Thoughts about last night

[BillyStubbsTears]

I thought we generally played very well. We mostly moved the ball sharply and accurately. We created a host of decent chances. The keeper made 8 saves, half of them excellent ones. The ball frequently pinged around there box without dropping to our players.*

Sometimes these things happen.

I'm certain if the two sides played like they did last night another 10 times, we'd win 8 of them.

Yes the defending for their goal was poor. But we a a Fourth Division side. Do you expect perfection?

A couple of thoughts though.

Ironside worries me greatly. He looks a shadow of what he was last season. He's not holding the ball up, he's not making runs, he's not really looked like scoring form open play. There was a shot from outside the box last night that the keeper couldn't hold. An on form striker would have been closing in on it, but Ironside was back on his heels. By the time he moved for the ball, the defender had beaten him to it by 2 yards.

2) The substitutions baffled me. Everyone in the ground knows Kelly is coming off after 75 mins. It's a cast iron law of the Universe. He hasn't got the kegs to last longer. So why on earth take off Clifton just before. He's the motor that might have caused them problems as they tired. Instead we had Close and Broadbent, both safety first players, neither one likely to run at or through the defence. And it showed. We faded badly just as we needed to chuck the entire kitchen showroom at them.

3) And on with the substitutions. Yeboah. Just not at the required standard by a long way. Willing and tries but it's nowhere near enough. If Sbarra was dropped off the bench to accommodate him, I'm gobsmacked.

* Two in the second half come to mind. One where the keeper dived to his left, the shit was deflected and hit his legs then rolled straight up his waist and into his arms. One where a cross came in about 8 yards out, the centre half fling his head at the ball desperately to cut out the cross and the ball looped straight into the keepers' arms.

[Silkscarf]

“the shit was deflected and hit his legs then rolled straight up his waist and into his arms”

You’ve excelled yourself there Bill.

[Nudga]

There's already a thread for this, worried your thoughts would get lost on page 5?

[BillyStubbsTears]

Sorry mate. Got in at nearly midnight then just put a 12 hour shift in so apologies for not keeping up. Ignore it if you prefer.

[Nudga]

Just don't understand why it needs another thread when the "let's talk about the Bromley match" thread is still going.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Because the "Let's talk about..." threads usually have several pages of pre match stuff and relatively little post match and I have had time to wade through it. Like I said, feel free to ignore me.

[Nudga]

Noted, will do.

[Usher wide.]

Because the "Let's talk about..." threads usually have several pages of pre match stuff and relatively little post match and I have had time to wade through it. Like I said, feel free to ignore me.

The “Let’s talk about..” thread ALWAYS has plenty of post match thread on it & if you’re not given to “wade through” any pre match amble, try clicking on the last page then working your way back until what you have to say hasn’t already been covered on that topic/thread.

It’s about being courteous to a poster who week on week gives an in depth ‘report/opinion’ on the weeks oncoming fixture. To ignore that topic & after threads because you’re either too lazy, too arrogant or ignorant to give them the ‘courtesy’ to at least ‘speed read through’ speaks volumes about you as a poster.

Rather than another post which in essence says ‘you can’t be arsed’ to look through ‘any pre match amble” which in my opinion is a ‘slap down’ to selby & ought to offer some credence of apology you simply add “…..feel free to ignore me.”

Your arrogance (in granted but nevertheless very noticeable thus far) to me as a poster knows no bounds but hey, please feel free to ignore me or perhaps enlighten me if I’ve totally misread & unjustly ‘maligned’ you.

[StocksArmy]

We should have won the game. We didn’t play well at all though in my opinion. We are so reliant on Molyneux and Gibson it’s painful. Maxwell gets it, passes to Gibson with a man in his back, plays back to Maxwell, passes to McGrath, passes to Olowu, goes out to Sterry, passes to Molyneux with a man in his back, loses it or goes back to Sterry and repeat. The occasions when we had chance to cross we either refused it or we couldn’t beat the first man. It really is powderpuff and in my opinion we need to keep ticking along without falling into a really poor run of form, recruit well in January go again. Just can’t see us getting into promotion form with what we have. Would even be looking into the free agents at this point for a striker.

