MATCHWATCH : Rotherham United (h)

[Franchise FC]

What I find most concerning is that it was only an injury that forced him to remove a player who has played very poorly all season.

Credit for swapping Long for Azeez though and going 4 at the back.

So lets just hope it is the second half team that starts at Cardiff......

What I find most concerning is the inability to understand that the loan deal with Chelsea for Baba insists that he plays if fit (well, that’s my take on it, anyway)

[Wycombe Royal]

What I find most concerning is that it was only an injury that forced him to remove a player who has played very poorly all season.

Credit for swapping Long for Azeez though and going 4 at the back.

So lets just hope it is the second half team that starts at Cardiff......

What I find most concerning is the inability to understand that the loan deal with Chelsea for Baba insists that he plays if fit (well, that’s my take on it, anyway)

I did wonder if there was something in it like that....but if there is I would find it concerning that ANY club would sign a player with that type of commitment......

[Sutekh]

Paul Ince is a stubborn so and so ! At the post match press conference he defended his team selection and intimated he isn’t going to change the way we set up any time soon.

He does seem to have his favourites regardless of how they perform. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he stayed with the same starting lineup on Friday, other than Baba assuming he’s now out.

PI made the point that the team was unchanged for the sake of consistency adding that Arsenal do it

He doesn’t seem to get that his overly negative team selections are fairly consistent though!

Many fans can see it so why can’t he?

[Coppells Lost Coat]

Couldn't go / watch due to having a life outside football.

But it sounds like we set up like usual with slow players and using Carroll as a target man. But as soon as we put a bit of pace on the pitch and set up a bit more positive and use the players correctly, we looked like a mid table side?

Also very alarming that Ince has come out and said he wont change his style any time soon.......I hope he is lying.

[Brogue]

Paul Ince is a stubborn so and so ! At the post match press conference he defended his team selection and intimated he isn’t going to change the way we set up any time soon.

He does seem to have his favourites regardless of how they perform. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he stayed with the same starting lineup on Friday, other than Baba assuming he’s now out.

PI made the point that the team was unchanged for the sake of consistency adding that Arsenal do it

He doesn’t seem to get that his overly negative team selections are fairly consistent though!

Many fans can see it so why can’t he?

That’s just daft, you can change a player here and there and still get that consistency. Pauno did the same same tactics and team week in week out never changed it up and that was one of the biggest gripes fans had about him. No plan b

[YorkshireRoyal99]

He does seem to have his favourites regardless of how they perform. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he stayed with the same starting lineup on Friday, other than Baba assuming he’s now out.

PI made the point that the team was unchanged for the sake of consistency adding that Arsenal do it

He doesn’t seem to get that his overly negative team selections are fairly consistent though!

Many fans can see it so why can’t he?

That’s just daft, you can change a player here and there and still get that consistency. Pauno did the same same tactics and team week in week out never changed it up and that was one of the biggest gripes fans had about him. No plan b

I think the bottom line is, managers these days just don't tend to change all that much. They'll tweak their styles and look to improve on the framework that they've got, but very rarely do they look to drastically change what they are doing, so I can't say it's a massive surprise to hear Ince say that.

We do need to try and keep a solid foundation, so I can see where he is coming from re consistency but we also need to try and balance that out and get more of a threat into the team as well, which Azeez's pace brings and NGW and Hoilett are two wing backs that can get us higher up the pitch, it just means we need comfortable ball players to do that, which we don't tend to have in games.

[South Coast Royal]

Fortunately couldn't go last night so it was Ian-style watching from the sofa.-what a truly dreadful first half in what was such a key game.

The injuries to Long and Rahman led to the ultimately successful display down our left although maybe people have gone a bit OTT about a player being able to cross a ball from a set piece.

Cardiff away is different but Rahman has to be out, injury or not, and Long has to be a doubt-was he concussed in that early challenge, there were no close-ups nor replays by Sky ?

If we lose Long we lose a defender from the front but whoever comes in provides something a bit different going forward although I wonder if Ince will go 4-5-1 or 5-4-1 for Cardiff.

Relieved at the result but we really are a hard watch.
Roll on next season when everything wiil be wonderful with our new £100 million squad

[Snowflake Royal]

What I find most concerning is that it was only an injury that forced him to remove a player who has played very poorly all season.

Credit for swapping Long for Azeez though and going 4 at the back.

So lets just hope it is the second half team that starts at Cardiff......

