v Sheffield Wednesday (a) - 10/12/2024

[Herbie6590]

11 hours ago, Mike E said:

As long as it’s on target from his head…

I didn’t say that…😆

[joey_big_nose]

9 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Not really, (I'm assuming the answer is Broughton) do you think Tronstad played well last night?

He was completely invisible for me. By no means on his own in having a poor game imo though as I've mentioned and I don't think we can carry on playing like that and winning for very long  but for the present we won so hey ho.

Eustace continues to squeeze the absolute maximum out of a very poor squad. Long may it continue.

I have to say in all my time watching football and chatting to fans of all different stripes your opinions on who are and are not good players are the most unusual. 

Pretty sure 99% of people who watched that game last night would have said Tronstad was very good.

Edited December 11, 2024 by joey_big_nose

[Herbie6590]

11 hours ago, had.e.nuff said:

I cant believe some on here are trying to take the goal off him.

I’m not for absolute clarity…

[norwichblue]

10 minutes ago, den said:

Gueye’s still a crap footballer but he does make people smile. Can’t help but like him.

Anyone else remember crap strikers that did that? I can’t.

Can’t fault his effort last night - he attacked that cross like his life depended on it. Pure physicality - size, strength and determination left the Owl defender in tatters.

But yeah can’t deny that generally he is a bit of a donkey sometimes. That offside when we were on the break was shocking. And I can’t forgive that miss against Stoke.

On the flip side, he has made a couple of good assists and gets in some good positions. I think he’s an upgrade on Gallagher still - if not on ability, then purely based on him not being perpetually injured.

Got to love him regardless of ability. Man’s a total joker 🤣

[R is for Rovers]

Who'd like some lovely stats?

 

Rovers have 9 clean sheets from 19 games - only kept more at this stage in 4 previous seasons. Last time was in 1994-95.

 

Rovers have exactly the same record after 19 games (W10 D4 L5) as in the 2000-01 promotion season - also the last time we had 34+ points at this stage in either of the top 2 tiers.

 

Rovers have taken 18 points from 10 games against teams currently in the top half - only Leeds (19) and Sheffield Utd (20) have taken more.

 

Rovers have dropped 2 points from winning positions this season - the only team in England's top 4 divisions who've dropped fewer are Newport.

 

This last one won't be for everyone, but if xG is your thing... Rovers have faced an xG per shot of 0.091. Simply put, if this is low that means you're defending well, because your opponents are taking low-quality shots (for instance, from far out, or in situations where they've defenders closing them down). Rovers have the 4th-lowest in the Championship, and our xG per shot faced is lower than Liverpool's (0.096).

[only2garners]

1 hour ago, Crimpshrine said:

I wonder how much coaching McFadz gets involved in. He certainly seems very influential in terms of motivation and team spirit. It looks like a sensible decision to keep him around this season despite him not getting on the pitch very much

 

That was noticeable last season. There was a game at Ewood where at the end when he had just been a sub he went up to every player as they came off the pitch and spoke to them.

[Leonard Venkhater]

11 hours ago, had.e.nuff said:

I cant believe some on here are trying to take the goal off him.

[Groundhog]

19 minutes ago, norwichblue said:

Can’t fault his effort last night - he attacked that cross like his life depended on it. Pure physicality - size, strength and determination left the Owl defender in tatters.

But yeah can’t deny that generally he is a bit of a donkey sometimes. That offside when we were on the break was shocking. And I can’t forgive that miss against Stoke.

On the flip side, he has made a couple of good assists and gets in some good positions. I think he’s an upgrade on Gallagher still - if not on ability, then purely based on him not being perpetually injured.

Got to love him regardless of ability. Man’s a total joker 🤣

Every team needs a mad bastard in it - lightens the mood and gives everyone something to bond over. I think he'll come good - he needs a role, something the rest of the squad seem to have well defined. If he can own being a battering ram against certain teams and we can get the crosses into him, even if he just creates havoc at least, the resulting knock down or second ball will be dangerous on its own. It was happening early on in the season.

The way the players are celebrating goals and wins at the minute is a real indicator of the feeling in the squad - it just feels different to me from previous seasons. I know at Hillsborough it's easier to get to the fans due to the stand being closer to the pitch, but the scenes after the goal were amazing, 4-5 players getting their heads stuck in, Hedges, Tronstadt, JRC etc, there's a connection there that seems a level up. Getting emotional watching it and I haven't felt like that for ages. 

I see a lot of criticism aimed at Hedges, I find it a little unfair, yes him and Dolan can be frustrated going forward, but they work really hard to track back and get back into shape, and for that you sacrifice forward momentum - his run for the goal against Hull was great. I agree the passing could be better. Hedges is one of those players that managers love and apart from his injury record he's bloody fit and can graft. I'd hate to play against him or Dolan, knowing they're always going to be getting goal side of you when you've managed to knick the ball back, relentless. 

