v Coventry City (a) - 1/10/2024

[Bronzed A Donis]

6 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

As good as Cantwell was on Saturday, I just thought it was strange chucking him straight in last night.

Personally thought he would have been much better off the bench again when chasing a goal.

Agree. He looks off the pace to me, which is understandable given his lack of a proper pre-season.

[M_B]

20 minutes ago, London blue said:

Addressing last night, it's probably because he ran two thirds of the pitch in the wrong direction and played an awful pass to a technically poor center back against a team employing a high press with quick forwards. Just after half time. While we were a goal down.

Probably.

It's a part of his game he'll definitely have to work on, assess the technical ability of the player he's passing to before he gives it to them. 

Thought he should have actually had another assist, Ohashi should have scored early on. 

[London blue]

12 minutes ago, M_B said:

It's a part of his game he'll definitely have to work on, assess the technical ability of the player he's passing to before he gives it to them. 

Thought he should have actually had another assist, Ohashi should have scored early on. 

Yeah I missed the first five minutes putting the little one down sadly. Wish he'd cried and spared me the footy tbh.

[MarkBRFC]

43 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Cos I prefer him in the middle where he can score goals like his goal, Play off Gueye and press the ball. 

1 goal in 8 games, I don't think Dolan will end up with many by the end of the season to be honest.

[joey_big_nose]

58 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

As good as Cantwell was on Saturday, I just thought it was strange chucking him straight in last night.

Personally thought he would have been much better off the bench again when chasing a goal.

Yeah with the horrendous conditions it looked to me like we should have started Gueye and Hedges to be a bit more direct. Wasn't really a game for Cantwell or Wieman imo. Feels like the team was picked without reference to the very heavy rain.

[AllRoverAsia]

3 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Too many times with Pears in goal you find yourself thinking - “ how did that end up in  the back of the net ? “

He has always been suspect on low shots from distance bouncing or bobbling through him, rebounding of his body parts or simply being deliberately parried out into oncoming traffic.

His positional sense as to where he is in relation to the goal posts, the area that should be his and where the defenders are is dodgy too.

That's all down to him and the coaching he's been getting.

So to is the nonchalant approach to long clearances which often result in a lethargic swing of the leg which gives the ball height but not distance or those that sail into touch.

[AllRoverAsia]

Cantwell looked like a good footballer thinking " WTF have I got myself into".

He did look quite a bit off the pace which wasn't apparent in his previous sub appearance.

Anyway the best and quickest way of getting match fit is to play proper competitive games.

[roverandout]

I wouldn't be offering Dolan a new contract.  We'll probably be lucky to get 1.5 million for him anyway 

[Rover_in_the_South]

Only just seen the highlights and not excusing Dolan, but for christ sake Hyam, smash it upfield man. 

3rd sees Pears back to his scrambling with the ball....

Still, not in a bad place and let's see a reaction Saturday please!!

[roversfan99]

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Cos I prefer him in the middle where he can score goals like his goal, Play off Gueye and press the ball. 

Yes his pass for the second goal was a disaster going back so far when he such an attacking situation

He hasnt started scoring any more since he moved central, no goals since the opening day.

Cantwell is a flair player, stick him out wide and youll maybe not get the work rate tracking back that others can offer. 

The difference is that Cantwell has far more quality on the ball than Dolan or indeed anyone else in the squad. Its a position where you want your most talented player in, and he is that. 

[AllRoverAsia]

4 minutes ago, Rover_in_the_South said:

Only just seen the highlights and not excusing Dolan, but for christ sake Hyam, smash it upfield man. 

3rd sees Pears back to his scrambling with the ball....

Still, not in a bad place and let's see a reaction Saturday please!!

That kick across to Dolan was appalling. It doesn't excuse Dolan's fail but it sure set him up to FU.

[Sotvtoday]

To be honest, if you had capitalised on one of our early defensive errors it could have been a very different match. We are struggling for confidence and could have folded badly.   

[London blue]

6 minutes ago, Sotvtoday said:

To be honest, if you had capitalised on one of our early defensive errors it could have been a very different match. We are struggling for confidence and could have folded badly.   

Potentially. The point being we allowed a team with such low confidence to boss the game. I couldn't believe what I was seeing at times.

[chaddyrovers]

34 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

He hasnt started scoring any more since he moved central, no goals since the opening day.

I know that already 

34 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Cantwell is a flair player, stick him out wide and youll maybe not get the work rate tracking back that others can offer. 

Already know all that EF99

34 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

The difference is that Cantwell has far more quality on the ball than Dolan or indeed anyone else in the squad. Its a position where you want your most talented player in, and he is that. 

Is it? More space out wide and time on the ball to create from the left. 

[wilsdenrover]

6 hours ago, MarkBRFC said:

What's our Wednesday night away record since 2012 like?!

P 22

W 4

D 3

L 15

F 20

A 40 

[philipl]

You could tell Dolan received a half time rollicking for losing the ball in their half.

So he made sure he lost the ball in our half.

But seriously when I saw Dolan dribbling as fast as his little legs could carry him, I wondered if I had hallucinated ht and we were still attacking the goal on the right of the screen. For a moment I thought it was a hell of a break with some Rovers shirts level with him...

