Moore got it wrong today

[scawsby steve]

Campsall, you also said that we gave it our best shot.

That’s another cliche and it’s totally incorrect.

We didn’t give that our best shot. We have much better shots. We went out with a whimper, let’s have the guts to admit that.

That's right Pancho. Chorley and Cheltenham showed how to give it a good shot.

[andyst79]

Taylor Richards will be a starter on Tuesday and so will Simoes.
Lokilo offers nothing and since his injury Taylor has looked nowhere near what we've seen him play like. Either could make way Tuesday

Unfortunately Lokilo flaters to device, another Kyle Bennett

[idler]

They were both playing at home though. Just like us when we dumped Man City and Villa out of the League Cup and almost doing the same to Arsenal.
West Ham will be used to playing at their stadium whereas it was somewhere most of our lads could only dream of playing. I think had we had 5,000 of our fans among a big crowd there we would have done better.

[Campsall rover]

A voice of reason BST
Pleased there are a few of us who can see the big picture.

So the rest of us don't know anything about football?

Did I or anyone else say that SS?   No I did not, nor was that implied.

Do you not you think DM is looking after our younger players?
It is only DM and the coaching staff that sees them day after day and knows their fitness levels. Not you or me or anyone else.
I trust DMs judgement in selection.
If we start losing matches on a regular basis then questions can be asked.
Really do not see what he is doing wrong at the moment 7 wins out of 8 in the league speaks for itself.

[Pancho Regan]

They were both playing at home though. Just like us when we dumped Man City and Villa out of the League Cup and almost doing the same to Arsenal.
West Ham will be used to playing at their stadium whereas it was somewhere most of our lads could only dream of playing. I think had we had 5,000 of our fans among a big crowd there we would have done better.

And they would have had 45,000 of their fans getting behind them Idler.

No fans at the stadium today should have worked in our favour, not theirs.

[Bentley Bullet]

Some people think this forum is a place for opinion.

Others think it's a place for worship.

[Pancho Regan]

A voice of reason BST
Pleased there are a few of us who can see the big picture.

So the rest of us don't know anything about football?

Did I or anyone else say that SS?   No I did not, nor was that implied.

Do you not you think DM is looking after our younger players.
It is only DM and the coaching staff that sees them day after day and knows their fitness levels. Not you or me or anyone else.
I trust DMs judgement in selection.
If we start losing matches on a regular basis then questions can be asked.
Really do not see what he is doing wrong at the moment 7 wins out of 8 in the league speaks for itself.

You won’t be shot if you express disappointment in today’s performance.

[idler]

They were both playing at home though. Just like us when we dumped Man City and Villa out of the League Cup and almost doing the same to Arsenal.
West Ham will be used to playing at their stadium whereas it was somewhere most of our lads could only dream of playing. I think had we had 5,000 of our fans among a big crowd there we would have done better.

And they would have had 45,000 of their fans getting behind them Idler.

No fans at the stadium today should have worked in our favour, not theirs.

We’re you at Derby when we beat them 1-0?  We were outnumbered that day but we outsang them.
It doesn’t always follow that the most followers make the most noise.

[Janso]

They were both playing at home though. Just like us when we dumped Man City and Villa out of the League Cup and almost doing the same to Arsenal.
West Ham will be used to playing at their stadium whereas it was somewhere most of our lads could only dream of playing. I think had we had 5,000 of our fans among a big crowd there we would have done better.

And they would have had 45,000 of their fans getting behind them Idler.

No fans at the stadium today should have worked in our favour, not theirs.

Not necessarily. The atmosphere could easily have worked against them - it can be pretty toxic in there when things aren't going their way.

[Pancho Regan]

They were both playing at home though. Just like us when we dumped Man City and Villa out of the League Cup and almost doing the same to Arsenal.
West Ham will be used to playing at their stadium whereas it was somewhere most of our lads could only dream of playing. I think had we had 5,000 of our fans among a big crowd there we would have done better.

And they would have had 45,000 of their fans getting behind them Idler.

No fans at the stadium today should have worked in our favour, not theirs.

