v Middlesbrough (a) - 16/3/24

[aletheia]

Warm weather training coming up? SWAG could drive them on the bus to somewhere warmer -Torquay? 😉

Edited March 16 by aletheia

[neophox]

Before the start of the season I would say Ipswich would had been one of the best picks at home for 3p. Still think it's possible to beat them...they are overachieving and we are underachievers at the moment. Hopefully we can produce a shock on good Friday.

Edited March 16 by neophox

[Bbrovers2288]

I also think we can get something from Ipswich at home, end of the day they are performing well above expectations but the majority were playing league 1 football until recently , we have to impose ourselves early and not let them get confident. They have a really good winger so full backs will need good games 

[Dreams of 1995]

I thought we played much better today. Some good football to bring it out from the back but then the play just broke down. The movement up top is poor to say the least. Gallagher needs to learn the art of running in behind. He makes these lung busting runs..but you’d need a De Bruyne / Messi hybrid to find him regularly. It’s such a wasted effort 

We should stick with a back 4. Still not convinced by our entire back line to be honest. Chrisene must be poor if he can’t dislodge Pickering, who I think is a “steady eddy” but not a player you will get promoted with. His final ball is really hit and miss. When Chrisene came I had a few messages telling me to watch out for him. What am I meant to be seeing? 

We look far better with Tronstad who has been a magnificent signing. I really do wonder if Telalovic will ever get a chance here. Gally can’t buy a goal now but this lad gets 3/4 minutes at the end to just run around for a bit

Buckley needs to play as a 10. The problem is that Sammie is better at it than he is. Buckley is much better further up the pitch, pressing and driving with the ball. He’s a downgrade on Wharton but we all knew that

Brittain puts in some dangerous crosses. The problem is that we have the shortest 6 foot 5 centre forward you’ve ever seen 

[rovers11]

Our fixture list may not be as bad as it looks. Bristol City and Sunderland have nothing to play for and are pretty average teams so they're the best type of teams to play at this stage of the season. Sheff W at home is very winnable if we have our full team out.

Leicester will prob be up come the last day of the season so I could see them being on their holidays at that point. Cov will now have a fixture pile up with being in the semis of the FA Cup. They may even know their play off fate by the time we play them anyway with some tough games to come, so that could be a dead rubber for them. 

I don't see us taking any points from Ipswich, Leeds, or Saints though. They score too many goals for us to be able to grind out a result against those teams. We don't look like we have many goals in us right now.

[philipl]

Very decent performance from a Rovers side which didn't look to be struggling perhaps except in front of goal.

Results elsewhere meant we inched forward a place and added a point advantage over the four immediately below us although we remain 3 points above 22nd. I had thought Sheffield Wednesday would extend their good run to getting themselves out of trouble but that 6-0 drubbing must be hurting.

Tronstad, Hedges and Pears returns all had positive impacts. Szmodics looked more knackered than usual and Gally frustrated as usual. Getting Carter and JRC back will add a level of class which we are missing.

On today's game, one side looked short of the necessary to make the play-offs and the other looked comfortably a class above a relegation outfit and at times it was hard to tell which was which. 

[Armchair supporter supremo]

48 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

We were good today - if Szmodics had been more clinical we might have won it too.

A very good, and unexpected, point. 

Bloody useless that lad! 

 

🙃

[Exiled_Rover]

20 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

 The movement up top is poor to say the least. Gallagher needs to learn the art of running in behind. He makes these lung busting runs..but you’d need a De Bruyne / Messi hybrid to find him regularly. It’s such a wasted effort 

I always think that about Gallagher. You see him making these runs and then throwing his arms up in disgust because the ball didn't come. It would be a 'world cup' ball to hit him in stride - I don't know why he thinks his teammates have that in their locker. 

[Roverthechimp]

13 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

I always think that about Gallagher. You see him making these runs and then throwing his arms up in disgust because the ball didn't come. It would be a 'world cup' ball to hit him in stride - I don't know why he thinks his teammates have that in their locker. 

Makes you wonder what they do in training or de we have a bunch of players that are “playground champions “ 🤔

[arbitro]

A really good performance today in my opinion, probably the best league showing of Eustace's tenure. We defended really well and if they were going to score it was going to be from one of our errors rather than then creating it for themselves. For me the key was going back to a four man midfield as we didn't allow them to dominate as teams have done to us in recent weeks. It helped having Tronstad back and he was his usual tidy self. We have to keep him fit at all costs. If I was going to be critical I thought our final ball in attacking positions left a bit to be desired or even the lack of shooting when I thought we had chances to do so. A special mention today from me for Brittain and Hyam. I have been really critical of them recently but today they were both really good. I thought though that Hedges was our stand out player. Considering his fitness levels must be way off he really put a shift in.

