Bristol Rovers (A) Sat 15th April

[Rammy03]

44 minutes ago, Stripperg-ram said:

Genuine question. I simply can’t remember…

why did we ditch the formula that got us on a decent unbeaten run? Chiefly Sibley and smith either side of Cash and Foz and NML playing further up the pitch, not being asked to defend and  bird sitting in front of the back four?

even if we got found out a bit, surely that was our most cohesive team?

 

This is the only thing I will get at Warne for. It's square pegs in round holes again.

This squad suits a 433 or 442 formation where players play in their natural positions. 352 just does not work, we do not have the personnel.

Playing barkheuizen and Mendez Laing as wing backs is just wrong because it's not their game. It does not get the best out of them at all. Frustrates me every time I see it.

Mendez Laing was walking at times yesterday and we were dead lucky not to concede in the first half. He got beat for the mk Dons equaliser as well. Would those situations have arose if Mendez Laing was playing further forward in his natural position and not chasing back towards his own goal?

If Warne can't see this and still continues to play this system then he must be clueless.

[AndyB]

I don’t think possession stats hold much value at all. At this time of the season, and with our current form, the result was everything. We went 0-1 up away from home after 4 minutes, of course a reasonable home team were going to have possession. But they didn’t score until they were given a penalty. They had very few shots on target, less than we did actually. If we’d got the 0-1 away win I would have been delighted.

[Rich3478]

6 minutes ago, Rammy03 said:

This is the only thing I will get at Warne for. It's square pegs in round holes again.

This squad suits a 433 or 442 formation where players play in their natural positions. 352 just does not work, we do not have the personnel.

Playing barkheuizen and Mendez Laing as wing backs is just wrong because it's not their game. It does not get the best out of them at all. Frustrates me every time I see it.

Mendez Laing was walking at times yesterday and we were dead lucky not to concede in the first half. He got beat for the mk Dons equaliser as well. Would those situations have arose if Mendez Laing was playing further forward in his natural position and not chasing back towards his own goal?

If Warne can't see this and still continues to play this system then he must be clueless.

This is a big issue for me as well. He initially tried 3 at the back, didn’t work. Reverted to a four. Worked really well. Towards the end of our run changed the four slightly. And then now fully back at a 3.

Going back to a defence of smith, fozzy, cashin, sibley seems so obvious as our best way forward.

then hourihane and bird in midfield, with knight ahead, nml and barkhuizen wide and mcgoldrick up top.

that team just makes a lot more sense than any picked lately. Can sometimes have Collins in and move mocgoldrick back too. Dobbin a wide option.

[G STAR RAM]

5 minutes ago, AndyB said:

I don’t think possession stats hold much value at all. At this time of the season, and with our current form, the result was everything. We went 0-1 up away from home after 4 minutes, of course a reasonable home team were going to have possession. But they didn’t score until they were given a penalty. They had very few shots on target, less than we did actually. If we’d got the 0-1 away win I would have been delighted.

As others have said though, the more you control the game, the less chance the opposition have of scoring. 

Their penalty came about from one of numerous balls pumped into our area because we kept on giving possession away.

We need to start taking more control of games because the long balls are just giving away possession and inviting the opposition to attack us.

[G STAR RAM]

2 minutes ago, Rich3478 said:

This is a big issue for me as well. He initially tried 3 at the back, didn’t work. Reverted to a four. Worked really well. Towards the end of our run changed the four slightly. And then now fully back at a 3.

Going back to a defence of smith, fozzy, cashin, sibley seems so obvious as our best way forward.

then hourihane and bird in midfield, with knight ahead, nml and barkhuizen wide and mcgoldrick up top.

that team just makes a lot more sense than any picked lately. Can sometimes have Collins in and move mocgoldrick back too. Dobbin a wide option.

Hourihane and Bird together is ok if we are going to be controlling games.

 

[AndyB]

I’m not sure, given our current form and confidence levels, we can play possession football. I’d much rather we got in front and became solid and difficult to break down, especially away from home.

[Rich3478]

1 minute ago, G STAR RAM said:

Hourihane and Bird together is ok if we are going to be controlling games.

 

Would hope knight ahead of them can drop in if needed. Certainly away.

against poorer sides at home maybe have the two forwards.

[Guest]

Disappointment again…

Looking at the highlights - Not a penalty IMHO, the ref guessed (he must have done from that far away) and was pleased to have given it from what I heard, I think that’s what got on Warne’s goat.

