v QPR (h) - 28/09/24

[simongarnerisgod]

if we keep winning panic will ensue in venkyland😥

[Tom]

Genuinely excited by Cantwell, he’s just hugely talented. 

Keep his head in it and he could be a special player for us 

[RevidgeBlue]

6 hours ago, KentExile said:

Wonder no more https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregg-broughton/

Spoiler, the answer is, "not a lot"

 

He has spent time on his CV though

 

Director of Football

Blackburn Rovers Football Club ·

• • • Achieved highest League finish in 10 years and furthest progress in both EFL Cup and FA Cup for 15 years.
    • Reduced first team wage bill by 15% and achieved positive player trading income of over £35 million.
    • Delivered Club’s record sale (Adam Wharton), youngest ever player (Rory Finneran) and record win (8-0 vs Harrogate) in 149-year history.
    • Oversaw recruitment of the Head Coach (Jon Dahl Tomassson) to align with the club strategy - delivered 45%-win record.
    • Aligned practice across the first team and academy environments to ensure that internal player recruitment was core to how we operate.
    • Increased squad value by over 60% through contract management planning.
    • Rebuilt the recruitment department, with data at the centre of the process.
    • Increased budgeted income from broadcast, ticketing and prize money by over £3 million through on field success and playing style.
    • Increased player availability to over 91% (from 82%) for the 2022-23 season.
    
    Examples of players signed / developed with whilst in post at Blackburn Rovers:
    - Adam Wharton (England and Crystal Palace)
    - Sammie Szmodics (Ireland and Ipswich Town)
    - Sondre Tronstad (Norway and Blackburn Rovers)

And was within a gnat's bollock of taking the Club down to League 1.

Notice he didn't mention Hirst, Ennis, Telalovic, Wahlstedt and O Riordan as examples of players signed.

And the cheeky bastard claiming credit for Adam Wharton who was at the Club long before he got here.

What an absolute Grade A knobhead.

[Neal]

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

The benchmark for any strikers cant be Gallagher last season. He is a below average Championship striker but he has a particularly bad, injury ravaged season in which he only scored 3 goals. Baring in mind we nearly went down and had a player who scored 27 playing off the striker, we need much, much better than that. 

Of course, there have been signs from both that the pair can be assets, but questioning them is fair. It is early days for both, and we are figuring them both out after initial excitement that we had signed 2 strikers from abroad as our first 2 signings having had to wait ages to sign anyone.

Ohashi has many question marks in terms of his general play. He is quite slow, he isnt strong and in the main he struggles to make any impact on games, especially in the last 2. That being said, he has already shown that he is an excellent finisher and someone with clever movement around the penalty box, if he maintains anything close to the goalscoring record he currently has, then the rest pales into insignificance. He struggled today and wasted a big chance.

Gueye in his first 2 games, showing promise when he wasnt fully fit with his general play, and it felt like he would only push on as the games went on. The idiotic red card at Burnley and subsequent sub appearances have prevented that, and there are question marks (and these were backed up by comments from an expert in the Belgian league) about a lack of composure and being wasteful in front of goal. 

Early days with both, and certainly there is enough signs with both that they can be useful. I think the question marks are how good they can be, but the benchmark cannot be scoring 3 goals (Ohashi has already beaten that) and spending much of the season injured. And I think both didnt do particularly well today.

Of course Gally isn't the benchmark, I'm merely pointing out that they've already surpassed his numbers to improve the team this season. There are a lot to another strikers in the league that cost more and haven't put the numbers our 2 have yet. 

 

To be fair, we don't create many clear cut chances from open play and I presume we are going to find it even harder because being 2nd in the league, teams are going to sit even deeper against us and allow us less space to create 1v1 type situations. This is why goals have to come from everywhere and why it was pleasing to see us score a set play today. 

 

As far as strikers go, you can spend a feck load of money and get absolutely no guarantees they will find the net. So given how much we spent on ours and the return on goal involvements, if they can keep it up even at a slightly slower pace then it will be an unreal return. 

[RevidgeBlue]

2 minutes ago, Neal said:

Of course Gally isn't the benchmark, I'm merely pointing out that they've already surpassed his numbers to improve the team this season. There are a lot to another strikers in the league that cost more and haven't put the numbers our 2 have yet. 

