Rovers talking points after the 1-0 defeat to Reading.

 

PUBLIC PERCEPTION

To those flicking through the Sky Sports channels and landing on some Tuesday night football from the Madejski Stadium, they may well have come away thinking ‘tight game, not much in that, Rovers a bit unlucky to lose’.

To those more regular viewers, this was a repeat of so many matches, not just in this winless run (QPR and Nottingham Forest) but also Bristol City and Stoke City in December.

And that’s where the concern lies, that patterns are emerging and there feels an inevitability about what’s being played out infront of your eyes because you’ve seen it so often before.

Yet another tight game, but this was Rovers’ 15th defeat, and bar three in October, they have all been by a one goal margin. This was the sixth time they have lost 1-0 this season, plus two more that saw them exit the cup competitions.

Reading had to do very little to win, gifted a goal and then able to keep Rovers at arm’s length thereafter, not worried about the amount of possession they gave up. So while Rovers did enjoy plenty of the ball, upwards of 70 per cent in the second half, Reading seemed quite happy for that to be the case. They can, at times, look easy to play against.

 

DEFEATS TOTTING UP

The winless run extended to seven games, with six defeats and just one point from a possible 21. Extending further back, from the last 18 games they’ve won four, drawn four, and lost 10.

This was Rovers’ 10th defeat away from home this season, only Huddersfield (11) and Wycombe (12) have lost more, while last season, only three sides lost more on the road than Rovers’ 13.

The Reading reverse was a 15th defeat in 33 league games, only two shy of the 17 from the whole of last season.

These are the numbers on which Rovers will be judged, and with tough games on the horizon, there is the fear their slide could continue.

 

GOALS HAVE DRIED UP

At times, between both boxes, Rovers look like a team well coached in how to move the ball, they create some good angles and open up spaces. But making the most of those is what is letting them down, whether it be a lack of care with the final pass, not enough numbers in the box for when the ball is being delivered, or things simply done at a pace that allows the opposition to get numbers back in position, their attacking threat is diminishing.

They managed just two shots on target, the same as against Coventry City at the weekend, both from the boot of Ben Brereton who was their most incisive player on the pitch, his two strikes from the edge of the area saved by Rafael Cabral.

Still only four teams have scored more than Rovers’ 46 goals this season, however, 11 of those came in their opening three games, meaning in the following 30 they have netted just 35 times.  They have now failed to score on nine occasions.

The 3-0 win at Preston on November 24 was arguably Rovers’ best display of the season. In the 19 games that have followed, they have scored 19 goals, They managed 18 in their opening eight.

To break the cycle, they need to find ways of scoring different types of goals, teams aren’t allowing the space in behind for Adam Armstrong to run onto Harvey Elliott’s throughballs, and are getting so many man behind the ball that threading passes around the edge of the box is difficult.

Without an aerial target in the middle, crosses have to be very precise, while set pieces have brought little success this season. Adding different strands to their play is needed to break this cycle.

 

THE CURRENT PREDICAMENT

Tony Mowbray said this week he is of a positive mindset that he is never one to look over his shoulder, always believing that a run of victories is well within their grasp.

For much of the season for supporters it’s been about how many points Rovers are off the top six, down to three just over a month ago.

It’s now 13, the gap to Birmingham City in 21st just five points, and only goal difference, now down to plus seven, is keeping them in 15th and leading the three teams on 40 points.

The aim now is to try and reach 50 points as quickly as possible and re-assess what the aims can be. With the play-offs gone, exceeding last season’s points tally (which would require 24, or more, points from the remaining 13 games) looking a tall order, Rovers may see an opportunity to plan ahead.

The starting line-up at Reading included seven players whose contracts, or loan deals, with the club expire at the end of this season, while without signing an extension, it appears likely that top scorer Adam Armstrong will leave too.

That leaves a mixture of work to do on the negotiating table, but also the prospect of giving more minutes to the likes of Tyrhys Dolan and John Buckley.

But that feeling of dead rubbers to play feels a way off at the minute until Rovers can arrest this worrying slide. There is still 13 games, just under a third of a season, to play. And that in itself is a concern.

Chief executive Steve Waggott acknowledged Rovers will need to re-engage with supporters ahead of their prospective return to Ewood Park.

The habit of going to Ewood every second Saturday and the odd midweek has gone in the last year, supporters consigned to watching every game via the iFollow platform, with the odd Sky game thrown in.

At a tenner a time, three games a week and the team on their worst run of form since relegation from the Premier League, it can be a very tough sell. And that has to be a concern moving forward, that while some will be desperate to return to Ewood at the earliest available opportunity, the prospect of another mid-table/lower mid-table finish and a year out of the habit of attending games, enthusiasm levels may wane.

In defeats to Bournemouth and Watford earlier in the season you could look beyond the result because of the performance and the positives that came out of it. As another defeat played out, that's becoming an increasingly difficult task.