v Birmingham City (a) - 13/02/2024 19:45 KO

[Roverthechimp]

Crap - devoid of a plan a let alone plan b

School level defending (chase the ball) and only SS trying to get the team to stop dropping deeper before he himself was forced to come deep to get the ball

Total lack of cohesion and sloppy play all round - Eustace has to tear them a new one after that or else our players council will talk about togetherness in league 1 (unless their wages are reduced)

I can SS and Dolan leaving in the summer and then we are fcked

Felt sorry for Telavovic - could have been the start of a rovers career having done the hard bit of getting in the right places but that miss and the lack of support from his teammates (even Ruddy gave him a “you ok”) is probably the end

[Blue blood]

All the signs are there for relegation, especially he players having a moan. It seems we've simply switched our style in our rock paper sissors approach to football. I still think that with the lead over the bottom 3 that we have and one place at least being taken means we won't be relegated. There's enough yes, like Stoke the other day, we'll get points from to limp along to the finish. All set for next season though to plummet down the league. 

[Lancs Rover]

Eustace getting friendly with - even hugging one of- there players at the end after the game Right in front of our fzns. A big mistake and shows poor judgment imo.

Edited February 14, 2024 by Lancs Rover

[tomphil]

Absolute rubbish no intention there other than to try and protect the nil and maybe nick something. He'll have to learn very quickly you cannot do that with this squad there are too many weak links who eventually make a mistake and no one ever nicks a game for us.

Had a feeling this would happen and we've gone from one extreme to the other mixing it up once in the middle.  Amazing how you can drill any attacking intent out in just a couple of short days, worrying also we are still heading for a world of real problems.

Very similar that game to one down there a few years back under Mowbray where we just didn't turn up at all. Then though there were NO valid excuses but now we have to be honest this squad is the weakest it has been since the last relegation season.

There is just nothing to bring on to rescue or turn a game they are just gap fillers for those taken off.  All or at least 90% of the blame here is at the door of the downgraders owning and running this club.

The plus side ?

Well almost guaranteed we'd have shipped 3 or 4 in that one under JDT lets not pretend any different.

 

[Gav]

5 minutes ago, Lancs Rover said:

Eustace getting friendly with - even hugging one of- there players at the end after the game Right in front of our fzns. A big mistake and shows poor judgment imo.

Come off it.

To piss you off even more he was hugging the car park chap, receptionist and tea lady on the way in and nothing wrong with that.

He was treated appallingly by the new owners at Brum, he'll suffer the same fate here too.....

[Oldgregg86]

8 hours ago, LeftWinger said:

I've made my 10 year old watch out last two away games.

Contemplating taking him on Saturday but don't want to put him off Rovers for life.

I’ve stopped taking my ten year old and just keep telling him we’ve won and Dolan scored again 😂

[tomphil]

28 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

All the signs are there for relegation, especially he players having a moan. It seems we've simply switched our style in our rock paper sissors approach to football. I still think that with the lead over the bottom 3 that we have and one place at least being taken means we won't be relegated. There's enough yes, like Stoke the other day, we'll get points from to limp along to the finish. All set for next season though to plummet down the league. 

The similarities are now so startling it's like deja vu but iv'e been saying that all season even before we did exactly the same as last time by appointing a pragmatic manager after the window shut.

[jim mk2]

What was Hedges playing at last night? In the first half hd didn’t do a single thing right and in the second half (I think it was him) he couldn’t even take a throw in properly, throwing the ball out of play! 

Birmingham fans were calling us a s@@@ team towards the end and it was hard to disagree.

Losing to the likes of QPR and Birmingham and lucky not to lose against Rotherham.. all teams at the bottom is relegation form. Tough games ahead too. It’s hard not to see us going down

 

[dallydally]

Same old, same old.... Normal service resumed!

