Into the Lions Den to look for 3 points... Millwall match thread

[Andyben]

Röhl out 

[owl4ever1867]

Well, that's fucked that then.

Watching via 365, one second Valery has it on edge of their box - next second its 2-0

[DirtyOwl]

Horrific 

[Bellsview]

Absolute shit defending. Even worse than the first goal. 

[mkowl]

I mean rather than fucking trying to wrestle and focus on just defending

[Andyben]

Stuck record alert:

With a functioning midfield we'd be a good team in this division.

 

[mkowl]

1 minute ago, Andyben said:

Röhl out 

Not at that stage but some serious questions about how we are set up, the tactics. We are poor in all 3 zones of the pitch 

[TheExile]

All that work over the summer to take something that was getting points, change it on principle  and make us absolutely shite. Nice one 

[mkowl]

1 minute ago, Andyben said:

Stuck record alert:

With a functioning midfield we'd be a good team in this division.

 

That is where Rohl deserves criticism, because despite nearly a year in the job not really fathomed that is where games are won and lost

[Andyben]

Relegation zone by 500 with a couple of goals elsewhere or at the Den 

[Tylluan]

Was just about to post we'd be lucky to get anything and now it'll need a miracle. 

DR has to use this break to realise 4-2-3-1 doesn't work with Bannan in the 2. We can't play through the phases when it doesn't stick. I'd rather go long and chase and pressure up the pitch that way than play like we've done here

[owl4ever1867]

Far far too attack minded away from home yet again.

Musaba, Gassama, Lowe & Ugbo up top & we muster 1 shot towards goal.

Get Bannan dropped, get a midfield together that can defend & help the defence out.

We are on the back foot from the off with how we set up.

[HappyOwl]

Depressing now ffs 

[Andyben]

Is Fusire injured?

[Canterburyowl]

Bannan is undroppable though, sure it must be in his contract that he plays every game 

[Bellsview]

I don’t know what the fuck to say. You can’t blame Bannan and the midfield formation for everything, especially not today.

There’s nothing sticking up front, no creativity in the last third and the defending, especially for the second goal, was Sunday league standard. 

Just shit all round really, and we can’t blame the quality of the opposition this time as Millwall are a team we should be expected to compete with. 

[TheExile]

It’s great being attack minded if you can actually attack. We just try and defend with a load of attackers on the pitch 

[TheExile]

Just now, Bellsview said:

I don’t know what the fuck to say. You can’t blame Bannan and the midfield formation for everything, especially not today.

There’s nothing sticking up front, no creativity in the last third and the defending, especially for the second goal, was Sunday league standard. 

Just shit all round really, and we can’t blame the quality of the opposition this time as Millwall are a team we should be expected to compete with. 

it’s not much different to this time last season, which is unbelievable 

[owl71]

Fucking awful.  Had no confidence in that starting line up, and it’s not worked at all.  Tbh I’m glad we’ve got two weeks till the next game.

[mkowl]

1 minute ago, Canterburyowl said:

Bannan is undroppable though, sure it must be in his contract that he plays every game 

It's simple not working with him in a 2. That Rohl isn't seeing this is a real issue

[Andyben]

Just now, Bellsview said:

 

I don’t know what the fuck to say. You can’t blame Bannan and the midfield formation for everything, especially not today.

 

Yes you can, because we literally have one way of creating chances which is not good enough and are being utterly hamstrung because if it 

[mkowl]

2 minutes ago, TheExile said:

It’s great being attack minded if you can actually attack. We just try and defend with a load of attackers on the pitch 

I keep repeating the point, having attacking players does not make you more threatening

[owl4ever1867]

3-0

Goodnight

[Bellsview]

1 minute ago, Andyben said:

Yes you can, because we literally have one way of creating chances which is not good enough and are being utterly hamstrung because if it 

Did you see the defending for the second goal? Tell me how that’s Bannan’s fault?

