BLACKBURN ROVERS

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
One of our games in hand and a win would be pretty useful to pressure the teams around us. That said, the way we've been playing I think we'll do well to squeeze a draw out of it. Note that I'm saying it now - Armstrong is scoring plenty for them and will be an OBVIOUS danger, whilst Bradley Dack is a dangerous player who often gets on the end of things.

Well I know this and I'm sure all you posters do too but will Cooper be aware? Of course he should be but will he have a plan to negate those very real threats and, if he does, will the players have the sense to carry it out? We shall see but, to be honest, after recent displays my expectations are low. A win of course would be absolutely brilliant but we need to show more character, commitment and urgency, not to say ability, to get the big W. Hoping but not believing right now.
 

IanABS94

Key Player
@CroJack

You are supposed to start the match threads. 😲 ;)

Will be a tough match with Blackburn not being in the best form either I think we have to look to get ourselves back on track in terms of performances. We've not been near good enough recently. 3 points Tuesday would be absolutely massive for us though - it would put serious pressure on those around us.
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Our problem will be the fact that Tony Mowbray is a wily, experienced manager and he's likely to 'out-tactic' Cooper big time. Our lot look tired and bereft of footballing ideas. We've been disjointed, lacked fluency and the ability to keep the ball for any length of time. That means the oppo are continually coming back at us and we only feed off their mistakes and scraps (Bristol first half apart). It's been a long, long time since we consistently passed teams off the park. I really wish Cooper would sling his hook so we can get a manager who knows what playing passing football is about.
 

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
There are a lot of wily experienced managers in the Championship ... why are they in the Championship ... because they're not wily enough, anymore if they ever were, to be in the Prem. And when faced with players of lesser ability, struggle to get them organized and performing well enough, consistently enough, with a solid philosophy to challenge for promotion.

And yet here we are, not playing at our best, yet not beatable and with the second best defensive record and lowest goals against tally in the league ... a record Pulis would have glowed over. BTW, where is Pulis now.

Mowbray is another old timer who didn't have a contemporary philosophy when he started and that was decades ago. He's not going to park the bus, he's much too proud for that (and doesn't know properly how) so he's going to get his team to bully and work hard ... because they have to, that's all they have. Blackburn have LLDLW in the last 5 games and the win was away to Millwall who themselves had gone ?DDLW. Not a bad away result.

We are 23 points ahead of Rovers with a game in hand ... that's over 7 more wins. If we're worthy of promotion, we win this one. It may take another penalty in the last minute ... but who gives a :poop:. Warnock seems to think we have a bag full of referees in the bag.

Rovers are 14th on the home table, 6-6-5 with +5 GD. We are 4th on the away table, 8-3-4 with a GD +6. Adam Armstrong is the key guy - 19 league goals to his credit. If he plays, stop him and we're good to go. I'm putting my money on Cabango.
 
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ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
You've a lot more faith than I do @Yankee_Jack but the simple fact is that if we play at our best, we should win, but if we play as we have been recently then we won't. We can't rely on late lucky penalties to keep getting us out of trouble. It's about time we started earning our 3 points by playing well and deserving it.
 

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
I think .... more guessing here .... that to play the way we do takes a high level of fitness, the ability to recover robustly and promptly after a game, and so on. Andy Pandy has made comments on this a number of times fairly recently, most noticeably when Arriola arrived. At this point, we’re not recovering fully, we don’t have enough high level athletes in the squad (i.e. Roberts’ clones), and it’s beginning to tell. Andy Pandy doesn’t rotate as perhaps he should; perhaps he can’t because we don’t have sufficient depth. Lowe was parked on the bench in the last game ... needed a rest. Same with Bidwell. Both players entered the game late and made an impact.

it’s easier or takes less energy and effort to hoof it and chase than pass and move ... 🤷🏻‍♂️
 

CroJack

Key Player
What I have written in my post #10 is damn true. I did an analysis yesterday, and I have exactly 50 screenshots just from the first half with the style of football which we should be ashamed of. Why on earth can't we play like we did against Bristol City? The football we played that day just needed a couple of slight tweaks, a little bit more defensive discipline, and no defensive errors. Why are we immediately abandoning a path to an obvious success just because we lost? We didn't lose yhat game because we played poorly, but because we lacked a little bit focus. A lack of focus doesn't require a huge effort to get fixed, but correcting bad habits and a losing style of football does. When you create 10 good chances per game you might lose one game, but you'll probably win the next nine. Or, at least, creating plenty of chances will become your DNA. What the hell are we afraid of? Of being a dominant team who plays opposition out of park week in week out? I don't buy the fatigue argument. If there is a fatigue in the squad, then it's our own fault. Rotate, for god sake, and play passing football. Let the opposition chase the shadowns.
 

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Blackburn Rovers: Thomas Kaminski, Joe Rankin-Costello, Sam Gallagher, Barry Douglas, Tom Trybull, John Buckley, Bradley Dack, Ben Brereton, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Darragh Lenihan (captain), Tyrhys Dolan.

Substitutes: Aynsley Pears, Ryan Nyambe, Stewart Downing, Joe Rothwell, Harvey Elliott, Amari'i Bell, Bradley Johnson, Lewis Travis, Corry Evans.

Swansea City: Freddie Woodman; Kyle Naughton, Ben Cabango, Marc Guehi; Connor Roberts, Jay Fulton, Matt Grimes (captain), Conor Hourihane, Jake Bidwell; Andre Ayew, Jamal Lowe.

Substitutes: Ben Hamer, Ryan Bennett, Ryan Manning, Korey Smith, Wayne Routledge, Morgan Whittaker, Yan Dhanda, Joel Latibeaudiere, Ollie Cooper.
 
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