v Norwich City (a) - 17/08/2024

[BigBar]

1 minute ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

Maks view must have been horrific. thong thong thong thong thong

Big pasty Irish arse. No one wants that.

[M_B]

5 minutes ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

yeh you're just floggin a dead donkey here bud.

You haven't even seen it properly, which probably sums up the conversation. 

[EgyptianPete]

15 minutes ago, booth said:

There was only Tronstad under any kind of pressure. Before Pears put his foot to the ball their player was running in on Tronstad. Everyone watching read it except for Pears.

The second one (screen grab 2) was worse when he passed it straight to one of theirs right next to the goal.

Not on him, but I thought he could have done better for their first goal. He just sort of went down to his knees with one arm limply out.

His other mistakes aren't in the highlights. The other defenders didn't cover themselves in glory either.

The most annoying part of this goal was Dolan just trotting back, he had the chance to put a tackle in but just gave up, needs dropping for oshi, and siggy, much better players

[booth]

6 minutes ago, EgyptianPete said:

The most annoying part of this goal was Dolan just trotting back, he had the chance to put a tackle in but just gave up, needs dropping for oshi, and siggy, much better players

The thing that's really pissing me off is that Waggott didn't prioritise signing a goalie.

We take all three points with a better keeper.

[sharpysharps86]

On paper its a good point on the road, tough place to go given that we don't really know what Norwich will be like this season under a new manager, so previous good form there kind of goes out the window.

We can say its a poor result because we were 1-0 up, and we can also say its a good point for coming back from 2-1 down...so all in all I think it's probably a fair result for Rovers.

Need to work on this slow start from the 2nd half, its going to cause us problems, but I appreciate an amount of that is down to players like Hedges and Gueye having not had much of a pre-season.

Last season, and probably the season before that I'm doubtful that Rovers come back to get something from this game. That's 2 league games where they've shown good character after conceding, hopefully a sign of things to come.

A new goalkeeper is an absolute MUST, as we can all pretty much agree. Gueye put in another promising display. Ohashi appears to be a bit of a revelation so far, but definitely needs to be looked after a bit. I think having him as a super sub option makes more sense than to start him at the moment.

Going to be an interesting couple of weeks now with just the Oxford game to play before the transfer deadline. GK, LB cover, Winger, and a CM all needed. If I'm being greedy then another striking option too please.

[Miller11]

20 minutes ago, booth said:

I'd agree with that. Very disappointing to see a decent performance let down by individual errors.

Norwich's manager must be sniffing glue if he thought their performance deserved 3 points.

Any player can and will make a mistake, unfortunately we have 3 players who are prone to having games where their head completely falls off. Pears has looked like a disaster waiting to happen in these first 2 games, no doubt he will save the really massive clangers for Burnley. Hyam and Brittain both had more than one 0/10 performance last season and generally make more errors than is forgivable, irrespective of other upsides to their games. All three have questionable mentalities in my opinion, and the resilience which was apparently a big target in our recruitment this summer is something the two outfield players certainly lack. Our defence will never be solid with these three making up the majority of our back 5.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

34 minutes ago, BigBar said:

Nah. Hope your enjoyed the game pal.

I always enjoy it when we get something out of a game. First half wasn’t too bad but the second half was watching from behind the sofa territory. They’d weighed up we have very little pace up front at half time and pushed us back up the pitch about 15 yards. They then starved us of the ball, we were losing too many second balls, and we ended up playing with 7 at the back. When we did get the ball our decision making was terrible, we took the wrong option too many times.

Just one incident in the middle of the second half. Pickering has the ball with open grass in front of him, he could have galloped to the half way line un challenged. What does he do - try to thread the ball to Dolan in centre field who is surrounded by three Norwich players, they immediately rob him of the ball and start an attack. He was far from alone in muddled thinking. The one coherent move of the second half led to a goal. Thank God for our Kamikaze centre forward who scored with a real strikers header.

Scores 

Pears 5. Just not good enough. He’s worth a goal start for our opponents.

Brittain 6. Blows hot and cold. Not good enough as a full back in a back four. Ok as a wing back. Great cross for the 2nd goal.

Carter 6 Stuck to his task.

