[Archived] The Relegation Battle Aftermath

[cruz]

Rovers will lose at Wolves of that I am certain.

We ALL thought that yesterday vs the Red Scum.

[BuckyRover]

We ALL thought that yesterday vs the Red Scum.

And against West Ham, Arsenal and Bolton

[Bobby G]

It's not the same. A draw keeps us ahead of Wolves, a loss doesn't.

True. My bad.

[Tom]

Charlie Nicholas made a good point, people say about Fergie doing his mate Holloway a favour but isn't he also good mates with Martinez and McCleish?

On the positive side I expected Wigan and Brum to win today, Wigan did but Brum losing was a shock. We expected to have to hope Wigan and Blackpool fail to win, now it's hope 2 from 3 fail to win.

On the games:

Wolves - Rovers: I see a Wolves win here, their home crowd will play a big part as they will be right behind them full of belief

Stoke - Wigan: Wigan will win this one, Stoke have nothing left and Nzogbia is a match winner, the only hope is if Delap plays Stoke can play bad and score

Spurs - Brum: I'd expect no more than a point for Birmingham in honesty

United - Blackpool: This is the big one and I just have a feeling Blackpool will do it, it just seems the fairytale story coming true for them

With those results we would take the third relegation spot, one thing is for sure, whoever goes down deserves to and whoeever stays up deserves to, a few weeks ago nobody could get a result now it seems results are unpredictable.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Cant believe our goal difference isn't as bad as the others considering we lost 7-1 against United.

Regarding Utd vs Blackpool. Fergie wont play a 'reserve' side, he'll play players who are on the fringes of making the champions league first 11, ie. Nani, Berbatov, Scholes etc. Im not worried that they'll have the players to do the job and Blackpool can't defend for their lives.

All in all, that point yesterday was crucial. We should be safe without having to get anything from Wolves.

Glad that West Ham have gone. Brum and Pool to follow them.

[BuckyRover]

I think Brum and Wigan will go down. It looked today like Wigan already thought they were safe. Bizarre

[cruz]

I get the feeling that we have seen all the twists and turns now and Blackpool, Brum and Wigan will all lose.

[Bobby G]

Cant believe our goal difference isn't as bad as the others considering we lost 7-1 against United.

Regarding Utd vs Blackpool. Fergie wont play a 'reserve' side, he'll play players who are on the fringes of making the champions league first 11, ie. Nani, Berbatov, Scholes etc. Im not worried that they'll have the players to do the job and Blackpool can't defend for their lives.

All in all, that point yesterday was crucial. We should be safe without having to get anything from Wolves.

Glad that West Ham have gone. Brum and Pool to follow them.

Fergie wont start with any CL starters except for possibly VDS and maybe Evra (one for his farewell home game, and the other to get match sharpness before the final). With that said, the line-up should be enough if they are up for it.

[Lathund]

Regarding Utd vs Blackpool. Fergie wont play a 'reserve' side, he'll play players who are on the fringes of making the champions league first 11, ie. Nani, Berbatov, Scholes etc. Im not worried that they'll have the players to do the job and Blackpool can't defend for their lives.

Yeah I'm not too worried either. It's at Old Trafford, and while Man U won't have any pressure on them, the atmosphere will be great. Like him or not, but Fergie wants to win every game, and I believe him when he says he'll be fair to the other teams.

A United fan posted what a lineup might look like if they wanted to rest every starter ahead of the CL (Short of vdS) and play the next player in line:

Van Der Sar

Brown

Smalling

Evans

O'Shea/Rafael

Nani/Valencia (whomever isn't going to start the final, probably Nani)

Fletcher

Scholes

Obertan/Anderson

Berbatov

Owen

That's still a team that won't lose to Blackpool at home, and remember that a draw and a blackpool loss are the same as far as Rovers are concerned.

[BuckyRover]

Fergie wont start with any CL starters except for possibly VDS and maybe Evra (one for his farewell home game, and the other to get match sharpness before the final). With that said, the line-up should be enough if they are up for it.

Hernandez didn't play great yesterday. Hopefully Berbatov will fancy his chances of a start at Wembley if he bags a few goals.

[Mr C]

Just recovered having spent the afternoon watching Pie-eaters V Spammers.

If that's a taste of the nerves in store for next Sunday then I think I prefer the darkened room option.

The last five minutes of the match were crazy. Spammers playing a 3-1-6 formation knowing only a win would be any use to them.

Unfortunately this left the door open for the Piemen to score right at the end just after Cole had missed a sitter for Spammers.

Even then it needed Green to throw one in with the clock on 93m 54s.

My God - how much more heartache does that dodgy keeper intend to give me before he retires?

[BuckyRover]

Couldn't bear it - been to the pub for tea and just seen the results.