You can then tell me what Bernard and Valery were doing for the first goal. They might as well have been sat with me, watching the ball and totally lost their men.

The system Röhl is playing is definitely not working and he has to look at it, but there’s been too many players not on their game today.

And now it’s 3-0. Again shit defending. 5 on 2 and they still scored.

[DirtyOwl]

This has been a bad watch, we’ve not been in the game at all. 

The gameplay reminds me of Southgate’s England apart from having the quality of a bail out goal

[TheExile]

It’s unacceptable the nature of capitulation over and over again. 

[Owling_Wolf]

There's people near us actually fighting. Owls swinging punches at the people sat / stood next to them. Women pulling them away but they're ciming baxk for more.

[Andyben]

4 minutes ago, Bellsview said:

Did you see the defending for the second goal? Tell me how that’s Bannan’s fault?

You can then tell me what Bernard and Valery were doing for the first goal. They might as well have been sat with me, watching the ball and totally lost their men.

The system Röhl is playing is definitely not working and he has to look at it, but there’s been too many players not on their game today.

And now it’s 3-0. Again shit defending. 5 on 2 and they still scored.

Because with a proper midfield we'd be putting more attacking pressure on the opposition, creating chances, scoring goals, which brings positivity to the team and players stop switching off.

Of course we'll always a concede goals, but if we're scoring more of them and by virtue of  having a proper midfield, putting less pressure on the defence and conceding possession less then we'll concede fewer goals.

 

[Chelters]

Unfortunately this has been a feature of Rohl’s tenure, when we lose we lose easily. Hard to put your finger on it but the accusation of being too open away from home seems fair. Has to be back to the drawing board now, I’m still happy we have the players to be mid table if we can get it right. 

[owl71]

That formation with Bannan as one of the 2 sitting in front of the defence is never going to work, unless the opposition is really poor.  Clearly, on the basis of today and last weekend, this is not our ONLY problem.  That doesn’t make it not a problem.

[DirtyOwl]

Awful performance again. 

The system just isn’t working at all. Nearly 500 passes and we’ve had 4 shots and 1 on target. We just can’t get up the pitch with two central midfielders and the wingers dropping back to help the defence out when we inevitably play 3/4 sideways passes and then one back to Beadle. 

Desperate for a change in formation, we sort of know that a 352/532 works so do we revert back to that? 

M Lowe is also a decent defender but we miss Johnson IMO as he will get forward and cause the other team problems. 

[mkowl]

This was the acid test, I can accept the losses against Sunderland and Leeds, if not the performances. But this is a bang average side we are being outplayed by. 

The only positive was the performance of Charles, there is a player there, he just needs others around him. 

We have had other managers stick to their principles and they end up being an ex manager. Stick to the basics, get the players to play the basics better, put some effort in, stop getting knocked off the ball

[TheExile]

2 minutes ago, Chelters said:

Unfortunately this has been a feature of Rohl’s tenure, when we lose we lose easily. Hard to put your finger on it but the accusation of being too open away from home seems fair. Has to be back to the drawing board now, I’m still happy we have the players to be mid table if we can get it right. 

Russian Rohlette…but with 5 bullets 

[mkowl]

6 minutes ago, Owling_Wolf said:

There's people near us actually fighting. Owls swinging punches at the people sat / stood next to them. Women pulling them away but they're ciming baxk for more.

More than the players showed 

[Tank_Owl2,0]

That was like taking a wooden spoon to a gun fight.

Rohl and his staff performed a miracle last season but I have to question his team selection for that game. Too many half hearted challenges against a team that are set up to scrap and be direct.

The subs improved us but the game was running away from us.

If DR is going to get his style of game off and running I think he need to look at our defensive and midfield robustness and that nothing to do with the defenders it the players in front of them. In the first half we just didn’t retain the ball enough.

It going to be a long international break.

