v Stoke City (a) - 25/11/2023

[arbitro]

After Stoke had made their substitutions yesterday I remarked what a big side they were and they looked physically intimidating. And pretty much to a man Rovers players stood up to them and their physicality by winning headers and tackles. I read so many comments after the Nobbers game about how they were bigger, stronger, bullied us etc and thought the opinions were way off the mark. Yesterday disproved the theory about not being intimidated by bigger and potentially more physical teams and the game reminded me of the recent win at Millwall when every player stood up to be counted.

I see it as another aspect of the way Tomasson coaches us and the mentality he is instilling amongst the squad.

[47er]

11 hours ago, simongarnerisgod said:

adam wharton,while he plays some sublime passes,needs to work more  off the  ball

He played at least a couple you'd put in the sublime category but i the first half he  played one lazy pass on the halfway line straight to their player about 10 yards away with all our defence moving up and no cover. Absolutely horrific.

Should have led to a goal. He does this every week and he really has to cut this out of his game.

[only2garners]

3 hours ago, Moptop1 said:

Ooo ark her.

Actually it's hark her............

[JohnD]

7 minutes ago, only2garners said:

Actually it's hark her............

In Blackburn it's ark er

[rigger]

3 minutes ago, JohnD said:

In Blackburn it's ark er

I always thought it was : ark at im/er.

 

Tin tin tin.

Edited November 26, 2023 by rigger

[only2garners]

I thought yesterday's display was primarily an excellent defensive performance. Stoke had the vast majority of the ball and managed one shot on target, none at all after about 7 minutes. There is a fair bit of competition but I made Tronstad our best player, as he probably has been for a few weeks now.

It seemed to me that when Scott went off we more or less played 3 at the back with both Travis and Britain operating a bit further forward than a traditional back would play. When under pressure (plenty of the time) both were back with Moran making that back 6.

Neil was thoroughly out thought yesterday. Right from the first minute when Stoke set up to attack what he expected would be us playing out from the back and Wahlstedt kicked it long past half the Stoke team from which Szmodics should probably have scored. Neil said after the game that he knew we were weak on scoring from corners - obviously he expected us to play it short. Instead we put in straight on to Scott's head, who Stoke had conveniently left unmarked.  He also said that the South Korean lad had a great game so he didn't want to bring Vidigal on - I thought Travis had him in his pocket all afternoon.

[LDRover]

1 hour ago, rigger said:

Wahlstedt pulled off a superb save in the first half.

Agreed. I don't rate him highly but that save was top drawer

[harryhealless1928]

Just a point on Leo. Too early to judge really after a fairly disappointing start to his Rovers career, not to get too hung up on a few mistakes.

O.K. yesterday with a solid defence in front of him.

Adam Whartons freestyle careless passing cant be any picnic to deal with.

Thomas Kaminski started off at Luton throwing the ball into his own net in an early game,but now looks world-class(as he did for us the first part of last season).At least according to MOTD highlights!!

So lets give the lad a bit of time to improve.

[CAPT KAYOS]

16 hours ago, onlyonejackwalker said:

😀

Its a 'blues' as in colour and conversely happiness 47er, but you know that already!!!! And yes we are happy tonight!

Don't try and make sense of football chants!

For years before matches in the early 80's we sang 'We are the Rovers, We are the Champions'....'We are the Rovers, Champions of Europe'....normally before losing at home to Swindon, or Port Vale, or Oxford. Real Madrid weren't panicking, but we kept singing it.

Indeed ... " Oh you'll never go to heaven..  in a biscuit tin.."

[philipl]

3 hours ago, arbitro said:

After Stoke had made their substitutions yesterday I remarked what a big side they were and they looked physically intimidating. And pretty much to a man Rovers players stood up to them and their physicality by winning headers and tackles. I read so many comments after the Nobbers game about how they were bigger, stronger, bullied us etc and thought the opinions were way off the mark. Yesterday disproved the theory about not being intimidated by bigger and potentially more physical teams and the game reminded me of the recent win at Millwall when every player stood up to be counted.

I see it as another aspect of the way Tomasson coaches us and the mentality he is instilling amongst the squad.

Agree with this completely. Stoke were a big side and their subs looked even bigger on TV.

In that crazy few minutes before Scott Wharton's injury, it looked like they were successfully bullying us- particularly Dolan, Moran and Tronstedt had already taken some robust treatment to put it mildly.

