John Eustace - our head coach

[Mercer]

I would love to know who Broughton's choice was to take over from JDT!

If the rumours are correct, he had very little, if anything, to do with the arrivals of Eustace, McFadz and Fleck (though the signing of Fleck isn't looking a great one atm).

[joey_big_nose]

42 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

It’s a trade off - we looking like we had more about us going forward when we re-jigged the team after McFadz went off be we also looked more open. 

Yeah exactly - I would stick with the solid defence approach personally and then open up later if needed. If you start attacking and open and fall behind you have nowhere to go, also the players tire out. 

Got to focus on keeping that goal conceded column down. 

[bigbrandjohn]

1 hour ago, DaveyB said:

I’ve been as critical as anyone of Eustace and the style of football we’ve played under him up until now, but last night showed that hopefully he will look to evolve the style, as the players showed (again) that not only are they more than capable of playing decent, progressive football, but they also look much more comfortable doing so than the more agricultural style of late.
We went toe to toe with a very good Premier League team and, for the vast majority of that game (the 10 mins either side of ht aside) we did so without resorting to aimless punts and still looked solid defensively and also looked dangerous going forward too.

But it’s also frustrating, because if they had been sent out to play like that in the games at Brum and Cardiff then I’m certain we’d now have at least 3 points more, maybe 5.
Let’s hope he’s learned ahead of 3 massive games next week. 

Incidentally, I thought we looked a lot more fluent and balanced after McFadzean had gone off and we went to essentially a 4-4-2.
I’d like to see us start games like this, especially at home, and keep the option of bringing McFadz off the bench to shore things up late on in games after we’re (hopefully) ahead. 

To be fair we have been walking on eggshells to get points.

 JE doesn’t want to ship goals and take us down. Hopefully this game has boosted our confidence and we have many more options, as everyone showed their capabilities.  An opportunity to play  more off the front foot. 

What pleased me so much was that we subbed three pivotal players and brought on three relative unknowns and they rose to the task. 

Edited February 28 by bigbrandjohn

[aletheia]

Fantastic win with Ewood rocking. Well done to each and every one of the lads. A fantastic performance and a great night.

I see all the new positives that have been mentioned and agree. Pragmatism 😉
But I don’t see this entirely as a new revolution. More a change of emphasis.
I do see some myths emerging.

Two banks of 4? Really. Permanent back 3 which was often a 5. Did change later on.
No passing at the back? Really? I saw plenty of playing out from the back. In fact, we did it really well (apart from Pears).
No tippy tappy? We passed the ball really well last night at times. Lots of short, sharp stuff. Good movement. Those players learnt that under JDT.
Brittain crossing? Well several times, he refused crossing opportunities and came back just as under JDT.

Newcastle allowed us to play and our players could deal with that chess-like game. It particularly suited Moran and Buckley who you would think might get crunched more in the Championship. Ditto Chrisene (really do think there is a player in there) and Ayari. Dolan didn’t go past a man but did keep the ball really well and worked tirelessly. It didn’t suit Gallagher who looked very limited.

And in the new emphasis (which I get is pragmatic and required) there were times when it looked primitive and ineffective. Pears lumping forward when under no pressure with Sammy waving his arms at him in exasperation. Some aimless hoofs up field.

And yet, needs must in the League.

A cracking night.

 

[RevidgeBlue]

5 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Be interesting to know how he is going to approach training over the next week. After a humongous effort over 120 minutes straight into two massive games on Saturday/Tuesday with a horrendous coach trip to Swansea thrown in.

Minimal exertion and work on the tactical side you’d think… flying to south Wales too would help, but considering they won’t even pay the M6 Toll far more chance of 🐖 flying.

He's obviously a "We've got to wee with the willy we've got" (to paraphrase Souness) type of guy so hopefully they'll just get their heads down with no whinging about being tired or travelling on the leased bus and get on with it with the same sort of application we showed last night.

