Let's talk about the Walsall game

[mpc123]

I've had enough now after 40+ years. It's really not enjoyable anymore

[Chris Black come back]

I don’t think Championship football is feasible probably for another generation at least, if that.

The aim should be being back in League One as a competitive side. We were that only a few seasons ago, and getting back there and not the Championship is what we should be aiming for. We are going backwards at an alarming rate and this decline has become normalised.

2008 is just no longer possible in this age, but 2018 might potentially be possible. At current rate we are closer to 1998 I am afraid.

[mushRTID]

I don’t even know what to say about that.

Created nothing, no pace in the team. Can’t defend. Subs too slow, then ineffective.

It feels the longer Schofield has between games the worse we are.

Ro Shaun has to be dropped. He got away with a shocking ball first half when he passed it straight to their player in his own box! The 2 goals just sum him up.

Woltman can go back if DS has replacements lined up.

Close MOTM? They should have just saved the champagne for the next game.

[tommy toes]

I've had enough now after 40+ years. It's really not enjoyable anymore

Me too. Sat there freezing my gonads off wondering why I was there, looking round at the sparse crowd being served up disaster football.
So depressing.
I'll give it a miss and hope the board show some ambition and let the manager sign some decent players in January.
Last time I went on strike was when they practically gave Tommy Gaynor to Forest, so I've been patient, but enough is enough for now.

[bpoolrover]

The worrying thing for me is ds does not seem to think we need pace in the side and we can pass thru teams, if in the transfer window he keeps with that thinking then nothing will change

[coventryrover]

We are easy to play against.   So slow at the back passing out gives opposition time to get organised ised..by then we're buggered and lose the ball too easy.    Counter attack is also to slow     Walsall were no world beaters but they showed us how to counter attack.   So much passing around the back...easy

[coventryrover]

Slow playing out.  Slow counter attacking.   Too many passes at the back.    Bloody hell felt for George....he didn't have a chance.    So no improvement from the Kings Lynn game...hard to justify the trip up from Coventry

[danumdon]

Well , what an oddity that was, we have two weeks to reset and kick on and we come back worse then before.

I think the manager has to take this one on the chin, all his changes(for whatever reason) have set us back and had us looking like GM had never left.

The back three was astonishing, what's the use of playing a player on the left of a three if his only attribute is his left peg? he could of slotted Olowu in who has played left side before and is a far better defender than Tommy, he could of brought Faulkner in central and played Anderson left

Because of injury to Moly and deciding to not start Hurst, we take away what little forward creativity we have and stick Woltman and Biggins in their place?

The crux of it is we have taken away two of our strengths in midfield to play in positions they didn't need to be in and we totally weaken and stifle our midfield by their absence which in turn means we have to slot Clayton back in with the outcome meaning we are again left weakened and rudderless in our creative area's and having to rely on Clayton to find some miracle pass.

We have nothing going forward because our only striker is hustled and marked out of the game by a defender who when he was here looked clownish but has just become the GOAT.

What made it worse for me was the amount of time DS allowed to pass before he decided to change it to try to save the game, far to late.

Don't know what they worked on during the break but it didn't manifest itself in any form tonight. i'd have thought a better team from what he had available if he was determined to play this formation would of been a back three of William, Anderson and Olowu(if fit enough) if not Williams Faulkner and Anderson a midfield four of Knoyle Close Biggins and Maxwell with a front three of Rowe Miller and Hurst(on the right)

Another two steps backward, we need in this window, desperately. A striker who can hold up play, a midfielder who can create and has an engine to slot into the middle, a left wingback with pace and finally someone to take Williams from us.

Might just about keep us in this league this season and have a proper clean out in the summer and start again.

[ncRover]

We just don’t have the players.

Everybody bar Anderson and Clayton were shocking tonight.

[Campsall rover]

That was appalling tonight.

Has DS lost the plot. What was that team selection all about first of all.

3 centre backs and Tommy Rowe as one of them.
No Kyle Hurst starting.

It was perfectly obvious well before half time it wasn’t working, but DS waits until Williams makes two disastrous mistakes to put us 2-0 down and the 72nd min to make any changes.

I thought he wanted the team to play fast tempo football.
If that was fast tempo then I seriously dread seeing the team play at a slower tempo.
That’s the easiest 3 points Walsall will get this season. We simply handed them the points on a plate.

