Doncaster(home)predictions

[alfinyalcabo]

Rovers 3 rovers 1

I win...he he he

[AucklandRover]

That sounds like an absolutely dire performance. Did any of you go? Three defensive errors, apparently, but we seem to have been pretty unimpressive, all-round, according to the reports.

[AucklandRover]

And I've just seen highlights of the Burnley game. Absolutely top-notch performance.
The Rovers fans talking about history on the LET site are missing the point really.
I hate knee-jerk reactions, but TM must see that playing such a defensive line-up was a mistake, especially as it turned out we defended BADLY, anyway! It sounds as if he is being over-complicated tactically, and I can't quite see why we are using wing-backs not used to that position, when we have actual wingers in the squad. I've always favoured 4-4-2, but I was quite prepared to accept something different...if it works. Even this Antonsson doesn't look the right type for League One to me, as he's another on-the-ground player. At this level, you sometimes need the big-bruiser-target-man type - not in every game, but just to keep the other team occupied. We really don't have one of those.
Early days yet, and it might come right, but it's probably not wise to try to play a PL style in League One!
I have an ominous feeling that Whittingham might turn out to be another Murphy. Please let him prove me wrong!

[Bobcrompton1896]

Ive tried several times to post an accurate report of what I saw on Saturday for £22.

However the website says I dont have permission to post. Ha!ha!

So Ill keep it concise. Worst Rovers performance ever against a poor Doncaster team? No.not really.

Most players played hopelessly out of position(as you alluded to,Aucks)-myself and robin (and probably several thousand other Rovers fans)said way before Saturday 3 at the back including Nyambe & Ward is asking for trouble! Total bafflement amongst spectators when the team was announced. I mean,two right-backs and all the real fire-power on the bench.

Yes,fitness levels were poor and Ward had a shocker! Worst defender and performer at Ewood? No,that was Mowbray who picked a silly team trying to be Pep Guardiola.

[AucklandRover]

Ive tried several times to post an accurate report of what I saw on Saturday for £22.

However the website says I dont have permission to post. Ha!ha!

So Ill keep it concise. Worst Rovers performance ever against a poor Doncaster team? No.not really.

Most players played hopelessly out of position(as you alluded to,Aucks)-myself and robin (and probably several thousand other Rovers fans)said way before Saturday 3 at the back including Nyambe & Ward is asking for trouble! Total bafflement amongst spectators when the team was announced. I mean,two right-backs and all the real fire-power on the bench.

Yes,fitness levels were poor and Ward had a shocker! Worst defender and performer at Ewood? No,that was Mowbray who picked a silly team trying to be Pep Guardiola.

Bob - I see both the Under-18s and the Development Team got off to winning starts. It does make you wonder if we shouldn't have taken more risks with some of our youngsters over the last few years. After all, many of the "experienced" journeymen we've mainly relied on during that time haven't exactly justified their inclusion. Too early to say if TM is making the same mistake (and none of us gets to watch training, of course), but it does mystify me sometimes that managers assume other people's cast-offs will always be better than those who have grown up with the Club.

[Bobcrompton1896]

Nearly every manager we have had under Venkys have refused to play the kids. When we have such a highly-rated Academy,its plain ridiculous. Gary Bowyer probably the worst culprit of the lot-mind you,when he played them in Cup matches,we usually got tonked!

Mowbrays player recruitment deeply worrying-10 players signed,not a single central defender amongst them.He was a defender himself and must be aware both Lenihan(who could move on)and Mulgrew are being played out of position - Ward has no pace or positional sense,Wharton apparently injured in training?? Then he plays the most ridiculous combination cum-system imaginable with no player looking like they know whats going on. The fitness levels look poor ,even for us-only Lambert adressed that and NOT conceding soft goals!

Curiously,the disorganisation reminds me of the 1965-66 season under Jack Marshall when we had a very good team on paper that didnt know what to do. That season we finished bottom of the top League in English football with 20 points from 42(not 38)matches.

[AucklandRover]

Nearly every manager we have had under Venkys have refused to play the kids. When we have such a highly-rated Academy,its plain ridiculous. Gary Bowyer probably the worst culprit of the lot-mind you,when he played them in Cup matches,we usually got tonked!

Mowbrays player recruitment deeply worrying-10 players signed,not a single central defender amongst them.He was a defender himself and must be aware both Lenihan(who could move on)and Mulgrew are being played out of position - Ward has no pace or positional sense,Wharton apparently injured in training?? Then he plays the most ridiculous combination cum-system imaginable with no player looking like they know whats going on. The fitness levels look poor ,even for us-only Lambert adressed that and NOT conceding soft goals!

Curiously,the disorganisation reminds me of the 1965-66 season under Jack Marshall when we had a very good team on paper that didnt know what to do. That season we finished bottom of the top League in English football with 20 points from 42(not 38)matches.

