And this years April Fool is........ Sam Gallagher! Plenty of promise here
https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/football-news/sam-gallagher-confident-can-handle-16594600 but we all know now there was very little to show for it. This season for a team spending most of the season in the top six our CF has scored just 7 goals out of 36 starts! Our goal difference of 0 is just an embarrassment and just the second worst in the top half of the Division behind PNE!
Time Gallagher looked in a mirror and recognised just whats staring back at him, a Div 1 or 2 striker who I've said before and I'll stand by it , should really have been turned into a centre half in Southampton's Academy.
Lets face it...
1. Big Sam simply isn't a decent back to goal target man as his ball control is poor and most things bounce off him .... if he already hasn't given way to be dominated by some bog standard opposing centre half. The big lad simply can't trap a wet sandbag!
2. He isn't a striker / poacher / sniffer when facing goal either. Top strikers make lots of fwd runs to get on the 6 yard line on the off chance a cross will get through the defence. He simply isn't prepared to gamble on that rare occurrence and is frequently nowhere in sight when chances go begging.
Today we have zero points when we should have had 3 or 1 at the very least. Sure Brum had given us a few scares in the first half but Khadra scored on 61 minutes with what I recall was just about their first serious attack of the second half! So disappointing and what could easily prove to be so costly. So many times I've complained that the Rovers have not turned up for games and suffered as a result, today with over 70% possession that was not the case. 0 points was simply a lack of firepower aggravated by a top performance from GK John Ruddy.
Pears... 7 Decent performance but could do little about Khadra's winner.
JRC .... 8 Good performance from Joe.
Carter... 7 Won many tackles but his distribution sometimes let him down.
Hyam... 8 Strong defensive performance again from the new Scottish International.
Pickering.. 7 Decent showing.
Travis... 7 Plenty of effort and tackling in midfield but rather let down by his distribution in the last third.
Morton.. 6 Good and bad in equal measures. Some lovely play interspersed with some weak tackling.
Dolan... 6 Not his best day as Colin had his measure for most of the match. Dolan likes it when defenders commit but Colin steadfastly refused to do that.
Hedges... 6 Came closest to scoring but this was not his best showing.
Szmodics... 7 Mt Perpetual motion. What Sam misses in real class he makes up for in energy.
Gallagher... 5 Seemed disinterested and again lacked hunger and desire... Waited for things to happen rather than making them happen.
Subs
BBD (Hedges 65) 6 Posed a threat of sorts but not a great improvement on Hedges.
Thomas (Dolan 65) 5 Definitely a step down. I've seen Thomas produce a few assists since he came but overall imo he's clumsy, limited and not in tune with the slick passing play of his teammates.
Brittain (Rankin Costello 81) 5 Again a step down from the player he replaced.
Dack (Szmodics 81) 7 Didn''t really make a massive difference but brought a top save out of Ruddy with a true Dack snap shot which most of his teammates seem incapable of.
JDT... 6 Again sent out a team capable of doing the job but must have been frustrated by the lack of application by some players, and dare I say it ... desire.
Referee Andy Davies.... 9 At last! A referee with professional playing experience! How I've promoted this over the years. A career at Gillingham, Portsmouth and Yeovil unfortunately ended by injury at age 28. There must be loads of ex players who played lower league football and had their career's ended by injury who would make good referees. Players whose experience has taught them what to look for and to judge incidents on their own experience rather than from a page in a book. He hardly put a foot wrong all the game. Well done that man.