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NEXT GAME:Leicester City FC
Saturday 4th May 2024
Kick off 12.30 pm
Kingpower Stadium
Championship
John Eustace
- Thread starter goozburger.
- Start date
Old Darwen Blue
Prediction Champion 2021, 2022 & 2023
Seriously? Are you watching the quality of our play?
blueandwhitehalves
Senior Member
Our wage bill is about 16th in the league. So that means we should finish 16th. By Championship standards, our squad is poor. Thats the economic reality that Rovers fans need to accept.
Sod promotion to the Premier League, thats utterly ridiculous at this point. We're a poor Championship side. I don't care if Rovers fans don't want to hear that, thats reality, that's what the money says.
So rather than clinging onto a dreamland 90s/00s idea of Rovers (long, long gone) that we should be winning every Championship game, reality would indicate we've started ok under Eustace.
Old Darwen Blue
Prediction Champion 2021, 2022 & 2023
If you say so. I can see with my own eyes that today we were frequently resorting to hoofball. The problem being that Preston just obtained possession and out passed us. Where has the devastating fast attacking football gone?
blueandwhitehalves
Senior Member
Oh god please don't tell me the word "hoofball" is back. I've spent the last 15 years sarcastically using that word to describe the worst thing that's ever happened to Rovers.
You do know every "hoofball" criticism of Big Sam was responsible for the Aqueduct closing, the Ewood Arms closing, our average attendance dropping from 25,000 to 13,000, us never getting back into the Premier League. Untold damage to Blackburn as a town and its people.
Who gives a monkeys whether we play passing football or hoofball football. If fans are still on that then frankly we deserve League 1. This "hoofball" stuff from Rovers helped cause the most damaging event in our history in relegation in 2012.
Insisting on a certain style of play has already destroyed our PL status, must it destroy our Championship status too
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Couldn't agree more. It's alarming how quickly our style of play has regressed in such a short space of time under Eustace. We look a world away from the side that could play crisp, incisive football and cut teams up on a good day under JDT. I admit, those days weren't an every game occurrence, where we were a Man City light, BUT, we were certainly able to string more than a few passes together and look slick as an attacking force in games. When it clicked it was fantastic to watch and there were times when teams couldn't live with us for periods in games. There were plenty of opposition fans from Championship clubs saying things like "Is this Blackburn or Barcelona" and "why are we making them (Rovers) look like Barcelona" after we'd played them off the park for certain periods in a game. It wasn't a coincidence. There's a reason why a lot of them were saying that! (No, we are not like Barcelona, that's not my point). The point is, our passing game under JDT had massive potential and impressed many neutrals. He needed backing from above to build on that by adding quality where he could, something which he thought was going to happen.
The last two showings under Eustace have been dire, the football poles apart from what JDT had us playing. Have these lads suddenly forgot how to pass a ball to one another? We're launching the ball up to Gallagher at every opportunity and giving possession away easily to the opposition. It feels massively deflating to know that the charlatans threw away our golden opportunity. All of that promise, ambition and hope that JDT and us fans had, thrown away, by selling Adam Wharton too early because of their issues with a Court in India, by letting JDT go and by bringing in somebody who will never question the hierarchy and who will put up with the Venky bullshit. Deflated is the only word I can use to describe how I feel about it all.
Barmitzvah Boy
Global winner of the 2021 Christmas Quiz 👊🤩🤩
At this stage of the season it is about grinding out results and getting points on the board to avoid relegation.
JDT played fancy football but that was more to do with self promotion and finding his next job. He had no plan B.
C'mon chaps we have been here many times before yet some seem to be mighty slow learners!
In 10 matches since the start of Dec until JDT was binned off we lost 8, drew 1 and won1. 4 points out of a possible 30! Relegation form.
In 3 matches since then we've w1, d1 and lost 1. That's also 4 points but out of a possible 9. That's not promotion form of course but it is survival form.
I'd suggest that's an improvement on what was going on before. I can recall Tony Parkes setting us up to grind out draws every time various managers had left us in the shit. The fans loved him for it. I can also recall Mark Hughes doing similar in his first season after Souness had left us with a squad of crap players, Sparky soon realised that Stead wasn't Premier League class, binned him off, went with just Dickov battling away up top and we survived the drop. Next season we finished 6th and reached the semi finals of the League Cup. Black Eye Rovers we were called and we all loved the title.
But for anybody with any sense the golden rule in football is to win! Winning in style comes a long way second. As General
To back up what BWH constantly reiterates is what Big Sam said in an open house event at Ewood, "We have some good players here but if anyone thinks that we can go to Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea and pass them off the park then they are delusional. Our best chance is to keep the ball in an area that those playhers are uncomfortable with and that's in the air!
I'll repeat this until I'm blue in the face but 'Long passes and short passes are an irrelevance, there are only good passes and bad passes'! To quote the French General Bosquet upon witnessing the charge of the Light Brigade "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre: c'est de la folie".'
In 10 matches since the start of Dec until JDT was binned off we lost 8, drew 1 and won1. 4 points out of a possible 30! Relegation form.
In 3 matches since then we've w1, d1 and lost 1. That's also 4 points but out of a possible 9. That's not promotion form of course but it is survival form.
