Blackburn Rovers away match thread

[Mihai]

Ok, I have seen enough ! I don't care about the results but the coach has no idea how to put the players on the pitch and how to make the build-up play work. He looks like an amateur coach for Vanarama League.

The players can't find themselves on the pitch. No player dribble something and has some idea on how to play next. Terrible coach, we need him to go, nothing will change he had time and things looks worse than before. We shouldn't drop Nige for him but eventually for something proven, in fact Nige was proven at this level while this nobody isn't and will never be.

We will have a hard time with this coach but the players are also below average. That Twine is nowhere near the amount of money paid for him, Bird is not a Championship player in my opinion, Sykes is...Sykes. Vyner was never that great but this season he is on another level. The GK is bad also, no wide midfielder able to get past peope, except Mehmeti which is a substitute.

Just have some balls and quit Manning, you are not good enough !!

[frenchred]

2 minutes ago, HOZDA said:

This current approach/set up clearly isn't working. Take Williams off, drop Bird to CM (not a 10 imo). Put Twine in 10 (is a 10!) and put some pace/wingers out wide (Mehmeti/Yu)

You mean round pegs in round holes, there's a novel concept 

[David Brent]

It’s a shame because, if you ignore the error by Max, we’re still shit.

[Red Army 75]

Boooooooooooooooooooooo

[maxjak]

2 minutes ago, Dastardly and Muttley said:

“Worst 45 minutes of the season” from the commentator…

How fortunate to have had two weeks to put everything right.......after the disaster at Derby...............Um?

[SydneyCity]

Sykes isn't having the best game, but in general I'm honestly not sure what he's meant to do in this set-up. As a team, we play so far back and the ball doesn't move up the pitch anywhere near quick enough. When he does have the ball, the opposition have set up accordingly and if he cuts inside he runs into a mass of our own players, if he takes it past his man there's no one to cross it into.

[Alan Dicks]

Well that’s it then, we all know Manning is incapable of turning things around at HT

[DaveF]

What an appalling half, apparently we had a shot but I barely remember us being in their half. Miserable watch.

[Offside]

Listening to the Radio Bristol commentary - sounds like we’ve been woeful in that first half. 

[Ska Junkie]

Awful first half performance.

[old_eastender]

HT 1-0, woeful performance.

Only Bird emerges with any credit that half for me.

 

[CityGill]

I’d hate to be in the dressing room at half time. I bet Manning is going to absolutely roast them.  

[George Rs]

sykes and williams off at half time, put max bird deeper, put twine in the 10 and stick mehmeti and hirakawa on the wing. At least gives us a tad of dynamism going forward. 

Needs to turn this one around and quickly, up to you now Liam. 

[City_USA]

Over to you LM

Sort this sh#t out in the 2nd half and show us if you're really the up and coming head coach with front foot football.

JL and BT....is this what you wanted?

Totally frustrated City fan here

[steviestevieneville]

That was nothing short of abysmal . 

[Fpcity]

2 minutes ago, HOZDA said:

This current approach/set up clearly isn't working. Take Williams off, drop Bird to CM (not a 10 imo). Put Twine in 10 (is a 10!) and put some pace/wingers out wide (Mehmeti/Yu)

Nah young progressive managers like ours don't do that, it's all about surprising the opposition with selections. Unfortunately it also surprises our players 

[petehinton]

If we come out and he’s made no changes again, I’ll be lost for words

[Spudgun]

Clownsville FC

[Ronnie Sinclair]

What a load of plop - typical post-international break tosh why are we surprised

[Gillies Downs Leeds]

4 minutes ago, RedRoss said:

This is the worst 45 so far. We look awful. 

And when you consider the 2nd half at Derby shows how bad this is.

[RedM]

Couldn't make the trip today, think I swerved that one at the moment. We look well under par, again.

[City_USA]

Just now, CityGill said:

I’d hate to be in the dressing room at half time. I bet Manning is going to absolutely roast them.  

Do you think he has that in him?

