I haven't made a comment about the Sharp signing, but after tonight I can see it could be a useful one.... what is it with Connolly going down as if he has to come off and then getting back up again... Bristol City and tonight..?
Yeah saw the comment on Twitter and have to agree, having Sharp to come on for the last 10 today to manage the game out would be very valuable.
Still dont get Macca not coming on HT2... someone maybe needs to ask Rosenior why he's not getting an appearance...
First thought when I first saw it against Sunderland wondered if it's partly to get a couple of 90 minutes into Slaters legs ahead of losing Seri and Traore for a month.
Just listened to LR on the radio, today's post match and the one after the boxing day one have been interesting, it may just be in my head, but I'm sensing possible mindset change in him. He seems more honest, more open/critical and recognising what's missing/needed etc. Possibly seeing his frustrations being put out in a different way re the silly/daft mistakes and the inexperience in the team, he's obviously tried the behind closed doors route and it's not worked as well as he possibly wanted, so now putting a tad more pressure on things publicly and or just realising what he's missing and needs to address etc....
McLoughlin has been very poor his last few appearances, don't blame LR for not trusting him to see out close games.
I suspect it has to do with us now being into a transfer window where we can do something about it with new signings. No point slamming the players in the press when he's stuck with them for six months and needs them playing for him. If there's players or things he doesn't like in the team, he can call it out now and get what he needs (hopefully) in the window.
I was ready to bring this positivity at half time (2-2) but couldn’t use my phone to post… I want to praise Rosenior and the team for throwing keep ball/passing around the back out of the window and going for the win. Blackburn were lucky to be level at half time and I was sure we were going on to win - barring any change of system. We came out for the second half and stuck with it. Yes we didn’t have the majority of the possession (Blackburn played a lot of good stuff around the back like we normally do) BUT we created the most chances. More often than not, that leads to wins. I hope today has shown that at home, we need to adopt this system in the future!
Or maybe it just takes a few widows to build a team - but as you rightly acknowledge, you need buy in from the ones you have at the times in the season when there's nothing you can do to change personnel.
I think we got it half right playing out DD. I said on the MOM thread they obviously dont want Ingram playing tippy tap and thats likely led to some longer balls which led to Blackburn picking up a lot of possession. End stats were 38-62 as at end of first half, surprising though I thought we had much more of the ball second half.
Would have been easy to wilt after losing the 2-0 lead so to come out and play such a positive, controlled second half and get the win says a lot for the team’s desire and Rosie’s man-management. Both goals were excellent - particularly Delap’s. He’s threatened to do that so many times. If Connolly hasn’t been signed up yet, he needs to be.
Good value for the win, felt quite flat for a game with 5 goals and a red card though. I think the red card stifled us and if we managed to keep 11 players on the pitch we would have probably won by a bigger margin.
Answered a lot of questions tonight. Team adapted on short notice with a different shape and with a genuine LB I think its a lot more comfortable. Not knocking Slater as I felt he did fine but you could see the space he didn't know how to occupy at points. Team also showed resilience when momentum was heading Blackburn's way. Still the question of giving away silly goals but I think you could overanalyse each. 3 points gained and on to a big away day now
A lot of 'aimless balls forward' tonight which lead to two goals and a host of our best chances. We attacked a lot quicker this time around and it paid off - if it weren't for another costly mistake and potentially a second cock up as well (cant decide if it was just unfortunate for their second), that could have been a rout. I'll be honest. When I saw the lineup I feared the worst after the last game, but Seri continuing to drop into the back 3 when we had the ball really seemed to help open things up for us. That and the longer passing being opted for more frequently along with Ingram being used in a more comfortable manner worked for us as well. I feel like Ingram held a couple of low crosses and shots that Allsop would have spilled tonight. Coyle got forward well and it helped create space for the others up top. Tufan currently looks like one of the fitter players in the squad. He seems to cover a lot of ground and with purpose too. Delap... What a goal. A little disappointed we didn't punish them for going a man down. If anything it made everything a little nervy after the red, but we did what we needed to do in the end.
