JDT - Jon Dahl Tomasson

[Dunnfc]

Apologies lads and ladies! A few family related issues at the moment so I've not been posting!

Anyways... We are half way through the season, what are your thoughts on JDT? Happy with the man, disappointed? Frustrated?

Personally I have been really pleasantly surprised by him, I did not expect us to be doing how well we are when he first came in. I must admit he came across as a real left wide appointment. We had all heard of him as a player but never did I expect him to be a Championship level manager. His win or loss not draw mentality is obviously rubbing off on the team! I came across this podcast with him and Graham Hunter, excellent listening! Sounds like he has taken allot from Ancelotti and his tactics.

 

[blueandwhitehalves]

For me we've a mid-table squad, so I was more than happy with the job Mowbray did last season finishing 8th. Given that, I was sceptical of changing to a guy who's only managerial experience of note was winning the Swedish league twice with Sweden's dominant team.

However I'll hold my hands up, I was wrong and he's doing an excellent job so far. I thought Mowbray was overachieving but I think Tomasson is massively overachieving. He's managed to further tighten our defence, has succeeded where many managers have failed in injecting some fire in Gallagher's belly, and in general seems to have strengthened our mental resolve in defending leads no end.

There are some caveats, our freakish lack of draws has slightly inflated our league position, and a crazily tight league even by Championship standards has also slightly helped it. JDT is also yet to suffer significant injuries to any key players (which for me would be Brereton, Gallagher, Morton, Travis and Kaminski).

But overall top start from a top bloke. JDT's blue and white army!

 

[Drog]

You might want to read from this post to the end of the thread b&wh in order to add balance to your post above. It's all most folk mention when I meet people who I haven't seen for some time.

Yorkshire v Rovers: 13th November 2022

"Fucking get up you fucking soft cunt" Haha. In a Yorkshire accent

roversfans.com

 

[blueandwhitehalves]

Hmm IMO the live match threads are the one time this place turns into brfcs for huge over-reactions and condensing down what should be a season-long assessment to whatever's been happening in the last half an hour. Guess its understandable, football is an emotional game and its hard not to get angry when we're losing (especially against the Dingles).

But I just refer back to the first sentence in my previous comment, we've a mid-table squad IMO. When thats the case you should expect to get soundly beaten playing away at the top teams. There's nothing disastrous about it, thats the norm. Knee-jerk thinking that it is a disaster is what got Big Sam sacked.

We're a mid-table squad that's massively overachieving when it wins 6 in 8 in October, and is doing as expected when it loses 3-0 away to the best team in the league. The problem is what Rovers fans actually expect. Evidently it will take a long, long, long time for fans to move past the Walker era and truly see us as what we are (a small Championship club), and adjust expectations accordingly.

 

[Husky]

The shocking non performance against Burnley was unforgivable.

My dad still goes on about it every time I speak to him. Even the World Cup distraction isn't enough.

 

[Barmitzvah Boy]

The shocking non performance against Burnley was unforgivable.

My dad still goes on about it every time I speak to him. Even the World Cup distraction isn't enough.

Don’t forget the other away games this season at: Luton, Wigan, Reading, Cardiff, Sheffield United and Coventry. Add in Burnley away and what we have is embarrassing.

7 of the most pathetic displays I have seen for years. Dreadful football.

The jury is out.

 

[Drog]

The jeckyll / Hyde aspect of our season so far is unfathomable. JDT should have worked out why some weeks we just don't turn up by now.

 

[Old Darwen Blue]

Ahem. We are third and have won more games than any other team!

 

[Drog]

I think there is growing concern at Ewood over jdts recent performance. Let's be honest if we ignore the 3rd in the division headline the last two performances have been as bad as any relegation performances that I can recall. The trend definitely looks to be in a steep downward curve.
Why has the form of so many previously reliable players sunk so much? Why have performances been so disjointed? Has he lost the squad? What does he see in Clinton mola and is he playing him for a reason? What are the tactics he's employing and why arent they working. Is it true that he is stubborn and unwilling to change.
I'm getting the feeling that it won't be long before he's told to 'improve or else'.

 

[blueandwhitehalves]

Gotta say I really don't get the logic of ignoring our position in the table (representative of our performances over the last 22 games) and focusing on the last 2 games.

We lost 3-0 away to the best team in the league, have said it multiple times but that is exactly what we should expect to happen. If people don't expect results like that, I just think its another example of the 6-years-and-counting refusal to accept we're a small Championship club, which is what we've been since our parachute payments ran out in about 2016.

So to me its 1 result against Preston. A terrible result yes, but these results happen. We beat them 4-1 away last season too.

And again I go back to us being a small Championship club, bringing in revenue of about £18m, with Venkys shouldering the debt to cover our wage bill of about £25m. I might go through the whole Championship's wage bills at some point to back this point up, but I'd be very surprised if £25m is higher than mid-table. So we should finish mid-table with an average manager, making it inexplicable to me to be 3rd and calling JDT a bad manager.

 

[Alan]

Gotta say I really don't get the logic of ignoring our position in the table (representative of our performances over the last 22 games) and focusing on the last 2 games.

