Bristol Rovers thread (was: 1st half almost over)

[Beach Hut]

I am sure Jakey would have been better on the left and Cox on the right with Bas and Revell up front - but what do I know

 

[Theatre of Trees]

Am I the only person who thought that El Abd did ok nothing special but little wrong.

Savage and Revell were a complete waste as was Cox and Hammond.
Whing did ok but he is not he same player as when we had him on loan. Richards was better than he has been except for his distribution which is appalling and certainly not as good as Rents. Jake had a reasonable game and caused them problems but couldnt put the ball in the net. O Callaghan was ok but again seems have dropped in standard from when he firsty came here, is trhat down to our coaching? Kuipershad very little to do but his kicking and digeneral disribution was again poor, he takes much to long to decide what to do with the ball.

The one bright spark who is growing in stature week in week out Tommy Elphick.

I am concerned about Wilkins, White and Chapman they showed that they are lost as to how to correct the faults and to make matters worse Wilkins said on SCR it was a good all round performance, which game was he watching?

Once El-Abd settle into the game he did OK, thought our right side didn't function today, Savage was quite anonymous and we didn't play through him at all which may suggest that he was either shackled well by the defence or not offering himself into a position to receive a pass from Whing who subsequently ended up playing it long for large periods of the match with inevitable consequences. On the other hand we played a lot down the left with Richards always wanting to play to Cox or to feet inside, again his passing went awry when trying to hit it long. O'Callaghan was influnetial for the first 20 minutes then had two Rovers' players down his throat for the rest of the afternoon in an effort to stifle our game.

I actually agree with Wilkins thought the performance was OK we just could not finish and they didn't get a sniff of goal. We were losing these type of games last year.

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

Hope nobody paid £27 to watch that

 

[dougdeep]

Today was my first gane since the start of the season and I must say I was alarmed by our lack of creativity. Put that along with quite possibly the worst goalkeeper we have had in a long time I think we are very fortunate to be where we are in the league.

Today, despite having very little to do Kuipers showed what an awful keeper he is, a simple catch which he inexplicably fumbled and absolutly awful kicking means that no matter how many we score with this clown in goal we havent got an earthly.

Come on Wendy, if you want to be taken seriously get a decent keeper in.

More absolute bollocks, three clean sheets in a row speaks for itself.

 

[NMH]

True dougdeep.

This was a case of us not giving them a lead and having to play catch-up (all very exciting, but not a stable or reliable tactic), and two teams cancelling each other out.

The only criticism I have, is that our players taking shots in the first half (particularly), couldn't keep the ball down or on target.

 

[NMH]

Since Butters went off we have been poor.El-Abd coming on for Guy and has looked very dodgy so far.Revell should have buried that chance in the sixth minute
Need to improve more in the second half

Nothing wrong with the way el-Abd played.
Why he's been 'the goat' with some of you people is beyond me. He played with confidence and stayed in the slot he was supposed to be in, without risk.

Our strikers need to practice hitting a barn door, end of.

 

[Yorkie]

El Abd had been on for about a minute when under no pressure he gave a short back pass back to Kuipers, there forward broke drew in Elphick crossed it to the other forward who swang at it with his right foot missed the ball hit his left standing leg and bobbled towards a grateful Kuipers. Not sure which was more laughable, the back pass or the attempt at goal. And that was their only chance.

Thought the only thing we didn't do was finish, Revell missed 3 chances, a header he nodded too far down, a superb half volley which the keeper saved really well and the one on one when the keeper somehow managed to get an outstretched leg to it; Robinson missed a couple, putting a one on one wide of the post; and Cox forced the keeper into a couple of saves he needed to parry. In patches we played some good pass and move football and created a fair amount of chances today whereas Bristol Rovers offered very little but doughty defending a tactic which shows in their record with grinding out results away and failing to win at home. The thing we don't have is consistency, we bossed the first 20 minutes then lost momentum with the injury and lost our way. Second half we dominated but failed to put our chances away. Another day we might have scored 4.

I'd agree with that.
I saw the Rovers keeper make three definite good saves to keep them in it.