Williams is a walking liability. We will never keep a clean sheet with him in the team because he can be absolutely fantastic for 88 mins but you know he will have 5 mins in every game which will cost us a goal or goals, as he did in tonights match.

What happened to the team that took Grimsby apart only 3 weeks ago.
I am truly shocked by that display tonight.
What have they been doing on the training pitch for the last 2 weeks?

I have to say I thought it couldn’t get any worse than last season but after that 94 mins of total ineptitude I was wrong.

[ForsolongaRover]

Rather than looking like a team that had benefitted from an intensive learning stint enabling the new coach to engrain his coaching principles, they looked as though they had had their memories wiped.

Even without evidence of improvement in any aspect of the game that you would expect from good coaching, they might at least have shown endeavour and competed for the ball and run around and tackled to regain possession, but they stood off.

As for Schofield, what did he say at half time to increase the intensity of the performance, because it did not increase? It looked no better than the worst games under McSheffery. DS is supposedly a better coach though, yet on what we saw tonight what difference has he made? He cannot simply blame the players.

[ncRover]

My stoicism is slowly being overtaken by apathy.

[Retdon1]

Worst side we’ve had in 20 years. The football is extremely boring to watch. I don’t find it enjoyable going to games anymore and have been feeling this for nearly 2 years now. The way the club is being run, I can’t see my renewing my season ticket for next season. What’s the point when it feels like a chore going to games

[scawsby steve]

I said right at the beginning of the season that we hadn't strengthened the defence enough, and that we still had basically the same defence as last season, which had been appalling.

I was poo-pooed by loads of people on here for those comments, and even told to "get a grip". I also added that Williams was one of the worst CBs ever seen at this club.

It's so obvious now that DS needs to strengthen the whole of the spine of the team in January; another CB, a defensive midfielder, and another striker to play up front with George.

[Michael Shaw]

It baffles me why it has taken some people so long to realise how bad Rovers have become, and the nightmare never ends. I had a great night watching Brazil lose on TV. Warm, comfortable and loads of coffee and a great game. That's what the World Cup is all about. Teams with passion win.

[drfchound]

I've had enough now after 40+ years. It's really not enjoyable anymore

Me too. Sat there freezing my gonads off wondering why I was there, looking round at the sparse crowd being served up disaster football.
So depressing.
I'll give it a miss and hope the board show some ambition and let the manager sign some decent players in January.
Last time I went on strike was when they practically gave Tommy Gaynor to Forest, so I've been patient, but enough is enough for now.

Tommy, once again you and I are on the same page on a football topic on this forum.
I haven’t enjoyed watching Rovers since McCann left and tonight I was saying more or less the same as your opening lines in your post above.
The football served up is turgid, I feel desperately sorry for Miller who week in and week out has to chase around with little or no support and I can’t fathom out why Rowe came in as a part of a back three.
He should be in a more attacking role as he is always a goal threat when played further up the pitch.
I am seriously thinking about not renewing my ST next year and seeing whether I miss going to the games.
Rovers will always be my team but I can’t sit and watch the rubbish we get these days.
The club in in serious decline.

[selby]

  The last time we went out of the football league at least it was a plan by Mr Richardson, this time it looks like down right ineptitude, and the lack of being able to see what the capabilities of a group of players can actually do on a football field, and then giving them instructions to go out and try and do what they are incapable of doing, and even more galling the result is predicable to anyone with even the smallest amount of football knowledge.
  Extenuated by not being able to find a place in this team for Olowu and Faulkner if fit, our two best central defenders with Anderson and the only ones with any real pace.

[scawsby steve]

Exactly, Hound. I'll always purchase a ST, because they're really cheap for pensioners, and I feel that I'm supporting the club financially whether I go to the games or not.

Last season, I stopped attending in January; I just couldn't take any more. I'll probably be stopping even earlier this season.

Of course, I could feel different with a raft of quality signings in January, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Filo]

Personally id like answers as to how Ro Shaun Williams gets a shirt. Up there with the worst ive seen at the club.

This in spades, he’s a liability

[eastender]

I don’t even know what to say about that.

Created nothing, no pace in the team. Can’t defend. Subs too slow, then ineffective.

It feels the longer Schofield has between games the worse we are.

Ro Shaun has to be dropped. He got away with a shocking ball first half when he passed it straight to their player in his own box! The 2 goals just sum him up.

Woltman can go back if DS has replacements lined up.

Close MOTM? They should have just saved the champagne for the next game.

