v Watford (h) 23/12/23

[Wheelton Blue]

3 minutes ago, Gav said:

Absolutely. 
 

He’s the best manager we’ve had under these morons ownership, I doubt we could do any better, what the hell does these fans expect? 

Totally agree with you there, he's done a lot of good things and I've not heard one single call for his head, put it that way.

It doesn't mean that he's beyond critcism, though.

[Gav]

Just now, Wheelton Blue said:

It doesn't mean that he's beyond critcism, though.

Yes couldn’t agree more. 

[DE.]

7 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Fair enough, leaving early is out of frustration, but if we concede late, the game is typically done. 

Late or just first. I wouldn't be surprised if the amount of points we've accrued over the past five years, after going behind first, are in the single digits or very close to. 

[Riverside under the drip]

As much as our 'brand' of football could be entertaining, with our current squad it is just plain boring for long sections of the game. Once or twice a game, our quick passing tears teams apart. Mostly, we flick it off our ankles onto a defender's shin. A handful of normal corners have resulted in genuine chances and goals yet we persist in losing the ball easily from short passing most of the time. WHY?!

With 10 seconds left, we were still passing it around defence. This isn't good football without a better class of player who can pass more effectively. Can we afford them? No.

[Mattyblue]

To be fair JDT gets a healthy amount of flak at games, as has every manager here… apart from the last one, I reckon even Kenny copped more than that fella. Most odd.

[K-Hod]

9 minutes ago, Bethnal said:

Ewood Park catchment area supremacy in full-flow. No surprises.

Sorry for having aspirations outside of East Lancs, I guess?

No supremacy whatsoever, I don’t blame anyone leaving their local area in search of a better life for themselves!
Still, it’s strange you picked that one line and ignored the rest of my post!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

56 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Don't blame anyone. When we go behind at Ewood you might aswell go home.

Since we have been back in the ground after Covid, Rovers have gone behind 21 times at Ewood.

We have won 2, drawn 1 and lost 18 of those 21 games.

1 point from losing positions in the last 16 games we have gone behind in at Ewood.

A pathetic mentality around the club.

Nail hit firmly on the head. Players have come and gone, managers have come and gone, behind the scenes jobsworths have come and gone. The same malaise/lack of fighting spirit/ weak mentality remains. The one factor that has  been at the club in all that time is the “ owners “.

[tomphil]

Lowe at Preston has them over achieving on a thin squad for the first half of every season and they like us fall short. He gets pelters though because of some of his in game decisions and they keep blowing games late.

The truth, as is at Ewood, will lie somewhere in the middle, poorly funded invested squad, injuries AND lack of nous at times from the sidelines.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

59 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Don't blame anyone. When we go behind at Ewood you might aswell go home.

Since we have been back in the ground after Covid, Rovers have gone behind 21 times at Ewood.

We have won 2, drawn 1 and lost 18 of those 21 games.

1 point from losing positions in the last 16 games we have gone behind in at Ewood.

A pathetic mentality around the club.

Nail hit firmly on the head. Players have come and gone, managers have come and gone, behind the scenes jobsworths have come and gone. The same malaise/lack of fighting spirit/ weak mentality remains. The one factor that has  been at the club in all that time is the “ owners “.

[Bethnal]

18 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

‘Southern supremacy’ in full flow there… 

Not at all. The industry I’m in doesn’t really exist here to any meaningful extent. If it helps, I’ve been trying to open a branch here for about a year.

As the song famously says, “Oh, Lancashire is Wonderful.”

[Parsonblue]

Another frustrating afternoon at Ewood.  I love the football we play but, ultimately, the only way fans will return on a regular basis is with winning games.  Seven home defeats in the first half of the season is a difficult sell to fans - no matter how cheap the tickets.  At the end of the day those who aren't die-hards, want to see winning football - not unique to Rovers, it's the same at every club.

Personally, I think we've been fortunate with the previous manager and the present one.  Mowbray did a good job steadying a club that look beyond hope and JDT has built on that and produced some superb football over the last eighteen months.