[dickos1]

I thought we generally played very well. We mostly moved the ball sharply and accurately. We created a host of decent chances. The keeper made 8 saves, half of them excellent ones. The ball frequently pinged around there box without dropping to our players.*

Sometimes these things happen.

I'm certain if the two sides played like they did last night another 10 times, we'd win 8 of them.

Yes the defending for their goal was poor. But we a a Fourth Division side. Do you expect perfection?

A couple of thoughts though.

Ironside worries me greatly. He looks a shadow of what he was last season. He's not holding the ball up, he's not making runs, he's not really looked like scoring form open play. There was a shot from outside the box last night that the keeper couldn't hold. An on form striker would have been closing in on it, but Ironside was back on his heels. By the time he moved for the ball, the defender had beaten him to it by 2 yards.

2) The substitutions baffled me. Everyone in the ground knows Kelly is coming off after 75 mins. It's a cast iron law of the Universe. He hasn't got the kegs to last longer. So why on earth take off Clifton just before. He's the motor that might have caused them problems as they tired. Instead we had Close and Broadbent, both safety first players, neither one likely to run at or through the defence. And it showed. We faded badly just as we needed to chuck the entire kitchen showroom at them.

3) And on with the substitutions. Yeboah. Just not at the required standard by a long way. Willing and tries but it's nowhere near enough. If Sbarra was dropped off the bench to accommodate him, I'm gobsmacked.

* Two in the second half come to mind. One where the keeper dived to his left, the shit was deflected and hit his legs then rolled straight up his waist and into his arms. One where a cross came in about 8 yards out, the centre half fling his head at the ball desperately to cut out the cross and the ball looped straight into the keepers' arms.

Couldn’t agree more Billy

[roversareback]

Noted, will do.

Such an obnoxious bloke you- glad to see you haven’t changed in over 20 years!!

[Usher wide.]

Noted, will do.

Such an obnoxious bloke you- glad to see you haven’t changed in over 20 years!!

Why have you changed your user name?

[BillyStubbsTears]

Because the "Let's talk about..." threads usually have several pages of pre match stuff and relatively little post match and I have had time to wade through it. Like I said, feel free to ignore me.

The “Let’s talk about..” thread ALWAYS has plenty of post match thread on it & if you’re not given to “wade through” any pre match amble, try clicking on the last page then working your way back until what you have to say hasn’t already been covered on that topic/thread.

It’s about being courteous to a poster who week on week gives an in depth ‘report/opinion’ on the weeks oncoming fixture. To ignore that topic & after threads because you’re either too lazy, too arrogant or ignorant to give them the ‘courtesy’ to at least ‘speed read through’ speaks volumes about you as a poster.

Rather than another post which in essence says ‘you can’t be arsed’ to look through ‘any pre match amble” which in my opinion is a ‘slap down’ to selby & ought to offer some credence of apology you simply add “…..feel free to ignore me.”

Your arrogance (in granted but nevertheless very noticeable thus far) to me as a poster knows no bounds but hey, please feel free to ignore me or perhaps enlighten me if I’ve totally misread & unjustly ‘maligned’ you.

Well, this escalated quickly.

1) It's not in any way a put down to Selby's "Let's talk about..." threads. They are always well set out and interesting. I merely pointed out the fact that they often lead to extensive discussions PRE-match and yes, given the fact that I haven't had the time to look over all 5 pages, I didn't add to that thread. If you interpret that as "couldn't be arsed" and "lazy and arrogant" when you haven't the faintest idea of what's going on in my life outside here, fill your boots. But it sits a bit oddly with you claiming the moral high ground.

2) Go back and look at discussions after previous matches. There are always multiple threads. Strange that no-one seems to get hit under the collar about that, but there you go. (You yourself started one about Ironside's performance after the Swindon game which led to several comments about other players, when there was a discussion going on about individual players in the "Let's talk about the Swindon match" thread. I don't recall anyone suggesting you were arrogant and lazy.)

3) And yes. If you don't like another thread being opened, ignore it. Is someone holding a gun to your head and making you read this one (which other people by the way, have chosen to contribute to substantively).