Honest question 

[Dastardly and Muttley]

Just now, CityGill said:

I’d hate to be in the dressing room at half time. I bet Manning is going to sit silently in the corner whilst our “leaders” mumble quietly…

 

[Wrongagain]

Manning don’t seem to be the “man”  

So frustrating to watch

[NDW4CITY]

That was absolutely horrendous. Not one player comes out of the half with any credit. No subs on 60 - changes needed NOW. Need some width and pace to support Fally - Sinclair to play wide left and Yu right. Bird drops to 6 and Twine actually plays in the 10. Sykes and Knight off (although everyone could be candidates for substitution). Time to earn your money Manning.

[AirlieBeachRed]

1 minute ago, City_USA said:

Do you think he has that in him?

Honest question 

I was going to ask the same thing, I don't think he does.

[marcofisher]

2 minutes ago, CityGill said:

I’d hate to be in the dressing room at half time. I bet Manning is going to absolutely roast them.  

They should really be roasting him for the way they are being set up.

[Med/MadHatter]

With the inevitable "tactical genius" half time talk now in progress, how bad will the usual second half drop off be? Weimann if he comes on will have a field day

[W-S-M Seagull]

3 minutes ago, sephjnr said:

We've learned bugger all in two weeks, haven't we?

I did notice how Manning made the point that the players have been in to work and graft during the break. 

[Jerseybean]

Thank you for being there OTIB I need somewhere to vent my frustrations.

I was doing some painting this morning, cleared everything away, ready to watch the game then spent 45 minutes wondering if I was watching the paint dry!

That’s as poor a 45 minutes as I’ve seen in a long time. We look like a bunch of strangers, disjointed, lacking ideas, tentative, full of mistakes, making poor decisions, giving the ball away consistently, playing ponderous, pedestrian, nothing stuff with very little movement/options, I could go on.

My only hope, and I sadly think it’s in vain, is we will reverse the trend of this season so far and manage a brilliant second half. Although to be honest, I can only see this ending poorly for us. I hope I’m wrong.

[westonred]

Sykes has been dire.

Twine is not in the game playing wide left Fally isn't in the game either we need to bring 2 or 3 subs on now but LM will wait till the hour mark when we are probably 2 or 3 down 

Going from one of the best defence in the league to this shambles is an embarresment

Max cannot play out from the back so either change our tactics or get a new keeper in 

[AppyDAZE]

5 minutes ago, petehinton said:

If we come out and he’s made no changes again, I’ll be lost for words

I’ll hold you to that :laugh:

[pongo88]

56 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Stephen Martin ref. Poseur. Don’t like him

He speaks highly of you! 

[steviestevieneville]

Going back to the goal . What does constantly playing out from the back achieve . Every team does it but we’re not technically good enough. We play the ball from max into midfield . A midfielder with his back to goal , so what’s he going to do with it ? Play it to a centre half or back to max . I get the idea is to move the oppo out of position but teams are set to counter it. Risk is not worth the reward because even if we beat the press with give the ball away . Modern new innovative young coach bollocks. Trying to reinvent the wheel . 

[Garland-sweden]

5 minutes ago, City_USA said:

Over to you LM

Sort this sh#t out in the 2nd half and show us if you're really the up and coming head coach with front foot football.

JL and BT....is this what you wanted?

Totally frustrated City fan here

Same here.

[Red Ferret]

Today is a bad day to have eyes 

[Davefevs]

12 minutes ago, Roe said:

Blackburn commentators absolutely rinsing our football style

12 minutes ago, Ska Junkie said:

Blackburn commentator called us 'lacklustre' and I think he was being kind.

Thankfully my feed has no comms.

Ive never used ad many emojis on a MDT!!!

Absolute poverty of a performance first half. Over to you Liam. Grateful it’s only 1-0. Come on City. 

[Slack Bladder]

I'd say more Man out than Manning, so far

[BetterRedthanBlue]

I've said it before and I'll say it again under Manning no one has a clue what they are meant to be doing under NP everyone knew it.