We’re you at Derby when we beat them 1-0?  We were outnumbered that day but we outsung them.
It doesn’t always follow that the most followers make the most noise.

Yeah I was there Idler, one of the best days of my Rovers-supporting life.

I get what you say, don’t want to disagree with you. Just a bit fed up mate.

[idler]

Pancho I’ve been far more disappointed over the years losing to far worse teams than West Ham.
I just feel that the whole FA cup this year seems a bit surreal and not as normal. We would have normally made far more from this run and at least we are still in with a decent shout at promotion.
All part of being a Rovers fan and there are far worse things happening than losing a match. Have a beer and get ready for Tuesday. 

[Monkcaster_Rover]

Could be worse, gents.

Could have won then we'd have missed out on away days to both West Ham and Man United/Liverpool!

Onto Tuesday.

[Pancho Regan]

Pancho I’ve been far more disappointed over the years losing to far worse teams than West Ham.
I just feel that the whole FA cup this year seems a bit surreal and not as normal. We would have normally made far more from this run and at least we are still in with a decent shout at promotion.
All part of being a Rovers fan and there are far worse things happening than losing a match. Have a beer and get ready for Tuesday. 

Agreed mate, and at least I’m at home with my feet up in front of a roaring log fire with a glass of wine in my hand, rather than driving home up the M1 from London as I would have been!

All the best.

[the vicar]

In my book not everyone gets it all right all of the time, how many times has DM let us down in all the games we have played under him.  If people keep on knowing him he WILL walk away and not many want him to do that

[StocksArmy]

You are going to take a bashing for this swain but I totally agree. Out with a whimper and not the look of a team who should be full of confidence. I dont think anybody expected a win but a fight would have been nice.

So we didn’t try then? Sorry can’t agree with you. We were up against a team focused on getting the job done and that is what they did. We gave it our best shot we were up against a very good team, high on confidence. Conceding so early certainly did not help.
Yes we looked better when Taylor-Richards and Simoes came on but DM picked the team based on fitness and with a heavy league programme ahead.
Seriously do you think we would have had a chance whatever our starting line up was today.
If a premier league team is focused as West Ham were then it isn’t going to make much difference.

Can I just ask how you know Moore picked the team based on "fitness and a heavy league programme"? Also yes conceding early killed us as you say. Therefore we went out with a whimper. Created next to nothing, team selection very negative. What do you want me to say? Can I just point out to you if you care to read my post again that I said i didnt expect to win. Do you really think we had a real go and gave a propper account of ourselves? If you do then im out.

Yes I do. We gave it it our best shot.
There is a massive gulf in the two squads. We were beaten by a better team end of imo.

You seem very good at just accepting defeats Campsall. Doesnt make you less of a supporter for giving an opinion on where we think we went wrong. Were all also very aware of how good of a team West Ham are and how professional their performance was. However, If you think that was our best shot then Im sorry but I completely disagree. How is playing 2 fullbacks as midfield sitters giving it our best shot at threatening the opposition. Because thats my argument here. Not that we beat them or ran them close but that we never threatened their goal. Now you can argue with me all night if you want because DM says players learn different positions to play different formations in different games but the fact remains Halliday is our best RB and James is our best LB. As another poster has mentioned the team seems like it was picked to keep out the opposition for as long as possible. Which I agree with. The gulf in class is irrelevant. We should have been better. DM himself has said this post match. Not once did he say we gave it our best shot.

[Campsall rover]

You are going to take a bashing for this swain but I totally agree. Out with a whimper and not the look of a team who should be full of confidence. I dont think anybody expected a win but a fight would have been nice.

So we didn’t try then? Sorry can’t agree with you. We were up against a team focused on getting the job done and that is what they did. We gave it our best shot we were up against a very good team, high on confidence. Conceding so early certainly did not help.
Yes we looked better when Taylor-Richards and Simoes came on but DM picked the team based on fitness and with a heavy league programme ahead.
Seriously do you think we would have had a chance whatever our starting line up was today.
If a premier league team is focused as West Ham were then it isn’t going to make much difference.

