SORRY FOR THE WALL OF TEXT!
@ Captain Salty: Here are a couple of things that I do vs Roses that should help you out. Learn the slide range and stand outside of it, you can sweep it on reaction no problem. You can also neutral jump in anticipation of it as well as buffer cr. short into Dash Straight and even throw out pre-emptive EX Smashes to both kill the threat of Focus Attack and slide. If you’re primarily an online player I would stick with just reacting with cr. short in that setting while working on your spacing. Knowing that spot on screen and moving in and out of if will allow you to whiff punish any of her heavy normals at the cost of allowing her to use safe spirals, but you can jab those and on reaction too and N. jumps do a pretty good job nullifying them as well.
If Rose does sneak in the slide at said range, I personally don’t like to try to estimate whether it was a safe slide or not so I opt to N. jump or back dash to beat/get away from the throw attempt that EVERYONE knows is coming. You can also sprinkle in the occasional “get-off me” EX Headbutt after you block a slide if you have the charge.
On the topic of OS’s, I personally advice you to learn the cr. jab OS Ultra 1 option as it will both, demoralize your opponent and eat up a healthy chunk of health out of Rose if they attempt either a reversal EX spiral or back dash (not sure about U1 auto-correcting in this situation if they decide to wake-up EX Soul Throw). Also, If you choose to OS from one of the safe jump-ins available to rog I’d suggest OSing with ST. Fierce, this will beat any EX spiral and back dash attempts as well.
I also wanted to chime in on what MissionSchabernach stated as far as dealing with Stand techs. If Your opponent is indeed relying on this as a means of handling your throw pressure; I think one needs to look no further than PR Rog’s performance at this years EVO top 32 matches(until otherwise proven ineffective). The so called “PR Balrog” (jab x2, walk back, Focus Attack) technique allows you to build stun and damage like no other punish and I would highly advice using it vs opponents who stand tech, specially in the corner where Balrog’s FA range does not hinder him as it does mid-screen. A couple of important things to note while using this technique are it’s varying degrees of effectiveness depending on the range of the opposing character’s throw, with Rose being somewhere in the top 5 longest reaching, and how long it takes for Balrog to reach LV2 Focus. If you’re just throwing out “Baby Focuses” (as I like to call them) and hoping you catch a fast limb or that stand tech, train yourself to reactively dash in the right direction. By now everyone on here should know Boxer is at a disadvantage when dashing in after a blocked LV1 Focus, so if you are using it as described above just be aware of whether you got a hit or block and dash in the proper direction. If going for a level two, as you will get the opportunity to vs people who late tech a lot, you’ll almost exclusively want to advance and take advantage of the added frame advantage of a LV2 FA getting blocked and even more so if you’ve gotten the hit.
While on the topic of Focus Attacks I wanted to point out that in this match (and vs chun-li), depending on the reliance of Heavy attacks as a means of space control, I like to focus dash-in for free throws as a means of starting offense. Your mileage will vary with this one as Rose’s footsie options aren’t limited to just standing normals, but just keep an eye out for whatever the Rose player is putting more emphasis on… Slides? Get your cr. Short/sweep/N. Jump/ EX Smash ready. Fireballs? Jump and rape. Spirals? N. Jump/jab into combo/jump back fierce into sweep. Long reaching normals? Hold focus wait, wait… Confirm absorb, dash-in, throw, have fun.
Once you get that knock down we’ve talked about how OSing cr. jab into sweep/Ultra pretty much keeps Rose grounded right where you want her, but as a general rule of thumb and almost like clockwork they will always try to back dash (and with good reason). So, don’t forget if you’re ever in need of a quick reliable way of landing an ultra and possibly a comeback vs any character with a good back dash (Rose, Chun Li, Makoto, Gen just to name a few) don’t be afraid to make the read with a slightly delayed meaty TAP into U1 Juggle.
I hope this enough to get you to a comfortable place in the match up, there are a number of other nuances that should be addressed about the match up, but considering what you told us your main problems were I hope I’ve done a fair job at giving you what you were asking for.
J.
