If someone else want's to do a report or even just score the players this week feel free as I was at a wedding yesterday and wasn't at Ewood.
So on to the wedding...... Lots of people frequently checking their phones (one chap over from France was watching proceedings on ifollow through the actual service! Both kick offs being at 3pm) and most assumed when Armstrong scored the second that that was job done. Most but not all! Yours truly as ever viewing proceedings from my usual half empty glass standpoint. This Rovers team rarely do things the easy way do they and without even seeing a ball kicked and even with 65:35 possession plus without even seeing a ball kicked my money was on the next goal being scored by Brum. 10 mins to go and the score came up 2-1. Before word had even got around the other guests it was 2-2! I've now seen Raya's aberration on WB's link and it's bloody pathetic! WTF was he doing? As I've said before he's a good reaction keeper but if he's given time to think the gremlins in his head take over and frequently result in him screwing up. He's improved of late and for his own good he needs to improve more cos the fact remains that he's an accident waiting to happen. I've compared him to the old Clash lyrics before and I still can't think of anything more appropriate "Should I stay or should I go now? If I go, there will be trouble and if I stay it will be double. So come on and let me know should I stay or should I go? This indecision's bugging me...... Bloody well bugging me too David!
However enough of Raya's failings the fact remains that as there is no 'i' in team and the entire team capitulate far too easily. This is not an isolated incident is it? Only last week we turned victory to what felt like defeat when faced with just 10 man Boro for three quarters of a match!
Only 6 clean sheets in 21 matches tells it's own story and worse still only 6 teams have let in more goals than us. This has to stop! Somehow Mowbray and the players have to rectify this. I've just quickly reckoned up these damning statistics, this season that's 17 points lost from winning positions with only 4 gained by coming back after the opposition scored first! Those 17 points whilst I acknowledge can never happen would see us 3 points clear at the top of the table. Even the excellent 3 points gained at Stoke was nearly chucked away as we almost let a ht 3 goal lead slip by scrambling to a 2-3 victory only after Stoke obliged us by missing an injury time penalty. It's simply not good enough! Maybe someone will have the patience to view the stats and opta readings etc and see where our weaknesses are and why we concede so much territory to the opposition once we are in a winning position.
Is the defence t.o blame with poor defensive players at full back and no specialist centre half other than second choice Paul Downing? Is it a midfield which sometimes get overrun when teams push a man forward? Is it the forwards who don't hold the ball up well enough? I'd suggest that the entire team must get more savvy, play a higher line and not surrender possession so quickly, so easily and so unprofessionally when we are trying to defend a lead. When the opposition has the ball every player should be a defender! There is an old saying that the opposition cannot score if they don't have the ball and we invariably gift our opponents too much possession simply imo through not giving the player on the ball a choice of teammates in space. Watch the way Man City work to get the ball back! Certainly they have some of the worlds best footballers but Pep Guardiola's 7 second rule should be just as attainable for us as them.
The second half at Boro displayed our poor mentality perfectly. Playing a good pass and move, keep ball game requires lots of effort and the team playing on the front foot not playing flat footed as we frequently do. Worse because of limited options we desperately lump the ball forward too frequently which in my experience results in loss of possession 70% of the time. Long ball is fine occasionally and a tactic to fall back on when we are a goal down with time running out, not a tactic for keeping possession when we have our noses in front. Is it unthinkable for some perhaps to take both Graham and Dack off for the last 20 if we are in front, go 4-5-1 stiffen the midfield with Rothwell playing in the hole leaving just Armstrong up top to chase balls on the break and down the channels? Two pacy players to replace two slower ones would be a nightmare for teams forced to step up and leave space behind the defenders.
It's all down to TM of course and we have perhaps exceeded expectations in most supporters eyes already but the stats behind the points total do not make for good reading as they should. They are showing that there is a desperate need for improvement in the second half of the season.