[BillyStubbsTears]

PS.
I've just gone back and had a quick look at the post match posting in the "Let's talk about the Bromley game" thread. Must have been a sixth sense that made me keep out because it went the way of many discussions after we lose (and yes, I've been as guilty of that as anyone).

[Butchers Red]

I thought we generally played very well. We mostly moved the ball sharply and accurately. We created a host of decent chances. The keeper made 8 saves, half of them excellent ones. The ball frequently pinged around there box without dropping to our players.*

Sometimes these things happen.

I'm certain if the two sides played like they did last night another 10 times, we'd win 8 of them.

Yes the defending for their goal was poor. But we a a Fourth Division side. Do you expect perfection?

A couple of thoughts though.

Ironside worries me greatly. He looks a shadow of what he was last season. He's not holding the ball up, he's not making runs, he's not really looked like scoring form open play. There was a shot from outside the box last night that the keeper couldn't hold. An on form striker would have been closing in on it, but Ironside was back on his heels. By the time he moved for the ball, the defender had beaten him to it by 2 yards.

2) The substitutions baffled me. Everyone in the ground knows Kelly is coming off after 75 mins. It's a cast iron law of the Universe. He hasn't got the kegs to last longer. So why on earth take off Clifton just before. He's the motor that might have caused them problems as they tired. Instead we had Close and Broadbent, both safety first players, neither one likely to run at or through the defence. And it showed. We faded badly just as we needed to chuck the entire kitchen showroom at them.

3) And on with the substitutions. Yeboah. Just not at the required standard by a long way. Willing and tries but it's nowhere near enough. If Sbarra was dropped off the bench to accommodate him, I'm gobsmacked.

* Two in the second half come to mind. One where the keeper dived to his left, the shit was deflected and hit his legs then rolled straight up his waist and into his arms. One where a cross came in about 8 yards out, the centre half fling his head at the ball desperately to cut out the cross and the ball looped straight into the keepers' arms.

Pretty much nailed it there Billy - Bromley deserve a lot of credit for rocking up and going toe to toe with us, until they scored then shithousery was combined with a willingness to pour forwards in numbers whenever they had the chance.

So from thereon on their keeper had a worldy and we never quite had the guile to unlock the door.

Overall a very enjoyable game of football between 2 very hardworking and committed teams.

I love Rovers as much as anyone and feel the frustration and disappointment of so many but at times it's easy to be blinded by the result, over a 46 game season it all get's Ironsided out. ( Pardon the Pun )

[Ryaldinhio]

For me I didn't think we played badly but I think Grant and the coaches got this one very wrong, not the players.

I would've expected the instructions to be I dont want to see one cross into that box. Get to the byline and smash it across on the deck or pull it back. It was clear we were never guna win a header in their box let alone get it on target with enough power to score.......Yet we continued crossing until the last minute.

I messaged a pal of mine saying we could've played for another week and not scored, low and behold GM said a similar thing in his post match.

In a football match we can win, against better teams we can win, when we come up against a physical side and/or a side with a low block we are beat before we start.

[ChrisBx]

Because the "Let's talk about..." threads usually have several pages of pre match stuff and relatively little post match and I have had time to wade through it. Like I said, feel free to ignore me.

The “Let’s talk about..” thread ALWAYS has plenty of post match thread on it & if you’re not given to “wade through” any pre match amble, try clicking on the last page then working your way back until what you have to say hasn’t already been covered on that topic/thread.

It’s about being courteous to a poster who week on week gives an in depth ‘report/opinion’ on the weeks oncoming fixture. To ignore that topic & after threads because you’re either too lazy, too arrogant or ignorant to give them the ‘courtesy’ to at least ‘speed read through’ speaks volumes about you as a poster.

Rather than another post which in essence says ‘you can’t be arsed’ to look through ‘any pre match amble” which in my opinion is a ‘slap down’ to selby & ought to offer some credence of apology you simply add “…..feel free to ignore me.”

Your arrogance (in granted but nevertheless very noticeable thus far) to me as a poster knows no bounds but hey, please feel free to ignore me or perhaps enlighten me if I’ve totally misread & unjustly ‘maligned’ you.