What I find most concerning is the inability to understand that the loan deal with Chelsea for Baba insists that he plays if fit (well, that’s my take on it, anyway)

That's only speculation.

[Snowflake Royal]

Paul Ince is a stubborn so and so ! At the post match press conference he defended his team selection and intimated he isn’t going to change the way we set up any time soon.

He does seem to have his favourites regardless of how they perform. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he stayed with the same starting lineup on Friday, other than Baba assuming he’s now out.

PI made the point that the team was unchanged for the sake of consistency adding that Arsenal do it

He doesn’t seem to get that his overly negative team selections are fairly consistent though!

Many fans can see it so why can’t he?

The thing about picking a consistent XI is its a good idea, but it has to actually be your best one to start with.

Picking a consistently poor one is not good just because its consistent.

And he's constantly swapped throughout the rest of the season...

He's becoming full of it.

[Hound]

Still don’t understand why fans take so much notice of the rubbish managers speak after a game. It’s a media duty after a highly stressful couple of hours and he’ll be full of emotion

He fcuked up the selection, I expect he realises that and hence why he made the changes so early

Still sounds like an absolute shocker of a first half

On another note our home form really is sensationally good - or at least the results are. 4 wins and 2 draws from the last 6. I can’t really fathom why tbh and why we are so much worse away. We seem to play basically the same way

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Still don’t understand why fans take so much notice of the rubbish managers speak after a game. It’s a media duty after a highly stressful couple of hours and he’ll be full of emotion

He fcuked up the selection, I expect he realises that and hence why he made the changes so early

Still sounds like an absolute shocker of a first half

On another note our home form really is sensationally good - or at least the results are. 4 wins and 2 draws from the last 6. I can’t really fathom why tbh and why we are so much worse away. We seem to play basically the same way

No I can't work out why it's so much different away from home either. For whatever reason when tyres hit the tarmac it's as if we're a completely different team. Whether that comes down to mentality from the manager, I don't know.

But yes our home form is as good as it's been for a good long while considering we've struggled at home really ever since Stam left bar the season we finished 7th.

[paultheroyal]

What I find most concerning is that it was only an injury that forced him to remove a player who has played very poorly all season.

Credit for swapping Long for Azeez though and going 4 at the back.

So lets just hope it is the second half team that starts at Cardiff......

What I find most concerning is the inability to understand that the loan deal with Chelsea for Baba insists that he plays if fit (well, that’s my take on it, anyway)

Clearly has to be that and on same par with Hendrick with the difference being the latter is improving with each game.

If chelsea are paying all of the reported £89k a week and must be they clearly have the right to say this with either a clause in that we pay a contribution when he doesn’t play or loan gets terminated. Sounds ridiculous but can be only explanation.

[Hound]

Still don’t understand why fans take so much notice of the rubbish managers speak after a game. It’s a media duty after a highly stressful couple of hours and he’ll be full of emotion

He fcuked up the selection, I expect he realises that and hence why he made the changes so early

Still sounds like an absolute shocker of a first half

On another note our home form really is sensationally good - or at least the results are. 4 wins and 2 draws from the last 6. I can’t really fathom why tbh and why we are so much worse away. We seem to play basically the same way

No I can't work out why it's so much different away from home either. For whatever reason when tyres hit the tarmac it's as if we're a completely different team. Whether that comes down to mentality from the manager, I don't know.

But yes our home form is as good as it's been for a good long while considering we've struggled at home really ever since Stam left bar the season we finished 7th.

Thing is we’re not a completely different team. Totally different results but performances much tbe same. We set up the same, play the same way etc. just seems we more often than not get a bit more luck at home, make slightly fewer shit mistakes, or they at least don’t get punished as much

[Hound]

What I find most concerning is that it was only an injury that forced him to remove a player who has played very poorly all season.

Credit for swapping Long for Azeez though and going 4 at the back.

So lets just hope it is the second half team that starts at Cardiff......

What I find most concerning is the inability to understand that the loan deal with Chelsea for Baba insists that he plays if fit (well, that’s my take on it, anyway)

Clearly has to be that and on same par with Hendrick with the difference being the latter is improving with each game.

If chelsea are paying all of the reported £89k a week and must be they clearly have the right to say this with either a clause in that we pay a contribution when he doesn’t play or loan gets terminated. Sounds ridiculous but can be only explanation.