Edited February 28 by RevidgeBlue

[martonrover]

2 hours ago, Mercer said:

It was quite clear the 3 'coaches' calling the shots were Eustace, Gardiner and Downing

Yes, it just appears to be a lot more proactive in the technical area, rather than just sitting watching the game.

 

[RevidgeBlue]

3 minutes ago, martonrover said:

Yes, it just appears to be a lot more proactive in the technical area, rather than just sitting watching the game.

 

Which Lowe still managed to do. He got up on 90 mins to stretch his legs though.

[Mattyblue]

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

He's obviously a "We've got to wee with the willy we've got" (to paraphrase Souness) type of guy so hopefully they'll just get their heads down with no whinging about being tired or travelling on the leased bus and get on with it with the same sort of application we showed last night.

I’m sure that’s the plan, but there’s no question that game will have taken it out of them. So 12 hours on a bus ain’t going to help.

[sharpysharps86]

2 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

He's obviously a "We've got to wee with the willy we've got" (to paraphrase Souness) type of guy so hopefully they'll just get their heads down with no whinging about being tired or travelling on the leased bus and get on with it with the same sort of application we showed last night.

Definitely get that impression. I doubt well ever be in a situation with JE where he is continuously moaning about off the pitch situations. As likeable as JDT was / is....it was becoming extremely irritating to hear that in every interview.

[B16Rover]

5 minutes ago, sharpysharps86 said:

Definitely get that impression. I doubt well ever be in a situation with JE where he is continuously moaning about off the pitch situations. As likeable as JDT was / is....it was becoming extremely irritating to hear that in every interview.

Just to make the note though all the claims jdt made were valid and will still be present irrelevant to JE success or failure.  

[aletheia]

Indeed. Only worse. Even less money, more loans, more family silver sold off. And if we have any family silver to sell off (players) will the proceeds come back to find replacements? You all know the score.

Edited February 28 by aletheia

[arbitro]

23 minutes ago, sharpysharps86 said:

Definitely get that impression. I doubt well ever be in a situation with JE where he is continuously moaning about off the pitch situations. As likeable as JDT was / is....it was becoming extremely irritating to hear that in every interview.

I liked Tomasson's interviews and found them a refreshing change from the mundane stuff from Mowbray. For me it was enlightening to hear him calling out the right people for the right reasons. He was misled on more than one occasion and I personally thought he was right to have a go even if it goes against the grain for the majority of managers interviews.

[USABlue]

6 hours ago, Groundhog said:

Walking out of Ewood last night trying to work out exactly what it is that Eustace has done to this side, I know it's small steps currently and we're not exactly pulling up trees in the league yet. It's hard to discuss subjectively as there's a lot of last night that was down to it being a free hit in front of the TV cameras, being "up for the cup" - but it was almost unbelievable that was the same side who toiled against Big Club and Cardiff. 

As well as getting us organised at the back, more compact, the arrival of Fadz, Eustace has to have done something to give them a bit of belief, whether it's man management, confidence or just taking the shackles off, maybe it's the simple stuff of stopping them being so wedded to a style of play and seeing no other way of coping with games.

He seems more active on the touchline, constantly cajoling the lads. Hard to tell from the Riverside, but every time I looked across it felt like he was almost telling Siggy how to cover and track back the entire second half.

We're also tackling hard and fair, even picking up more yellows for "proper" tackles, professional fouls - not stupid petulant frustrated stuff. 

When I saw Tronstadt was out I was pretty worried about our midfield, the last 6 months under JDT have done that, but I think by taking the pressure off us trying to play like Man City, there's less expectation on our midfield to constantly take the ball on the half turn and deliver a killer pass, it reduces the chances of mistakes. Last night we were just hungrier to win the second ball higher up the pitch, pick it up, then play our quick passing game to hurt teams, rather than trying to do it in our own third as we have been under the previous regime. 

Judging by comments in the press recently from Pears, words to the effect of "I'll do whatever the manager tells me to do", and Brittain "I was told not to cross it" it seems that it's easy for the modern player's head to drop and down tools if whatever the manager is doing isn't working - maybe they're being told to play to their strengths and the rest will follow? Being less rigid in terms of a game plan is helping. 

