v Sunderland (h) - 26/12/2024

[jim mk2]

3 minutes ago, lraC said:

I honestly don’t think Guye belongs on a football pitch. 

He’d be ok at amateur level. The semi-pro North West Counties league is too high for him though 

[RevidgeBlue]

5 minutes ago, Ghost7 said:

Well you won't see many wide players play on the side of their strongest foot in the top 8 of the Championship and above. Running down the wing and crossing is a basic ability expectation and the consensus is they should still be able to do it on their weaker foot. I'm not saying a good winger on their "correct" side isn't effective.... but the idea of "right footed winger on the right and left footed winger on the left" is dinosaur football, proven at the highest level. The reverse changes the size of the goal entirely for finishing when through on goal from a wide area.

Apart from Salah, how many genuine wide players find the net consistently? Not very many.

[Forever Blue]

1 minute ago, Exiled in Toronto Mk2 said:

I thought it was Bucko’s forward passing that changed the dynamic late on.

It did, there’s a player in there if he could liven up a bit!

[Darwen Rover 007]

Just now, Forever Blue said:

 Cantwell not good enough but you’re not sure on Gueye?

That’s some take!

Yes, well he contributed to the goal, but was not impressed overall.. 

Are you convinced by Cantwell? I'm certainly not 

[Forever Blue]

1 minute ago, Darwen Rover 007 said:

Yes, well he contributed to the goal, but was not impressed overall.. 

Are you convinced by Cantwell? I'm certainly not 

I thought Cantwell was good first half, but disappeared 2nd half. He’s certainly a luxury player, but he has quality on the ball nobody else has in our forward areas. He doesn’t seem the fittest lad though.

I think he’ll frustrate but I’m glad he’s here.

The difference today was in the wide areas. Both their wingers were excellent. Hopefully Eustace gets the left winger he wants in January.

[RevidgeBlue]

12 minutes ago, Darwen Rover 007 said:

Lewis and Tronstad were very good.

John Eustace is doing a great job, the tools he has available are mid table, he's definitely punching! 

I'm going to have to bite, what did Tronstad do when we were being steam rollered 2nd half that made you think he was "very good" (apart from losing his man for their first goal)?

Agree entirely on Eustace - an improved deal for him should be the priority ahead of any January signings, as important as they are.

[davulsukur]

Ansley Pears has taken his fair share of stick (from me as well) but that save was superb and he gets MOTM from me for that alone. 

We really did try our best to throw that away at the death, wtf were we doing for that counter?

[Darwen Rover 007]

1 minute ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I'm going to have to bite, what did Tronstad do when we were being steam rollered 2nd half that made you think he was "very good" (apart from losing his man for their first goal)?

Agree entirely on Eustace - an improved deal for him should be the priority ahead of any January signings, as important as they are.

Sorry I thought for the majority of the game he was very good.. if he was great throughout he would probably be playing for teams higher up the chain.

More than happy for you to bite, suppose it's about opinions and I'm sure we all see things differently, sadly I didn't have my usual birds eye vision view, so call it as I saw it. 

[Paul Mellelieu]

3 minutes ago, Darwen Rover 007 said:

Sorry I thought for the majority of the game he was very good.. if he was great throughout he would probably be playing for teams higher up the chain.

More than happy for you to bite, suppose it's about opinions and I'm sure we all see things differently, sadly I didn't have my usual birds eye vision view, so call it as I saw it. 

Now Gallagher's gone, Rev needs a new baddie to fixate on......

[Tom]

Accidental assist machine Gueye with another it seems, did Batth head it onto him?

Edit - seen another angle I think maybe it was Gueye that got his head on it 

Edited Thursday at 17:52 by Tom

[tonyoz]

36 minutes ago, Blackpool_Rover said:

A poor footballer? Go and have a lie down.

Let’s agree to disagree. When did Hedges go off? I’m no fan of his but he was protecting Beck effectively in the first half. Beck was exposed several times in the 2nd half…..where was Hedges? I don’t think he was taken off until after their second……so what happened?

[tonyoz]

2 minutes ago, Tom said:

Accidental assist machine Gueye with another it seems, did Batth head it onto him?

Batth was determined….in a similar way to Gueye……when he scored his famous headed goal!

[Tom]

Just now, tonyoz said:

Batth was determined….in a similar way to Gueye……when he scored his famous headed goal!

From the angle behind the goal Batth climbs but it’s Gueye that heads it across assisted by being held down by Batth funnily enough - whatever works 

[tonyoz]

2 minutes ago, Tom said:

From the angle behind the goal Batth climbs but it’s Gueye that heads it across assisted by being held down by Batth funnily enough - whatever works 

Love it!

[Exiled_Rover]

39 minutes ago, Forever Blue said:

Eustace wants a striker and a left winger in Jan so let’s hope his prayers are answered.

