Watford away 21/10/20

[champs95]

Good teams win when they play poorly not the reverse 🤔

Good performance? Defensively we looked like we would conceed everytime they went forward.
Keeper cost us. Lenihan cost us. Our midfield is still the problem, it was woeful.
Elliott looked decent surrounded by far inferior players.
Nothing at all has changed, we are going absolutely nowhere. Despite having a decent side.
Armstrong was woeful. As was Ayala, Johnson, Evans, Bell and Lenihan. And that keeper looks dodgy.
And some kid who is head and shoulders better than anyone in the squad. Who is wondering why he bothered coming here.
Another shambolic display and result.

[champs95]

I know that there's no such thing as a good defeat, but that result is a farce.
Watford - just down from the PL - were wasting time from 15 minutes onwards.
We completely outplayed them and lost 1-3.
Elliott is a star in the making. His combination with Nyambe was superb. I was very impressed with Trybull's passing in his time on the field too. Holtby: 9/10.
A missed penalty; an own goal; Foster in brilliant form; 19 attempts on goal.
In a weird way, I don't feel too down about it. How many times in a season would you play that well and lose?
TM will be biting his lip about the referee, but I don't have to. He was an embarrassment to his profession.
Apart from the mystifying absence of the red card when Armstrong was brought down, he missed Foster's double-fisted punch to Johnson's head. Then he booked a player who had just come on, but failed to book him again for a much worse foul, because he realised he would have to send him off!
A final point. Why on earth did Armstrong try to chip Foster? He just had to push the ball past him and tap it into an empty net.

they have now lost 3 football matches. 2 of which they played well and lost. But conceded 6 goals. So last night was not a one off. It has already happened. If you take away playing Wycombe who have not won a game, shouldn't be in the division and wouldn't be unless Covid wasn't here. And a woeful Derby side who have lost to everyone, they have really struggled. Unable to break down an average Cardiff and Forest side. Lost to First, lost to Bournemouth despite playing well still conceded 3.
Good or even half decent sides don't go and play well but concede 3 goals. Not once but TWICE in the first few weeks.

Other than playing 2 very very poor sides, Rovers have been pretty ****e this season.
A long list of excuses I can see from last night.
Where the defensive mistakes and keeper mistakes down to luck? And us missing a pen, and a simple one on one all down to luck? An own goal? A shaky defence. I am shocked we only conceded 3, they looked like they'd score every time they where in our box.

I think they will find ways of losing games. Play well, lose. Play poorly, lose. There will always be an excuse.

They where missing more first team players than us last night. So injuries cant be used an the excuse. Everyone gets them.

[champs95]

Foster last night showed the benefit of addressing you need a decent solid experienced keeper. Get that sorted, and build from there. 3 season in the Champ, we are still as poor at the back as we always have been.
People will always say its the defence and keeper. For me that is still an issue. But it ALL stems from midfield. Our Midfield simply isn't good enough. Whichever 3 you pick. Because the system doesn't work with a 3. We are weak, we conceded goals for fun and 3 years in, no improvements have been made.

My god Coventry will have to be one poor side for Rovers to go and get a win. 1 goal in 3 games, and we are conceding such poor goals. Missing great chances, and a forward who blows hot and cold massively. We may aswell of played with 10 men last night.

This will be the final season Mowbray is here. If we can't push on a bit now, then what is the point? He has been well supported in the window. We havent sold anyone of note for 3 years now, and he has been plenty of money to improve us. We do have better players, but we are simply not improving. Next week it will be another load of excuses. Bad luck, injuries, form, the pitch, the ref.

[seventwo]

I wholeheartedly agree with the last paragraph but surely even Mowbray can get something out of this squad!?

[champs95]

I wholeheartedly agree with the last paragraph but surely even Mowbray can get something out of this squad!?

I think he knows good players. But I simply do not feel he is good enough to find an effective system to beat other sides in a consistent way. Both him & Venus played 100's of games at centre half as players. They know & understand you can't have 2 right footed players who are already both suspect on the ball anyway, to play together. A nieve, costly and ultimately stupid decision to bring him in. Luckily he is now injured, expected due to his bad injury record, and good that William's is back. As we have that crucial balance back at CH. But its midfield where the damage is being done. Those 3 last night can't play together. Bell can't carry on playing, as he's a liability. So the 2 new loan signings will come in and maybe then an improvement? I think we are poor going forward. When you factor in the talent and players available.
The system can't have those 3 players playing last night. I feel 4-3-3 and this high press won't work enough in our favour and up against half this division, its easily nullified like you saw vrs Cardiff & Forest. It may work if you play a 10 man Wycombe side who everyone beats or a woeful Derby side. But it wont against the majority. It's not getting yje best out of the players he has.

I'll tell you this Sven. Pressure is now on him to go to Cov and win. As if you are serious about doing something this season, and he kind of needs to really, you go get 3 points.

This going and playing well and conceding 3 and being applauded for it is a load of *******s.

[seventwo]

We'll be has enough new talent and that will give him a little time.
Vast improvement needed or sacked at Xmas.

[AucklandRover]

Champs - I was talking about the Watford game.
You're clearly referring to a different match altogether.
In the game I watched, the seven players of ours you mention were not - as you imply - useless.

I have no idea why you are locked into this obsession to put everything connected with team DOWN at the moment.
Watch the games and comment on what you see, instead of trying to make your response part of a long -term agenda.
Even the Watford fans are acknowledging they got lucky, and they're just down from the PL. Many of them made the point that they'd expect to see Rovers in or around the top six, based on that performance.
An own-goal and a missed penalty are NOT down to the manager!

[champs95]

Champs - I was talking about the Watford game.
You're clearly referring to a different match altogether.
In the game I watched, the seven players of ours you mention were not - as you imply - useless.

I have no idea why you are locked into this obsession to put everything connected with team DOWN at the moment.
Watch the games and comment on what you see, instead of trying to make your response part of a long -term agenda.
Even the Watford fans are acknowledging they got lucky, and they're just down from the PL. Many of them made the point that they'd expect to see Rovers in or around the top six, based on that performance.
An own-goal and a missed penalty are NOT down to the manager!

It should have been about 5 or 6-1 the other night. It was painful to watch.
Who enjoys watching their side get beat and concede 3 very poor goals. Of course, non of that is the managers fault. It's all a gamble. Managers have no say in team selection. Organisation. Playing 2 right footed centre halves at centre half. All down to luck. Bit wrong players in wrong positions.
It's all down to luck. Lets not even go to Covebtry. Lets just roll a dice. Skill, organisation. Non of that is important. It has been in the 40 years I've watched football. But because you say it's not. That must be true.

[seventwo]

[AucklandRover]

You are the only Rovers fan I've seen (except the half-dozen on the Telegraph site who would criticise a ten-nil Mowbray win for not being 11-0!) who found that game "painful to watch"! Look at the BBC report of the game. Their reporter watched the same one as me!
Who was in the "wrong" position in the starting line-up? Do tell us?
And I did not say - and never have - "It's all down to luck". I have always argued, however, that luck is a significant factor. If Foster had dived the other way, Armstrong's penalty would have looked like a "good" one. This is an indisputable fact of football - and utterly outside the manager's control
The fact is, we lost a game that we dominated for about 80 of the 90 minutes, against a team just down from the PL.
Almost everyone accepts that the squad is still gelling.
You are in despair. All hope is lost.
I'm quite excited by what I've seen and by our prospects for the season.