Can I just ask how you know Moore picked the team based on "fitness and a heavy league programme"? Also yes conceding early killed us as you say. Therefore we went out with a whimper. Created next to nothing, team selection very negative. What do you want me to say? Can I just point out to you if you care to read my post again that I said i didnt expect to win. Do you really think we had a real go and gave a propper account of ourselves? If you do then im out.

Yes I do. We gave it it our best shot.
There is a massive gulf in the two squads. We were beaten by a better team end of imo.

You seem very good at just accepting defeats Campsall. Doesnt make you less of a supporter for giving an opinion on where we think we went wrong. Were all also very aware of how good of a team West Ham are and how professional their performance was. However, If you think that was our best shot then Im sorry but I completely disagree. How is playing 2 fullbacks as midfield sitters giving it our best shot at threatening the opposition. Because thats my argument here. Not that we beat them or ran them close but that we never threatened their goal. Now you can argue with me all night if you want because DM says players learn different positions to play different formations in different games but the fact remains Halliday is our best RB and James is our best LB. As another poster has mentioned the team seems like it was picked to keep out the opposition for as long as possible. Which I agree with. The gulf in class is irrelevant. We should have been better. DM himself has said this post match. Not once did he say we gave it our best shot.

We played Halliday and James in midfield at Blackburn and we won. Did we not give it our best shot in that game either.
Look I prefer Halliday at RB to Wright every day of the week. Wright is a centre back.
DM is short on numbers and obviously had his reasons for not starting Taylor-Richards or Simoes.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I don't think anyone would say we gave it our best shot. We didn't. Given current circumstances, and sad to say it, it was a game too far for us. I don't think DM was prepared to go all guns blazing and risk losing any more players when the main objective is the league. I'm sure in different circumstances, we would have seen a different set up and Richards in from the start.

Losing valiantly 3-2 is still the same outcome.

[StocksArmy]

You are going to take a bashing for this swain but I totally agree. Out with a whimper and not the look of a team who should be full of confidence. I dont think anybody expected a win but a fight would have been nice.

So we didn’t try then? Sorry can’t agree with you. We were up against a team focused on getting the job done and that is what they did. We gave it our best shot we were up against a very good team, high on confidence. Conceding so early certainly did not help.
Yes we looked better when Taylor-Richards and Simoes came on but DM picked the team based on fitness and with a heavy league programme ahead.
Seriously do you think we would have had a chance whatever our starting line up was today.
If a premier league team is focused as West Ham were then it isn’t going to make much difference.

Can I just ask how you know Moore picked the team based on "fitness and a heavy league programme"? Also yes conceding early killed us as you say. Therefore we went out with a whimper. Created next to nothing, team selection very negative. What do you want me to say? Can I just point out to you if you care to read my post again that I said i didnt expect to win. Do you really think we had a real go and gave a propper account of ourselves? If you do then im out.

Yes I do. We gave it it our best shot.
There is a massive gulf in the two squads. We were beaten by a better team end of imo.

You seem very good at just accepting defeats Campsall. Doesnt make you less of a supporter for giving an opinion on where we think we went wrong. Were all also very aware of how good of a team West Ham are and how professional their performance was. However, If you think that was our best shot then Im sorry but I completely disagree. How is playing 2 fullbacks as midfield sitters giving it our best shot at threatening the opposition. Because thats my argument here. Not that we beat them or ran them close but that we never threatened their goal. Now you can argue with me all night if you want because DM says players learn different positions to play different formations in different games but the fact remains Halliday is our best RB and James is our best LB. As another poster has mentioned the team seems like it was picked to keep out the opposition for as long as possible. Which I agree with. The gulf in class is irrelevant. We should have been better. DM himself has said this post match. Not once did he say we gave it our best shot.

We played Halliday and James in midfield at Blackburn and we won. Did we not give it our best shot in that game either.
Look I prefer Halliday at RB to Wright every day of the week. Wright is a centre back.
DM is short on numbers and obviously had his reasons for not starting Taylor-Richards or Simoes.