Bob - I've just read Damien Johnson's comments on the Under-23s' 5-1 defeat of Wolves. Interestingly, one of the features he highlights is that the team was very successful at "pressing high" so that the opposition were always under pressure.
TM has used the same phrase himself, but it is hard to see how the line-up he chose against Doncaster could play that style.
To be fair, it is early days, and I suspect he was trying to be cautious and play on the break. The problem is, you can't counter-attack unless you defend adequately.
Coyle always seemed to be looking at 4-3 wins, and that failed abysmally. Lambert seemed to be mainly focused on 0-0.
We really haven't found a successful path between those two extremes in recent years. Let's hope TM can do the trick trick.
I wouldn't mind seeing this youngster, Joe Nuttall, given a go at some point. He sounds like someone who is strong, fast, and always harrying the centre-backs.

[champs95]

Bob - I've just read Damien Johnson's comments on the Under-23s' 5-1 defeat of Wolves. Interestingly, one of the features he highlights is that the team was very successful at "pressing high" so that the opposition were always under pressure.
TM has used the same phrase himself, but it is hard to see how the line-up he chose against Doncaster could play that style.
To be fair, it is early days, and I suspect he was trying to be cautious and play on the break. The problem is, you can't counter-attack unless you defend adequately.
Coyle always seemed to be looking at 4-3 wins, and that failed abysmally. Lambert seemed to be mainly focused on 0-0.
We really haven't found a successful path between those two extremes in recent years. Let's hope TM can do the trick trick.
I wouldn't mind seeing this youngster, Joe Nuttall, given a go at some point. He sounds like someone who is strong, fast, and always harrying the centre-backs.

For me its pretty simple. TM is trying to be too clever. Its very basic football at this level. You don't need to play 3-5-2 you don't need to play 'football' .....until those things are addressed, this will continue. 25 passes that all go sideways or backwards are complete cop outs. We have no real creative players, so nobody will unlock the oppo. Its just pointless passing with no end result. 2 centre mids, 2 nippy wingers, 2 good strikers, 4 big, 4 hard defenders. Gte the ball up to the 2 strikers quickly, and if you lose possession, lose it in the final 3rd, not our own box! This is far more simple than Mowbray is making it. While I saw those poor goals we conceded on Sat worried me, once we get going hopefully those mistakes will become less. All 3 came from mistakes. Ward didn't just become poor over night, same with Mulgrew, same with Raya. All 3 where reliable enough last season (when fit in Mulgrews case) so that hopefully (the first 2 league results) will be a kick up the arse for players thinking they are better than they are. But Mowbray is worrying me. He played this stupid system vrs Barrow in the pre-season game. And has stuck to it. Its not working, get it changed, quickly. If not piss off and lets get Bowyer back and try get up. As he is a far, far better manager. Who WILL change things if he needs to. My major concern is TM. and this system that's just playing into the opp's (at this level) hands.

[AucklandRover]

For me its pretty simple. TM is trying to be too clever. Its very basic football at this level. You don't need to play 3-5-2 you don't need to play 'football' .....until those things are addressed, this will continue. 25 passes that all go sideways or backwards are complete cop outs. We have no real creative players, so nobody will unlock the oppo. Its just pointless passing with no end result. 2 centre mids, 2 nippy wingers, 2 good strikers, 4 big, 4 hard defenders. Gte the ball up to the 2 strikers quickly, and if you lose possession, lose it in the final 3rd, not our own box! This is far more simple than Mowbray is making it. While I saw those poor goals we conceded on Sat worried me, once we get going hopefully those mistakes will become less. All 3 came from mistakes. Ward didn't just become poor over night, same with Mulgrew, same with Raya. All 3 where reliable enough last season (when fit in Mulgrews case) so that hopefully (the first 2 league results) will be a kick up the arse for players thinking they are better than they are. But Mowbray is worrying me. He played this stupid system vrs Barrow in the pre-season game. And has stuck to it. Its not working, get it changed, quickly. If not piss off and lets get Bowyer back and try get up. As he is a far, far better manager. Who WILL change things if he needs to. My major concern is TM. and this system that's just playing into the opp's (at this level) hands.

I wouldn't be quite that harsh, Champs, but I take your point. I do wonder, as well, if the players haven't been taken by surprise, despite saying in advance that they weren't taking anything for granted. With the "favourites" tag, and going somewhere like Southend, it would be easy for complacency to be a problem.
Well, they've seen the reality now, and one quality they are going to have to display is a fighting spirit. We have lacked "mongrel" players in the last few years, and I'm not sure we have one, even now. Smallwood, perhaps? But he's no Batty or Sherwood.
I'd prefer 4-4-2 as well. To be honest, I'd like to see both Conway and Gladwin out wide, despite the fact that one of them would have to play on the wrong side. It is a bit hard to see any of our strikers out-muscling centre-backs, which could prove a problem in this Division.

[AucklandRover]

I've just read TM's latest comments, and it isn't hard to read between the lines. He's clearly suggesting that the players have turned up, expecting their extra "quality" to do the job, instead of putting in the hard yards. I reckon a few rockets have been flying about.
That doesn't excuse the unnecessarily defensive line-up he chose against Doncaster, but he's correct that attitude counts almost as much as ability.