TxRover Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 OK, looked over the highlights… 1st ICT goal, Dick gets beaten as his player breaks beyond and outside him, leaving Nolan to drift out to stop him, and then Dick is beaten to the cross by the scorer. Can’t blame Nolan, I’m laying this one on Dick. 2nd ICT goal, or “the midget wall and the missing defenders”. Wall is Connolly and Vaughan…the two “defenders” nearest the middle are Spencer and Brown, who are split by the attacker who gets in a free header. Not a defender in sight to the ball side of the D. Blooming horrific defending, but the blame for the scheme MUST be laid at IM’s feet. On a related note, Brown was heavily involved today, usually quite well…we will miss him badly versus Motherwell. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreverarover Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 2 hours ago, TxRover said: OK, looked over the highlights… 1st ICT goal, Dick gets beaten as his player breaks beyond and outside him, leaving Nolan to drift out to stop him, and then Dick is beaten to the cross by the scorer. Can’t blame Nolan, I’m laying this one on Dick. 2nd ICT goal, or “the midget wall and the missing defenders”. Wall is Connolly and Vaughan…the two “defenders” nearest the middle are Spencer and Brown, who are split by the attacker who gets in a free header. Not a defender in sight to the ball side of the D. Blooming horrific defending, but the blame for the scheme MUST be laid at IM’s feet. On a related note, Brown was heavily involved today, usually quite well…we will miss him badly versus Motherwell. I'm sorry but Spencer is 99% to blame for that header. He stands directly in front of the forward as he makes, his move. Stands and points at him as he passes him and doesn't move a muscle. Absolute schoolboy marking. Just pick a f@cking player and keep him marked beside you at all times, it really is that bloody simple. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scary Bear Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 4 hours ago, TxRover said: OK, looked over the highlights… 1st ICT goal, Dick gets beaten as his player breaks beyond and outside him, leaving Nolan to drift out to stop him, and then Dick is beaten to the cross by the scorer. Can’t blame Nolan, I’m laying this one on Dick. 2nd ICT goal, or “the midget wall and the missing defenders”. Wall is Connolly and Vaughan…the two “defenders” nearest the middle are Spencer and Brown, who are split by the attacker who gets in a free header. Not a defender in sight to the ball side of the D. Blooming horrific defending, but the blame for the scheme MUST be laid at IM’s feet. On a related note, Brown was heavily involved today, usually quite well…we will miss him badly versus Motherwell. For me, Brown was MOTM against Inverness. He’s a big player for us and will undoubtedly be a miss against Motherwell. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scary Bear Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 (edited) 11 hours ago, pub car king said: This is the key to the whole thing, we are scoring goals we must average about 2 a game recently but time and again the defence is letting in shit goals especially late in games. If we could defend a fucking cor er for example we'd have turned half the draws into wins. We do score a few but we should score more on balance of play. Most of the goals we score are in the ‘wow’ category; Shots from outside the box or beautiful curled shots from just in the box. If we could score a few more headers or knock downs and tap ins from crosses we’d do a lot better. See Gullan first half from a Millen cross and Vaughan second half from a Nolan knock down from a Connolly corner, for those type of chances that nearly went in but didn’t. Defensively we need to do better for those goals yesterday, but if we could turn our good play into some easier goals we’d do well. On a positive note, we are pleasing on the eye, we score great goals, we’re now unbeaten in 9 games, and we’re still in two cups, so we can’t moan to much. Yes, it’s an absolute pain that we couldn’t put the Inverness thing to bed, but we should be used to that by now. Edited January 29, 2023 by Scary Bear 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roverthemoon Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 (edited) Yesterday seemed to sum up the standard pattern of games this season. Great start then struggle to match it in the second half. Also, undoing a lot of our good first half work by conceding not long after half time. Had a look at the stats to see whether they backed this up and they pretty much do. For our 30 league goals this season - 21 have come in the first half, with only 9 in the second. In fact almost a third of our goals have been scored in the first 20 minutes of matches. When you look at when we concede then there’s a clear problem around half time. We’ve lost goals in the following minutes: 42, 44, 44, 45, 48, 49, 49, 50, 51, 54. That’s 10 goals in a 12 minute period either side of half-time - almost a third of the goals we have conceded in the league this season. No other part of the game comes close to these numbers. We’ve conceded only 4 goals in the last 12 minutes of matches and only 2 goals in the first 12 minutes of matches. Not sure why this is - concentration, fitness, Murray’s half time team talk or something else - but it is a problem. Losing a goal either just before half time or right after always feels like more of a blow. You can have a great half like yesterday and then a few minutes into the second half you’re back to square one. Teams seem to come out after the break far more fired up and on the front foot than us which often sets the tone for the second half. No idea what the solution is, but Murray needs to sort it. Edited January 29, 2023 by roverthemoon 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basher brash Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 Fine margins unfortunately are costing us dear ! The players have to stand up and take responsibility especially the second goal someone just defend and put your head on it and IMO we don’t look as strong when Dick plays left back he is always caught or wrong footed far to easily. At times we are really good to watch and especially yesterday your thinking how the hell didn’t we win that you also look at the table and it’s so tight . We aren’t really that far away but I think this season is just to early in regards to Murray improving the squad further due to a lack of investment 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rover the Moon Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 The regular conceding of early second half goals and inability to defend simple crosses is a fucking pain in the arse. Glad we’re getting the advantage of doing our little mini warm-up thing as the team comes back out after the break… I thought we played really well yesterday. It was sheer sloppiness that cost us 2pts. For it to keep happening as it has over the last month is concerning. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roverthemoon Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 Just watched the highlights. Dick giving away an unnecessary foul then absolutely asleep at the the free kick. Criminal throwing away of 3 points. Not for the first time this season. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pub car king Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 This is the biggest frustration that we are so nearly there as a team, we play some of the best football in the middle of the park, I don't think there is a better midfield in the league. The issues are not scoring enough which is a very fair comment but we wouldn't need to score as many if we didn't consistently give away soft goals especially from set pieces. I don't know if its purely an organisational thing in the defence or a mentality/concentration issue? Murray is not far off us having a really good team. It'll be interesting seeing him have a full summer where he can hopefully have all his own players and the likes of Vaughan and Matthews getting a full pre season under their belts. This year we will finish anywhere between 5th and 8th but we won't be in trouble. You never know though it might click sooner and we make a run for 4th. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baillieinleeds Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 2 hours ago, roverthemoon said: Yesterday seemed to sum up the standard pattern of games this season. Great start then struggle to match it in the second half. Also, undoing a lot of our good first half work by conceding not long after half time. Had a look at the stats to see whether they backed this up and they pretty much do. For our 30 league goals this season - 21 have come in the first half, with only 9 in the second. In fact almost a third of our goals have been scored in the first 20 minutes of matches. When you look at when we concede then there’s a clear problem around half time. We’ve lost goals in the following minutes: 42, 44, 44, 45, 48, 49, 49, 50, 51, 54. That’s 10 goals in a 12 minute period either side of half-time - almost a third of the goals we have conceded in the league this season. No other part of the game comes close to these numbers. We’ve conceded only 4 goals in the last 12 minutes of matches and only 2 goals in the first 12 minutes of matches. Not sure why this is - concentration, fitness, Murray’s half time team talk or something else - but it is a problem. Losing a goal either just before half time or right after always feels like more of a blow. You can have a great half like yesterday and then a few minutes into the second half you’re back to square one. Teams seem to come out after the break far more fired up and on the front foot than us which often sets the tone for the second half. No idea what the solution is, but Murray needs to sort it. Pretty much why we’re a championship club. The fitness levels drop severely in the second half. The defending of set pieces will see us struggle for the remainder of the campaign. That was diabolical for their second goal. What the hell were they doing. If I’m honest Nolan isn’t cutting it. It should be Lang and Dick at CB. Was Masson playing yesterday? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CALDERON Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 Fitness levels didn't really die off at all as the half went on, it was a game we were controlling. Completely came down to that defending. Nolan and Lang were fine and have been fine, the entire team comes back to defend set pieces. Spencer is clearly at fault for that goal. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael W Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 You hear how many games we are unbeaten in, and then you remember that they are basically all draws. Well, at least the League games are. One win in the league during this period and we have taken the lead in every one of them. We have wasted a period of good form by throwing leads away. It is unbelievably frustrating. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottydog Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 Poor defending for ICT's first letting Henderson get goal side, ridiculous defending for their 2nd, nobody marking their top scorer? Nobody matching the run of the man on 10 goals for the season? Would have been an irrelevance if we had taken a greater numerical advantage in to the 2nd half, almost 70% possession and more than double the shots at and on goal. Really should have been at least 2 or 3 up. I heard some one say it's another cut & paste display from us, I think that's what the whole season will be remembered for. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renton Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 9 minutes ago, Scottydog said: Poor defending for ICT's first letting Henderson get goal side, ridiculous defending for their 2nd, nobody marking their top scorer? Nobody matching the run of the man on 10 goals for the season? Would have been an irrelevance if we had taken a greater numerical advantage in to the 2nd half, almost 70% possession and more than double the shots at and on goal. Really should have been at least 2 or 3 up. I heard some one say it's another cut & paste display from us, I think that's what the whole season will be remembered for. As long as that's the worst thing people remember it for, then I'll take it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottydog Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 5 minutes ago, renton said: As long as that's the worst thing people remember it for, then I'll take it. Amen to that! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raith Against The Machine Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 54 minutes ago, baillieinleeds said: Pretty much why we’re a championship club. The fitness levels drop severely in the second half. You know we're playing other Championship clubs, right? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baillieinleeds Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 1 minute ago, Against The Machine said: You know we're playing other Championship clubs, right? Yup, just that we fail to capitalise on the good forward play. Yet we capitulate in the second half. There is no happy medium. If we start slow we have that defence to worry about yadda yadda. We tire in the second half which leads to us losing goals 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McGuigan1978 Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 33 minutes ago, baillieinleeds said: Yup, just that we fail to capitalise on the good forward play. Yet we capitulate in the second half. There is no happy medium. If we start slow we have that defence to worry about yadda yadda. We tire in the second half which leads to us losing goals If the players were more puggled than the opposition, would we not be conceding more goals late in the game? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baillieinleeds Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 23 minutes ago, McGuigan1978 said: If the players were more puggled than the opposition, would we not be conceding more goals late in the game? Did you actually read what I said?? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baillieinleeds Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 Our defence is the worst we’ve had in years. It’s not just a Rovers problem it’s an every club problem except the Bigot brothers ( league wise) There seems to be a real lack of talent in this country. Is it a mere Scottish problem or is it throughout the UK 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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