You're taking a football forum far too seriously.

[Nudga]

Noted, will do.

Such an obnoxious bloke you- glad to see you haven’t changed in over 20 years!!

I'm not sure we've ever met but if we have, you would know that being called names really doesn't bother me in the slightest.

[Filo]

I’ve not said much on this game, but my thoughts after a couple of days are that Bromley were incredibly lucky. The goal they scored was the result of an air shot from their player, the ball pinged around their box during our attacks and always seemed to drop to one of their players of the keeper, and then the keeper had the game of his life

[Reg of the Rovers]

I thought they were poor, blood and thunder but absolutely no quality. Nine times out of ten we win that, even not fully at it.

Agree with Ryaldinho, I think Grant has to take the blame today. Strange changes too late in the game, Yeboah shouldn't be coming on unless for minutes in the Bristol Street, losing Kelly and Clifton meant the engine room was gone as Bailey had dropped in as a quarter back in back three. Ironside wasn't being effective, but equally we needed to keep the muscle on the pitch up top. I think if we'd have played:
TSL // Olowu / Bailey / McGrath // Gibson / Hurst / Clifton / Broadbent / Moly // Sharp / Ironside
from the second half we'd have won that. We needed to get at them up top, they weren't comfortable on the ball but resorting it to sending it long or high crosses in the box wasn't the way, we needed numbers in behind to play through the lines.

[graingrover]

Billy’s post was needed to rationalise after the emotions had calmed .

[Usher wide.]

Billy’s post was needed to rationalise after the emotions had calmed .

Well that one takes the biscuit.

[Filo]

Billy’s post was needed to rationalise after the emotions had calmed .

Well that one takes the biscuit.

When will your arse be in the shop window?

[drfchound]

I thought we generally played very well. We mostly moved the ball sharply and accurately. We created a host of decent chances. The keeper made 8 saves, half of them excellent ones. The ball frequently pinged around there box without dropping to our players.*

Sometimes these things happen.

I'm certain if the two sides played like they did last night another 10 times, we'd win 8 of them.

Yes the defending for their goal was poor. But we a a Fourth Division side. Do you expect perfection?

A couple of thoughts though.

Ironside worries me greatly. He looks a shadow of what he was last season. He's not holding the ball up, he's not making runs, he's not really looked like scoring form open play. There was a shot from outside the box last night that the keeper couldn't hold. An on form striker would have been closing in on it, but Ironside was back on his heels. By the time he moved for the ball, the defender had beaten him to it by 2 yards.

2) The substitutions baffled me. Everyone in the ground knows Kelly is coming off after 75 mins. It's a cast iron law of the Universe. He hasn't got the kegs to last longer. So why on earth take off Clifton just before. He's the motor that might have caused them problems as they tired. Instead we had Close and Broadbent, both safety first players, neither one likely to run at or through the defence. And it showed. We faded badly just as we needed to chuck the entire kitchen showroom at them.

3) And on with the substitutions. Yeboah. Just not at the required standard by a long way. Willing and tries but it's nowhere near enough. If Sbarra was dropped off the bench to accommodate him, I'm gobsmacked.

* Two in the second half come to mind. One where the keeper dived to his left, the shit was deflected and hit his legs then rolled straight up his waist and into his arms. One where a cross came in about 8 yards out, the centre half fling his head at the ball desperately to cut out the cross and the ball looped straight into the keepers' arms.

Close didnt get on the pitch against Bromley.

[Usher wide.]

I thought we generally played very well. We mostly moved the ball sharply and accurately. We created a host of decent chances. The keeper made 8 saves, half of them excellent ones. The ball frequently pinged around there box without dropping to our players.*

Sometimes these things happen.

I'm certain if the two sides played like they did last night another 10 times, we'd win 8 of them.

Yes the defending for their goal was poor. But we a a Fourth Division side. Do you expect perfection?

A couple of thoughts though.

Ironside worries me greatly. He looks a shadow of what he was last season. He's not holding the ball up, he's not making runs, he's not really looked like scoring form open play. There was a shot from outside the box last night that the keeper couldn't hold. An on form striker would have been closing in on it, but Ironside was back on his heels. By the time he moved for the ball, the defender had beaten him to it by 2 yards.