Hyam 6 Same as Carter. I thought one of them should have done better with the cross for their no 2.

Pickering 6 I’m not a fan. He’s neither fish nor fowl as full back. He looks better as a left sided centre back in a back three.

JRC 5 Awful today. He doesn’t look fit to me.

Travis 6 Put himself about pretty well. Pointless booking - again.

Tronstad 6 Busy as always got Pears out of jail with a great block.

Dolan 5 He does my head in. He never takes the easy option. He should watch film of Sammi over and over again.

Guyere 7 A real handful all over the pitch and a nice touch for the Hedges goal. Could you serve Gally doing that.

Hedges 6 Looked good whilst he was on, took his goal really well

Subs.

Ohashi 6 What a great diving header. One chance = one goal.

Weimann 5 Hardly in the game

Siggy 6 Looked bright on the ball and put some effort in.

Buckley 6 shored up the middle to a certain extent. Looked a better bet than JRC on todays showing.

Baath - hardly touched the ball.

[Neal]

My thoughts...

 

I actually didn't think we were defensively that poor, I wanted to see us defend better from set pieces and I thought we did that well. We cut off passing lines well in the first half and looked hard to break down, hence why the home fans started to get on their back and boo them. The issue today was the individual errors from Pears and Brittain also just being sloppy with the ball in key areas. 

 

You expect them to come out at us in the 2nd half, especially at 1-0 down and for the most part we were doing ok, Brittain has to just hold his hand up and learn to not do that in our own half as fine margins/mistakes can cost you in this league. 

 

I'm surprised at some of the negativity, not that there isn't anything to be negative about but there are plenty of positives aswell. A point away from home against Norwich is nothing to grumble about and I'm proud of the players to find a way to take something from the game when they could have possibly folded and ended up 3-1 down. It shows we can be competitive this season and can mix it with a team who finished much much higher than we did. 

 

At this level the players we have will always have flaws, it's the same for every team in this league possibly with the exception of Burnley (unfortunately). We can see where the glaring issues are, we desperately need a goal keeper of good quality. Even though I thought he coped well today, I think we can do better than Pickering, or at least find someone with potential to challenge him, he'd be the perfect squad player. It's easy to be knee jerk and call Brittain this and that but he's a decent player. Someone mentioned he and JRC being swapped might be the answer and they might have something there. Brittain's mobility might be better suited further forward and JRC's strength be more useful at the back because at the moment he's not offering much in midfield. 

 

A few words have been said about the manager and his tactics. I was quite surprised and thought this was very reminiscent of a JDT performance, all 3 games have been in fact. It looks noticeably different from last season's style of play, we look at lot braver on the ball where last season he took a lot less chances. This was the main reason for the sloppiness and errors we made today. Which is the hard life of a manager, you get slated for being negative like last season and you'll get slated for being more adventurous. I'll certainly give him credit for pushing the players to improve and take risks, I just hope he can find a balance. To hear him say he's disappointed to not win is really positive aswell. The way he speaks at the moment fills me with a lot of hope, he's saying all the right things and hopefully the club back him because he's shown early doors that he deserves it. 

 

A few mentions to Gueye, Ohashi and Trostad...

I keep saying it but Gueye is a big problem for teams in this league. Won more headers in the first 10 mins than Gallagher would win in a season. His hold up play is good, he's confident, he's mobile, really hope he gets his first league goal next week.

Now, before I go on, I'm in no way saying this lad is as good but... Ohashi's goal reminded me of Shearer, the way he got across his man to head across the keeper into the corner reminded me a lot of big Al. It's funny he mentioned him in his first interview because his general playing style reminds me of him. The way he cracked one against the underside of the bar against Stockport and being a similar height to him and gets up for headers extremely well. A cult hero already. 

Trosntad was again busy, industrious, clever, tidy and saved our arse in the first half. Classy operator. 

Hedges, class player. Athletic, good engine, technically blessed and a proper grafter. Hopefully we can keep him fit. 

 

On to a very winnable game against Oxford, this has been a great start so far following a miserable season. Hopefully we can add some more quality to the team to give us more reasons to be looking up rather than looking down. 

 

Despite if you're a glass half full or a glass half empty type of supporter I think after last season it's worth while to enjoy these early season ups and take every point as a valuable one, especially away from home. 

