v Sunderland (h) - 20/9/23 - 19:45

[jim mk2]

19 minutes ago, booth said:

After watching the Plymouth match, the Boro match and this evening, I'm very concerned about our lack of strikers.

Great insight there. It's been bleedin' obvious since the end of last season

[RevidgeBlue]

12 minutes ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

I have a funny feeling Semir isn’t going to be the answer to our prayers if JDT didn’t fancy him for more than 10 mins when we were desperate for goals and had no other bugger who looked remotely likely.

Broughton has provided JDT with Ennis who seemingly isn't fit  enough to play and this Semir who basically doesn't seem to have any experience at senior level.

[simongarnerisgod]

adam wharton is finding the game a bit harder now he`s a marked man,played some great passes but needs work off the ball

[Aqualung]

39 minutes ago, rigger said:

I am starting to think JDT might be purposely not playing the summer signings as a way of saying fuck you to his superiors.

Like who rigger? 

What a silly post. 

[BigBar]

If we didn't miss all our chances then concede 3 we would have won😂

[booth]

1 minute ago, jim mk2 said:

Great insight there. It's been bleedin' obvious since the end of last season

No need for sarcasm, it's far worse than last season as you well know.

[Rover_in_the_South]

So honest assessment, we were really bad tonight or they were really good? 

[Exiled_Rover]

Another game where you're shaking your head all the way back to the car in amazement.

How did we lose that? Did I hear that stat right - 17 shots in the box? Fuck me. 

[BigBar]

1 minute ago, Rover_in_the_South said:

So honest assessment, we were really bad tonight or they were really good? 

Neither.

[Miller11]

I’m really pissed off tonight. Primarily with people who weren’t on the pitch/at Ewood.

We were absolutely battering Sunderland for the first half hour or so and should’ve been 3 up. Like Plymouth all over again. Creating plenty but woefully lacking in front of goal. It’s obvious the plan in the summer was to buy another centre forward until Venky’s pulled the rug out from under everyone. We’d be comfortably near the top of the table if we’d have spent modestly on a remotely competent striker, and they’d be approaching double figures already. They always find new ways to sabotage us.

I’m also sick to death of Sam Gallagher. Doesn’t use his pace, crap in the air despite being 6’4, a reluctant centre forward despite being practically a blueprint one, absolute sick note, a soft arse. I’m more pissed off that we are reliant on somebody so unreliable and underwhelming.

Lots of harsh criticism tonight for some of our players. Wharton receives the ball in tight situations with his back to goal dozens of times a game, obviously he’ll lose the ball occasionally but people expect perfection. He’s absolutely key to what we do well.

None of the subs shone, all disappointed to varying degrees but that is hardly surprising given the circumstances when they came on - we’d become totally ragged and incoherent by then. Some strange/desperate decisions with the changes.

We need Ennis and Sigurdsson to get and remain fit very quickly or a promising season will peter out quickly. 

[1864roverite]

Still wondering just how the hell we managed to cock this game up with the amount of missed chances followed by the amount of loose passing and lack of basic footballing skills !

That football in the first 35 is the best football since Hughes had us flying in the top 6 it’s superb at times and the followed by utter frustration.

dreading Ipswich away

[dallydally]

Wake up and smell the coffee! It's simple - we don't have a striker who can score. Simples!!

[Hasta]

1 minute ago, Rover_in_the_South said:

So honest assessment, we were really bad tonight or they were really good? 

We missed a bucket load of chances and they scored from a daft penalty, a keeping error and giving the ball away at the back. It shows why we won’t be challenging this year, but watching it I don’t think you’d expect Sunderland to be top 6 either.

[DE.]

Just now, Rover_in_the_South said:

So honest assessment, we were really bad tonight or they were really good? 

We were very bad at taking our chances and keeping the ball out of our net, they were very clinical. Some decent attacking options and we would have scored more than one - better defensive shape and we don't concede three. Sunderland weren't anything special but it's the same problems that sunk us against Plymouth/Hull and caused our problems against Rotherham. In my view there isn't very much we can do about the attacking side of things, as Venky's wrecked our transfer window, so we have to focus on making the defensive side of our game better. 

