Saunders subs

[dickos1]

Keegan on for brown, while chasing a goal. Booed by the faithful.
Keegan sat in back 4 jones goes up front and scores.
Maybe people may start to realise he does know what he's doing soon

[MachoMadness]

Aye, I was wondering what he was playing at, but it worked out again for us. Deano is proving to be a very canny, astute manager.

[Filo]

Keegan on for brown, while chasing a goal. Booed by the faithful.
Keegan sat in back 4 jones goes up front and scores.
Maybe people may start to realise he does know what he's doing soon

I must admit, listening to Rovers Player, I thought the substitution was strange, but reading your take on it, as you were obviously there, I see the logic in it

[DonnyNoel]

Sounds like the change Mancini made last season which baffled pundits at the time - De Jong on for a striker (at Newcastle?) but it just enabled them to control the midfield and free the attacking midfielders from the defensive duties of a standard 442.

[NickDRFC]

Begs the question though - why the hell  did he waste a wage on Robbie Blake if he'd rather stick a centre half up front?

[Norfolk N Chance]

Keegan on for brown, while chasing a goal. Booed by the faithful.
Keegan sat in back 4 jones goes up front and scores.
Maybe people may start to realise he does know what he's doing soon

Amazing wasnt it and he pulled it off!

[Chris]

Begs the question though - why the hell  did he waste a wage on Robbie Blake if he'd rather stick a centre half up front?

I've wondered this numerous times this season. Hopefully he's not one of our relatively high earners.

[dickos1]

Begs the question though - why the hell  did he waste a wage on Robbie Blake if he'd rather stick a centre half up front?

I don't think he thinks jones is a better striker than blake, but when ur desperate for a goal, then a 6 foot 7 inch giant is a great option

[Bristol Red Rover]

Great sub moves by Deano.

Deano I think (?) said Blake was partly here to add his experience to the squad, eg Jordan Ball, as well as get match fit.

[MachoMadness]

Begs the question though - why the hell  did he waste a wage on Robbie Blake if he'd rather stick a centre half up front?

Blake is a smaller, much more technical player, he's a luxury when you're playing well but when you're 1-0 down with a few minutes left and not playing well you want a 6ft 7 monster up there making hay and getting some headers in.

[jonnydog]

Deano has made wise subs through the season and innevitably they have paid off. He knows what he's clearly doing so why is any one doubting?!

Deanos barmy army

[Red wizard]

At the end of the day you don't play at a level he has played and coached at by not knowing what your doing. Its just now he has got his team that will play for him. We wouldn't of kept going like we do this season last year. Fact

[Rovin Reporter]

Keegan on for brown, while chasing a goal. Booed by the faithful.
Keegan sat in back 4 jones goes up front and scores.
Maybe people may start to realise he does know what he's doing soon

Maybe Saunders would start the game with this formation , oh wait we have forwards  for this , the pair ( Brown - Paynter) don't work up front effectively enough they are not get enough balls in the six yard box.

[pubteam]

Keegan on for brown, while chasing a goal. Booed by the faithful.
Keegan sat in back 4 jones goes up front and scores.
Maybe people may start to realise he does know what he's doing soon

Maybe Saunders would start the game with this formation , oh wait we forwards  for this , the pair ( Brown - Paynter) don't work up front effectively enough they are not get enough balls in the six yard box.

The fact that there aren't enough balls going into the six yard box is hardly the fault of the front two, is it?

[dickos1]

Plenty of balls in the box today, brown had an off day.
So you think Saunders should start with jones upfront? Our best defender?

[Red wizard]

Rovin Reporter slags Saunders shocker...

[pubteam]

Plenty of balls in the box today, brown had an off day.
So you think Saunders should start with jones upfront? Our best defender?

I thought Browny worked really hard, but I think the service to the front two was below par, and has been all season really. We don't put as many good quality crosses in as we should do. Bennett's assist for the goal shows how good the delivery can be from wide, but they just don't do it often enough. Countless times today, Bennett or Cotterill found themselves in potential crossing positions, but they instead opted to come back and play a short pass to their full back or central midfielder.