I think it's fantastic - Brum losing was the big result.

Expect us to lose next week but stay-up on goal difference.

Spuds / Brum 4-1 (39 -23 : Relegated)

Stoke / Wigan 1-3 (42 -20 : Safe - great news for Whelan, a great friend to 'old' Rovers)

Man U / Pool 1-1 (40 -21 : Relegated, sadly, on goal diff.)

Wolves / Rovers 3-1 (40 -16 : Safe by the skin of our teeth)

Next Sunday will be simply unbearable.

Not sad for WHAM to go down after Tevezgate etc but likely to see an old friend lose his job as a result, so mixed feelings.

You're a complicated character.

[Tom]

Oh and for my millionth comment of the day on the subject, remember in our game next week the pressure really is on Wolves as they need to beat us to go above us, we just need to go and make it hard for them.

[cn174]

Unfortunately this left the door open for the Piemen to score right at the end just after Cole had missed a sitter for Spammers.

That was a bad miss!!

I was going to go down today and watch too, but then read they weren't selling any tickets on the day. Don't think I could've hacked it now though!

[yeti-dog]

The bookies aren't daft. 11/1 might be overly generous but what it does say is that it would take an extremely unlikely set of results to see us go down.

Btw,what is it with all this pessimism that Wolves are going to do us? Yes they'e had a couple of good results but WBA and Sunderland were a waste of time...they'll not be getting that luxury from us next week that's for sure!

[DudeAbides]

COYB! we can do it...

[RevidgeBlue]

Nightmare! - useless wockney cankers! I don't think you'd get any odds on Grant being the next manager to leave now!

We're now in a position where unless we win at Wolves we're relying to some extent on other results elsewhere. Not ideal at all.

We have to treat it as a must win game. 4-4-2 then if results start going our way we can shut up shop later on.

Btw,what is it with all this pessimism that Wolves are going to do us? Yes they'e had a couple of good results but WBA and Sunderland were a waste of time...they'll not be getting that luxury from us next week that's for sure!

I agree. If we play like Sunderland did yesterday we deserve to go down. Wolves aren't all that, we can easily do them if we are positive and have a go. If we are negative and go there playing for a point we're more likely to lose even though that might still keep us up.

[BuckyRover]

Nightmare! - useless wockney cankers! I don't think you'd get any odds on Grant being the next manager to leave now!

We're now in a position where unless we win at Wolves we're relying to some extent on other results elsewhere. Not ideal at all.

We have to treat it as a must win game. 4-4-2 then if results start going our way we can shut up shop later on.

I disagree. Set up as we did yesterday and look to grab a goal at the other end.

Wolves need to win more than us. Our tactics should reflect that.

[Bobby G]

Nightmare! - useless wockney cankers! I don't think you'd get any odds on Grant being the next manager to leave now!

We're now in a position where unless we win at Wolves we're relying to some extent on other results elsewhere. Not ideal at all.

We have to treat it as a must win game. 4-4-2 then if results start going our way we can shut up shop later on.

I agree. If we play like Sunderland did yesterday we deserve to go down. Wolves aren't all that, we can easily do them if we are positive and have a go. If we are negative and go there playing for a point we're more likely to lose even though that might still keep us up.

There is no way Kean will change the formation that has seen us unbeaten in 3. Probably not the personnel too unless an injury occurs. Samba playing will be crucial.

[John]

Our winless streak had gone on so shockingly long before the Bolton game, it was always likely to go down the last day for us, and now it has.

[RevidgeBlue]

Wolves need to win more than us. Our tactics should reflect that.

That's not right is it? If the teams below us all win and we draw we're both down.

[Tom]

When do Sky release the fixtures? Surely we will be one, not sure I want to watch it though depending what the other game is, presumably they'll want to be at Old Trafford.

[sjsbrfc]

It's not all doom and gloom. There are 4 teams who would gladly be in our position at the moment

It's going to take two of Birmingham, Blackpool and Wigan winning AWAY for us to go down. Have faith guys

[BuckyRover]

That's not right is it? If the teams below us all win and we draw we're both down.

It's unlikely though. We shouldn't set up assuming two of the three will win.

Why change a successful system? Don't be dictated to by others, that's when you make mistakes.

If things go start going badly that's when we look to change the game. I wouldn't want to already be losing if it turns out we need to win, which wouldn't be unlikely if we change our system to 4-4-2 at the outset.

[RevidgeBlue]

There is no way Kean will change the formation that has seen us unbeaten in 3. Probably not the personnel too unless an injury occurs. Samba playing will be crucial.

We played 2 up front against Citeh, and the only game we won against Bolton. As I keep pointing out we've never won under Kean playing 4-5-1.