Williams, Bird and Knight didn't work at Derby and it's not working here but he refuses to acknowledge that. Scott Twice is not a winger but he has to shoehorn him into the team.

We've offered nothing and Blackburn haven't been great but we've been so much worse.

I know a lot of people have said "I'll give it to 10 games then see how I feel about LM" from what I've seen so far he's not the man to take us forward if anything he has taken us backwards. We had one of the best defences in the league last year now we don't even seem to recognise the word defend. 9 goals conceded already only Cardiff have conceded more.

Change is needed not only on the pitch from subs but also off the pitch but that won't happen as boy wonder and Tins won't let it happen as he is their golden boy their handpicked candidate.

[Firstyardleftinbed]

We look so slow and lazy. Nobody showing for the ball, constant crap touches and passes to nobody.

Unless we win the ball high we look a bit clueless. Agree with what most people are saying about needing Bird deeper but more than tactical changes, we need to be a bit more fired up in the second half. Very flat so far

[kit]

There were about 3 or 4 times where we had the ball near to the edge of the blackburn box and within two passes the ball was back in our own half.

It then took about another 5 or 10 minutes to get the ball anywhere near the blackburn box again.

Real edge of your seat stuff.

Needs to improve a lot and pretty damn quickly.

[maxjak]

How very depressing, so, so many hollow words that ultimately mean nothing..............he  needs to sort things out tactically on the pitch, rather   than blather on about his plans while in the HPC?

[CityGill]

4 minutes ago, City_USA said:

Do you think he has that in him?

Honest question 

Honestly, I think at worse…. “You are not displaying the behaviours we expect” and “try and forget about the first half, keep plugging away, we had 54% possession in the first half, which shows we are doing things right”

[1960maaan]

Got in late, just seen the goal and it's a shocker .

We are missing Armstrong's aggression up front, I would not have "rested" him today . 
I don't think there has been too much between the sides , we have to get support around Mayulu and keep the ball up there .  

This is where Manning shows his worth ...... or not.

[Spike]

3 minutes ago, CityGill said:

I’d hate to be in the dressing room at half time. I bet Manning is going to absolutely roast them.  

Maybe but it's mostly down to him. If he goes in and roasts them for playing his football then he'll lose the dressing room he created, at that point there's nowhere to go other than to replace him. 

He's digging himself a hole that's eventually going to bury him. I don't have faith in his ability to change things up, he's got one idea on how to play football and he's managing in a league where the diversity between how teams play is incredibly high. 

Manning is out of his depth, he's brought in his players, he's taught them his tactics and now he's hit a wall as he has nothing left to give. 

[Red Army 75]

Wanted and got all these attacking options and we are currently so toothless. 

[Midred]

Is Pring being kept busy on the left hand side

?

[pongo88]

This is Manning’s opportunity to prove he’s capable of reacting to what’s happening on the pitch. It must be changes at half time 

[Mr Popodopolous]

8 minutes ago, Ronnie Sinclair said:

What a load of plop - typical post-international break tosh why are we surprised

It's the same for all clubs.

[AppyDAZE]

Can anybody post a clip of the goal, I could do with a good chuckle ?

[Bazooka Joe]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

What do we reckon?  Vyner right, McNally left?

Getting political eh ?

[mozo]

Big half for Sykes. He's played in his favoured position in all the games so far but just hasn't looked sharp.

Now, with Hirakawa competing for the position, he needs to find some spark.

[MarcusX]

That’s as bad a half as I’ve seen in years.

There was concern after derby but a benefit of the doubt that it might have just been a bad day at the office with some good signs in previous games.

Its starting to look like the good first half v Millwall is the outlier.

give Blackburn their due, they’ve done their homework. Let our CBs have it, man mark the CMs and then press aggresively on certain triggers.

We’re absolutely clueless though. Very little movement. The left wing experiment didn’t work at Derby and it’s working even less here. Cam is having a shocker but he’s doing two jobs.