[Penwortham Blue]

1 hour ago, Roverthechimp said:

Crap - devoid of a plan a let alone plan b

School level defending (chase the ball) and only SS trying to get the team to stop dropping deeper before he himself was forced to come deep to get the ball

Total lack of cohesion and sloppy play all round - Eustace has to tear them a new one after that or else our players council will talk about togetherness in league 1 (unless their wages are reduced)

I can SS and Dolan leaving in the summer and then we are fcked

Felt sorry for Telavovic - could have been the start of a rovers career having done the hard bit of getting in the right places but that miss and the lack of support from his teammates (even Ruddy gave him a “you ok”) is probably the end

If you are a striker and don’t get an early goal, it becomes a real problem, often insurmountable. Corrado Grabbi was a really talented player but it just wouldn’t go in for him and the confidence drained, Chris Brown was hopeless but you get my drift.

Telhalovic hit the post on his debut at Hull and in a couple of games he has gone really close at the death but should have scored both. Fine margins, sliding doors and all that.

[philipl]

Have I missed Harry Leonard getting injured?

He is a natural finisher and header and that last gasp header would probably have been a goal if Harry had been the one with the chance.

[Mercer]

Dire and hopeless.

If that is a new manager bounce then we do have major feckin problems.

I think relegation this season is now inevitable and PNE on Saturday will rip us apart to win by 3 or 4.

When you have, IMO, imbeciles like Brittain in your team then you are doomed.  IMO, too many feckin spineless cowards who don't give a sh1t.

Edited February 14, 2024 by Mercer

[BlackburnEnd75]

For me that was the worst performance of the season. It was only the lack of Birmingham composure in front of goal that made the scoreline close. And to think telalovic should've got us a point at the death.

We offered nothing going forward. The plan appeared to be to hit them quickly moving forward but we gave the ball away so much in transition that caused no threat and the players dropped deeper and deeper. Then when we tried to build a little with the ball we looked woeful like the last 18 months never happened, just panicky and very disjointed.

Play like this regularly we will go down. Hopefully Eustace can get a coherent style into these lads quickly because yesterday was the opposite of a new manager bounce

[MB Rover]

I sense a Deepdale pasting on Saturday. That was as bad as anything we’ve done under any manager since relegation from the premier league. Gallagher didn’t win a single header, is he the worst striker we’ve ever had at holding the ball up/winning headers? Other than the useless fecker who replaced him.

[Lancs Rover]

4 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Dire and hopeless.

If that is a new manager bounce then we do have major feckin problems.

I think relegation this season is now inevitable and PNE on Saturday will rip us apart to win by 3 or 4.

When you have, IMO, imbeciles like Brittain in your team then you are doomed.  IMO, too many feckin spineless cowards who don't give a Sh1t.

Hes not going to make these players beter. he has to get more out of them. giving all  for the shirt is the minimum he said

Halftme &, subs didnt come out to warm up. Probably full team meeting with the new manager after dire first half.

Response came there none.

Then tthey see him hugging there guys after the match.

As someone above said, players are being let off blame. Some being undroppable doesnt help.

[tomphil]

8 hours ago, arbitro said:

Same shit, different manager.

That was as bad as anything we produced under Tomasson and had Birmingham took half of their chances we would have been on the end of our heaviest defeat for some time. Too slow in possession, wanting too much time on the ball and pedestrian was the name of our game for me. I'm too tired right now to go into my full feelings.

And after Brittains bit man talk yesterday he gave another performance that was almost an impression of a jellyfish - spineless. If he had a heart as big as his ego he might make a player.

Brittain is a rotten defender he's weak as piss, decent footballer going fwd but every time he's put on the back foot he can't handle it.

Not just based on last night but numerous showings previous and last season he is a real weak point. Better going fwd than Nyambe but half the defender Ryan was with a similar made of glass fitness record. 

No doubt he'll be good in lge 1 though.

[K-Hod]

12 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Dire and hopeless.

If that is a new manager bounce then we do have major feckin problems.