Then time to terminate the loan I think

Tyler Blackett is available

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Still don’t understand why fans take so much notice of the rubbish managers speak after a game. It’s a media duty after a highly stressful couple of hours and he’ll be full of emotion

He fcuked up the selection, I expect he realises that and hence why he made the changes so early

Still sounds like an absolute shocker of a first half

On another note our home form really is sensationally good - or at least the results are. 4 wins and 2 draws from the last 6. I can’t really fathom why tbh and why we are so much worse away. We seem to play basically the same way

No I can't work out why it's so much different away from home either. For whatever reason when tyres hit the tarmac it's as if we're a completely different team. Whether that comes down to mentality from the manager, I don't know.

But yes our home form is as good as it's been for a good long while considering we've struggled at home really ever since Stam left bar the season we finished 7th.

Thing is we’re not a completely different team. Totally different results but performances much tbe same. We set up the same, play the same way etc. just seems we more often than not get a bit more luck at home, make slightly fewer shit mistakes, or they at least don’t get punished as much

It's got to be a mentality issue.

Given the remit has been survival, you can imagine that the manager has gone over some principles for that, compact unit, strong home form, competitive, tough to play against etc and these are mantras that P.Ince has used on numerous occasions during pre/post-match press conferences this season.

[Elm Park Kid]

What I find most concerning is that it was only an injury that forced him to remove a player who has played very poorly all season.

Credit for swapping Long for Azeez though and going 4 at the back.

So lets just hope it is the second half team that starts at Cardiff......

What I find most concerning is the inability to understand that the loan deal with Chelsea for Baba insists that he plays if fit (well, that’s my take on it, anyway)

I did wonder if there was something in it like that....but if there is I would find it concerning that ANY club would sign a player with that type of commitment......

The football finance guy Kieran Maguire has said that PL clubs do use clauses where the share of the wage that the loan club pays is dependent on appearance stats - he suggested the percentage of club games where the player appears for at least 70 minutes (where they are fit to do so).

For example, if Baba plays in 50-60% of our games then RFC have to pay 40% of his wages. Whereas if he plays in 90% of our games we only have to pay 10% of his wages.

I'm not actually sure if the EFL would let us sign a contract where we would end up paying a player something like 40k a week. But our persistence with these Chelsea loanees suggests that something is going on.

[Snowflake Royal]

Still don’t understand why fans take so much notice of the rubbish managers speak after a game. It’s a media duty after a highly stressful couple of hours and he’ll be full of emotion

He fcuked up the selection, I expect he realises that and hence why he made the changes so early

Still sounds like an absolute shocker of a first half

On another note our home form really is sensationally good - or at least the results are. 4 wins and 2 draws from the last 6. I can’t really fathom why tbh and why we are so much worse away. We seem to play basically the same way

No I can't work out why it's so much different away from home either. For whatever reason when tyres hit the tarmac it's as if we're a completely different team. Whether that comes down to mentality from the manager, I don't know.

But yes our home form is as good as it's been for a good long while considering we've struggled at home really ever since Stam left bar the season we finished 7th.

C1871 made some good noise after the subs, and there was also motovational booing first half.

Don't really have that away. Best I've got.

[Hound]

Maybe it’s just the almost subconscious need to be even 5-10% more ambitious at home

[Nameless]

If we are compelled to select Baba as a condition of his loan how come we haven’t always picked him ? He was on the bench away at Swansea (having found one instance that disproves the theory I can’t be bothered to look for more !).
You would also query why Chelsea would want such a clause. It makes sense for a young player who you want to be getting game time and experience but Baba has no future at Chelsea. He’ll simply leave at the end of his contract.

[Zip]

What I find most concerning is that it was only an injury that forced him to remove a player who has played very poorly all season.

Credit for swapping Long for Azeez though and going 4 at the back.

So lets just hope it is the second half team that starts at Cardiff......

What I find most concerning is the inability to understand that the loan deal with Chelsea for Baba insists that he plays if fit (well, that’s my take on it, anyway)

Clearly has to be that and on same par with Hendrick with the difference being the latter is improving with each game.

If chelsea are paying all of the reported £89k a week and must be they clearly have the right to say this with either a clause in that we pay a contribution when he doesn’t play or loan gets terminated. Sounds ridiculous but can be only explanation.

The thing is I believe Baba is out of contract with Chelsea at the end of the season so do they really care if he plays for us?