A front two of Brown and Paynter is one that would thrive off the ball being crossed into the box as often as possible. We just don't do it enough for me. Bennett seems unwilling to use his pace to get past a player most of the time. If he could do what he did for the goal more often, we'd be getting goals galore from our front two in my opinion. Cotterill looks to put the ball in more often, as he plays wide right so is usually on his preferred foot, but even he plays it short/tries to beat his man four times too much for my liking.

[Dagenham Rover]

I think Deano is turning into a pretty astute manager

[Sticky-Rover]

If the subs didn't work today Saunders would be getting slatted, but he took a risk and got the reward. Ma-Hoosive praise for him for taking a punt. 

[JonWallsend]

Throwing a big man up top, when you've nothing to lose is hardly revolutionary, innovative or particularly risky. It's a standard Sunday morning default setting.

Our inability to create a meaningful chance for the best part of 90mins against one of the worst sides I've seen in a good while and who, were there for the taking doesn't yet inspire me that Dean is astute, canny or any other adjective you care to throw at it.

I'm backing him, as I have all our managers and didn't boo, nor did I hear anyone else boo today, when he made the change. I won't make any judgement on his credibility for at least another season but today has not inspired, nor particularly left me feeling dispirited.

[Rovin Reporter]

Rovin Reporter slags Saunders shocker...

It goes with the job dun it!

[dickos1]

Don't think anybody is suggesting its innovative or revolutionary, but at the time not many people would've done that, they would've put Blake on for a midfielder.
What he did today worked and he should be praised for it because if it hadn't worked this forum would be full of people saying he don't know what he's doing taking a striker off for a midfielder when were chasing a goal.

[Stantheredandwhiteman]

Throwing a big man up top, when you've nothing to lose is hardly revolutionary, innovative or particularly risky. It's a standard Sunday morning default setting.

Our inability to create a meaningful chance for the best part of 90mins against one of the worst sides I've seen in a good while and who, were there for the taking doesn't yet inspire me that Dean is astute, canny or any other adjective you care to throw at it.

I'm backing him, as I have all our managers and didn't boo, nor did I hear anyone else boo today, when he made the change. I won't make any judgement on his credibility for at least another season but today has not inspired, nor particularly left me feeling dispirited.

No, but taking off your leading goalscoring striker for an average defensive midfielder to do so most certainly is a risky move and it paid off so well done Deano.

[MachoMadness]

It's a results business and Deano's tactical change got us a result today. End of argument as far as I'm concerned.

[Sammy Chung was King]

I Thought before the game we would just edge a win,but in the end a good point even if we got it fairly ugly,it doesn't matter,another game where we have come away with something,i wasn't there but it sounded like at first Hartlepool were pretty low on confidence,but we couldn't take advantage,and they're confidence grew as the game went on.

[Rovin Reporter]

We are looking good at the start of most games but loose the plot in midfield too often . The players seem to be struggling as to what delivery to put into the box for Brown or Paynter as both strikers are to similar in styles and fail IMO to compliment each other  , playing on left one right would be better with Sayers/ Hume through the centre . We need to get the best out of the experience the front two have , as all i see is the ball going wide in the box and or falling short or even going over their heads , but either way making it far to easy to defend when a poor crosses are coming in. We need to be getting them on the ball as soon as get close to box and follow up for the second and third ball . This league is a scrum in the box and we are not putting enough of our strength in places where it matters and that's on the penalty spot area .

[Wellred]

We are looking good at the start of most games but loose the plot in midfield too often . The players seem to be struggling as to what delivery to put into the box for Brown or Paynter as both strikers are to similar in styles and fail IMO to compliment each other  , playing on left one right would be better with Sayers/ Hume through the centre . We need to get the best out of the experience the front two have , as all i see is the ball going wide in the box and or falling short or even going over their heads , but either way making it far to easy to defend when a poor crosses are coming in. We need to be getting them on the ball as soon as get close to box and follow up for the second and third ball . This league is a scrum in the box and we are not putting enough of our strength in places where it matters and that's on the penalty spot area .

Yet another Rovin Reporter post full of contradictions.

[Milepostuk]

Begs the question though - why the hell  did he waste a wage on Robbie Blake if he'd rather stick a centre half up front?

Agreed - If he still isn't fit at this point of the season then why bother!