 

To be fair, we don't create many clear cut chances from open play and I presume we are going to find it even harder because being 2nd in the league, teams are going to sit even deeper against us and allow us less space to create 1v1 type situations. This is why goals have to come from everywhere and why it was pleasing to see us score a set play today. 

 

As far as strikers go, you can spend a feck load of money and get absolutely no guarantees they will find the net. So given how much we spent on ours and the return on goal involvements, if they can keep it up even at a slightly slower pace then it will be an unreal return. 

Agreed. For me the two new lads might not turn out to be world beaters but they've already surpassed Gallagher's contribution for the entirety of last season and demonstrated the extent to which he was stealing a living over the years.

[joey_big_nose]

On Gueye - every game he played up to Burnley he looked like he could hurt defences at will, but was completely ineffective this afternoon and when he came on against Preston. Hopefully just a blip. I guess he might start on Tuesday as we rotate the team. It would be very disappointing if he shrunk as a player as he looked completely transformational on his first few games.

On Yuki - he's a great finisher, dangerous on the edge or in the box. But we aren't going to get much out of him if he's deeper than that. Doesn't have the pace, skill or strength to worry a defender 40 yards out from goal. Good at pressing without the ball though.

It's a conundrum as they're kind of opposites really. Gueye on form is the ideal link up player but a poor finisher, while Yuki can finish but not really link up. And while they could maybe work as a partnership I can't see us doing it as we will aways want a number 10 in our system.

[doctorryan]

8 hours ago, wilsdenrover said:

Sunderland would finish above us on games won.

There are numerous other ‘tie breakers’ before an additional game would be needed.

Actually Wilsden I believe it goes like this:

Each position in the League table is decided by the following tiebreakers if teams finish on the same number of points:

• Goal difference
• Goals scored
• Team who collected most points in head-to-head record
• Who scored the most away goals in head-to-head

If teams cannot be separated by the above criteria and they are fighting for the title, European spots, promotion or relegation, a one-off play-off game at a neutral ground will be scheduled to decide who finishes higher.

Since we haven't played them yet, we're essentially level with them.

Edited September 29 by doctorryan

[Upside Down]

9 hours ago, arbitro said:

That was as comfortable a home win as it gets. Pretty much total dominance all over, the only thing lacking was more goals. Being critical the first half seemed a carry on from Preston as our play was too sedate for me at times. Unlike last week the sending off just before half time was a major turning point because we made it count unlike last week. Eustace was braver today and made the change at half time and it paid dividends. Our attacking suddenly had far more purpose and Cantwell was the catalyst for most of it. Chances aplenty were created and the first goal takes some pressure off and pass the ball in a more adventurous way. Carter was more of a right winger for long spells and offered a great outlet, something he hardly did in the first half. The second goal allowed us to rest players with two games coming up next week and also give some minutes to others. Three clean sheets on the bounce, adding two points per game and fourteen league goals. That start is beyond my wildest dreams and I really like the solid look we have and now a fit Cantwell could be the key to open doors when we need it.

A special word from me though for Dolan. Last Sunday aside he has had a great start and his work rate, endeavour and attitude isn't lots on Eustace.

What did you make of the sending off?

I didn't think it was a red, yellow at most, but the foul just before it should have been a second yellow for the lad and he just waved it away.

There can't be many complaints as far as the game itself goes as QPR should have been down to ten but they now have a player serving a three match ban whereas they should have had a different player serving a one match ban. I think they should feel hard done by for that.

[joey_big_nose]

12 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

What did you make of the sending off?

I didn't think it was a red, yellow at most, but the foul just before it should have been a second yellow for the lad and he just waved it away.

There can't be many complaints as far as the game itself goes as QPR should have been down to ten but they now have a player serving a three match ban whereas they should have had a different player serving a one match ban. I think they should feel hard done by for that.

I know arbitro is a referee so you will be far more interested in his opinion than mine (as you should be!) but it seemed to me that it was a red. He was fully lunging studs up into the top of the ankle. Really really dangerous one. The QPR players had very few complaints.

[lraC]

23 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I know arbitro is a referee so you will be far more interested in his opinion than mine (as you should be!) but it seemed to me that it was a red. He was fully lunging studs up into the top of the ankle. Really really dangerous one. The QPR players had very few complaints.

I thought it was a red, but I’m sure Arbitro will clear it up.

Happy that it was mind, as that gave us the impetus to start the second half strong and win a he match.

[Ghost7]

The player was out of control in my opinion.

