v Swansea City (a) - 22/2/25

[moerpho]

Shows what a good head coach does. No cohesion today vs last two games. Only Travis and to some extent Hyam did a good job today, but were poor by their normal standards. All in all amgame I’ll try to forget as soon as possible. Thank the heavens for beer!

Now get a new man in. Someone who will work with Travis to bring back the fight to the squad. Now forget this and onwards and upwards.

[1874]

Lowe basically picked a team that said "Don't put me in charge"

[Ghost7]

We knew the lack of investment in a top quality keeper would bite us again eventually as it did last year.

Just like the lack of investment in a top quality centre midfielder has.

Common theme here.....

[Mercer]

What's happened today is no surprise to me.

The buck stops with Lowe.  Diabolical selections.  Think the guy is lucky still to be at the club - always thought he was an uninspirational figure with little about him.  He is no Tony Parkes - Tony has forgotten more about football than Lowe ever knew. There is a reason why Eustace seemingly sidelined Lowe.

No surprises from the players - IMO, the performance merely confirms - Pears is a liability, there are reasons Brum binned Sanderson, Forshaw should be playing at Pleasington and as for Weimann, Hedges and Dolan, words continue to fail me.

Buckley has been half decent recently and Kargbo has shown he is capable of ripping it up, yet don't start!  As for Dennis what a waste of a huge wage - one can only assume he's very rusty having played so little football so why the feck sign him~?1

Looks like we are about to spurn another glorious opportunity to get out of this league.

Waggott, Pasha, Gestede, I think you are utterly incompetent disgraces and Jack Walker wouldn't have given you the time of day.

 

 

[miqaayil]

Job well done ...man of the match ..tough choice between pears , dolan and hedges ...brilliantly killing playoff momentum ...

 

man of the season waggot and suhail..another tough choice 

perfectly loss of the game as planned ...3-0.. 

if it's 1-0 or 2-0 ...bad day and confidence still in tact

4-0 or 5-0 ..waggot gets blamed ..

perfect 3-0...projecting we not supposed to be in playoff to fans and start a slide, season done bonus pay achieved 

[Torgeir]

16 minutes ago, Andy said:

I'd genuinely play Michalski ahead of Pears at this stage.

The damage that first goal did can't be measured.

He shouldn't play for the first team again.

Gueye has a chance to win it, and their no. 9 gets two stabs at it. Poor by Pears but just as poor by the defenders around him. 

[Exiled_Rover]

6 minutes ago, DE. said:

Problem is our backup is yet another cheap punt who looks to be just as dodgy. 

Is he? I couldn't tell you, he's only played for us three times. 

[DE.]

Just now, Exiled_Rover said:

Is he? I couldn't tell you, he's only played for us three times. 

Did you think he played well in those matches? 

[Herbie6590]

*puts tin hat on* 

Player of the Match…brought to you in association with www.pslsoccer.co.uk 

Go for it…😕

https://www.brfcs.com/football/match/1216248/swansea-blackburn

[Leonard Venkhater]

9 minutes ago, DE. said:

Problem is our backup is yet another cheap punt who looks to be just as dodgy. 

Worse

[Exiled_Rover]

3 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Gueye has a chance to win it, and their no. 9 gets two stabs at it. Poor by Pears but just as poor by the defenders around him. 

No wonder Pears threw his hands up in disgust as he miskicked a pea roller, it was clearly someone else's fault(!)

[roversfan99]

Terrible performance, a potentially massive blow to any top 6 hopes and Lowe couldnt have got things more wrong if he tried. It was a vulnerable and poor Swansea side that was there to be attacked.

All but one or two said in advance that it was the wrong attack. And the usual suspects failed to disappoint. Hedges again dreadful, apparently "quality" but in reality anything but. Losing the ball, cant tie his laces, did nothing at all useful in attack. Weimann at least gets himself into positions for chances but messed that part up. Dolan was back to being ineffective, full of needless tricks and petulant. Gueye just could not hold the ball up either, he was very poor.

Forshaw regressed back to the mean and Sanderson was all over the place. Ribeiro wasnt as strong as he has been and Pears has gone back to being an embarassment.

Edited February 22 by roversfan99

[philipl]

That was a totally unnecessary self-inflicted defeat.

The Rovers line-up was on this message board 24 hours ago and if it were here we can be absolutely certain it was in Swansea giving a rooky stand in coach plenty of time to make his selection and game plan and prepare his players.

It was clearly leaked because nobody in their right mind would have started with that eleven from the squad of players we had available today. The subs made a difference after the game was lost.

The first goal was a Pears horror show and we have seen several Championship keepers against us this season who would have saved 2 and 3 as well.

And yet again we failed to convert a golden first minute opportunity to score.

[Lecogsportif]

Started the game well but as many had said, got the team selection wrong, game lost at half time. 

[Exiled_Rover]

1 minute ago, DE. said:

Did you think he played well in those matches? 

From memory; he kept a clean sheet against Boro, he let one slip under his arm from close range against Wolves that he'll be disappointed with (had no chance with the second) and Coventry absolutely bullied us in his one Championship game.