I think relegation this season is now inevitable and PNE on Saturday will rip us apart to win by 3 or 4.

When you have, IMO, imbeciles like Brittain in your team then you are doomed.  IMO, too many feckin spineless cowards who don't give a sh1t.

Parts of that are absolutely true, but I don’t know how you’re arriving at relegation being a certainty, when we’re seven points clear of the drop zone and two of those teams play each other tonight….

[jim mk2]

25 minutes ago, philipl said:

Have I missed Harry Leonard getting injured?

He is a natural finisher and header and that last gasp header would probably have been a goal if Harry had been the one with the chance.

Really Philip?

I don’t think he’s any better, another player who is out of his depth in the championship.

We have a whole group of them, I don’t need to name them as everyone knows who they are. 

[jim mk2]

5 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Parts of that are absolutely true, but I don’t know how you’re arriving at relegation being a certainty, when we’re seven points clear of the drop zone and two of those teams play each other tonight….

Who are we going to beat between now and the end of the season - honestly?

 

[Mercer]

7 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Parts of that are absolutely true, but I don’t know how you’re arriving at relegation being a certainty, when we’re seven points clear of the drop zone and two of those teams play each other tonight….

If you look at our league form across Dec/Jan/Feb, the last 13 matches have yielded just 8 points!

Given we have 15 matches to go and probably need another 15 points to be safe, then I would say the alarm bells are well and truly ringing.

[Wheelton Blue]

Last night emphasised how awful our squad really is; if the starting 11 don't perform, then we've got zilch to offer in terms of changes.

A culmination of non-invested ownership, incompetent execs, and beyond woeful recruitment.

We'll get mullered on Saturday playing like that. The only silver lining would be that it will only take half an hour to get home, rather than the dismal 3 hours of last night. 

[Lancaster Rover]

I don't think we'll get relegated as whilst we're poor there are some rank rotten teams below us. 

Last night had all the hallmarks of an 'after the Lord Mayors show' performance, Saturday was the big bounce, last night was the lull. JE will have learned a great deal from last night, more than Saturday I'd wager, let's see what he does to change things.

My two penneth, things I learned or had confirmed last night - 

Garret is tenacious but we need someone better with the ball in there should JRC not play, that said JRC looked miles off it until he went off injured. Sloppy in possession and struggled to close gaps defensively. 

Sammie is in danger of running around a lot and offering little to cover for the amount of times he's giving the ball away. It looked to me like we were setting up to allow them to play in their half and press at the half way line. Numerous times Sammie went and did some show pressing, chasing the ball like a Labrador for them to pop it off round him and our shape to then go to shit. You can never question his workrate but decision making I'd question at times. He also gave the ball away a hell of a lot last night.

I think the front 3 struggled generally last night, SG didn't get hold of the ball once so Dolan and Sammie were unable to rat around him and get on flick on's/loose balls. 

Wing backs were both poor last night, I'm a big fan of Brittain but thought he had a very disappointing game last night after playing so well Saturday. Hedges looked like the adrenaline that got him through on Saturday had deserted him and looked every inch a man whose not played for 2 months

 

[K-Hod]

18 minutes ago, Mercer said:

If you look at our league form across Dec/Jan/Feb, the last 13 matches have yielded just 8 points!

Given we have 15 matches to go and probably need another 15 points to be safe, then I would say the alarm bells are well and truly ringing.

Hardly a certainty though, is it?

[superniko]

17 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Hardly a certainty though, is it?

A 4%-5% certainty. A Mercer betting special.....and there's been some doozys over the years. 

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, philipl said:

Have I missed Harry Leonard getting injured?

He is a natural finisher and header and that last gasp header would probably have been a goal if Harry had been the one with the chance.

Based on his finishing across the season, im not convinced he would.

He isnt ready for this level but certainly is an improvement on Telalovic who is the worst striker I can remember.

I think he was just not selected like the pointless signing of Koumetio.