I can honestly say no we didnt. Again we created nothing and it took a goalkeeping error and an excellent defensive display to win it but people will never criticise when we win whether there is an issue with the performance or not. We were never going to get away with that again today and we didnt. The difference between the 2 games was we were up against much better opposition.

[Pancho Regan]

Yeah but we gave it our best shot.

Campsall says so.

[Lesonthewest]

You are going to take a bashing for this swain but I totally agree. Out with a whimper and not the look of a team who should be full of confidence. I dont think anybody expected a win but a fight would have been nice.

So we didn’t try then? Sorry can’t agree with you. We were up against a team focused on getting the job done and that is what they did. We gave it our best shot we were up against a very good team, high on confidence. Conceding so early certainly did not help.
Yes we looked better when Taylor-Richards and Simoes came on but DM picked the team based on fitness and with a heavy league programme ahead.
Seriously do you think we would have had a chance whatever our starting line up was today.
If a premier league team is focused as West Ham were then it isn’t going to make much difference.

Can I just ask how you know Moore picked the team based on "fitness and a heavy league programme"? Also yes conceding early killed us as you say. Therefore we went out with a whimper. Created next to nothing, team selection very negative. What do you want me to say? Can I just point out to you if you care to read my post again that I said i didnt expect to win. Do you really think we had a real go and gave a propper account of ourselves? If you do then im out.

Yes I do. We gave it it our best shot.
There is a massive gulf in the two squads. We were beaten by a better team end of imo.

You seem very good at just accepting defeats Campsall. Doesnt make you less of a supporter for giving an opinion on where we think we went wrong. Were all also very aware of how good of a team West Ham are and how professional their performance was. However, If you think that was our best shot then Im sorry but I completely disagree. How is playing 2 fullbacks as midfield sitters giving it our best shot at threatening the opposition. Because thats my argument here. Not that we beat them or ran them close but that we never threatened their goal. Now you can argue with me all night if you want because DM says players learn different positions to play different formations in different games but the fact remains Halliday is our best RB and James is our best LB. As another poster has mentioned the team seems like it was picked to keep out the opposition for as long as possible. Which I agree with. The gulf in class is irrelevant. We should have been better. DM himself has said this post match. Not once did he say we gave it our best shot.

We played Halliday and James in midfield at Blackburn and we won. Did we not give it our best shot in that game either.
Look I prefer Halliday at RB to Wright every day of the week. Wright is a centre back.
DM is short on numbers and obviously had his reasons for not starting Taylor-Richards or Simoes.

You are going to take a bashing for this swain but I totally agree. Out with a whimper and not the look of a team who should be full of confidence. I dont think anybody expected a win but a fight would have been nice.

So we didn’t try then? Sorry can’t agree with you. We were up against a team focused on getting the job done and that is what they did. We gave it our best shot we were up against a very good team, high on confidence. Conceding so early certainly did not help.
Yes we looked better when Taylor-Richards and Simoes came on but DM picked the team based on fitness and with a heavy league programme ahead.
Seriously do you think we would have had a chance whatever our starting line up was today.
If a premier league team is focused as West Ham were then it isn’t going to make much difference.

Can I just ask how you know Moore picked the team based on "fitness and a heavy league programme"? Also yes conceding early killed us as you say. Therefore we went out with a whimper. Created next to nothing, team selection very negative. What do you want me to say? Can I just point out to you if you care to read my post again that I said i didnt expect to win. Do you really think we had a real go and gave a propper account of ourselves? If you do then im out.

Yes I do. We gave it it our best shot.
There is a massive gulf in the two squads. We were beaten by a better team end of imo.

You seem very good at just accepting defeats Campsall. Doesnt make you less of a supporter for giving an opinion on where we think we went wrong. Were all also very aware of how good of a team West Ham are and how professional their performance was. However, If you think that was our best shot then Im sorry but I completely disagree. How is playing 2 fullbacks as midfield sitters giving it our best shot at threatening the opposition. Because thats my argument here. Not that we beat them or ran them close but that we never threatened their goal. Now you can argue with me all night if you want because DM says players learn different positions to play different formations in different games but the fact remains Halliday is our best RB and James is our best LB. As another poster has mentioned the team seems like it was picked to keep out the opposition for as long as possible. Which I agree with. The gulf in class is irrelevant. We should have been better. DM himself has said this post match. Not once did he say we gave it our best shot.