[Old Codger]

3 hours ago, simongarnerisgod said:

if we keep winning panic will ensue in venkyland😥

If we keep winning, there's plenty on here that won't be able to cope...

But it will be very interesting, if they mount yet another campaign against promotion, to undermine JE and to frustrate the faithful who want nothing but success and prosperity to return to the fortunes of our once proud but now (relatively) humbled and hamstrung club.

Feck em, I say. Just keep going and grinding out the good stuff, and give the Venksters and the haters the fookin problem.

COYB!!

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Agreed. For me the two new lads might not turn out to be world beaters but they've already surpassed Gallagher's contribution for the entirety of last season and demonstrated the extent to which he was stealing a living over the years.

Last season he was useless, partly down to constantly breaking down with injury. But again, and I know you have a total hatred of him, but he cant be any sort of benchmark, we avoided relegation on the last day. Our strikers combined total was 6 or 7 between him, Leonard and Telalovic which has to be the worst in the league. But we also had the top scoring attacking midfielder. Considering we want a far better league position and without Szmodics, the goals have to be much higher in other positions, obviously up front being the main one.

But in the 3 seasons prior, Gallagher got 8, 9 and 8 goals. Still not great but the question is, will Gueye hit those numbers? Will Ohashi keep scoring a decent amount and if not, might he struggle to be our firsr choice striker to the other limitations of his game?

Gallagher's contribution specifically last season has to be considered an irrelevance when judging the current 2 strikers. The make up of the team without Szmodics is difference and the expectation has to be an improvement. Thats in no way a criticism of Gueye and Ohashi, but we are still trying to figure out exactly how effective they are.

[roversfan99]

2 hours ago, Neal said:

Of course Gally isn't the benchmark, I'm merely pointing out that they've already surpassed his numbers to improve the team this season. There are a lot to another strikers in the league that cost more and haven't put the numbers our 2 have yet. 

 

To be fair, we don't create many clear cut chances from open play and I presume we are going to find it even harder because being 2nd in the league, teams are going to sit even deeper against us and allow us less space to create 1v1 type situations. This is why goals have to come from everywhere and why it was pleasing to see us score a set play today. 

 

As far as strikers go, you can spend a feck load of money and get absolutely no guarantees they will find the net. So given how much we spent on ours and the return on goal involvements, if they can keep it up even at a slightly slower pace then it will be an unreal return. 

Hopefully we will become more creative when everyone is up to speed as the attacking make up of the team is still not right IMO. Cantwell should provide much more creativity when fit to start and hopefully Cozier Duberry can too. Repeatedly playing Hedges will never lead to many chancss creative and we have sometimes opted for the likes of Baker and JRC on the other side who dont seem comfortable there.

I still think questions over Gueye and Ohashi are very valid as we try and figure them out. Both have been totally ineffective in the last 2 games and both have shown promise and potential limitations so its hard to know exactly what sort of return we will get over the course of a season.

[bluebruce]

2 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

And was within a gnat's bollock of taking the Club down to League 1.

Notice he didn't mention Hirst, Ennis, Telalovic, Wahlstedt and O Riordan as examples of players signed.

And the cheeky bastard claiming credit for Adam Wharton who was at the Club long before he got here.

What an absolute Grade A knobhead.

Eh, it's a CV, that's what you do with them. You arrange the facts in as complimentary a manner for yourself as you can wrangle without outright lying. You leave out the bad stuff.

There was just one outright lie in there that irked me - Harrogate wasn't our record win, it was our record away win. Oh actually looking closer, I've spotted one more lie. It wasn't our best placing in the FA Cup in 15 years, it was only our joint best placing. We reached the quarters in 2012/13 too, pathetically going out to Millwall. Although I guess you could argue that's not technically a lie, since it equalled our best placing. Not sure if the part about the League Cup is true.

I did have a chortle at some of the things he is trying to claim credit for nonetheless, but I bet most DoF CVs are full of shite like that.

Think it's worth pointing out though, the failed signings you mentioned were far from disastrous financially. Hirst was a loan (did subsequently prove he is capable in the Championship too, but wasn't ready yet), Ennis was sold for probably about break even when wages and sign on fee are counted, Wahlstedt sold for a slight profit, think Telalovic went for about what we paid. O'Riordan is still around so we will see what happens, though it doesn't sound like his loan is going promisingly, so probably a bit of a write off. All told, with wages etc too, we're probably only looking at the equivalent of one million quid player being a flop. Very different to the days of wasting 5 mill on Gally say. And Szmodics was bought and sold for a huge profit. It was on the pitch the ones you named were all gash.