I'd suggest that's an improvement on what was going on before. I can recall Tony Parkes setting us up to grind out draws every time various managers had left us in the shit. The fans loved him for it. I can also recall Mark Hughes doing similar in his first season after Souness had left us with a squad of crap players, Sparky soon realised that Stead wasn't Premier League class, binned him off, went with just Dickov battling away up top and we survived the drop. Next season we finished 6th and reached the semi finals of the League Cup. Black Eye Rovers we were called and we all loved the title.
But for anybody with any sense the golden rule in football is to win! Winning in style comes a long way second. As General
To back up what BWH constantly reiterates is what Big Sam said in an open house event at Ewood, "We have some good players here but if anyone thinks that we can go to Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea and pass them off the park then they are delusional. Our best chance is to keep the ball in an area that those playhers are uncomfortable with and that's in the air!
I'll repeat this until I'm blue in the face but 'Long passes and short passes are an irrelevance, there are only good passes and bad passes'! To quote the French General Bosquet upon witnessing the charge of the Light Brigade "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre: c'est de la folie".'
We did but we've moaned long and hard here and at Ewood at some of the ridiculous playing out mistakes when the keeper played a high risk pass to a colleague on the edge of the box with a man on his back. Time and a place for that, especially when then opposition knew that we were going to do it. Anyway we don't have the playmaking ability of Adam Wharton now do we? Rem Eustace is having to cope with losing him isn't he? Furthermore we were guilty of over footballing around the opposing penalty area too often. Two goals yesterday at Deepdale both based on swift attacks with not a pointless triangle or backward pass in sight.
The biggest concern for me 1. being able to mix it up when needed and 2. whether it will affect the Academy style or not. We do need to be able to attract the right type of youngsters and loanees as we are relying on them more and more.
steve w
Senior Member
You cant seriously be giving him credit for the Stoke win?
Stoke are in a death spiral of epic proportions - everyone is beating them
Yes I do. Who do u want to give credit to? JDT had gone.
At kick off WE were in a death spiral too. We went 3-0 up and went to 3-1 just before HT. After HT Stoke were putting us under significant pressure by attacking down both wings, Eustace appeared on the touchline, we changed from 3 at the back to 5 at that back and Stoke hardly had a significant effort after that.
steve w
Senior Member
Or...
I will let Johnston take the team today......oh hang on.....we are 3 up.......maybe I can add this to my cv and win the fans over?
Or....GB says get on the bench it looks good - especially as we are doing ok?
Wonder if he would have popped up at 3 down or would he have washed his hands of that one?
Just an alternative idea or two
With the players now available, I honestly think JDT would have taken 7 pts........we will never know
davebirch
Senior Member
My take of the take over:
When JDT left, and Johnston and co took over, the players were given "free rein", they've been doing this at training after all.
Result, a team playing together.
JE takes over, tries to implement a different set of tactics. All players not on the same wave length, therefore confusion on the pitch.
Result, a disjointed effort.
When JDT left, and Johnston and co took over, the players were given "free rein", they've been doing this at training after all.
Result, a team playing together.
JE takes over, tries to implement a different set of tactics. All players not on the same wave length, therefore confusion on the pitch.
Result, a disjointed effort.
Old Darwen Blue
Prediction Champion 2021, 2022 & 2023
I fully agree. Our performance against knob end was worse than against Stoke, that was plain to see.
tonygreenbank
Senior Member
Sorry Dave but all that is pure conjecture. You have not got any concrete proof of what is happening behind the scenes or on the training ground.
I can’t believe that people have written him off after ONE week! This is ridiculous.
Let’s get to the end of the season and then let’s see what the guy is made of for next season. I know Rovers fans are hyper critical but this is taking it to the next level.
tonygreenbank
Senior Member
Dave, I can agree with you on that. I’m sure JDT was criticised early on and won fans over eventually. This time last season having beaten Blackpool 1-0 we were 4th in the league. Let’s see what this guy is made of before we jump to dismiss him.
goozburger.
Senior Member
Why is the Stoke City win not being credited to Eustace?
Eustace was appointed as Head Coach the day before the game. He spent several hours with the coaches on Friday, and a few hours with the players in the morning before the game. Were they chit-chatting about the previous night's episode of Coronation Street?
Dolan said Eustace motivated them and told them to take off the shackles. The style of play was noticeably different. I'm not sure that would be solely down to Johnson and Lowe, but rather a group effort led by Eustace.
The media say that Eustace is still looking for his first win as Rovers boss. He got it at the first attempt against a side that did something we couldn't do under the previous Head Coach - beat QPR at home. Just because he was in the stand for the first sixty minutes does not mean that he wasn't in charge of proceedings. I thought it looked fairly clear to me that Johnson and Lowe, who both deserve their fair share of credit, were being instructed and guided by Eustace.
The win is Eustace's as far as I'm concerned.
Eustace was appointed as Head Coach the day before the game. He spent several hours with the coaches on Friday, and a few hours with the players in the morning before the game. Were they chit-chatting about the previous night's episode of Coronation Street?
Dolan said Eustace motivated them and told them to take off the shackles. The style of play was noticeably different. I'm not sure that would be solely down to Johnson and Lowe, but rather a group effort led by Eustace.
The media say that Eustace is still looking for his first win as Rovers boss. He got it at the first attempt against a side that did something we couldn't do under the previous Head Coach - beat QPR at home. Just because he was in the stand for the first sixty minutes does not mean that he wasn't in charge of proceedings. I thought it looked fairly clear to me that Johnson and Lowe, who both deserve their fair share of credit, were being instructed and guided by Eustace.
The win is Eustace's as far as I'm concerned.