Edited August 31 by Tank_Owl2,0

[Bellsview]

1 minute ago, Andyben said:

Because with a proper midfield we'd be putting more attacking pressure on the opposition, creating chances, scoring goals, which brings positivity to the team and players stop switching off.

Of course we'll always a concede goals, but if we're scoring more of them and by virtue of  having a proper midfield, putting less pressure on the defence and conceding possession less then we'll concede fewer goals.

 

Not disagreeing with you about the midfield, it has to change, but Bannan is too easy a scapegoat.

At set pieces we are a joke, that’s a coaching issue and not the fault of the smallest bloke on the pitch.

Not packing the midfield and being too lightweight in there is again a managerial decision, it’s not Bannan’s fault.

Not taking one chance in 3 games and having conceded 9 - that’s not Bannan’s fault either. 

It’s too easy to blame him. The players around him aren’t pulling up any trees either and it’s now time to start holding Röhl to greater account as well, because there weren’t many of us overly confident when we saw that starting XI announced at 2pm - and we were proved to be right!

[TheExile]

1 minute ago, Tank_Owl2,0 said:

That was like taking a wooden spoon to a fun fight.

Rohl and his staff performed a miracle last season but I have to question his team selection for that game. Too many half hearted challenges against a team that are set up to scrap and be direct.

The subs improved us but the game was running away from us.

If DR is going to get his style of game off and running I think he need to look at our defensive and midfield robustness and that nothing to do with the defenders it the players in front of them. In the first half we just didn’t retain the ball enough.

It going to be a long international break.

The games against Blackburn, WBA, Sunderland we could do some of the ugly stuff, played football and created chances. We looked very weak off set plays even then, but unfortunately there’s an element of ugliness to this league that just needs to be respected or you just get battered. It did my head in with Carlos but we had much better players to get us out of trouble most of the time.

[HoylandOwl]

27 minutes ago, owl4ever1867 said:

Far far too attack minded away from home yet again.

Musaba, Gassama, Lowe & Ugbo up top & we muster 1 shot towards goal.

Get Bannan dropped, get a midfield together that can defend & help the defence out.

We are on the back foot from the off with how we set up.

Far too attack minded yet we hardly did attack?  

I'm more fed up with the basic mistakes defensively. It's SO easy to get through us, Millwall weren't good or blowing us away. They were functional, yet we were suckered. 

That second goal summed it up, their lad causes shit in our box. We get distracted. They have a man unmarked from 2 yards. 

[Chelters]

I think we are definitely struggling with the change in mindset this season. Last season we had something to chase and it gave us a focus. More difficult this season as we now have to try and take the initiative a bit more and I genuinely think Rohl is struggling to work out how to get them properly set up and motivated. 

[HoylandOwl]

Just now, Chelters said:

I think we are definitely struggling with the change in mindset this season. Last season we had something to chase and it gave us a focus. More difficult this season as we now have to try and take the initiative a bit more and I genuinely think Rohl is struggling to work out how to get them properly set up and motivated. 

We'll be chasing before long playing like that for much longer. 

I'm not DR out yet, it's 4 games.. But if it gets to the 10 that Xisco got, and things don't improve in terms of performance, never mind results...... 

 

[Harry Lime]

FFS, is there no respite from this crap, over and over again.

Now I watched DR the other week, think after Sunderland and he said this is how we'll be playing and that's it, he wasn't going to change his philosophy. It's not just the getting beat, it's the way we're getting beat.

Mess about with it at the back and play up the wings, just too easy to stop us in our tracks. Wonder what Will Vaulks is doing.

[mkowl]

2 minutes ago, Bellsview said:

Not disagreeing with you about the midfield, it has to change, but Bannan is too easy a scapegoat.

At set pieces we are a joke, that’s a coaching issue and not the fault of the smallest bloke on the pitch.

Not packing the midfield and being too lightweight in there is again a managerial decision, it’s not Bannan’s fault.