 

[algie]

Nothing wrong with the way el-Abd played.
Why he's been 'the goat' with some of you people is beyond me. He played with confidence and stayed in the slot he was supposed to be in, without risk.

Our strikers need to practice hitting a barn door, end of.

He came on and and straight away and did a short back pass which almost cost us a goal

 

[empire]

twice and has done that at least 3 times this season,out of his depth

 

[Don Tmatter]

I thought Revell & Jake looked knackered with 15-20 to go, i would have stuck Elder up top with Savage and put Martot wide right.

 

[SICKASAGULL]

Encouraged by the way we built up moves,however no impact when we reached their penalty area,even when off side the ball did not end up in the net.Bristol never really threatened our goal so it very dis-appointing we did not take three points.

 

[chez]

More absolute bollocks, three clean sheets in a row speaks for itself.

Avtually Doug it doesn't does it. 3 clean sheets in a row suggest we have a solid defence when the truth is that we dont. We were incredibly lucky not to concede yesterday. Had Rovers had anyone up front that could hit a ball cleanly then we would have lost.

3 clean sheets is good yeah, but IMO it is just papering over the cracks.

 

[NMH]

Avtually Doug it doesn't does it. 3 clean sheets in a row suggest we have a solid defence when the truth is that we dont. We were incredibly lucky not to concede yesterday. Had Rovers had anyone up front that could hit a ball cleanly then we would have lost.

So, would you say that, if we were playing, say, Arsenal or ManU, we would have lost?? IF is a big word, and IF they could have got a shot in, IF it was on target, IF Kuipers didn't then save it.....
IF our players had taken one of the several chances (including the several where they'd made space on the edge of the area to have a crack) then we'd have all 3 points.

3 clean sheets is good yeah, but IMO it is just papering over the cracks.

You are right, our Premier Division-worthy side should be beating these 1st Division amateurs out of sight, every week.

So, how are Melchester Rovers doing these days - is Roy still banging 'em in from all angles??

 

[Deleted User X18H]

How very exciting this must be for you all sitting at home discussing the match of the club you all claim to love...............while its on

 

[British Bulldog]

How very exciting this must be for you all sitting at home discussing the match of the club you all claim to love...............while its on

Do you ever bore yourself as much as you bore other people?

 

[The Oldman]

Was a funny old game. Came away feeling cheated somehow. We should have won it comfortably but our shooting was woeful. Amazing in the warm up we can hit the ball hard and true but in the game notso. Perhaps we should cancel the shooting practice before the match and save ourselves for the real thing.

To be fair their goalie pulled off two good saves but we had loads of other chances. Suppose that is encouraging but this inability to score has now gone on for 2 seasons so that I find worrying. Thought El Ab had won of his better games after a dodgy start and that Elphick was rightly MOM.

For once I thought D'urso had a very good game. Let it flow and no cards that I can recall.

Expect we will get a hatful on Tuesday when it really does not matter although I doubt if many will be there. 1500 if we are lucky? I'll be sitting in splendid isolation in G Block. Give us a wave if you are there

 

[Statto]

More absolute bollocks, three clean sheets in a row speaks for itself.

Yeah but we aint scoring many. In our last 5 games we have scored 3 goals. One was a penalty and the other two were against a side who is 1 place from the bottom and has conceaed the second most goals in the division. Worrying.

 

[Napper]

revell was too blame , had 2 guilt edged chances and a header . Wilkins should of changed it much much sooner. Game was there for the winning, why oh why change things with 5 left.

 

[dougdeep]

Wilkins should of changed it much much sooner.

Yes, he should HAVE.

 

[Southover Street Seagull]

GOOD efforts? You mean the one where he was one on one with the keeper, and needed only the slightest hint of skill to lift the ball and score, but instead he hopelessly swung and whacked it into the goalies body? Or the one in the first half where he only had one defender to beat in order to be through, but instead ran towards the corner flag? What a CLOWN (Revell, not you BoF!).

I think you are being way to harsh on Revell, you missed the shot he had in second half that looked goal written all over, until the Rovers keeper pulled off a very good save.
Also how many Albion players have you seen score a one on one with the keeper recently, from my memory not many, none of them are any good at it!