We lost 3-0 away to the best team in the league, have said it multiple times but that is exactly what we should expect to happen. If people don't expect results like that, I just think its another example of the 6-years-and-counting refusal to accept we're a small Championship club, which is what we've been since our parachute payments ran out in about 2016.

So to me its 1 result against Preston. A terrible result yes, but these results happen. We beat them 4-1 away last season too.

And again I go back to us being a small Championship club, bringing in revenue of about £18m, with Venkys shouldering the debt to cover our wage bill of about £25m. I might go through the whole Championship's wage bills at some point to back this point up, but I'd be very surprised if £25m is higher than mid-table. So we should finish mid-table with an average manager, making it inexplicable to me to be 3rd and calling JDT a bad manager.

If we accept that we are a small Championship club then that's the best we are ever going to be. In fact it's likely we will end up as a small Div.1 club.
"Think Big" - The late, great Jack Walker.

 

[Drog]

Gotta say I really don't get the logic of ignoring our position in the table (representative of our performances over the last 22 games) and focusing on the last 2 games.

We lost 3-0 away to the best team in the league, have said it multiple times but that is exactly what we should expect to happen. If people don't expect results like that, I just think its another example of the 6-years-and-counting refusal to accept we're a small Championship club, which is what we've been since our parachute payments ran out in about 2016.

So to me its 1 result against Preston. A terrible result yes, but these results happen. We beat them 4-1 away last season too.

And again I go back to us being a small Championship club, bringing in revenue of about £18m, with Venkys shouldering the debt to cover our wage bill of about £25m. I might go through the whole Championship's wage bills at some point to back this point up, but I'd be very surprised if £25m is higher than mid-table. So we should finish mid-table with an average manager, making it inexplicable to me to be 3rd and calling JDT a bad manager.

You don't need me to point out that there was a different Manager in charge back then.

 

[blueandwhitehalves]

If we accept that we are a small Championship club then that's the best we are ever going to be. In fact it's likely we will end up as a small Div.1 club.
"Think Big" - The late, great Jack Walker.

Well this goes back to the difference between ambition and expectation.

I've no problem with our ambition being promotion. Although I think that's somewhat meaningless as the ambition of the fans, players and manager of every club in the league will always be promotion.

But our expectation should be mid-table because thats the value of our squad. So our manager should be judged on that.

If we keep judging managers on ambition, they'll almost certainly keep failing, and fans will always think we have a bad manager.

Huddersfield, Hull, Cardiff, Stoke, West Brom and Birmingham have had bad managers this season because I'm sure they all have higher wage bills than us. We have a good manager against what our expectations should be, just like we did with Mowbray.

 

[Alan]

Again if our expectation is to be a mid table Championship club then that's the BEST we will be. You have to think you can improve or you never will.

 

[Old Darwen Blue]

Again if our expectation is to be a mid table Championship club then that's the BEST we will be. You have to think you can improve or you never will.

I think third in the league is a pretty high expectation all considered.

 

[blueandwhitehalves]

Again if our expectation is to be a mid table Championship club then that's the BEST we will be. You have to think you can improve or you never will.

So how’s it supposed to work then? Every season, the fans of everyone’s team in the league demand promotion from their manager, and call him not good enough any time they’re not on track for that? Or have only Rovers fans discovered this great tactic so that’s why it’ll work for us and not for Preston, Wigan, Blackpool etc? Because that’s our size now, those are the clubs we’re the same as.

Jack Walker said it because we had the most money in football to spend. When we’re saying it and have slightly more home fans than Wrexham, what is it supposed to achieve? It’s meaningless. I may as well say I can win the Silverstone GP in my Fiat Punto as long as I think big enough. The players and manager should do their best, but demanding they consistently overachieve does nothing but create a tense and fickle atmosphere at Ewood, making it harder for them.

I really think it all comes back to a conscious or subconscious perception that we’re special. Being solid mid-table Championship is for other clubs, it’s not for us because of what we’ve done in the past. But the past is the key word there, being England’s dominant club became the past once city clubs got going after WW1, being a PL club became the past once we lost the TV money.

 

[Drog]

Again if our expectation is to be a mid table Championship club then that's the BEST we will be. You have to think you can improve or you never will.

However Al one must always retain a sense of perspective.

 

[Alan]

However Al one must always retain a sense of perspective.

If the club is negative it will never improve. Let's just see how long we keep our 3rd in the league position.

 

[Dunnfc]

Behind JDT to be honest with you. We can argue about the losing games column but we've won a fair few (Most in the league). We have a young side lacking in experience and that shows, when we go a goal behind we don't score we give up and the heads go down. We really need a nasty bastard type in the middle. I'm thinking along the lines of a Batty, or even a Mokoena snapping type.

Sadly we need to keep BB wide Left, Gally up top centrally and I'd have Dolan wide right.

JDT plays to many players in daft positions. Pickering will start LWB tonight, the question is who will play RWB, I've a feeling he will put Hedges there and we will have a middle three of Hyam Ayala S. Wharton.

Hoping we can get A. Wharton some more game time too.

 

[Dunnfc]

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