 

COYB

Edited August 17 by Neal

[Hasta]

Good point but bad goals to concede.
 

On the negative side, their first goal is all down to Brittain. A good goalkeeper could stand up and maybe save it, but the main error is losing it cheaply near the half way line.
The second goal is a bigger mess. Travis is isolated but doesn’t go to the ball. He just marks space. Without his stupid booking he probably goes and takes the man out. Once it gets played in the inside channel Hyam does nothing to stop the cross. If he lunges at that he probably cuts it out.

Pears distribution was a mess all game and JRC and Dolan were both poor. 
 

However still a few positives. Apart from giving the ball away, I thought we controlled the first half. Hedges has always been a steady Eddie, and had another solid showing with a good goal. Big Mak looks a handful, and showed he’s not as bad on the deck as we thought. Yuki’s header was great movement and finish and is now 3 in 3.

Hope the Carter injury isn’t serious

Edited August 17 by Hasta

[Exiled_Rover]

7 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

They’d weighed up we have very little pace up front at half time and pushed us back up the pitch about 15 yards. 

Honestly I swear that's happened every single match for years - probably since BBD left (not that he was fast, but he was quick enough).

I know teams advance scout obsessively and look at the metrics, but it always seems to take them some time during the match against Rovers to go "ey up, they've got no pace, let's push up".

To be fair I think the problems started occurring after half time when Gueye was clearly out of steam. He was stretching them before that. 

[Tony Rover]

1 hour ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

I'm not sure what caught your eye first there, but for me it wasn't Big Macs big smile, it was Duffys Mc nuggets.

Always go straight to the blue and white! Cracking smile, could be a cult hero for the Rovers!! Duffy can fuck right off! 

[DE.]

https://forum.pinkun.com/index.php?/topic/157557-duffy-is-ing/

Lol. Griping about Hanley as well. I certainly wouldn't have either of them back. 

[sharpysharps86]

Very early days but Ohashi is looking like one of the signings of the summer. His first touch might not be great but if he can put the ball in the net on a regular basis then I couldn't care less.

[Forever Blue]

Yuki’s goal was reminiscent of Speedie

[Exiled_Rover]

5 minutes ago, sharpysharps86 said:

Very early days but Ohashi is looking like one of the signings of the summer. His first touch might not be great but if he can put the ball in the net on a regular basis then I couldn't care less.

Three quality finishes in three matches now.

[booth]

4 minutes ago, sharpysharps86 said:

Very early days but Ohashi is looking like one of the signings of the summer. His first touch might not be great but if he can put the ball in the net on a regular basis then I couldn't care less.

Will he be picked next match? Three goals in three games now. Our top scorer with Szmodics.

[BigBar]

33 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I always enjoy it when we get something out of a game. First half wasn’t too bad but the second half was watching from behind the sofa territory. They’d weighed up we have very little pace up front at half time and pushed us back up the pitch about 15 yards. They then starved us of the ball, we were losing too many second balls, and we ended up playing with 7 at the back. When we did get the ball our decision making was terrible, we took the wrong option too many times.

Just one incident in the middle of the second half. Pickering has the ball with open grass in front of him, he could have galloped to the half way line un challenged. What does he do - try to thread the ball to Dolan in centre field who is surrounded by three Norwich players, they immediately rob him of the ball and start an attack. He was far from alone in muddled thinking. The one coherent move of the second half led to a goal. Thank God for our Kamikaze centre forward who scored with a real strikers header.

Scores 

Pears 5. Just not good enough. He’s worth a goal start for our opponents.

Brittain 6. Blows hot and cold. Not good enough as a full back in a back four. Ok as a wing back. Great cross for the 2nd goal.

Carter 6 Stuck to his task.

Hyam 6 Same as Carter. I thought one of them should have done better with the cross for their no 2.

Pickering 6 I’m not a fan. He’s neither fish nor fowl as full back. He looks better as a left sided centre back in a back three.

JRC 5 Awful today. He doesn’t look fit to me.

Travis 6 Put himself about pretty well. Pointless booking - again.

Tronstad 6 Busy as always got Pears out of jail with a great block.