We've now come from behind two games in a row, this has to be the biggest evidence of something going on in the belief of the squad. Every time we made subs under JDT, the quality dropped, and last night I had that familiar feeling that the game was done, but we got better, same as with the Norwich game. Due to the cost-cutting of the squad, I'd forgotten that part of the game, bringing on subs to improve the side, who'd have thought that was an actual thing?!!

I take massive pleasure in us doing "normal" football things, 2 banks of four, being organised, clearing the ball under pressure, it's weird to see it, I've almost forgotten what it feels like.

Anyway, this is all irrelevant if we put in a poor performance against Swansea, and it's totally possible, but there's green shoots for sure. They seem to be fighting for each other and the shirt, talking and shouting at each other on the pitch, getting stuck in.

 

I am expecting a let down in iur next game, that was a herculian effort last night.  Sign of progress what, is Wags gonna do?  What if the patsy brought in oroves to be successful,? how will he derail it.  Well done Mt Eustace.

[NeilInBristol]

4 hours ago, Mercer said:

I would love to know who Broughton's choice was to take over from JDT!

If the rumours are correct, he had very little, if anything, to do with the arrivals of Eustace, McFadz and Fleck (though the signing of Fleck isn't looking a great one atm).

What rumours are those?

[tomphil]

4 minutes ago, NeilInBristol said:

What rumours are those?

That they were Waggots picks and arrived through his channels. 

[NeilInBristol]

19 minutes ago, tomphil said:

That they were Waggots picks and arrived through his channels. 

Oh ok unless it's something new that's surfaced I saw a few comments last week about this on the forums. I think this was all ruled out as speculation, can't remember who but someone worked through the Coventry timeline and it didn't add up as mcfadz fleck JE and waggot weren't there at the same time as was alleged 

[tomphil]

Just now, NeilInBristol said:

Oh ok unless it's something new that's surfaced I saw a few comments last week about this on the forums. I think this was all ruled out as speculation, can't remember who but someone worked through the Coventry timeline and it didn't add up as mcfadz fleck JE and waggot weren't there at the same time as was alleged 

It's an odd one as although there'll be connections even if timelines don't add up we have to take into account Broughton was always stating about continuity plans always being in place.  So it's hard to gauge whether he did or didn't have involvement in it all though not much point being here if he didn't.

As always it's the veil of silence that is the real issue but it does smack of returning to the previous way of working.

[Mercer]

6 minutes ago, tomphil said:

It's an odd one as although there'll be connections even if timelines don't add up we have to take into account Broughton was always stating about continuity plans always being in place.  So it's hard to gauge whether he did or didn't have involvement in it all though not much point being here if he didn't.

As always it's the veil of silence that is the real issue but it does smack of returning to the previous way of working.

If Broughton is still a Rovers' employee by the end of March then I'll be hugely surprised.

[tomphil]

12 minutes ago, Mercer said:

If Broughton is still a Rovers' employee by the end of March then I'll be hugely surprised.

What sort of contract will he be on i wonder ?

It it's similar to Waggot maybe there isn't one as such and either side has to give a notice period.

I don't think Eustace has ever referred to him although i may be wrong but if he's still in situ he'll still be the Head Coaches boss and his first port of call i assume.

[NeilInBristol]

54 minutes ago, tomphil said:

What sort of contract will he be on i wonder ?

It it's similar to Waggot maybe there isn't one as such and either side has to give a notice period.

I don't think Eustace has ever referred to him although i may be wrong but if he's still in situ he'll still be the Head Coaches boss and his first port of call i assume.

God help JE if he hasn't got a buffer between him and the owners or him and Waggot. Whilst GB has many faults at least he didnt put that burden on to jdt

[Upside Down]

2 hours ago, arbitro said:

I liked Tomasson's interviews and found them a refreshing change from the mundane stuff from Mowbray. For me it was enlightening to hear him calling out the right people for the right reasons. He was misled on more than one occasion and I personally thought he was right to have a go even if it goes against the grain for the majority of managers interviews.