Recent results have simply highlighted the threadbare nature of our squad.  It's all very well relying on an Academy to produce players but it's unrealistic to expect the Academy to produce three or four players every year who are up to the required standard.  Looking the bench in the past three or four games shows just how unrealistic that aim is.

We are crying out for some experienced, older heads, to help the younger players and in particular to help see out games when we are in a winning position.  A couple of 29 or 30 year-olds who've been around the block would make all the difference to this squad. 

Until we get the right mix of youth and experience I think we will continue to struggle for consistency.  Young players are still learning and will make mistakes - Leo being a good example yesterday.  He made some excellent saves but, ultimately, two errors late in the game cost us.

With little or no money available in January it's difficult to see how things change.  At the moment we are a decent mid-table Championship team but no more than that.  Financially, we are falling further and further behind from the club's who have realistic chances of a top six finish.

Nonetheless, congratulations to all concerned in helping to get the crowd figure up yesterday.  It was a great effort.

[Gav]

8 minutes ago, Parsonblue said:

Another frustrating afternoon at Ewood.  I love the football we play but, ultimately, the only way fans will return on a regular basis is with winning games.  Seven home defeats in the first half of the season is a difficult sell to fans - no matter how cheap the tickets.  At the end of the day those who aren't die-hards, want to see winning football - not unique to Rovers, it's the same at every club.

Personally, I think we've been fortunate with the previous manager and the present one.  Mowbray did a good job steadying a club that look beyond hope and JDT has built on that and produced some superb football over the last eighteen months.

Recent results have simply highlighted the threadbare nature of our squad.  It's all very well relying on an Academy to produce players but it's unrealistic to expect the Academy to produce three or four players every year who are up to the required standard.  Looking the bench in the past three or four games shows just how unrealistic that aim is.

We are crying out for some experienced, older heads, to help the younger players and in particular to help see out games when we are in a winning position.  A couple of 29 or 30 year-olds who've been around the block would make all the difference to this squad. 

Until we get the right mix of youth and experience I think we will continue to struggle for consistency.  Young players are still learning and will make mistakes - Leo being a good example yesterday.  He made some excellent saves but, ultimately, two errors late in the game cost us.

With little or no money available in January it's difficult to see how things change.  At the moment we are a decent mid-table Championship team but no more than that.  Financially, we are falling further and further behind from the club's who have realistic chances of a top six finish.

Nonetheless, congratulations to all concerned in helping to get the crowd figure up yesterday.  It was a great effort.

Perfectly summed up Parson.

[Sweaty Gussets]

3 hours ago, arbitro said:

Yesterday our midfield three were excellent for seventy minutes and pretty much everything that was good came from them. The balance of the three worked perfectly well and whilst Wharton caught the eye with his silky skills the hard yards that Garrett put in was really good, his two blocks in the first half exemplified his game and he was ridiculously booked for what I think is the tackle of the season so far. Tronstad is one of the cleanest tacklers I have seen for a long time. He completely disproves the theory that you need to be a brute to tackle, it's about timing. He short passing game and ability to keep the ball moving is something I really enjoy watching.

There are so many good things about Rovers right now but they come from the football side through the players and coaching staff. I really dislike losing but the football we are playing at times gets me off my feet.

If only the owners and hierarchy at our club could match the desire, drive and ambition of the playing side.

I think that was AW's best game in a Rovers shirt, which I don't think was a coincidence. With Garrett and Tronstad offering protection to the back 4, AW had a lot more freedom to get forward, capped a brilliant goal.

When he inevitably moves to the PL I think he'll be more of an attacking mid. He's a bit wasted just sat in front of the back 4 starting off attacks. 

I liked the look of that midfield 3 yesterday. We looked more compact until their legs went late on. The conundrum is where do you play Szmodics? He isn't a striker or a winger. 

[Sweaty Gussets]

1 hour ago, Mattyblue said:

Doesn’t surprise me he’s never been remotely popular at Ewood, not like St Anthony of Yarm who certainly was until the very end.

Some followers of football are quite stupid, and very entitled. I remember fans protesting against Don Mackay outside the main stand. 

[Sweaty Gussets]

1 hour ago, tomphil said:

You know my feelings the guy really needs some backing to play the way he wants to but in the absence of that he needs to seriously rethink what he's doing.