2) The substitutions baffled me. Everyone in the ground knows Kelly is coming off after 75 mins. It's a cast iron law of the Universe. He hasn't got the kegs to last longer. So why on earth take off Clifton just before. He's the motor that might have caused them problems as they tired. Instead we had Close and Broadbent, both safety first players, neither one likely to run at or through the defence. And it showed. We faded badly just as we needed to chuck the entire kitchen showroom at them.

3) And on with the substitutions. Yeboah. Just not at the required standard by a long way. Willing and tries but it's nowhere near enough. If Sbarra was dropped off the bench to accommodate him, I'm gobsmacked.

* Two in the second half come to mind. One where the keeper dived to his left, the shit was deflected and hit his legs then rolled straight up his waist and into his arms. One where a cross came in about 8 yards out, the centre half fling his head at the ball desperately to cut out the cross and the ball looped straight into the keepers' arms.

Close didnt get on the pitch against Bromley.

Don’t let facts spoil a good story.

[BillyStubbsTears]

I thought we generally played very well. We mostly moved the ball sharply and accurately. We created a host of decent chances. The keeper made 8 saves, half of them excellent ones. The ball frequently pinged around there box without dropping to our players.*

Sometimes these things happen.

I'm certain if the two sides played like they did last night another 10 times, we'd win 8 of them.

Yes the defending for their goal was poor. But we a a Fourth Division side. Do you expect perfection?

A couple of thoughts though.

Ironside worries me greatly. He looks a shadow of what he was last season. He's not holding the ball up, he's not making runs, he's not really looked like scoring form open play. There was a shot from outside the box last night that the keeper couldn't hold. An on form striker would have been closing in on it, but Ironside was back on his heels. By the time he moved for the ball, the defender had beaten him to it by 2 yards.

2) The substitutions baffled me. Everyone in the ground knows Kelly is coming off after 75 mins. It's a cast iron law of the Universe. He hasn't got the kegs to last longer. So why on earth take off Clifton just before. He's the motor that might have caused them problems as they tired. Instead we had Close and Broadbent, both safety first players, neither one likely to run at or through the defence. And it showed. We faded badly just as we needed to chuck the entire kitchen showroom at them.

3) And on with the substitutions. Yeboah. Just not at the required standard by a long way. Willing and tries but it's nowhere near enough. If Sbarra was dropped off the bench to accommodate him, I'm gobsmacked.

* Two in the second half come to mind. One where the keeper dived to his left, the shit was deflected and hit his legs then rolled straight up his waist and into his arms. One where a cross came in about 8 yards out, the centre half fling his head at the ball desperately to cut out the cross and the ball looped straight into the keepers' arms.

Close didnt get on the pitch against Bromley.

Don’t let facts spoil a good story.

Yep. Hands up. It was late after a very long day and I got mixed up with Saturday.

Even worse though really. We took off both Clifton and Kelly and ended up effectively with one central midfielder (Broadbent, whose immediate reaction is always to play backwards or sideways) and four wide players. We really lost our structure in that last 15 minutes and that was to a big part because we couldn't hurt them through the middle of the park in the way that Clifton can do.

[BiargeBob]

If we had had their pace up front we would have been able to run in behind their high back line.

[Spud]

George has played a few really good forward passes this season, just not enough of em, I think the whole team are guilty of playing it too safe at times.

[BillyStubbsTears]

George has played a few really good forward passes this season, just not enough of em, I think the whole team are guilty of playing it too safe at times.

He certainly has but I think he needs to team buzzing around him. Pretty much every time he got the ball on Tuesday, he laid it off sideways or back. I get that you don't go kamikaze, and there's still a role for keeping possession and probing even when you are chasing the game, but on at least two occasions it seemed to me that he took the safe option when he had a chance to open his body, take the ball on the half turn and surge forward with it on the transition.

[Padge_DRFC]

The game didn't need Broadbent 0v1 down. Yeboah is a trier but that's not enough. That substitution made us worse. Game actually needed someone who could thread passes in the middle. Close.