Anyway, wrong thread for GB stuff in truth.

Edited September 29 by bluebruce

[bluebruce]

9 hours ago, aletheia said:

You do wonder why japanese/Korean etc are not scouted more. Always good attitude, always give 100% and tidy on the ball. Not enough fees for agents?

They've only just become available to Championship clubs, realistically. Would have struggled to get a work permit for one in the EU days, and were completely off limits really until the GBE exceptions stuff came in summer 2023. Plenty of clubs will have their quotas filled soon too.

Also not cheap traditionally, especially for second tier sides, to scout at the other side of the world in what until relatively recently was seen as a bit of a football backwater. Perceptions slowly started changing since the 2002 World Cup after Japan and South Korea performed so well, later getting a boost when the likes of Park performed well in Europe, but it doesn't feel like it's been super long since it became trusted as a market.

[philipl]

Asking for permission to get excited.

In Eustace we appear not only to have a good man manager and decent tactician, but a coach who learns and can put lessons into effect.

As has been pointed out we have a deep squad. Result is no weaknesses plus new problems for opponents when subs are made. I will add to the night and day subs bench comment compared with last season, that yesterday's bench had Sigurdsson, Britain and Beck unavailable and no space for a kid to be bloodied if we are coasting.

Cantwell is different class. Noticed he was also finding space in forward positions the rest of the team aren't yet looking to pass to.

Dolan has added brains to feet and is looking an increasingly big player for us 

Travis and Tronstad are so good individually and as a midfield combination.

We all agree JRC is not at his best but I think Carter also can be better than he is showing so far this season.

QPR were much better than in the bits of other games I have seen them in and there is a player in Smyth. Our defence did a really solid job preventing a problematic opposition from becoming a problem  - and that was playing the second half with two makeshift wing backs. And Hedges played much better overall than his critics are allowing.

Final point. I think we can all see this Rovers squad can get better in the next few weeks, perhaps much better.

 

[RevidgeBlue]

25 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

Eh, it's a CV, that's what you do with them. You arrange the facts in as complimentary a manner for yourself as you can wrangle without outright lying. You leave out the bad stuff.

There was just one outright lie in there that irked me - Harrogate wasn't our record win, it was our record away win. Oh actually looking closer, I've spotted one more lie. It wasn't our best placing in the FA Cup in 15 years, it was only our joint best placing. We reached the quarters in 2012/13 too, pathetically going out to Millwall. Although I guess you could argue that's not technically a lie, since it equalled our best placing. Not sure if the part about the League Cup is true.

I did have a chortle at some of the things he is trying to claim credit for nonetheless, but I bet most DoF CVs are full of shite like that.

Think it's worth pointing out though, the failed signings you mentioned were far from disastrous financially. Hirst was a loan (did subsequently prove he is capable in the Championship too, but wasn't ready yet), Ennis was sold for probably about break even when wages and sign on fee are counted, Wahlstedt sold for a slight profit, think Telalovic went for about what we paid. O'Riordan is still around so we will see what happens, though it doesn't sound like his loan is going promisingly, so probably a bit of a write off. All told, with wages etc too, we're probably only looking at the equivalent of one million quid player being a flop. Very different to the days of wasting 5 mill on Gally say. And Szmodics was bought and sold for a huge profit. It was on the pitch the ones you named were all gash.

Anyway, wrong thread for GB stuff in truth.

I usually  agree with you on most things but on this completely disagree. You're entitled to your opinion but in mine Broughton was a complete bullshitter and imposter. Thought that from day one.

The three strikers and the CB you're trying to defend didn't even score a goal between them or make a start for the Club respectively. They don't play for free, you cant defend  them on the basis  that they contributed the squate root of fuck all but we (possibly) broke even on the fee when they left

[Upside Down]

2 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

I know arbitro is a referee so you will be far more interested in his opinion than mine (as you should be!) but it seemed to me that it was a red. He was fully lunging studs up into the top of the ankle. Really really dangerous one. The QPR players had very few complaints.

That's a good point. I haven't seen much of a decent angle of it and it was right in front of the ref.

