A few thoughts

A very enjoyable cup tie again at Oakwell. The fans that aren’t turning up for them have missed two cracking games now.

I was disappointed with the team selection. I’m probably sounding like a broken record but I hate this modern culture of changing most of your team for cup ties. 7 was way too many changes. I hoped for 3 or 4 at the most. You could see the lack of cohesion in the first half. It’s just too many in one go.

Rotherham were the better side & fully deserved their lead at half time. It should have been two if it weren’t for two excellent blocks from Barrett & Shepherd. Someone told me that they only made 3 changes & if so it certainly showed in the first half.

Yoganathan is not a deep lying playmaker. We said a few minutes in that he should swap Bland & Yoganathan round as Yoganathan was coming way too deep & in my opinion doesn’t have the skill set to play that role. He’s an excellent box to box midfielder & for me it’s how he should be used.

Having said all that the most important thing was that we were still in the game at half time & the quality of Phillips changed the game & Ogbeta gave us the balance we needed.

Farrugia is not a full back in a million years. I think he could be a star at this level playing off the right. He’s got some sprint on him & his weaker foot is a lot better than most wingers weaker foot meaning he can cut in or go outside.

The second half was genuinely great to watch. Phillips, Russell, Farrugia, Bland & Vickers were all excellent.

I thought young Farrell did well off the bench. He played like an experienced striker. Used his body well & kept possession & won fouls & throw ins. I think we all agree we need another striker to rotate with McGoldrick but I think Farrell has something & I’m looking forward to seeing how he gets on when he presumably gets a few starts in the paint trophy.

I thought Barrett had a very good game for the most part. One dodgy moment with a bouncing ball in the second half but he defended very well against Hugill who’s normally a handful & made a good clearance off the line & passed well. He looked far better than he did in the last round.

Bad goal to concede with errors from De Gevigney & Cooper but ultimately we’re through & hopefully we get one of the big sides or another local derby.

I thought Bland deserved man of the match but it went to Vickers which I didn’t mind as I had him a close second.

I’m very interested to see what happens with Bland now as I feel like he’s outperforming all of Connell, Yoganathan & Kelly currently & he’s going to make himself undroppable if he carries on.

 

Going to be some player is Bland.

 

Both halves were like night and day.

Conor doesn't mess around. Cleary wasn't doing it on the right so was switched to the left, carried on being poor so was subbed off.

Good that we got through with Connell and McGoldrick given the night off.

Murphy shouldn't be getting beat at his near post. It wasn't as if the shot was hit hard.

 

It looked a decent effort to me, but really poor defending down our right.

 

A few suggested West Brom had got it wrong by letting him go but I think tonight showed why they did let him go. He’s still very raw & inconsistent & he’s going to have plenty of poor games while he develops which is fair enough. I think it was very unlikely that we were buying the finished article.

 

On a positive (not that there’s loads of negatives on this thread) is that we have a few possible selection headaches and every player looks like they give a crap - not something that we had in spades last season.
I love the fact that CH is giving young lads a go from the academy instead of going into PL sides’ 9th team and getting their 56th choice centre back or someone just happy to pick up a wage at a decent size club at this level with no genuine passion for the gig.
I’d heard Paul Warne (and this might be bobbins !) when at Rotherham would interview players and only go for family man types - any players (not as in football sense !) wouldn’t get a look in - CH light be adopting a similar strategy (if the other is true !)

 

Yeah. He wasn't Ronaldo when he did well against Burton and Fleetwood and he's not Kevin Donovan now he's had a poor game. He's a young lad, a project and ideal as an option from the bench at this moment in time. A bit like how I see Yoganathan and Bland. But, the way Jono is performing he'll be making it tough not to start him regularly.

 

Yeah Murphy looked disappointed in himself he'd let it in at the near post. But the defending for mdg in the build up was poor.

 

Yes MDGV didn't cover himself in glory yet again. But he will keep his place whilst the calm and assured Barratt who for me was our best player will be dropped again.

 

Best game I’ve seen Barratt have last night. Not sure I’d want to risk him against the likes of Huddersfield just yet though. As for MDG, I’ve made my feelings known on him.
Hopeless…..

 

I like the comparison with Donovan when he played against us he did look good until we acquired him.

 

Agree about Cleary. Young, raw. Needs a bit of patience, time and good coaching.

He's not had much opportunity and it's always going to be frustrating for a young lad not to be getting minutes at a new club.

Overall a strange game. I thought Rotherham looked really sharp for 55 minutes and could have been out of sight, then mimicked Peterborough in vanishing for the rest of the game. We could have had more in the end.

The front set up is my biggest concern at the minute, Dunn might as well be sold if this is what we're getting from him, though he had a poor start last year, so maybe he needs time to get up and running. A crucial few days to get a genuine striker in the building and generate some revenue to contribute towards our considerable losses.

 

Another positive from last night was young Shep.
He was immense ,and imo was his best game for us.

 

I think he’s been decent in the main. Not quite as impactful last night but he was initially on the wrong flank for me and had nobody on the overlap or underlap. Looked better when moved to the left and put in the one bit of quality just before the break.

 

I didn’t see first half so can’t comment on that and sounds like I was lucky in that regard.
Thoughts on second half though
Cooper looks tiny and even his gloves look too big for him but he’s a good signing and showed at times.
The 3 centre halves didn’t work well together and felt De Gevigney was the most notable for that but credit to Barratt in particular for that regard.
Ogbeta looked good going forward but during his defensive duties literally looked lost and didn’t know what he was doing.
Farrugia had a decent game only frustration being a couple of times he checked back onto his left foot, this must be a clear tactic as Vickers is right footed.
Bland was an all action figure who seemed to pop up everywhere for the most part.
Phillips - very impressive all round performance
DKD - non existent
Vickers enjoy him whilst you can he won’t be here next season.
Russell I also thought had a good game and does a lot of unnoticed work and reminds me of Cole (and Phillips)in that regard for the criticism he gets.

 

It's good to see Phillips getting back to his best also.

 

Agree with you regards Jon Russell, I've always rated him and couldn't understand the abuse he got at Oakwell and on here.
Need to get him to extend his contract or let him go now for a fee.

 

He's not the first and will not be the last to concede at the post. And it was a great strike with enough power. But for Murphy and some last ditch tackles in that 1st 15 mins we'd have been 2/3 down afore they scored. And that wonder save he put onto the bar. My motm.

 

Problem being defenders or goaly makes one misstake, it's a big talking point .
Thought goaly and some of defenders played a big part in us going in at half time 1 goal down.