Woltman ain't no Herbie Kane that's for sure.

[Donnywolf]

Echo lots of the posts above.

Started reading from #60 and most are 100% dead right

[mpc123]

I am honestly looking at the bottom of the table. That was just aweful. It would be better if schofield came out and said it. Apart from one or two things showed from training. We lost 100 things.

If its not this year we go down it will be next and before anyone says anything I'm a supporter, you can just see it coming a mile off.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

There was nothing really to be happy about at the game last night.  I thought we'd started to get on top towards end of first half against a well organised defensive side and that we'd open it up second half.

But truthfully Williams had a shocker.  He will never be consistent enough to be the man but I did feel sorry for him, what a horrible mistake to make.

Agree with others on Woltman a few nice touches but he's not at this level.

Frustrating night, perhaps one or two of the players just don't have it.

[ncRover]

Woltman more interested in looking neat and tidy than driving the team forwards. A lot of the time it broke down in the final third because he would hide behind a defender rather than show for the ball.

[selby]

 The biggest question this club has for change is how long the manager takes to change.
  Watching the players this season I know in my own mind that this bunch of players are not capable of playing the way we were set up in the last few games, the bottom line is they are not good enough to do so constantly.
  He is literally asking the equivalent of a marathon runner to run the hundred metres, carry on with persisting with those tactics and players and we will be battling at the wrong end of the table.
  I would be very surprised if other clubs covet any of the players making up that eleven last night, the odd one possibly who are better than they have shown of late, but the truth of the matter is we desperately need to move any of the rest we can out, and bring in new players, and just as importantly set the team up to play a stile and formation they are capable of playing well.
  I have every admiration for people who look at the Manchester city and Arsenal styles of play and want to replicate it, but it's impossible with players nearer to the level of park players than world class players.

[Filo]

Ne of the most baffling things last night was the team selection, playing 3CB’s with Rowe being one of them when we have Oluwu on the bench, Rowe is an attacking Midfielder best utilised in an attacking midfield role!

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Ne of the most baffling things last night was the team selection, playing 3CB’s with Rowe being one of them when we have Oluwu on the bench, Rowe is an attacking Midfielder best utilised in an attacking midfield role!

I can actually see the value in it in that if you want a defender to step out Rowe is a good option for that and he played fairly well.  But I do think Rowe would have had more impact further forward.

[RobbieDRFC]

2 weeks on the training ground, and all I can’t see the purpose of the new tactic for goal kicks.

Williams takes the goal kick and passers it 2 yards sideways to Mitchell. Mitchell then kicks the ball upfield.

Anyone else know the tactic behind this?

[Cramby10]

The biggest question this club has for change is how long the manager takes to change.
  Watching the players this season I know in my own mind that this bunch of players are not capable of playing the way we were set up in the last few games, the bottom line is they are not good enough to do so constantly.
  He is literally asking the equivalent of a marathon runner to run the hundred metres, carry on with persisting with those tactics and players and we will be battling at the wrong end of the table.
  I would be very surprised if other clubs covet any of the players making up that eleven last night, the odd one possibly who are better than they have shown of late, but the truth of the matter is we desperately need to move any of the rest we can out, and bring in new players, and just as importantly set the team up to play a stile and formation they are capable of playing well.
  I have every admiration for people who look at the Manchester city and Arsenal styles of play and want to replicate it, but it's impossible with players nearer to the level of park players than world class players.

Agreed. I don’t get the obsession with passing, possession based, football if you don’t have good enough players. It’s like a crazy badge of honour to say look at us, we play football the “right way”, whatever on earth that means. Surely if you’re worth your salt, you work with the tools you’ve got. Personally, I like attacking football. Preferably winning football. However that is achieved I don’t mind, so long as we have a go at the opposition. The lack of shots etc at the moment is just not acceptable.
It seems whoever we employ at the moment we are always waiting for something to happen to excuse the shite, like we need our injured players back, we need the next transfer window. But it doesn’t get better. Next one will be DS needs a pre season with them. Then when DS is found out and relieved of his duties the cycle continues.
Something is horribly wrong right now and regrettably I don’t see it changing anytime soon.

[mushRTID]

2 weeks on the training ground, and all I can’t see the purpose of the new tactic for goal kicks.

Williams takes the goal kick and passers it 2 yards sideways to Mitchell. Mitchell then kicks the ball upfield.

Anyone else know the tactic behind this?

This made me laugh. It looked ridiculous.