Rotherham United 1-4 Watford Fc - 16/03/2021

Yep

we looked ****
Then we scored 6 goals in a game
Then we started winning regularly away from home
The we scored from a free kick
The we scored from 2 corners in one game

 

Can't deny that we played some dross for the first half of the season but we hung on in there and Ivic did rotate the squad quite a lot so who knows if we'd be having the run we're having now as a result. It was mentioned a few weeks back that only two of our players had played significantly large amount of minutes compared to other teams six or seven starters. Whilst we have on occasion looked leggy, Swansea have looked increasingly like they are running on empty. Same may apply to Brentford. They just conceded 2 goals to a team which had failed to score in the previous 4 and apparently Derby outplayed them for much of the second half.

We just need to push on in the next few games as whilst we have looked leggy in second half's we are playing teams we can hopefully put away early.

Edit: PS. It's quite big, especially this season, that we have an additional 24 hours over Birmingham to rest before Saturday.

 

My favourite part of Gray's performance was when he tried to play a through ball to Success, I assume, but ended up kicking the ball as hard as he could to nobody for some reason? I doubt even he can explain what he was doing there. A truly shocking footballer. The 'good' things he does are simply passes that a professional footballer should be able to make. I hoped a few decent games would give him a boost but he's right back at the hopeless stage again. And it shows how crap Perica is that he can't get in ahead of Gray.

 

Truly toe-curling, but very popular with the types that used to throw their knickers at Tom Jones.

 

My dad's a massive Chelsea fan and he gets Guy Havord mixed up with Kai Havertz ffs

 

Great result, but should it have been even better? Maybe we should have pushed for another ten minutes before the substitutions and tried to improve our GD even more, as I think we could probably have won by 5 or 6 clear goals tonight had we done so.

Don't get me wrong it was good to see Sarr get a rest and probably Kiko as well, but what about Sema & Pedro why not give them a rest too? There was no need to rest Zinc or Chalobah, as Zinc has not exactly played a lot this season and Chalobah has just come back from a two match suspension, so why not keep them on instead of Sema and Pedro? As for Hughes a little break will not have done him any harm.

Hungbo could have replaced Sema on the left and Zinc could have gone out to wide right, with Gosling slotting in to Zincs vacated central position. Sanchez standing in for Hughes late on was OK, and as for Pedro, my choice would probably have been Success as I reckon he would have scared the bejesus out of their defenders near the end.

 

I thought Gray started off relatively brightly, got involved in the 4th goal, but from then on it was all downhill. Not sure what's up with Perica, injured or just not fancied? Can't be any worse...

 

A great win and probably some decent squad management in the second half, although I would have liked a couple more goals.

I've said all along that it is our mindset/attitude that matters, as we have always had the quality to finish top two. Successfully playing catch-up for 2nd place over recent weeks brings a certain type of positive attitude that is hard to improve upon.

But now, having caught up and even crept slightly ahead of third place, that mindset potentially changes as trying to hang on (to second place), is negative, not positive.

So I'm hoping that our coaches and players are setting their sights on the top spot so we continue in "catch-up" mode, and that Norwich help us along by dropping a couple of points in their next two games, away at Forest, and home to Blackburn.

 

Not even thinking about the possibility of being champions with our run-in, in fact I think we should want Norwich to continue to win as it'd mean that there's a chance our game at Carrow Road won't be so crucial to them (although they may well still need a bit of a push to win the title by then)

 

Respectfully disagree. If Norwich some how drop points over the next 2 games and we go into the international break only 4-6 points behind them, they will be worried. Then right after the break they have an awkward away game at Preston whilst we are at home to Sheff Weds. Drop points in that game and we win, our players will believe they can win the league to give them extra motivation.

Need Forest and Blackburn to do us favour. The more teams dragged into it the better.

 

No, not quite toilet. Perhaps bidet.

 

What a contrast to our last few games which, despite us being much the better side, ended up being very nervy affairs!

 

The players wear GPS monitors, with their fitness evaluated in detail before games and during games too. I would imagine that the bench has a lot of performance data to work with and are able to utilise metrics a little more advance than number of appearances/minutes played.

As to your specific points, I think the only change that would have made more sense would have been taking off Sema rather than Chalobah. Zinckernagel, having spent a long time building up his fitness, has started quite a few games in a row. Chalobah probably didn’t need to come off (unless there’s something we’re not seeing) as you say but why would Pedro; he had a (one match) break due to suspension too. Sema almost certainly could use a rest, but don’t think your other concerns are that substantive.

 

A pretty ideal evening all told (provided Sarr’s substitution was just precautionary and he’s all good). A good win, +3 to the GD, dropped points for our rivals (and not just dropped points but points dropped in confidence-sapping ways for both sides), didn’t have to come out of second gear, rested key players for lengthy periods - what more can you ask for?