100%

A straight shooter who didn't have a problem calling out the constant lies and bullshit that came out of the club.

Also always showed massive respect to us fans.

I don't think JE has been lied to the same way JDT was.

Yesterday's game was very similar to the ones we played last year against Leicester and West Ham. Hopefully JE can get us back where we belong.

Thought we were excellent yesterday and hope we can kick on from this.

[simongarnerisgod]

1 hour ago, Mercer said:

If Broughton is still a Rovers' employee by the end of March then I'll be hugely surprised.

good,he`s a waste of space,hopefully take clueless kimberley with him as well

[Mike E]

9 hours ago, Groundhog said:

Walking out of Ewood last night trying to work out exactly what it is that Eustace has done to this side, I know it's small steps currently and we're not exactly pulling up trees in the league yet. It's hard to discuss subjectively as there's a lot of last night that was down to it being a free hit in front of the TV cameras, being "up for the cup" - but it was almost unbelievable that was the same side who toiled against Big Club and Cardiff. 

As well as getting us organised at the back, more compact, the arrival of Fadz, Eustace has to have done something to give them a bit of belief, whether it's man management, confidence or just taking the shackles off, maybe it's the simple stuff of stopping them being so wedded to a style of play and seeing no other way of coping with games.

He seems more active on the touchline, constantly cajoling the lads. Hard to tell from the Riverside, but every time I looked across it felt like he was almost telling Siggy how to cover and track back the entire second half.

We're also tackling hard and fair, even picking up more yellows for "proper" tackles, professional fouls - not stupid petulant frustrated stuff. 

When I saw Tronstadt was out I was pretty worried about our midfield, the last 6 months under JDT have done that, but I think by taking the pressure off us trying to play like Man City, there's less expectation on our midfield to constantly take the ball on the half turn and deliver a killer pass, it reduces the chances of mistakes. Last night we were just hungrier to win the second ball higher up the pitch, pick it up, then play our quick passing game to hurt teams, rather than trying to do it in our own third as we have been under the previous regime. 

Judging by comments in the press recently from Pears, words to the effect of "I'll do whatever the manager tells me to do", and Brittain "I was told not to cross it" it seems that it's easy for the modern player's head to drop and down tools if whatever the manager is doing isn't working - maybe they're being told to play to their strengths and the rest will follow? Being less rigid in terms of a game plan is helping. 

We've now come from behind two games in a row, this has to be the biggest evidence of something going on in the belief of the squad. Every time we made subs under JDT, the quality dropped, and last night I had that familiar feeling that the game was done, but we got better, same as with the Norwich game. Due to the cost-cutting of the squad, I'd forgotten that part of the game, bringing on subs to improve the side, who'd have thought that was an actual thing?!!

I take massive pleasure in us doing "normal" football things, 2 banks of four, being organised, clearing the ball under pressure, it's weird to see it, I've almost forgotten what it feels like.

Anyway, this is all irrelevant if we put in a poor performance against Swansea, and it's totally possible, but there's green shoots for sure. They seem to be fighting for each other and the shirt, talking and shouting at each other on the pitch, getting stuck in.

 

Sounds like the Brian Clough school of thinking.

Play to your strengths and work hard, and you’ll play better. If you play better, you’ll enjoy it. If you enjoy it, you gain confidence. If you gain confidence, you stand a better chance of winning.

[Andy]

I'm not sure how much he's been able to influence in such a short space of time, with minimal time on the training ground.
I'll remain hopeful, but I'm not convinced either way just yet.

JDT spent 18 months embedding and implementing a style of play, which we saw work particularly well against a few Premier League sides - so last night wasn't a massive surprise for me.

You'd hope that it'll be a tweak of how we've been playing, to make us more pragmatic and maybe even reactive to the opposition.

Poor start in the league so far (against some of the worst teams in the division), but hoping last night's performance could be a spark for us.

[47er]

10 hours ago, superniko said:

But remember our coach is state of the art…

The mechanical one!