Not taking one chance in 3 games and having conceded 9 - that’s not Bannan’s fault either. 

It’s too easy to blame him. The players around him aren’t pulling up any trees either and it’s now time to start holding Röhl to greater account as well, because there weren’t many of us overly confident when we saw that starting XI announced at 2pm - and we were proved to be right!

Some are criticising Bannan which is unfair, but the insistence on playing in a 2 with him in that area is causing a lack of cohesion across the entire pitch. 

That is where valid criticism is coming from, you have to win the right to play your football and fight to stop the opposition doing so. We are lightweight everywhere. The edge, the backs against the wall mentality is not there and we are looking poor.

 

[Tank_Owl2,0]

The one thing I will concede, it’s going to take time and the best practice is playing games but I also think we need to look at the opposition and today was not one to have 4 attackers on the pitch, we first needed to control the middle of the park. We may have had a high possession percentage but that was our defenders passing to each other in our own half.

[HoylandOwl]

The lightweight comment is more than justified IMO. Millwall were stronger, and that REALLY hurt us. Hopefully Shea can get into his stride, and help in that regard...

Gassama is a good player, but today, his lack of strength was a real hindrance IMO, as much as no backbone in midfield.

[mkowl]

6 minutes ago, HoylandOwl said:

Far too attack minded yet we hardly did attack?  

I'm more fed up with the basic mistakes defensively. It's SO easy to get through us, Millwall weren't good or blowing us away. They were functional, yet we were suckered. 

That second goal summed it up, their lad causes shit in our box. We get distracted. They have a man unmarked from 2 yards. 

That is where Rohl does not get it. The Championship is backs against the wall most weeks, by that I mean you are going to be pressured, you are in a fight. You have to match that, get possession in key areas, not 400 passes in our own half and match teams physically. 

We are not doing that

[TheExile]

16 minutes ago, HoylandOwl said:

We'll be chasing before long playing like that for much longer. 

I'm not DR out yet, it's 4 games.. But if it gets to the 10 that Xisco got, and things don't improve in terms of performance, never mind results...... 

 

Yeah was just going to say that if we don’t get something in the next game there’s not much difference between the points we have now and what xisco mustered. Similar feeling about it, not understanding what they are actually trying to do and then just giving up when it goes wrong

[Bellsview]

What I think we are definitely missing is a strong leader on the pitch and someone who will kick players backsides when they aren’t putting a shift in. 

[Owling_Wolf]

We were not 'on it' at any stage of that against an ordinary side.  Some of the problems are so obvious, yet we keep picking the same profligate lightweights and tactics to the point where this is really worrying.  

As everyone knows, we need to scrap and earn the opportunity to play football. So stop picking several lightweights together who are either nesh or fecking stupid.  I.e. running up blind alleys until they just give the ball away.  

I really liked the new lad: a quality addition.  Unfortunately nobody around or behind him showed any sense, wit or belief all day. If I was the owner, I'd want to know what the hell is going on. Just like the fans who've forked out an awful lot lot of money today and been severely short changed.

Gerrit bloody sorted, DR: serving up this tripe just 'cos you're being stubborn impresses nobody!

[Andyben]

39 minutes ago, Bellsview said:

Not disagreeing with you about the midfield, it has to change, but Bannan is too easy a scapegoat

I'm not blaming Bannan, I'm saying he's not good enough in a two. Hasn't been for years.

Im blaming Röhl.

 

[mkowl]

11 minutes ago, Andyben said:

I'm not blaming Bannan, I'm saying he's not good enough in a two. Hasn't been for years.

Im blaming Röhl.

 

Interesting interview post match. Doesn't hide behind any excuses, the fact saying too many playing as individuals and not as a team.

It was like I am giving these players and system another chance after 2 poor results and a flat track 2nd half victory. But not creating and conceding poor goals is never a good combination. 

Can he rectify that balance is now his major challenge