 

Zigawhatever had already played a season before he joined us so he does have a right to be rested!

 

Yup. We missed a lot of chances by the sounds of it, and still managed to score 4.

Stark contrast to the first half of the season where chances were few and far between.

 

Norwich have lost five games all season. For us to overhaul them we'd need them to lose four of their last ten whilst we won every single game. Neither of those things are likely, it would require a monumental collapse from them and an almost unprecedented winning streak from us.

 

No one seems to have mentioned success's stepovers and skinning one of their players (them admittedly messing up the through ball).

I still think the big galoot is gonna hit the big time.

 

I said at the start of the season we needed to change the leadership structure and it's clearly working. We've switched from our outmoded 1 man leading and the others following to having a unified squad with collective, responsibility and leaders all over the pitch. It's a joy to behold!!

 

He was usually followed by Kenny Everett who regularly promised his listeners that by sticking with his show they would soon "begin to feel much more unHarpery"!

That Champagne 'n Roses show was so high on creepiness - if tuning in too early for Captain Kremmen - that it had a similar vibe to a certain other DJ of that era that I don't need to remind everyone of. Urghhh!

 

I suffer from exactly the same blind spot as you. I regularly remind my son of his towering header home to Bournemouth a few years back and the day he destroyed Boro away and....well that's largely it. I'm utterly convinced he can still be a world beater. Those stepovers tonight were a thing of beauty and should have led to a thumping shot into the top corner for our 5th. It'll happen on Saturday...keep the faith!

 

And hit back immediately after conceding two games in a row, when was the previous time we did that?

 

Mid-week, away, to a side we should beat, on a bobbly pitch and a soft as balm referee. This had a potential banana skin 1-0 defeat written all over it.

However, an unchanged team, no tinkering, and a performance that was calmness and professionalism personified.

Compared to the opening half of the season we have at times become very efficient and purposeful in attack. We now look like we could score every time we go forward and were unlucky to only score 3 in the first half. 5 would not have flattered. In defence we look assured apart from odd Kabasele-esque brain fart from Troost-Ekong a game.

Obviously, the second half was a bit more disjointed due to the early substitutions snd Rotherham throwing caution to the wind at times, roared on by that bloke in the stands shouting "Come on you Millers" every 20 secs.

The referee was the usual third-rate championship officiator who awarded the softest of soft penalties. God forbid if we had done a Bournemouth and tumbled to the ground everytime an opposition player breathed on us in the penalty area. The referee would have strained his shoulder pointing to the penalty spot.

Once again nobody in the starting 11 had a bad game with Sierralta, Kiko, Philip Zn-Ni and Hughes being the pick of the players. Special mention to Bachmann, for that stupendous penalty save and for generally dominating his area.

Rotherham were pretty poor but you still have to go out, match, nullify, and beat them which we did without getting out of 3rd gear.

The flies in the ointment of the overall performance were Gray and Success. Luckily. the game was won before our own version of the Chuckle brothers proceeded to cause much merriment with their to-me to-you falling over, wayward passing, trampoline footed, falling offside, blazing high and wide tomfoolery. They really are hopeless and their only useful function is to give the proper footballers a rest when the result has been decided.

With Brentford and Swansea both dropping points, this was an excellent evening, a far cry from Nottingham Forest and Bristol City away earlier in the season.

 

Munoz out .

 

It's taken half a season to get the last season and a half out of the system.

 

It also stung like buggery if you caught it flush on your naked thigh on a cold wet winters day.

 

Absolutely agree with the crux of the post but disagree on two things. Don’t know if you were watching on Hive Live as I was (as opposed to the red button) but the extra angles showed the penalty to be an entirely reasonable decision by the ref. Totally daft from WTE but if he needs to get a brain fart out of the system, that was the moment/game to do it in.

I thought that Gray and especially Success both looked decent coming on. Gray was dangerous through but his finishing was awful as per. Success had a couple of really nice involvements, and showed some good skill and strength. He seemed comfortable collecting the ball from deep and driving forward but also won a couple of headers, including one in their box which set Gray up for a great opportunity.

 

Spot on about success. A lot of our fans have made their minds up about him and will criticise him for anything less than a hattrick every match.

The real scholars of the game like us see him for exactly what he is: a player on the cusp of becoming a superstar.

To mention gray and success in the same breath is utterly abhorrent.

 

I will never lose the faith. Never!

My dream is to see a front 4 of zinc, sarr, Pedro with success up top. The day it happens is the day we break the 8-0 v Sunderland record victory.

It will happen this season. And it will happen against brentford, Swansea or Norwich. I have foreseen it.

 

They won’t be worried, they’re virtually promoted. They might want to win the league but I very much doubt they’ll give a toss as long as they go back up.