The clean sheet is really welcome and if we set up with the same system from now on we won't concede too many.

A special word for the fans today. The 'I don't care about Venky's' song was quite innovate and simplistic but it contained the sentiments most of us feel. And there weren't too many fans not singing it around where I was. That should be echoing around Ewood on Good Friday.

[NeilInBristol]

1 hour ago, simongarnerisgod said:

very much a hyperbole merchant is eustace,we certainly were not  outstanding in any department but then neither were middlesborough and we  matched them

im starting to think he is a very good politician the way he spins everything into his stock phrases of commitment, effort etc etc.

occasionally drops in the fans are great or behind the scenes is not important but he is very much towing the party line.

pointless listening to his interviews apart from learning about injuries/ return dates 

[Polky]

Only seen the highlights, seems we were lucky to come away with a point today. 

Happy to take the point on the road, if we can follow it up with three points at home in a few weeks.

[Exiled_Rover]

Just now, Polky said:

Only seen the highlights, seems we were lucky to come away with a point today. 

Happy to take the point on the road, if we can follow it up with three points at home in a few weeks.

Luck had nothing to do with it - we were good value for our point and could easily have had all 3. 

[NeilInBristol]

10 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Luck had nothing to do with it - we were good value for our point and could easily have had all 3. 

Haha. We were very fortunate.

They missed an open goal a couple of times and hit the cross bar.

We had zero clear cut chances

[Exiled_Rover]

8 minutes ago, NeilInBristol said:

Haha. We were very fortunate.

They missed an open goal a couple of times and hit the cross bar.

We had zero clear cut chances

Haha their GK made one excellent save and two good saves. 

[joey_big_nose]

11 minutes ago, NeilInBristol said:

Haha. We were very fortunate.

They missed an open goal a couple of times and hit the cross bar.

We had zero clear cut chances

Yeah I have to agree. While dtaw was just about a fair result but if you had to pick a winner it would be Boro. The opportunities we got were not in as good positions. Still thought we were broadly quite good both defensively and offensively though.

[neophox]

Also special mention to Tronstad and Hedges...we look more solid with those two in the team even though they just come back from injuries. Dolan must turn his head right...has been poor after the fine two goals against Stoke.

[GaryC]

Was working today so only recently saw the result, pleasantly suprised as Middlesbrough had been climbing the table while weve struggled, will watch highlights to see how we fared

[NeilInBristol]

2 minutes ago, neophox said:

Also special mention to Tronstad and Hedges...we look more solid with those two in the team even though they just come back from injuries. Dolan must turn his head right...has been poor after the fine two goals against Stoke.

 

Yeh definitely. You can see what experience they bring to the team. Hopefully JRCs quality is back soon too

[GaryC]

Glad Tronstad is back fit, definetely the clubs best signing this season without a doubt

[Polky]

38 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Luck had nothing to do with it - we were good value for our point and could easily have had all 3. 

Only seen the highlights to be fair. The one near the end where they fit the bar and air kicked the re-bound.

[roversfan99]

7 minutes ago, GaryC said:

Glad Tronstad is back fit, definetely the clubs best signing this season without a doubt

The only good one really.

[Andy]

14 minutes ago, neophox said:

Also special mention to Tronstad and Hedges...we look more solid with those two in the team even though they just come back from injuries. Dolan must turn his head right...has been poor after the fine two goals against Stoke.

Impressed with both. Hedges worked really hard at both ends of the pitch and has the ability to travel with the ball.

He's hit and miss, but he does have quality at this level.

[bigbrandjohn]

1 hour ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

I also think we can get something from Ipswich at home, end of the day they are performing well above expectations but the majority were playing league 1 football until recently , we have to impose ourselves early and not let them get confident. They have a really good winger so full backs will need good games 

And we certainly don’t want a slow centre back against their forwards. Morsy in midfield makes Travis look like a cherub. 

[tomphil]

Hedges would have been a top player if he could ever maintain any form but it's always very up and down with him.

Mind you Dolan is the same and a lot of the others that's why they are where they are.