Problem is I think JDT is going with this attacking style because he knows we need a lot of chances to score, which will inevitably leave us vulnerable at the back.

[Hasta]

2 minutes ago, dallydally said:

Wake up and smell the coffee! It's simple - we don't have a striker who can score. Simples!!

Who are you telling to wake up and smell the coffee? Is there any poster who sounds like they are disagreeing with you?

Edited September 20, 2023 by Hasta

[Exiled_Rover]

Just now, Hasta said:

We missed a bucket load of chances and they scored from a daft penalty, a keeping error and giving the ball away at the back. It shows why we won’t be challenging this year, but watching it I don’t think you’d expect Sunderland to be top 6 either.

To be honest I wrote off our playoff chances when the window closed without signing a striker (or another wide player tbh). 

[SAFCfaninpeace]

4 minutes ago, Rover_in_the_South said:

So honest assessment, we were really bad tonight or they were really good? 

We were well below our usual standards for most of that game. 

[BigBar]

3 minutes ago, 1864roverite said:

Still wondering just how the hell we managed to cock this game up with the amount of missed chances followed by the amount of loose passing and lack of basic footballing skills !

That football in the first 35 is the best football since Hughes had us flying in the top 6 it’s superb at times and the followed by utter frustration.

dreading Ipswich away

We will probably go and win there. We are so unpredictable.

[booth]

Just now, DE. said:

Problem is I think JDT is going with this attacking style because he knows we need a lot of chances to score, which will inevitably leave us vulnerable at the back.

Spot on.

[Exiled_Rover]

48 minutes ago, rigger said:

I am starting to think JDT might be purposely not playing the summer signings as a way of saying fuck you to his superiors.

No, he'll want to win as many games as possible for his CV.

[Oldgregg86]

10 minutes ago, Rover_in_the_South said:

So honest assessment, we were really bad tonight or they were really good? 

It was like watching a massive underdog land a few good punches in the first two rounds getting the fans excited before the experienced pro grinds him down for the next few and then knocks him out in the 7th round as the under dog runs out of gas and ideas

no prizes for guessing which boxer we where in that analogy

Edited September 20, 2023 by Oldgregg86

[Exiled_Rover]

1 hour ago, BankEnd Rover said:

We will get these scorelines with the way we play it’s why we have to take our chances!

A Shout out to the 3 worst cameos I’ve seen in a long time…Come on down Dolan, JRC and most importantly Jake Garret…All 3 were woeful and I mean beyond shocking.

We will probably loose Saturday and back down to realisation we come. 

The Manager is working with the bare minimum. Imagine, they bring on Roberts as a sub and we bring on Jake Garrett…That’s where we are.

You missed out Markanday - he's a good L2 player that can maybe play in L1. Why he's still here is beyond me. 

[Hasta]

1 minute ago, SAFCfaninpeace said:

We were well below our usual standards for most of that game. 

That’s a common comment from fans of teams we play at Ewood. Everyone can’t underperform, it has to be something we are doing right. We tend to carve out a load of good possession and get in good positions and dominate long spells of games but can’t score. Rarely do teams look better than us at Ewood. We just struggle to turn it into results. Away from home we can be absolutely terrible though.

[roversfan99]

13 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Broughton has provided JDT with Ennis who seemingly isn't fit  enough to play and this Semir who basically doesn't seem to have any experience at senior level.

You seem keen to avoid putting any blame on us having to go through bargain bins to try and sign a competent striker.

[DE.]

1 minute ago, Hasta said:

That’s a common comment from fans of teams we play at Ewood. Everyone can’t underperform, it has to be something we are doing right. We tend to carve out a load of good possession and get in good positions and dominate long spells of games but can’t score. Rarely do teams look better than us at Ewood. We just struggle to turn it into results. Away from home we can be absolutely terrible though.

Playing badly and still being able to win tends to be the sign of a good team (assuming they don't play badly all the time). Playing well and still not getting results... well, usually that doesn't end so well as confidence begins to ebb away. Taking last season's second half dip into account we've been struggling for consistent form for some time now. Venky's ruined our chances of seriously addressing this in the summer, so it's no surprise we aren't really any further forward.