The club as it is deserves and probably needs a plodder but as fans we want ambition and an ambitious approach and JDT has that in spades. Have to say though with this squad it isn't really working now there are huge flaws in it that are being exposed weekly.

So where do we go from here ?

We're 5 points off 6th at the half way mark. What were you expecting this season? 

[booth]

17 hours ago, simongarnerisgod said:

wahlstest looks to me like another walton,mistakes aplentymwe could have signed a steadier keeper for a lot less at the beginning of the season,between him and pears id`e have to go for aynsley,which is not great really

I wouldn't be surprised if he's been signed off the strength of a highlight reel. He pulls off some good saves but then follows it up with several blunders.

[MarkBRFC]

4 minutes ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

We're 5 points off 6th at the half way mark. What were you expecting this season? 

Not to lose 7 home games by Christmas.

I know it doesn't matter where you get points as long as you get them, but still, it's a massive problem.

[Sweaty Gussets]

Just now, MarkBRFC said:

Not to lose 7 home games by Christmas.

I know it doesn't matter where you get points as long as you get them, but still, it's a massive problem.

The other side of that coin is that we've won the joint 4th highest number of games away.

Home and Away there are only 4 teams that have won more games than us.

So the manager is clearly doing something right. 

Concentrating on the negatives in order to make a point isn't really a fair representation. 

 

 

[Gav]

10 minutes ago, booth said:

I wouldn't be surprised if he's been signed off the strength of a highlight reel. He pulls off some good saves but then follows it up with several blunders.

You're describing a mid table championship keeper to me booth?

I was at the game so haven't seen the highlights, but the keeper was exposed time and time again in 2nd half because we were knackered and Watford brought of 4 pairs of fresh legs, we were lucky it was only 2-1 in the end.

Edited December 24, 2023 by Gav

[booth]

Interesting to see people saying Ennis was well off it. Obviously he's not fully match fit but I thought we suffered when he went off.

[joey_big_nose]

1 hour ago, tomphil said:

You know my feelings the guy really needs some backing to play the way he wants to but in the absence of that he needs to seriously rethink what he's doing.

The club as it is deserves and probably needs a plodder but as fans we want ambition and an ambitious approach and JDT has that in spades. Have to say though with this squad it isn't really working now there are huge flaws in it that are being exposed weekly.

So where do we go from here ?

I thought last night was a pretty good tactical evolution imo with the diamond, very different to how we have played recently, and you could see Watford couldn't get to grips with it at all. We were very compact and solid. So feels like a step in the right direction.

What we shouldn't have done imo is once Ennis and Hyam went off kept committing so many players forward. Watfords goals and series of chances in the final quarter from the ganecame from them breaking on us and our midfield being out on its legs so couldnt track back.

JDT and coaching teams homework is to figure out how to tighten up and see out games . I guess the key issue is without pace up front sitting back means we cant get out. But equally we cant be as open as we were in the last quarter of games when we are dead on our feet.

Edited December 24, 2023 by joey_big_nose

[booth]

Just now, Gav said:

You're describing a mid table championship keep to me booth?

I was at the game so haven't seen the highlights, but the keeper was exposed time and time again in 2nd half because we were knackered and Watford brought of 4 pairs of fresh legs, we were lucky it was only 2-1 in the end.

He was exposed, but I'm talking about his entire time here not just yesterday.

To be fair we shouldn't be playing a rookie keeper. The lad is 24, new to the Championship and to the team. Normally he'd be back up keeper.

[jim mk2]

The amount of anti Tomasson feeling at Ewood isn’t surprising when you consider how many games we’ve lost. Most fans don’t travel away and the home form has been poor - fans are fed up seeing defeat after defeat.

There’s a middle ground. Just as fans calling  for him to go is over the top so is the love in with Tomasson on here. The reality is he’s a good manager doing a good job in difficult circumstances but is not quite the second coming some fans believe him to be. 

[Herbie6590]

 

[Mattyblue]

If he was the ‘second coming’ he wouldn’t be here. He’s flawed, he’s inexperienced in the grand scheme of things, but he’s doing a good job in the circumstances.