Why I think Silver's completely wrong

monkeymfc

Well-known member
I'm hugely grateful to Silver for his "just back" reports and always enjoy them. But I think he is terribly wrong about our performance yesterday, as being simply a tenacious defensive performance similar to many of our away fixtures. Well, ok, it may be similar to a few of our away performances, but that's not to our credit. On Saturday we were playing away to a team three points below us in the league, a team who have been a model of inconsistency. All we did was spoil the game. Hack, hoof and defend. It was a pretty horrible performance: boring and utterly threatless upfront. We were set up to nick a draw which in the end we really did not deserve. It was, managerially, utterly gutless. We are going nowhere playing like this and it is the reason our attendances this season have been surprisingly poor. For Christ's sake let us attack a little. Middlesbrough have a very suspect defence. That game was there for the winning. But really only good luck got us a point.
 
I'm hugely grateful to Silver for his "just back" reports and always enjoy them. But I think he is terribly wrong about our performance yesterday, as being simply a tenacious defensive performance similar to many of our away fixtures. Well, ok, it may be similar to a few of our away performances, but that's not to our credit. On Saturday we were playing away to a team three points below us in the league, a team who have been a model of inconsistency. All we did was spoil the game. Hack, hoof and defend. It was a pretty horrible performance: boring and utterly threatless upfront. We were set up to nick a draw which in the end we really did not deserve. It was, managerially, utterly gutless. We are going nowhere playing like this and it is the reason our attendances this season have been surprisingly poor. For Christ's sake let us attack a little. Middlesbrough have a very suspect defence. That game was there for the winning. But really only good luck got us a point.
Can't argue with any of that, watching Millwall really is fucking tedious!!
 
It’s not a good watch that’s a definite, but not getting tonked every week is a plus. Just hope there are a couple of positive additions to the squad in January.
I wish I could share your hopes Bazz.
Ojo and Afobe were supposed to be positive additions, but not much has changed.
I don’t want to be negative, but I really don’t think that players are the problem, rather the way they are being told to play.
January can’t come soon enough for me. I’m dreading the C word already.
 
I wish I could share your hopes Bazz.
Ojo and Afobe were supposed to be positive additions, but not much has changed.
I don’t want to be negative, but I really don’t think that players are the problem, rather the way they are being told to play.
January can’t come soon enough for me. I’m dreading the C word already.
Just waiting for the next Weller and Possee
 
I'm hugely grateful to Silver for his "just back" reports and always enjoy them. But I think he is terribly wrong about our performance yesterday, as being simply a tenacious defensive performance similar to many of our away fixtures. Well, ok, it may be similar to a few of our away performances, but that's not to our credit. On Saturday we were playing away to a team three points below us in the league, a team who have been a model of inconsistency. All we did was spoil the game. Hack, hoof and defend. It was a pretty horrible performance: boring and utterly threatless upfront. We were set up to nick a draw which in the end we really did not deserve. It was, managerially, utterly gutless. We are going nowhere playing like this and it is the reason our attendances this season have been surprisingly poor. For Christ's sake let us attack a little. Middlesbrough have a very suspect defence. That game was there for the winning. But really only good luck got us a point.
Absolutely spot on with your post, Monkey! The bit I’ve highlighted just sums up what many of us feel about Rowett’s mindset, and how he wants to set his team up. It has been this way for a very long time (since Davidson left), but this season, as poor as the league has been, and as poor as the team has been in a number of games (for whatever the reason), the results, stats and league position don’t lie! All of it makes fantastic reading as far as JB is concerned, and there isn’t a chance in hell of him sacking Rowett, because in his mind the manager is doing a great job with the meagre resources available to him!

Whilst all of the above is true, it isn’t as if Rowett has been the only Millwall manager who‘s never had a pot to piss in, recruitment wise! Many past managers have felt the pinch just as much, but some of them (though not all), still managed to produce a certain quality of player who played in teams that gave us good, often exciting, attacking football! We rarely see any of that with a team that Rowett picks!

Is this ‘anti attacking football’ of Rowett’s just down to him believing that this is how he believes all his players should play? Both Derby and Stoke supporters would probably say ‘yes’ to that question, as when he managed both of those clubs, they hated the style of football he gave them! Might there be another reason? Perhaps, since Davidson‘s departure, Rowett has lost confidence in himself as a manager, and this could account for him not knowing his best 11 each match, as well as persisting stubbornly with formations and substitutions that none of us can understand?

Whatever the reason, it’s left many of us supporters watching dull, tedious football, where the team just seem to ‘exist’ every week under Rowett’s management style - with no fear of promotion or relegation - and finishing anywhere between outside of the play off positions, and mid table! Some supporters on this forum would be quite happy to accept that, if it meant staying in the Championship every season, whilst others want to see a bit more ambition in how we play and how we win. The famous words from a poem by Robert Browning, “a man’s reach should exceed his grasp” suggests that, to achieve anything worthwhile, a person should attempt even those things that may turn out to be impossible.

Perhaps Rowett should take heed of those words, think about what they should mean to him as a manager, and act upon them immediately!
 
In my defence I was not at the game but merely commenting on the EFL highlights. Any highlights show only picks selective parts and so I could only comment on what I saw. I am the first to admit that the football lacks excitement and can be poor for entertainment. But, be careful what you wish for. There are many managers in this division who would like to be in our position. Four defeats this season, ninth position and difficult to play against and even more difficult to beat.
Wednesday will be a big test. They are a big ,powerful and enterprising team who could cause us massive problems. It could be a real yardstick to measure our season by.
 