The one bright spark was ACD when he came on. We need to get him and Cantwell embedded ASAP. 

[rigger]

4 hours ago, M_B said:

The team as a whole played poorly at Preston, and again last night,so why is Dolan being singled out in both performances? 

Because he was the worst, and has a history of being on average, very poor. 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

2 hours ago, roverandout said:

I wouldn't be offering Dolan a new contract.  We'll probably be lucky to get 1.5 million for him anyway 

Sadly blows Hot and Cold all the time,massively inconsistent.

[Oldgregg86]

I can’t think of a game at this level where I saw both teams give the ball away as much as they did. The passing at the back, for Coventry especially was diabolical and with a bit of pace felt we could have capitalised more. Can only attribute that to the pitch. 
 

Obviously a terrible performance, made more infuriating by the way Coventry looked to be easily got at. The lack of pace is genuinely frightening in our team coupled with a nullified cantwell who looked like the only player capable of delivering anything that remotely resembles creative play and it was always going to be a long night. Pears was a bomb scare all evening , Dolan atrocious and everybody else just shit with the exception of tronstad who I thought did ok considering all of the above.

Hopefully we get our game together for Plymouth Saturday and we can write this off as a bad day at the office but the tactics used last night by eustace coupled with the players strengths and weaknesses I fear a long season ahead after a surprisingly positive start

Edited October 2 by Oldgregg86

[speeeeeeedie]

7 hours ago, tomphil said:

Someone on twitter listed the midweek games and points won under the last few managers and it made horrendous reading especially given the length of time Mowbray was here.

So many games we just don't turn up from the off midweek away from home which led to the poster asking the questing is there something wrong with the upstairs administration that leads to poor preparation ?

Is it penny pinching, do they turn up too late, spend too much time on the famous bus, not get correct nutrition or rehydration beforehand due to penny pinching.

Are they always pissed off or not in the right mind because they have to wash their own kits and bring a packed lunch or something !

Or are they always out on the piss on Mon/Tues nights ?

There is something wrong at this club to have so many regular no shows in midweek aways.

It can't be random happenstance that Rovers have lost so many midweek games. Looking at overall away wins in the Championship Rovers have averaged between 6 and 7 a season since 2012.

I had a quick look at Bristol City and PNE, two other teams with relatively long current Championship streaks, and they average about 1 more away win a season than Rovers. Maybe their midweek results are equivalent and it's how life is. 

If so the bookies will be aware and will price games accordingly. 

As to last night; Rovers were going to lose eventually but it sounds like it was a pretty limp performance with the usual suspects Pears, Hyam, and Dolan, being particularly bad. 

 

[tomphil]

Judging from many of those games it's like players can't be arsed after busting a gut a few days earlier.

The demands of this league take their toll on smaller squads pretty quickly as well and that is where canny management comes in.

Something we've been very short of in the last nearly 14 years, i'd also wager a lot of clubs deem preparation to be of the utmost importance to get the best results and travel down the day before.

Doubt we do to anywhere less than 200 miles away under this lot !

Edited October 2 by tomphil

[wilsdenrover]

23 minutes ago, speeeeeeedie said:

It can't be random happenstance that Rovers have lost so many midweek games. Looking at overall away wins in the Championship Rovers have averaged between 6 and 7 a season since 2012.

I had a quick look at Bristol City and PNE, two other teams with relatively long current Championship streaks, and they average about 1 more away win a season than Rovers. Maybe their midweek results are equivalent and it's how life is. 

If so the bookies will be aware and will price games accordingly. 

As to last night; Rovers were going to lose eventually but it sounds like it was a pretty limp performance with the usual suspects Pears, Hyam, and Dolan, being particularly bad. 

 

I’ve looked up the midweek away records for those teams (since 2012):

 

PNE

P 53

W 20

D 13

L 20

Bristol City

P 57

W 16

D 8

L 33

Rovers

P 62

W 8

D 13

L 41 

 

Admittedly that’s a small sample size but it does appear we struggle more than others.

[ABBEY]

2 hours ago, philipl said:

You could tell Dolan received a half time rollicking for losing the ball in their half.

So he made sure he lost the ball in our half.

But seriously when I saw Dolan dribbling as fast as his little legs could carry him, I wondered if I had hallucinated ht and we were still attacking the goal on the right of the screen. For a moment I thought it was a hell of a break with some Rovers shirts level with him...

The one bright spark was ACD when he came on. We need to get him and Cantwell embedded ASAP. 

that's exactly what I posted. it was if dolan had a toney on.

 

 

[speeeeeeedie]

1 hour ago, wilsdenrover said:

I’ve looked up the midweek away records for those teams (since 2012):

 

PNE

P 53

W 20

D 13

L 20

Bristol City

P 57

W 16

D 8

L 33

Rovers

P 62

W 8

D 13

L 41 

 

Admittedly that’s a small sample size but it does appear we struggle more than others.

Thanks for that. It certainly does look like Rovers fare poorly compared to others. It has to be structural as it isn't specific to 1 manager.

[Herbie6590]