We played Halliday and James in midfield at Blackburn and we won. Did we not give it our best shot in that game either.
Look I prefer Halliday at RB to Wright every day of the week. Wright is a centre back.
DM is short on numbers and obviously had his reasons for not starting Taylor-Richards or Simoes.

I can honestly say no we didnt. Again we created nothing and it took a goalkeeping error and an excellent defensive display to win it but people will never criticise when we win whether there is an issue with the performance or not. We were never going to get away with that again today and we didnt. The difference between the 2 games was we were up against much better opposition.

Totally agree, we were totally outclassed today & I can take that, but that wasn't a cup game today where the lower league side at least have a go, at no stage did we throw caution to the wind. It was like a preseason friendly for them. Not having the saving it for the league bit either, everyone has injuries, look at Cheltenham tonight, they are handily placed in their league, didn’t stop them having a go. As has been said, we went out with a whimper. Big shout for one of out of position players, thought Jo Wright played well.

[Pancho Regan]

Agreed Les, Joe was my MOM

[steve@dcfd]

We did not play at our best today but question if DM had chosen Halliday at right back and James at left back
With Smith and Richards in midfield who would have been the third centre midfield player.
If Lokilo is not good enough who would have played in place of him.
We only had one player who could played both positions that was Simoes.

No Greaves cup tied, No Copps injured, No Gomes injured, No JJ injured, No Whiteman left the club not replaced yet, No Sims injured loan finished not replaced yet.

[sedwardsdrfc]

That is pretty much the only real change we could of made was Halliday at right back James had to play in midfield really.

We did go out with a whimper but it was more to do with attitude than selection. Seemed to accept our fate when West Ham went 1-0 and just play the game out. As others have said West Ham were class I’m not sure playing more aggressively would have changed a thing but we never had a go or tried to take the game to West Ham no one can say that.

 All’s forgiven if we win Tuesday looking at our position who can blame us for focusing on the league.

[sha66y]

As I mentioned on another thread we should have prepared ourselves better for a defensive game, which means James and Halliday in their defensive positions,
that makes the Defence tight, now wright and John in front to add a solid defensive midfield but both can play a bit, not too much mind
Now add Richards smith and Taylor with fej waiting for any scraps

This team would have DEFENDED a lot better than what we put out, to even think that we might be able to compete let alone get a goal there is utter madness...

This in my opinion was the error...

We didn’t look good because we were not equipped to do so....

[WhitstabubbleKen]

Amos was available. He could have played left back.

[since-1969]

Don't think any of us seriously considered an upset today, just disappointed that we didn't give a good account of ourselves on the big stage. Not sure DM got it wrong. We played a Premier league club in form and were well beaten. As the old cliche says, we can now concentrate on the league. Onwards and upwards. RTID

We don’t do loosing on here  well , but to criticise our team when our priorities are NoT the FA cup is just not seeing the true picture ,of players performing to instruction . Not saying that we didn’t try but when you go 1-0 down in less than a minute , I should imagine what belief or confidence that a shock could happen hit the reality button and we just showed them too much respect from there on in and didn’t get out of that mind set from that moment to the end of the game .

[idler]

I wonder what people would have said if we had had a good go and lost by an even bigger margin?
Also what would that have done for the team’s morale?

[Michael Shaw]

The FA Cup is a chance for the undogs to have a go and Chorley and Cheltenham did just that. We showed good ball control but have no teeth and barely ever threatened West Ham. We are sadly lacking strikers or anyone who can put fear into the opposition.

[Michael Shaw]

If  we aren't going to "have a go" Idler what is the point of even turning up? We should have a go at every team we are facing, but we need to be able to do more than just pass the ball around nicely.

[Filo]

6 defenders in the outfield 10, we were never set up to have a go, which was very disappointing