[Herbie6590]

15 minutes ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

“You boy…has Gueye scored yet?” 

[oldjamfan1]

11 minutes ago, Herbie6590 said:

“You boy…has Gueye scored yet?” 

Properly made me laugh that ha ha

[philipl]

We are over doing the knocking of Gueye.

The goal clip starts running with Beck performing heroics on the left but immediately prior to that Gueye had received and instantly controlled then passed accurately an incredibly difficult ball with. two Wednesday defenders close to him.

There were at least two other "he's not going to control or even get to that" moments from Gueye in his brief cameo.

He looks ungainly and a bit uncoordinated and when he messes up he is so big there is no hiding place but I haven't changed my opinion that Gueye can play and is a serious upgrade on Gallagher. 

[DE.]

In fairness to Big Mak, it's not like he looked wildly out of place pre-Burnley. He seemed to have good attributes as a bit of a bruiser up front, and had some excellent touches, movement and passes, a couple of which led directly to goals.

The Burnley sending off seemed to totally derail all of his early momentum, unfortunately, and since then he's really struggled. I don't expect he'll ever be a prolific goalscorer as his shooting technique isn't at the level it needs to be, but he has a lot of other attributes which can help us be effective. If he chips in with the odd goal here or there then great, although it does mean we need to try again when it comes to bringing in someone who can realistically get into double figures on the goalscoring chart. I don't think we have that at the moment and as amazing as the current run of clean sheets has been, we aren't going to be able to win 1-0 every game. 

[...]

1 hour ago, joey_big_nose said:

I have to say in all my time watching football and chatting to fans of all different stripes your opinions on who are and are not good players are the most unusual. 

Pretty sure 99% of people who watched that game last night would have said Tronstad was very good.

Tronstad was pretty solid tbh he had a tough job to do and managed it very well being stretched a bit 

[...]

56 minutes ago, Herbie6590 said:

“You boy…has Gueye scored yet?” 

Very festive herb 🤣

[rob_of_the_rovers]

1 hour ago, R is for Rovers said:

Rovers have dropped 2 points from winning positions this season - the only team in England's top 4 divisions who've dropped fewer are Newport.

This is the big one. In recent seasons we've dropped so many points late on

[rigger]

11 hours ago, riverholmes said:

How many goals did Ciccio Grabbi get for Rovers? Big Mak Pape Gueye is on his way!

Also positive to see Litherland and O'Grady-Macken on the bench. Gives fans a bit of hope for the future - and maybe the players too. I would hope that they stay in there, rather than bringing back Sigurdsson etc.

I think Siggy's bridges are burnt.

[...]

1 hour ago, Groundhog said:

Every team needs a mad bastard in it - lightens the mood and gives everyone something to bond over. I think he'll come good - he needs a role, something the rest of the squad seem to have well defined. If he can own being a battering ram against certain teams and we can get the crosses into him, even if he just creates havoc at least, the resulting knock down or second ball will be dangerous on its own. It was happening early on in the season.

The way the players are celebrating goals and wins at the minute is a real indicator of the feeling in the squad - it just feels different to me from previous seasons. I know at Hillsborough it's easier to get to the fans due to the stand being closer to the pitch, but the scenes after the goal were amazing, 4-5 players getting their heads stuck in, Hedges, Tronstadt, JRC etc, there's a connection there that seems a level up. Getting emotional watching it and I haven't felt like that for ages. 

I see a lot of criticism aimed at Hedges, I find it a little unfair, yes him and Dolan can be frustrated going forward, but they work really hard to track back and get back into shape, and for that you sacrifice forward momentum - his run for the goal against Hull was great. I agree the passing could be better. Hedges is one of those players that managers love and apart from his injury record he's bloody fit and can graft. I'd hate to play against him or Dolan, knowing they're always going to be getting goal side of you when you've managed to knick the ball back, relentless. 

Dolan was brilliant at hunting down lastnight, gave up the ball to a silly pass and hunted it down and got a throw in

[rigger]

6 hours ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

I thought tronstadt was fine, some vital nicks around our box was crucial for the clean sheet. 
 

guessing if sigurdsson was fit he would come in for cantwell but he isn’t so he just needs moved on. If brittain is back maybe jrc in there , our Allen key, unless he moves ohashi back and geuye gets rewarded

I think Baker will replace Cantwell. How the fuck do you get yourself booked when you have been substituted ?

[LDRover]

Enjoyable evening at Hillsbrough last night, can't beat these 1-0 wins.

I was worried for a time that we wouldn't hold out but I relaxed a lot more when they brought Des Lynam on. What a shocker he was.