Williams though, no excuse. He’s waaay off the pace, as summed up for their goal. I don’t know if the cheer at the end was for the headed clearance or to the Blackburn lad kicking him!

No idea how he changes this. We’ve played the big man up top but even the long ball hasn’t worked. Williams off, Bird CM, Twine in the position he was bloody chased for (albeit up til Derby bird was decent on that role) and get some width on the left.

Lastly fair play everyone who’s made the effort, and I’m one of them, but the crowd is awful again. 10-15 minutes maybe of noise then absolutely dead, ironic cheering and then booing the team off. Not sure how that’s supposed to help.

 

[Ska Junkie]

3 minutes ago, Midred said:

Is Pring being kept busy on the left hand side

?

He's not getting any help as Twine isn't tracking back, same as at Derby he's drifting into the middle, his natural position.

The number of times our players have been on the ball with arms out due to no options is scandalous at this level.

Sincs coming on.

Edited Saturday at 15:01 by Ska Junkie

[City_USA]

2 minutes ago, CityGill said:

Honestly, I think at worse…. “You are not displaying the behaviours we expect” and “try and forget about the first half, keep plugging away, we had 54% possession in the first half, which shows we are doing things right”

I fear you may be right.

I always want to be proud of our Manager/head coach and try to support them as much as the team.

LM is making that extremely difficult to do. 

[mozo]

2 minutes ago, pongo88 said:

This is Manning’s opportunity to prove he’s capable of reacting to what’s happening on the pitch. It must be changes at half time 

Might have been a mistake benching Armstrong. I think he's been an important player for us this season.

[Red Ferret]

1 minute ago, AppyDAZE said:

Can anybody post a clip of the goal, I could do with a good chuckle ?

 

It will be on a Danny Baker Own Goals and Gaffs vhs soon, you can watch it there 

[old_eastender]

Armstrong on for Fally

[AppyDAZE]

1 minute ago, Bazooka Joe said:

Getting political eh ?

Is Manning turning out to be the Liz Truss of the championship?

[Mihai]

16 minutes ago, Dastardly and Muttley said:

“Worst 45 minutes of the season” from the commentator…

And you know what is amazing ? The team looks worse and worse every week so next week will be again "worst 45 minutes" and so on. Why ? Because we have this half brain cell of Guardiola when he is drunk or sleeping.

[Spike]

1 minute ago, mozo said:

Big half for Sykes. He's played in his favoured position in all the games so far but just hasn't looked sharp.

Now, with Hirakawa competing for the position, he needs to find some spark.

But it's not down to him, by the time he gets the ball he's got no options and is being coached to retain the ball. 

[cotswoldred2]

That was embarrassing, truly no plan, cant play long can keep possession, not sure what system he is using, Sykes is hopeless but still picked...why?

[ProfitInMyPocket]

Fally for Armstrong? Give the guy 30 minutes each game and drag him at HT.

Id be well and truly pissed if I was him. 

Can't play then together though. Not fashionable.

[2015]

The striker isn't the issue ffs. What a way to demoralise a new striker. 

[Dastardly and Muttley]

Bet Mayulu’s confidence is flying high.

[Northern Red]

How has he sat through that 45 minutes and decided that changing the striker is the solution?

[Rocking Red Cyril]

Maybe this is the time for Armstrong and Fally together.

[AppyDAZE]

1 minute ago, ProfitInMyPocket said:

Fally for Armstrong? Give the guy 30 minutes each game and drag him at HT.

Id be well and truly pissed if I was him. 

Can't play then together though. Not fashionable.

Not in the manual, exactly!

[2015]

Just now, Northern Red said:

How has he sat through that 45 minutes and decided that changing the striker is the solution?

Baffling isn't it, not only that but I bet Fally is even more baffled. Zero service at all and he gets hooked. Shocking man management that.

[Son of Fred]

26 minutes ago, Super said:

Williams passing is shocking.

Get Roberts or Naismith on.

Won't happen - frustrating!