Dolan 5 He does my head in. He never takes the easy option. He should watch film of Sammi over and over again.

Guyere 7 A real handful all over the pitch and a nice touch for the Hedges goal. Could you serve Gally doing that.

Hedges 6 Looked good whilst he was on, took his goal really well

Subs.

Ohashi 6 What a great diving header. One chance = one goal.

Weimann 5 Hardly in the game

Siggy 6 Looked bright on the ball and put some effort in.

Buckley 6 shored up the middle to a certain extent. Looked a better bet than JRC on todays showing.

Baath - hardly touched the ball.

Very fair assessment. The decision making in the second half was woeful. At one stage the ball dropped to Travis completely unmarked in the middle of the pitch, could easily have taken a touch and assessed his options and instead tried to play it first time and overcooked it straight out of play. Amatuer stuff. Not the only one, we kept playing it into trouble all game. Only difference was Gueye wasn't there second half to hold it up and battle for it. 

[BigBar]

5 minutes ago, booth said:

Will he be picked next match? Three goals in three games now. Our top scorer with Szmodics.

Think he might be best suited as coming on and injecting a bit of energy when the opposition has tired. His movement is very good and knows where the goal is. Hard to track when you are tired. Been used excellently so far.

[had.e.nuff]

16 minutes ago, Forever Blue said:

Yuki’s goal was reminiscent of Speedie

a proper strikers goal

[booth]

5 minutes ago, BigBar said:

Only difference was Gueye wasn't there second half to hold it up and battle for it. 

Our overall play suffers when he gets subbed off.

[Exiled_Rover]

5 minutes ago, BigBar said:

Very fair assessment. The decision making in the second half was woeful. At one stage the ball dropped to Travis completely unmarked in the middle of the pitch, could easily have taken a touch and assessed his options and instead tried to play it first time and overcooked it straight out of play. Amatuer stuff. Not the only one, we kept playing it into trouble all game. Only difference was Gueye wasn't there second half to hold it up and battle for it. 

A draw away at a side that finished in the Playoffs last year, a day after we sold the Championship's top goal scorer, and not a single Rover scores above a 6 - and you think that's a fair assessment? Curious.

[booth]

Can someone let Yuki know that if he scores against Burnley he becomes an instant legend?

If he scores a hat-trick he gets a statue alongside Uncle Jack.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

35 minutes ago, BigBar said:

Very fair assessment. The decision making in the second half was woeful. At one stage the ball dropped to Travis completely unmarked in the middle of the pitch, could easily have taken a touch and assessed his options and instead tried to play it first time and overcooked it straight out of play. Amatuer stuff. Not the only one, we kept playing it into trouble all game. Only difference was Gueye wasn't there second half to hold it up and battle for it. 

Yeah we went to pieces in that second half. We consistently took the wrong option. Instead of keeping the ball more and trying to weather the storm we kept trying “ Hollywood balls “ . I was pulling my hair out at some of our passing.

Edited August 17 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

13 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

A draw away at a side that finished in the Playoffs last year, a day after we sold the Championship's top goal scorer, and not a single Rover scores above a 6 - and you think that's a fair assessment? Curious.

I gave Gueye 7. First half was decent/good. Second half was pretty poor. We only started playing after we’d gone 2-1 down.

[AllRoverAsia]

6 hours ago, RoversClitheroe said:

So what country do I need to travel to to watch?

My pre match travel arrangements got screwed up by Pears Travel who booked me on the 8.30 pm flight to the Land of Nod, and didn't arrive in Wide-awake Land until gone midnight.

Usually I don't fly, just canoe a short way up stream to Dodgy.tv City by KO time.

Not having seen the game my thanks to @Tyrone Shoelaces@Neal @Hasta and others for their post match comments and I have a fair idea of what to look for when watching the highlights and replay.

Initial impression from reading this thread - Duffy is simply a rather big Penis.

I still only half awake so am rambling a bit, only to be expected as I'm in heat stroke recovery, not a pleasant experience and my balance is still wonky. I walk like I'm pissed and that after being on the wagon, this time!, for about 6 years..

Still a point at Norwich is a good result and I actually look forward to watching the full replay.

Edited August 17 by AllRoverAsia