But again, another case of not scoring again to secure a win.  Sounded bad on the radio, barely a mention of NML as the game wore on, typical of what we have seen at home.

On the more positive side I Still think we are still in for a shout for the playoffs, we are still in a strong position.

it could end up like the season (04/05) we played PNE, right at the end of the season and then twice in the playoffs, but this time with the Wendies…

[Red Ram]

11 hours ago, Anag Ram said:

I must say watching it live I thought penalty straight away 

So did I but having watched it again this morning on the highlights I really don't think it was. Can see why the ref gave it without the benefit of the replay though.

 Fundamentally the problem arises because although White is tracking his man, he lets him get the wrong side of him. The penalty arises from his attempts to recover from that.

Could be season defining unfortunately...

[Ram-Alf]

8 hours ago, Millenniumram said:

We bring in a manager with an actual tactical plan beyond trying to outrun the opposition, who can build a squad over the summer.

I would assume PW and DC have meetings, Talk about the future whether Championship or League1, DC will have told what finances will be at his disposal, PW will have told DC what's going to happen in the Summer concerning transfers/signings, They rae both working for the betterment of DCFC...I assume 👍

If by sacking PW and his staff at a very costly exercise will bring in that genius who can walk on water and produce "an actual plan" with less finances after paying off a few million £ then good on him, This "actual plan" and these new players will they gel for our new Manager?, Simply put PW is here for the long term or until PW decides this is too big a job and he's off. 

Reading Angies post concerning the players and her belief there seems to be a lack of faith with some of the players, This happens, There'll be players out there who know aren't going to be here next season, They may have decided "why bother" who knows what goes off inside a players mind, My concern is all of Angies post...a good post for the wrong reasons

[Anag Ram]

Just now, Red Ram said:

So did I but having watched it again this morning on the highlights I really don't think it was. Can see why the ref gave it without the benefit of the replay though.

 Fundamentally the problem arises because although White is tracking his man, he lets him get the wrong side of him. The penalty arises from his attempts to recover from that.

Could be season defining unfortunately...

I would also question why, with Davies,  Forsyth, Cashin and Roberts on the pitch, a cross to the far post (always the most likely) was being dealt with by a young midfielder.

[Caerphilly Ram]

1 hour ago, chadlad said:

The BBC stats give us 30% possession of the ball against a mid table League 1 team. This tells me all I need to know about the style and quality of our football.

Warne seems like a bright bloke, he surely must realise that the game of football is not just about running. If you constantly give the ball back to the other team, sooner or later they are going to score a goal or three. Yes, they scored with a dodgy injury time penalty but they were always going to score at least one goal and I would say we were lucky to come away with a point.

If we control possession of the ball we control the game and the penalty doesn’t arise. IF we have the ball they don’t score, ability/skill, strength and fitness are ALL important and I don’t get the obsession with running. Pretty sure Chris Martin wouldn’t get into a PW team!

What I have seen so far under Warne’s tenure makes me have serious concerns about the direction we are going in. The style is very reminiscent of the Clough years but without the nurturing of the better young players such as Sibley, Bird and Thompson.  It’s not entertaining or good to watch and let us not forget that DCFC are in the entertainment business and some of the less committed fans will sooner or later vote with their feet if this continues into next season.

 

I take a lot of your points about how the team is playing currently but using the 30% possession stat from yesterday as the benchmark isn’t the one. We had 63% possession against MK Dons and 29 attempts at goal, each game in isolation throws up different stats that can be used to make a point.

Your other general points about controlling the ball are absolutely valid, I don’t want to see us go back to holding the ball for the sake of it and doing nothing with it. Earlier this season Warne seemed to have struck a balance in the side between controlling the ball and using physical attributes to get us on a winning run. I genuinely think if he can find the right players to complement his stubbornly pursued 3-5-2 then it’ll work as he intends it, however for the remainder of this season I think he should be looking to get back to that 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 that was working earlier in the season. 
He wants Knight in the side no matter what for all his running, but is he effective at the minute in midfield? I’d potentially use him at right back with Cashin, Forsyth and Roberts making up the back 4. Get Smith or Bird as the holding midfielder with 2 of Hourihane/Sibley/Bird as the others in the middle and play NML and Barkhuizen/Dobbin either side of McGoldrick. Get back to what was working and see if we can still sneak into that top 6. 

Edited April 16, 2023 by Caerphilly Ram

[G STAR RAM]

30 minutes ago, Rich3478 said:

Would hope knight ahead of them can drop in if needed. Certainly away.

against poorer sides at home maybe have the two forwards.