So I don't think he's been sensational, but he's worth a look over Pears for sure. 

[Andy]

8 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Gueye has a chance to win it, and their no. 9 gets two stabs at it. Poor by Pears but just as poor by the defenders around him. 

That's very, very kind to Pears.

He could have stood still and either controlled or picked the ball up.

He somehow managed to do neither and danced a jig, as the ball pea-rolled past him.

Any GK, at any level, with a basic level of competence stops that first one.

[Devon Rover]

6 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Is he? I couldn't tell you, he's only played for us three times. 

He has looked shaky in all of them. Perhaps a run of games will help. But goalkeeper is one of several positions the club has dumbed down to the point where mediocrity would be celebrated as something great.

[Exiled_Rover]

4 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Terrible performance, a potentially massive blow to any top 6 hopes and Lowe couldnt have got things more wrong if he tried. It was a vulnerable and poor Swansea side that was there to be attacked.

All but one or two said in advance that it was the wrong attack. And the usual suspects failed to disappoint. Hedges again dreadful, apparently "quality" but in reality anything but. Losing the ball, cant tie his laces, did nothing at all useful in attack. Weimann at least gets himself into positions for chances but messed that part up. Dolan was back to being ineffective, full of needless tricks and petulant. Gueye just could not hold the ball up either, he was very poor.

Forshaw regressed back to the mean and Sanderson was all over the place. Ribeiro wasnt as strong as he has been and Pears has gone back to being an embarassment.

I agree with all of that except Gueye being poor. He rolled one across the six yard box and headed one back across the six yard box - both absolute tap ins if anyone was supporting him. Ward allowed Swansea to kick seven shades of shit out of Gueye today - they swarmed him whenever he got the ball under control too. Not his best game, but by no means his worst. 

[Exiled_Rover]

Just now, Devon Rover said:

He has looked shaky in all of them. Perhaps a run of games will help. But goalkeeper is one of several positions the club has dumbed down to the point where mediocrity would be celebrated as something great.

I'd take a GK that doesn't throw the ball into the back of his own net (see Pears trying to give away a third at the start of the second half today with an awful pass) and saves the shots he's meant to save. We'd have a big gap to the chasing pack if we had one of those. 

[DE.]

Just now, Exiled_Rover said:

From memory; he kept a clean sheet against Boro, he let one slip under his arm from close range against Wolves that he'll be disappointed with (had no chance with the second) and Coventry absolutely bullied us in his one Championship game.

So I don't think he's been sensational, but he's worth a look over Pears for sure. 

Realistically not very hopeful though, is it? We can't have ambition as fans whilst accepting the owners' refusal to build the team with proper backup options. It's why we always end up outside of the playoffs, time after time. Injuries and suspensions kill us, whilst underperforming players often get away with it simply because there's no viable alternative. You can't be successful with this kind of strategy, as we've seen since day one of these fools buying the club and darkening Ewood's doors. 

13 years since we were relegated and not a single Championship top six finish. Absolutely pathetic, and this season will be no different. 

[Torgeir]

5 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

No wonder Pears threw his hands up in disgust as he miskicked a pea roller, it was clearly someone else's fault(!)

Pears is a sub-ordinary keeper who's had a great season up until (close to) this point. 

The bigger issue here is how we get overrun and can't get hold of the ball against fecking Swansea. Totally dominated/thumped 3-0 and no one in Rovers colours can complain.
 

When we offer no threat whatsoever on the counter as well, there's no point watching really.

[Torgeir]

3 minutes ago, Andy said:

That's very, very kind to Pears.

He could have stood still and either controlled or picked the ball up.

He somehow managed to do neither and danced a jig, as the ball pea-rolled past him.

Any GK, at any level, with a basic level of competence stops that first one.

Not sure he could pick it up but it was far from convincing, I agree. One can single out pretty much the entire starting eleven in this one though.

[Exiled_Rover]

2 minutes ago, DE. said:

Realistically not very hopeful though, is it? We can't have ambition as fans whilst accepting the owners' refusal to build the team with proper backup options. It's why we always end up outside of the playoffs, time after time. Injuries and suspensions kill us, whilst underperforming players often get away with it simply because there's no viable alternative. You can't be successful with this kind of strategy, as we've seen since day one of these fools buying the club and darkening Ewood's doors. 

13 years since we were relegated and not a single Championship top six finish. Absolutely pathetic, and this season will be no different. 

Keeping this conversation strictly to the context of the GK I genuinely don't know. He's not been given a chance. 

We bought him for £1m (or thereabouts) which is a significant outlay for us and he's been rotting on the bench all season. I'm not sure how people can judge - besides making the assumption that he must simply look awful in training (or Pears has some incredible blackmail on someone). 

[Cherry Blue]

If we don't have a new HC by next week I'd drop Pears

[NeilInBristol]

1 hour ago, jim mk2 said:

What are the brains trust at Ewood going to do now?

They were desperately hoping for a win today so they could give the job to Lowe and kick the managerial can down the road to summer

Now the wheels have come off and the pressure is on to make a decision 

I wouldn't be surprised if they do that anyway. They don't give a cr*p