v Coventry City (h) - 21/01/25

[joey_big_nose]

I think we can accept that Bristol City is as close to a nailed on loss as you get in the Championship. I'd never normally do this but I would seriously think about putting the kids in with the few seniors who have not had much game time (Sanderson, Buckley, Forshaw) and giving everyone else a rest.

The key is then who we can get back fit by 31st January for 5 games in two weeks. If we have even some of Travis, Tronstad, Ohashi, Carter, Pickering back, plus a couple of signings we could get back into the driving seat.

[Old Codger]

On 21/01/2025 at 09:01, Old Codger said:

Common sense (which of course I acknowledge is a figment of my imagination) tells us that we are unlikely to win this game, with key players out, a lack of guile and composure in front of goal, a very limited midfield, creative players (Cantwell and Buckley, ACD) missing in action, low firepower and great uncertainty off the pitch to undermine confidence.

Sod that though, as we all know that to rely on common sense makes no sense. 

What we can expect perhaps is a committed rear guard, a dogged display and perhaps a goal or two at either end. A lot will hinge on whether Brittain can reprise any of the recent form and ability to ping dangerous balls into the opposition area, plus of course whether Big Mak is feeling motivated and has his shooting boots on.

Games like this have a habit of springing surprises, and like most on here, I think it may well be a nasty one with a bump back to reality for Rovers fans. A defining game for the rest of the season, perhaps?

Standard Optimism - Rovers 1 Sky Blues 0

Silly Season - Rovers 4 Coventry sent packing 1

Season over - Rovers 0 Coventry 3

Here's hoping for SILLY SEASON!

COYB!

Hmm.. Season Over nearly covers it after all 😞 

Bah, humbug. Back to the sodding drawing board.

[lraC]

10 minutes ago, Old Codger said:

Hmm.. Season Over nearly covers it after all 😞 

Bah, humbug. Back to the sodding drawing board.

Otherwise known, as the aim for the season is to stay up.

Don't worry though, we have humble owners who never fail to sign a cheque, as we have seen yet again this January.

Us fans are all thick remember, so will believe any old shite.

[sharpysharps86]

12 hours ago, alcd said:

At least 8 points needed from 18 matches. Taken 5 from the last 8 and the squad is decimated with reinforcements very unlikely to appear.

Well I did say 'probably'

[dallydally]

1 hour ago, joey_big_nose said:

I think we can accept that Bristol City is as close to a nailed on loss as you get in the Championship. I'd never normally do this but I would seriously think about putting the kids in with the few seniors who have not had much game time (Sanderson, Buckley, Forshaw) and giving everyone else a rest.

The key is then who we can get back fit by 31st January for 5 games in two weeks. If we have even some of Travis, Tronstad, Ohashi, Carter, Pickering back, plus a couple of signings we could get back into the driving seat.

Dream on!

[Exiled_Rover]

3 hours ago, RoversTilliDie said:

It was that easy for Coventry last night, they turned it into a training session after they went 0-2 up. We need a proven consistent striker or two, to hit the opposition were it hurts.

We watched a different match.

[Exiled_Rover]

7 hours ago, philipl said:

Gueye was fantastic last night.

Eustace did his level best.

Swag should resign.

Coventry had done their homework on Toth sadly.

Can we recall Duru?

Genuinely what homework was that? A sliced shot that turned into an incredible pass that faded away from the GK and landed on the head of their £7m striker 2 yards out? Freak goal.

[den]

Coventry were poor, they offered next to nothing. Yet when they got that first goal it was game over. If that doesn’t say how poor we were, I don’t know what would.

This isn’t the result of a poor January transfer window IMO, it’s the result of how the club and squad has been run into the ground since 2010 and in particular over the last 12 months. Waggott might say the court case has had no effect on the money available but he’s demonstrably lieing.

 

[Exiled_Rover]

1 hour ago, Old Codger said:

Hmm.. Season Over nearly covers it after all 😞 

Bah, humbug. Back to the sodding drawing board.

Sorry, haven't you heard? They sold the drawing board to keep the lights on. 

[MarkBRFC]

13 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

We created some good chances first and second half, got down the wings and created things from open play. 

Gueye was very good, winning headers, overall play improving, had a few good chances, need to cross the ball more for him. 

 

Home side in the top 5 creates a few chances against a side in the bottom half, so they bloody should to be fair!

We obviously have very different standards if we're thinking that was a good performance last night.

Years of mediocrity seems to think creating a few chances at home to a poor side is worthy of praise.

Edited January 22 by MarkBRFC

[...]

2 hours ago, Old Codger said:

Hmm.. Season Over nearly covers it after all 😞 

Bah, humbug. Back to the sodding drawing board.

We arent done just yet, plenty of games left to alter the course we are on, I still believe in Eustace as we all do slowly get our guys back rest some on the right games and then come back full force when we are out of injury

[roversfan99]

The same person also thinks that Ryan Hedges deserves a new deal so standards are very low.

[Hasta]

Gueye was clearly man of the match, but when he's breaking he's so slow with the ball at his feet he's always just going to turn back at some point. To be effective he needs someone running off him and past him. Sammy would have been perfect. 
The problem is we now have Cantwell in that second-striker role and he too is fairly slow and has little interest in getting past Gueye. 

I defended Cantwell a bit on here before yesterday's game by saying he was OK but nothing special and that he gets criticism because people expect more because of his rep. But yesterday he was awful and got worse the deeper he was played. You can't be the most defensive midfielder and then be falling over trying to win free kicks when you get tackled.