Think Knight has been pretty poor since the turn of the year, one of the worst culprits for surrendering possession. 

Not seen enough of him to decide yet but you'd think,  being at Tottenham, that White will be decent on the ball, the worry with him is that like the rest of our midfield he is featherweight

[G STAR RAM]

34 minutes ago, AndyB said:

I’m not sure, given our current form and confidence levels, we can play possession football. I’d much rather we got in front and became solid and difficult to break down, especially away from home.

Id suggest that if our players are not capable of putting 4 or 5 passes together at this level, just to relieve a bit of pressure, that they are in the wrong profession.

[Caerphilly Ram]

5 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Think Knight has been pretty poor since the turn of the year, one of the worst culprits for surrendering possession. 

Not seen enough of him to decide yet but you'd think,  being at Tottenham, that White will be decent on the ball, the worry with him is that like the rest of our midfield he is featherweight

Something I keep coming back to in my head as I’m thinking about the imbalance of the squad, all our central midfielders are a similar size, build and style of footballer. Knight has that engine on him that Hourihane, Bird, Sibley, White and Smith can’t quite match. But for the most part they’re all relatively slight in their build, neat and tidy footballers. If we had a couple of more robust, erm….agricultural…players in the squad to complement them I think we’d see the best of any of them. Someone to sit and break up play and do the simple work to let them get us moving forward in possession. As it stands they’re all good footballers from a similar mould and in my opinion the blend doesn’t quite work. 

[Miggins]

9 hours ago, Anag Ram said:

If Warne is blaming the ref for this result he’s seriously deluded.

This was down to a lack of desire, energy and ambition on our part in the second half. No more, no less.

I wonder how much the lads are enjoying playing at the moment. How confident do they feel? We have some excellent players who should be playing much better. I don't see fun and pleasure at the moment for anyone. I know times are tense and it's the end of the season and everyone is tired but if you love what you do that gives you extra strength. All the players need to be happy in the positions they are playing and we need to value the guys on the bench more. Let's get everyone playing in their preferred position as often as possible, utilize our talented mid fielders better, use subs more often to help out tired legs. Never mind Warney's  preferred formation when it puts players in positions they feel unhappy with. We need to strengthen our squad in the summer but we've got a great bunch of players and I would be sad to see anyone go - think back to our unbroken run of games. Perhaps some of our squad are wondering if there will still be a place for them next season and are anxious.

I know some will not agree with me, but I know very little about the tactics of the game really and the above is very much a gut feeling.

[Rich3478]

16 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Think Knight has been pretty poor since the turn of the year, one of the worst culprits for surrendering possession. 

Not seen enough of him to decide yet but you'd think,  being at Tottenham, that White will be decent on the ball, the worry with him is that like the rest of our midfield he is featherweight

Agree on knight, he doesn’t make enough happen at other end of the pitch for me either. Needs more goals and assists.

white and bird I’d think are very similar players. And want to play in same areas, take ball from defence etc.

[Miggins]

10 hours ago, Ambitious said:

I can’t imagine he’s going to do anything rash, in terms of Warne and his team they’re going to be in place until next season even if we lose every single game between now and the end of the season. 

The team will look completely different next season, I’d imagine we’re looking at a huge turnover in players regardless of which division we’re in and anything other than the top two next season will be a disappointment. Simply put, the playoffs next season isn’t and shouldn’t be good enough. When he has his own team in place, he simply has no excuses for not being successful - especially if the likes of Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday do get promoted. 

Perhaps this is why are players are not enjoying their football and seem to lack energy and motivation. We need additions to the squad, but as I've posted before, I would be sad to see young, talented players leave. It's those players we need to keep hold of if we can.

[Ellafella]

20 hours ago, Anag Ram said:

Which pub?

I’m on Gloucester Road having a civilised coffee 😊

It was the Swan in Thornbury; apologies for not replying sooner @Anag Ram. Police wouldn’t allow us to get any closer to Bristol 🤷‍♂️

[angieram]

6 minutes ago, Rich3478 said:

Agree on knight, he doesn’t make enough happen at other end of the pitch for me either. Needs more goals and assists.

white and bird I’d think are very similar players. And want to play in same areas, take ball from defence etc.

Knight ran around a lot yesterday but didn't nick the ball off the opposition,  didn't track back, didn't offer any offensive play going forward and is not a goal threat.

But he probably has the best running stats in the team. 🙄