He needs a LB and probably a CM if Travis and Pickering are out for a while.

That'll eat into any funds we have for attacking reinforcements.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

23 minutes ago, Forever Blue said:

I thought Cantwell was good first half, but disappeared 2nd half. He’s certainly a luxury player, but he has quality on the ball nobody else has in our forward areas. He doesn’t seem the fittest lad though.

I think he’ll frustrate but I’m glad he’s here.

The difference today was in the wide areas. Both their wingers were excellent. Hopefully Eustace gets the left winger he wants in January.

Twice in 2 games we've come up against good wingers. It would lovely to have a couple of our own.

[Exiled_Rover]

24 minutes ago, Forever Blue said:

I thought Cantwell was good first half, but disappeared 2nd half. He’s certainly a luxury player, but he has quality on the ball nobody else has in our forward areas. He doesn’t seem the fittest lad though.

I think he’ll frustrate but I’m glad he’s here.

The difference today was in the wide areas. Both their wingers were excellent. Hopefully Eustace gets the left winger he wants in January.

Cantwell is by far our most talented player. He stitches things together playing as the #10 but he needs support. Hedges and Dolan out wide are good defensive, but a liability going forward.

[M_B]

42 minutes ago, lraC said:

I honestly don’t think Guye belongs on a football pitch. 

He belonged on that one today, thought the game changed when he came on.

[arbitro]

What a really good game of football we've seen today. Perhaps not the result we wanted but there were plenty of positives for me against a good Sunderland team. We started the game excellently and the pace we played with was something that took me by surprise. We could have, with a bit more composure scored another couple but when we didn't there was a nagging feeling that they could come back. I was pleased for Ohashi who, apart from his goal looked good. It was a role reversal at the beginning of the second half as they pretty much dominated and did what we couldn't do namely score two goals. The difference was Roberts who tore Beck apart in this period although Beck looked like he was struggling with an injury. And we showed some character to come back when I think nearly everyone had conceded defeat. I thought Brittain had one of his best games in a Rovers shirt today particularly in the first half. It also proved that Cantwell should be more central. Although he tired late on his creativity and ability to hurt teams was evident. Baker proved to be an adequate replacement for Travis and Baath is quickly becoming our best centre half. And we are indebted to Pears for his save at the death. His composure was terrific. And for me Leonard should be ahead of Gueye.

[RevidgeBlue]

9 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He needs a LB and probably a CM if Travis and Pickering are out for a while.

That'll eat into any funds we have for attacking reinforcements.

Why do we need a LB?

[Cherry Blue]

1 hour ago, yankfan said:

Unbelievably really. Both the save and the ease of the counter 

not seen highlighys yet but was it Buckley's miskick that caused their counter? He needs to wake up.

Pears was brilliant and saved the point. MoM imo.

[RevidgeBlue]

29 minutes ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

Now Gallagher's gone, Rev needs a new baddie to fixate on......

It's not really fixating on him, it's just people saying he's brilliant when he isn't.........

If they were saying the same thing about Travis on this season's form I could understand it.

[lraC]

11 minutes ago, M_B said:

He belonged on that one today, thought the game changed when he came on.

Funny how we see things differently. I thought he was abysmal and the two attacks that broke down, due to him being way offside, made me wonder if he even knows the offside rule. 

[Ghost7]

6 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Apart from Salah, how many genuine wide players find the net consistently? Not very many.

That's not the argument, the argument is fans saying playing wide players on the wrong side "handicaps" them, when nearly all professional coaches play their wingers on their "wrong" side today.

I struggle to get on board with fan views that are based on football decades ago... or their own Sunday league experience.....

and decide based on this that professional managers are wrong and handicapping their player by playing them on the opposite side... they simply aren't. I listed a bunch but could almost name nearly all effective wingers today... Anthony Gordon, Jared Bowen, Cole Palmer, Saka, Savio, Luiz Diaz, Madueke, Grealish, Harvey Barnes, Mbuemo. They all play on the reverse side...... it's genuinely wild to still hear this in 2024.

Football isn't a game of run to the byline on poor pitches, whip it in and score any longer... hence why nearly all top wide players play on the reverse side.

Edited Thursday at 23:58 by Ghost7

[only2garners]

7 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Why do we need a LB?

Pickering is out for 12 weeks - if that stays true there will only be 6/7 weeks of the season left. Beck is young and has already missed several games for a variety of reasons.

I’m content with Dolan as man of the match, although Brittain is not a bad shout also. Cantwell did more in the first 10 minutes than the whole of the game at Millwall, but then as the game went on lost more and more influence.
 

ACD has so far had one great half against Luton, one poor one and an anonymous game at Millwall. There might be a case for him starting against Hull as we need some player management over the next few weeks but I’m not enthused so far.