I went on Saturday and it was another waste of a day. On the face of it a point away seems decent enough , but we are just so dull to watch. We create nothing , look happy with a draw from the first minute and I have just about had enough now of these totally boring , gutless , performances.
 
I'm hugely grateful to Silver for his "just back" reports and always enjoy them. But I think he is terribly wrong about our performance yesterday, as being simply a tenacious defensive performance similar to many of our away fixtures. Well, ok, it may be similar to a few of our away performances, but that's not to our credit. On Saturday we were playing away to a team three points below us in the league, a team who have been a model of inconsistency. All we did was spoil the game. Hack, hoof and defend. It was a pretty horrible performance: boring and utterly threatless upfront. We were set up to nick a draw which in the end we really did not deserve. It was, managerially, utterly gutless. We are going nowhere playing like this and it is the reason our attendances this season have been surprisingly poor. For Christ's sake let us attack a little. Middlesbrough have a very suspect defence. That game was there for the winning. But really only good luck got us a point.
Spot on. Absolutely boring.
Mrs Axholme said to me 'Why do we bother coming to watch this?'
I couldn't think of an answer...
I'm sure the players we have could do better. It's like Rowett has sucked all the life and ambition out of them and is happy picking up a point a week. I don't know if he knows but following football is an expensive passtime, even more so in the current climate. So please give us some value for money before people start finding other less expensive and more interesting things to do with their time and money.
 
In my defence I was not at the game but merely commenting on the EFL highlights. Any highlights show only picks selective parts and so I could only comment on what I saw. I am the first to admit that the football lacks excitement and can be poor for entertainment. But, be careful what you wish for. There are many managers in this division who would like to be in our position. Four defeats this season, ninth position and difficult to play against and even more difficult to beat.
Wednesday will be a big test. They are a big ,powerful and enterprising team who could cause us massive problems. It could be a real yardstick to measure our season by.
I too enjoy your 'Just Back' reports Silver... we all see the state of play in different ways.... thank you for your service and may it continue :)
 
Spot on. Absolutely boring.
Mrs Axholme said to me 'Why do we bother coming to watch this?'
I couldn't think of an answer...
I'm sure the players we have could do better. It's like Rowett has sucked all the life and ambition out of them and is happy picking up a point a week. I don't know if he knows but following football is an expensive passtime, even more so in the current climate. So please give us some value for money before people start finding other less expensive and more interesting things to do with their time and money.
Make you right mate. I like most still go and enjoy catching up with mates and having a beer. Although that has become less frequent as the football isn't drawing me there. I've probably missed more games already this season than I have done for years.
 
I said it in another post. We are only nicking points is because the opposition isnt of quality.

Yes, points on the board cant be argued with but if Rowett continues to play like this next season & the season after without building & wanting to attack, we wont last long in the Championship.
 
I said it in another post. We are only nicking points is because the opposition isnt of quality.

Yes, points on the board cant be argued with but if Rowett continues to play like this next season & the season after without building & wanting to attack, we wont last long in the Championship.
This. 100%.

I think some (if not most) Championship managers have sussed out Rowett’s tactics by now. I don’t think we put the fear of God into them or their players anymore, especially at set pieces, when once upon a time, it was the exact opposite of what it is now!

As Axholme Lion said up thread, it feels as if Rowett has sucked all the life and ambition out of the players, and that picking up a point every week has now become the norm, instead of draws happening less frequently than they did before! It’s also correct that following football is an expensive past time, and supporter loyalty will only get you, as a manager and as a team, so far, before they start to vote with their feet and stay away from the Den in more numbers than they currently are now!

It’s already happening with our away support! How can the club expect supporters to doll out their hard earned, and attend two, maybe three away games a month (sometimes having two far flung away day trips on consecutive Saturdays), and not expect them to moan when they’re watching poor performances away to Huddersfield?

I do wonder sometimes whether JB, the board, Rowett and the players, realise the cost of supporting Millwall, home and away every season? I guess, when you boil it all down, they either don’t know or don’t care - if they did, you’d like to think all concerned would try that little bit harder, every time they crossed that white line and went into battle for us!
 
This. 100%.

I think some (if not most) Championship managers have sussed out Rowett’s tactics by now. I don’t think we put the fear of God into them or their players anymore, especially at set pieces, when once upon a time, it was the exact opposite of what it is now!

As Axholme Lion said up thread, it feels as if Rowett has sucked all the life and ambition out of the players, and that picking up a point every week has now become the norm, instead of draws happening less frequently than they did before! It’s also correct that following football is an expensive past time, and supporter loyalty will only get you, as a manager and as a team, so far, before they start to vote with their feet and stay away from the Den in more numbers than they currently are now!

It’s already happening with our away support! How can the club expect supporters to doll out their hard earned, and attend two, maybe three away games a month (sometimes having two far flung away day trips on consecutive Saturdays), and not expect them to moan when they’re watching poor performances away to Huddersfield?

I do wonder sometimes whether JB, the board, Rowett and the players, realise the cost of supporting Millwall, home and away every season? I guess, when you boil it all down, they either don’t know or don’t care - if they did, you’d like to think all concerned would try that little bit harder, every time they crossed that white line and went into battle for us!
Not gonna knock JB as without him, we would have been history a long time ago.

But Rowett isnt leading us down a good path.
He's fallen out with Danny & Mahoney, both young & talented players.
His defensive mindset is shocking & when we face a team who comes out of the starting blocks hard & fast & are 3-0 up by half time, his tactics wont be worth a wank.
Im not looking forward to the next half of the season when we play teams for the second time. They will have us sussed if he doesnt sort it out.