The whole situation wouldn't have happened had he done his job in the first place and dealt with the obvious foul that happened just before it.

As I said it wouldn't have had much bearing on the match, they'd be down to ten either way.

[bluebruce]

24 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I usually  agree with you on most things but on this completely disagree. You're entitled to your opinion but in mine Broughton was a complete bullshitter and imposter. Thought that from day one.

The three strikers and the CB you're trying to defend didn't even score a goal between them or make a start for the Club respectively. They don't play for free, you cant defend  them on the basis  that they contributed the squate root of fuck all but we (possibly) broke even on the fee when they left

I'm not sure you read my post properly as you seem to be drawing conclusions about my intent that aren't the case and/or aren't what I was saying.

I tend to come at things with balance and look at both sides of every issue. I'm also willing to revise my opinions when situations and contributions change. That's probably why you usually agree with me as you say. But when it comes to GB, you admit yourself you made your mind up on day one (which is rarely the right way to approach things) and clearly, that was that.

I repeat, I think the GB thread is a better home for extended debate on this. However to make it clearer...I didn't say he wasn't a bullshitter, in fact I pointed out some outright bullshit he said in his CV. I also pointed out, people distort facts in their CV all the time, which they do. I never suggested he was a good DoF as you seem to think. I also wasn't defending those players whatsoever- again I was quite clear they were all gash on the pitch for us. I merely observed they weren't a financial disaster for us, which they weren't. And I already took their wages into account, again I thought I was pretty clear with that. Meanwhile, Szmodics was a success that more than financially compensated for those balls ups. None of this means GB was a super DoF or I was happy with the flops.

[Paul Mani]

A solid performance of 7/10’s….

Special mentions:

* Danny Batth - Excellent throughout. A solid, reliable partner for Hyam.

* Ty Dolan - His best game for Rovers in my opinion. Had some end product and ran tirelessly.

* TravStadt - A formidable duo.

* Cantwell - Everything about him is top class. The assist was beautiful and he was constantly looking to punish QPR

We are now a very well coached team. We don’t let games open up and become end to end. I’d liken Eustace’s style to a Boa Constrictor in that we wear teams down by restricting them for 60 mins, tightening our grip tactically before we get to the last third, bring a glut of technical players on to add the bite, and teams just buckle.

The strikers do look a little lost at times but honestly, I think it’s our game plan that hinders them, because I don’t think it’s in our minds to get on top of teams until 60 mins. In boxing terms, we jab away for 8 rounds, keeping our defence up and tiring our opponent. The strikers (Both Gueye and Ohashi) have only ever imposed themselves in the final third of games because in the main, we don’t actually go after teams until this point.

I think the criticism of them on here is a little unfair. They’re both making runs and getting into areas they need to be. We don’t find them regularly enough. Had Yuki got that reverse right and swept the ball in having cushioned the ball into Ty on the half way line, in the first half, we would all be gushing (and rightly so). For the record, he showed a great turn of pace. Gueye did look a little flat when he came on, but again looked far more dangerous than Gally did in 5yrs. I hope he starts at Coventry.

Finally - I think that left side wide player, inverted when the left back (Beck) attacks is PERFECT for Cantwell. Basically makes him the ‘free man’ every time we attack! 😍

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Says a lot about our squad depth that yesterday we were without Sigurdsson, Wharton, Beck, Brittain and Leonard, and it barely made a difference.

The most impressive thing for me is that we look damn hard to beat. Haven’t conceded a goal since August. The longer this run goes on, the less it feels like a fluke. 

[Torgeir]

Sigurdsson is a poor man's Cantwell. Can't see much of a future here for the Icelandic. 

 

Great game, looked controlled, and stayed controlled after we went 2-0 up and were looking to see the game out. Wonder what Eustace will do when Brittain returns, we make a lot fewer mistakes with him and JRC out of the team.

[Rochdale_rover]

14 hours ago, M_B said:

Dolan man of the match for me, I'll be voting accordingly. 

So strange how people see the game .

I thought first half by his standards was the best he'd played in a long time.

Second half way back to same old dolan. 

Cwe could have had another 2 or 3 goals but he holds on to the ball too long . Loses it or does a poor pass and another attack breaks down 

 

[cesus]

I think we are currently reaping the rewards of actually having a bench this season.

In the 5 sub game, the opponents can sink you with the ability to freshen up with quality. 

I think that absolutely killed us last season.