I thought first half we were the better side but as ever lacked a cutting edge. They only ever looked dangerous from crowding the keeper on corners and so it proved. Then at the start of the second half Cantwell, Buckley and Forshaw all decide not to lose down a man who advances about 30 yards which leads to the practically game over.

Due to the inadequacies of the squad, any changes to personnel or shape just made us worse. There was to be no Alamo to the Blackburn End. We will wait and see how bad the additional injuries are, but Bristol City feels like a nailed on defeat.

Edited January 22 by Hasta

[...]

1 hour ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Genuinely what homework was that? A sliced shot that turned into an incredible pass that faded away from the GK and landed on the head of their £7m striker 2 yards out? Freak goal.

Thought toth was relatively solid in what was asked of him, some decent urgency playing out from the back, surging forward to play the ball out to catch a break. Something not normally applied by Pears. (Pears has kept us in a fair few games these season and is up there with Brittain performance wise.)

He's a good goalie that was caught out by unfortunate balls played in

[RevidgeBlue]

1 minute ago, ... said:

Thought toth was relatively solid in what was asked of him, some decent urgency playing out from the back, surging forward to play the ball out to catch a break. Something not normally applied by Pears. (Pears has kept us in a fair few games these season and is up there with Brittain performance wise.)

He's a good goalie that was caught out by unfortunate balls played in

He cost us the game. Horrendous error for the first goal. Had barely anything to do first half  but when he was finally called into action, sadly on the night he let us down.

Can't be easy sitting on the bench all season then being thrust in suddenly but you'd hope he'd be able to come in and at worst be unspectacular and do nothing wrong.

[roversfan99]

He seems like a liability from the few corners they put in and was responsible for the goal.

[islander200]

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

The same person also thinks that Ryan Hedges deserves a new deal so standards are very low.

He only thinks that though because the telegraph said the club and Eustace wanted it 

If the headline tomorrow was "Eustace to let Hedges go" He would back that decision aswell

Pointless trying to debate or reason that 

[Blow-in]

6 hours ago, RoversTilliDie said:

We were that poor last night, one effort on goal went for a throw in. We gave the ball away every time we got it, and the passing was league 2 standard. The only bright spark was Gueye, who was a one man show. If we can turn him into a consistent goal scorer, he would be the finished article.

That effort somehow finished further from the goal than when it started, I have never seen anything like it.

 

If we make Gueye any sort of finisher he will be sold in the summer.

[BankEnd Rover]

.

Edited January 22 by BankEnd Rover

[aletheia]

Mashed Potatoes

Looking at those clubs over the last few years are they really a step up ?

Derby County

 

Income 0

Expenditure 4.64

Swansea

 

Income 3.5

Expenditure 5.58

Blackburn Rovers

 

Income 13.4

Expenditure 3.59

And of course, nobody has as more dysfunctional a hierarchy than Rovers.

On sackings, yes JDT was too subtle -you could stuff a chicken up SWAG's backside and he wouldn't leave. You'd need to constantly call the Venkys and Pasha idiots in press conferences and you might just do it.

 

Edited January 22 by aletheia

[sabino]

2 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

He seems like a liability from the few corners they put in and was responsible for the goal.

Nonsense!!

The lad was allowed by ref and our defence to get blocked. He still managed a decent punch out. They the got a fluke break when the Coventry player mis-hit it and it landed on Sims head. Again the defenders could have done better. All Toth could do was make himself as big as possible, like any keeper would do, and hope for a bit of luck.

[Crimpshrine]

12 hours ago, Forever Blue said:

I think you’ll find that when questioned one prominent member of WATR stated they weren’t calling for Venkys to go. Like I said, very bizarre. 
 

Oh, and Venky’s own the club, so they were indeed referring to them. 

It is bizarre that you can't differentiate between the club (Blackburn Rovers) and the owners (Venky's).

One day soon you may finally understand. 

[RevidgeBlue]

42 minutes ago, sabino said:

Nonsense!!

The lad was allowed by ref and our defence to get blocked. He still managed a decent punch out. They the got a fluke break when the Coventry player mis-hit it and it landed on Sims head. Again the defenders could have done better. All Toth could do was make himself as big as possible, like any keeper would do, and hope for a bit of luck.

The punch was OK. When the ball comes back in he has a decision to make, come for it or stay on your line. If he stays on the line he has an easy save. If he comes for it he HAS to get there first. 

It's no use starting to come out, only getting half way then dong "the starfish". That might work in a one on one when an attacker is bearing down on goal but not in that situation.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

1 hour ago, sabino said:

Nonsense!!

The lad was allowed by ref and our defence to get blocked. He still managed a decent punch out. They the got a fluke break when the Coventry player mis-hit it and it landed on Sims head. Again the defenders could have done better. All Toth could do was make himself as big as possible, like any keeper would do, and hope for a bit of luck.

I agree to a point but there is also a train of thought he should have come and took ball and Simms.

It also showed when your luck is out. There mis hit shot landed on the head of their striker our mis hit shot went so far wide it nearly ended up as a back pass to our keeper. 

[Forever Blue]

53 minutes ago, Crimpshrine said:

It is bizarre that you can't differentiate between the club (Blackburn Rovers) and the owners (Venky's).

One day soon you may finally understand. 

There is no difference, they own the club. You can’t be a ‘friend’ of Rovers and not be a ‘friend’ of the Venkys. A true ‘friend’ of Rovers would be calling for the owners to sell up which WATR are categorically not doing. Understand?