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, Groundhog said:

Every team needs a mad bastard in it - lightens the mood and gives everyone something to bond over. I think he'll come good - he needs a role, something the rest of the squad seem to have well defined. If he can own being a battering ram against certain teams and we can get the crosses into him, even if he just creates havoc at least, the resulting knock down or second ball will be dangerous on its own. It was happening early on in the season.

The way the players are celebrating goals and wins at the minute is a real indicator of the feeling in the squad - it just feels different to me from previous seasons. I know at Hillsborough it's easier to get to the fans due to the stand being closer to the pitch, but the scenes after the goal were amazing, 4-5 players getting their heads stuck in, Hedges, Tronstadt, JRC etc, there's a connection there that seems a level up. Getting emotional watching it and I haven't felt like that for ages. 

I see a lot of criticism aimed at Hedges, I find it a little unfair, yes him and Dolan can be frustrated going forward, but they work really hard to track back and get back into shape, and for that you sacrifice forward momentum - his run for the goal against Hull was great. I agree the passing could be better. Hedges is one of those players that managers love and apart from his injury record he's bloody fit and can graft. I'd hate to play against him or Dolan, knowing they're always going to be getting goal side of you when you've managed to knick the ball back, relentless. 

Its not enough though to just offer hard work and defensive protection though as an attacker. Neither (especially Hedges) offers anywhere near enough going forward. As a full back, you are happy facing them.

55 minutes ago, philipl said:

We are over doing the knocking of Gueye.

The goal clip starts running with Beck performing heroics on the left but immediately prior to that Gueye had received and instantly controlled then passed accurately an incredibly difficult ball with. two Wednesday defenders close to him.

There were at least two other "he's not going to control or even get to that" moments from Gueye in his brief cameo.

He looks ungainly and a bit uncoordinated and when he messes up he is so big there is no hiding place but I haven't changed my opinion that Gueye can play and is a serious upgrade on Gallagher. 

Would you consider the knocking to be abuse like with Dolan?

Gallagher (when fit) was bang average but Gueye has not shown that he is a serious upgrade in any way so far. Lets hope last night is a springboard to changing that.

38 minutes ago, DE. said:

In fairness to Big Mak, it's not like he looked wildly out of place pre-Burnley. He seemed to have good attributes as a bit of a bruiser up front, and had some excellent touches, movement and passes, a couple of which led directly to goals.

The Burnley sending off seemed to totally derail all of his early momentum, unfortunately, and since then he's really struggled. I don't expect he'll ever be a prolific goalscorer as his shooting technique isn't at the level it needs to be, but he has a lot of other attributes which can help us be effective. If he chips in with the odd goal here or there then great, although it does mean we need to try again when it comes to bringing in someone who can realistically get into double figures on the goalscoring chart. I don't think we have that at the moment and as amazing as the current run of clean sheets has been, we aren't going to be able to win 1-0 every game. 

I think the perception of a pre and post Burnley red card difference is overstated personally. As Gueye was new he was naturally offered more of a benefit of the doubt. He did assist a couple but one was a knock down where Weimann half volleyed it from 30 yards.

[rigger]

2 hours ago, den said:

Gueye’s still a crap footballer but he does make people smile. Can’t help but like him.

Anyone else remember crap strikers that did that? I can’t.

Howard Gayle, he wasn't crap, but he was average. Visions of him swinging on the fence at the Blackburn end.

[RevidgeBlue]

10 minutes ago, rigger said:

Howard Gayle, he wasn't crap, but he was average. Visions of him swinging on the fence at the Blackburn end.

Gayle was a lot better than average imo. One of the slightly better players in that side that capitulated at Selhurst Park.

[RevidgeBlue]

27 minutes ago, rigger said:

I think Baker will replace Cantwell. How the fuck do you get yourself booked when you have been substituted ?

I didn't realise what he'd done at the time. Incredibly unprofessional but I didn't think he did a great deal whilst he was on the pitch either so hopefully we can manage without him against Luton.

The talent is clearly there but he needs to stamp his authority on games a lot more for me. I feel like we're only getting 60-70% from him most of the time. Maybe that's what he's like all the time and there isn't anything else to come but if he could start dictating games then that would be very exciting and would transform our prospects irrespective of the forward line.

[oldjamfan1]

8 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Gayle was a lot better than average imo. One of the slightly better players in that side that capitulated at Selhurst Park.

His missed penalty at Ewood changed that whole tie. I agree with you on his ability though, you didn't get into that early 80s Liverpool squad if you were average.

[rovers11]

Big Mak is definitely a confidence player so that goal will do him the world of good. His touch and general play were excellent last night. The way he rolled the defender for the stonewall penalty was very impressive. The problem is he probably would have missed if he went clean through from that turn!

The sending off against Burnley really impacted his game, he was brilliant before that. Hopefully last night was a turning point.