

2 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Probably a game that sums us up. Going forward, we create chances far better than we have in the past, although we dont take anywhere near enough.

Defensively we look very ragged this season and the balance of the midfield especially without Travis wasnt right. Massive gaps that a better team than Boro (we have had a favourable first 6 games) would have done far better with, their striker in particular was really poor when presented with big spaces especially at the end. The Tronstad situation is so strange, surely he would be ideal to help to close some space deep in our midfield.

Pears was shaky as we expect, the back 4 were left exposed but in the main did well. Wharton has been a mixed bag this season, fantastic on the ball but exposed at times, Travis did well when on. Hedges was a threat, Szmodics deserved man of the match, Gallagher was ok without offering much goal threat and Dolan again nowhere near good enough. Moran was really poor too and Telalovic looks very raw, think he was given offside when he missed that sitter but aside from one excellent pass he struggled to lead the line.

We are dying for some experience to provide some stability and some know how. The last 30 minutes is not a sustainable way against better teams to see results out.

Agree with a lot of what you said but wouldn’t say Pears was shaky. Made some good stops today. 

[chaddyrovers]

for you Matt 

https://x.com/Rovers/status/1703099102207111412?s=20