No idea what JDT did with the lads in that brief huddle before Trav came on but t transformed the game and the out muscling by Stoke was nullified. Trav of course was stuck straight in physically and verbally.

Ref was an interesting one, kept cards in his pocket at times things could have got out of hand through not booking players but thought he managed the game well overall. Don't often feel a ref's previous decision hasn't influenced the next one but that ref seemed to judge each incident purely on its own merits and played advantage well.

Rovers strangling all Stoke forward momentum and Stoke's acceptance that they weren't going to do much more than go sideways in the central third made the game less incendiary than it might have been.

[BlackburnEnd75]

4 hours ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

Yeah, good save that and pushed it away from the onrushing forwards.

It's hard to make a full judgement on him but I think he's a better shot-stopper than Pears. Pears has let a few of those type of shots bounce over his wrist and into the net. 

I would maintain that there is a higher ceiling to Wahlsted than Pears. I think he's a better shot stopper and has settled into playing out from the back pretty quickly. 

He's likely got another 5 or 6 games before pears is fully fit. He's got to keep putting in performances like yesterday to ensure he keeps his spot.

 

[only2garners]

This from The Oatcake messageboard sums the game up from me. It was a reply to a post that said "3-0, a fair result".

Agreed. Professional performance. They scored quickly then had no obligation to go after a big score line. They defended properly and attacked when they had very limited risk of being caught out.

[Herbie6590]

 

[Bbrovers2288]

That’s was a tremendous result yesterday, one I didn’t see to be honest, I always feel like stoke beat us. 
if only we could get some consistency to sustain a push 

[Andy]

Something that may have been missed with everything else going on, but still worth pointing out was Leo Wahlsted's performance.

Very solid, one very good save (just after we'd gone 1-0 up) and was proactive in coming for crosses and catches.

Growing with each game.

[Mike E]

18 hours ago, Miller11 said:

Absolutely. He’s got bags of self confidence which has probably been a big factor in his goal return. He also seems really resilient and you can’t really imagine a spell of bad form from him. He’s had some really poor games but doesn’t seem to dwell on it, the Rotherham game earlier this season was a good example - a horrific first half followed up with a brace after half time.

I spoke to him briefly in the summer, and he views every half as a new game. Refreshing mindset tbf.

[Upside Down]

Look what happens when you take a proper corner.

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, Andy said:

Something that may have been missed with everything else going on, but still worth pointing out was Leo Wahlsted's performance.

Very solid, one very good save (just after we'd gone 1-0 up) and was proactive in coming for crosses and catches.

Growing with each game.

Very good point made there Andy. Wahlstedt made his one and only save which was a good one aswell. 

He is getting better as time goes on

[rigger]

3 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

Look what happens when you take a proper corner.

perhaps it's the steep run-up at Ewood that puts our players off taking long corners ?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

15 minutes ago, rigger said:

perhaps it's the steep run-up at Ewood that puts our players off taking long corners ?

It doesn’t seem to bother our opponents.

[rigger]

1 minute ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

It doesn’t seem to bother our opponents.

It was a tongue in cheek comment, perhaps I should have finished the comment with Ha-Ha.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

16 minutes ago, rigger said:

It was a tongue in cheek comment, perhaps I should have finished the comment with Ha-Ha.

When I did the ground tour we had a walk around the pitch and it was pointed out to me the step up at the Darwen end Jack Walker Stand side.

[Atko's Engine]

Sounds like a great textbook away win. A superb result from a tough fixture.

When you consider our oldest 4 players are aged 27 or 28, and 3 of them are injured, and none of the others are over 24 it's quite testament to the players, JDT & his staff to be able to put in a mature performance like that, especially at quite a hostile ground against a team who were on a decent run.

I cant pick out individuals as I didn't go, but it seems like everyone contributed to the cause & was 100% committed to each other, which is great to see along with the passion at the end.

I've seen brief highlights; perhaps on another day none of those goals go in, they all had a sense of good fortune about them. I don't think the earlier chances Szmodics had were easy misses either, they weren't sitters by any stretch.

Anyway great win, two decent looking fixtures coming up to really help push us on & make a push for top 6. C'mon Rovers, let's find some consistency & keep us dreaming.

[Ossydave]

26 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

When I did the ground tour we had a walk around the pitch and it was pointed out to me the step up at the Darwen end Jack Walker Stand side.

If anything it makes things easier 

[47er]

3 minutes ago, Atko's Engine said:

I don't think the earlier chances Szmodics had were easy misses either, they weren't sitters by any stretch.

First one was surely?