[Archived] Hull City [Away]; 19th February.

[Craigman]

Will Colin Kazim-Richards be playing ? or will he be sitting in front of the tv watching Arsenal with his Arsenal shirt on ?

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11676/8507583?

[darrenrover]

Can't see us changing a winning formula.

If we play our normal game then Olsson overlapping a winger on the left should expose the weakness of a 3-5-2 formation.

Agreed Le Chuck

Wasn't it great to see Olsson doing just that again on Saturday.

With that on the left and Bentley on the right and a potent front 2 working the channels, we might now be able to see what Murphy is capable of in terms of being able to pull the strings and play the killer pass.

If you look at his stats at Fulham for the past 2 seasons he was in the top 4 in the Prem for pass completions. Surely you don't just become crap overnight for no reason. I don't buy the 'meal ticket' answer, more that up till now his passing options have been strictly limited.

[LeChuck]

Do you think we will change the team??

I'd guess Bentley for either Pedersen or Markus and Murphy for either Lowe or Williamson.

[darrenrover]

My Starting 11 would be:

Kean

Lowe Hanley Dann Martin Ollson

Bentley Murphy Williamson Pederson

Richards Rhodes

[rovers11]

Really tough call for Appleton this one. Lots of selection posers.

Campbell, Murphy and Bentley all pushing for starts. Murphy will definitely come into the team - so do we drop Lowe or Williamson? I'd guess Lowe.

We can't drop Kaz for Campbell; Kaz is one of our top performers at the moment. Can't drop Rhodes for obvious reasons.

Pedersen will probably drop out of the side with Bentley coming in to replace him.

[Amo]

My Starting 11 would be:

Kean

Lowe Hanley Dann Martin Ollson

Bentley Murphy Williamson Pederson

Richards Rhodes

Don't be dicking around with a winning backline. Orr deserves his place.

[rovers11]

My Starting 11 would be:

Kean

Lowe Hanley Dann Martin Ollson

Bentley Murphy Williamson Pederson

Richards Rhodes

That midfield is a bit static. Appleton likes to play with at least one pacy winger. Can't see him playing Bentley and Peds in the same team.

[Plastics]

Only changes I would make is bringing in Murphy for Lowe if he is fit, and maybe starting Bentley on the right taking Markus out. And perhaps we could give Rhodes a rest and bring him on second half...?

Defence and Keeper should be left alone and Kaz should keep playing.

Resting Rhodes? We brought him off early last game. That's enough rest for him. This is a big game for us. Every game is going to be big.

[J*B]

Kean

Orr Hanley Dann Olsson3

Bentley Murphy Williamson CKR

DJ Rhodes

Would be my team.

[LeChuck]

That midfield is a bit static. Appleton likes to play with at least one pacy winger. Can't see him playing Bentley and Peds in the same team.

Yeah I agree with that. I think we'll see the Olssons down the left side with Bentley and Orr on the right.

[darrenrover]

Yeah I agree with that. I think we'll see the Olssons down the left side with Bentley and Orr on the right.

My rational down the left was Pederson can work the line and gives Martin Ollson the opportunity to charge forward whilst he sits. Ollson is a potent attacking force given the licence and opportunity. Marcus, bless his cotton socks, doesn't provide that and inhibits his brother. Pederson is also likely every now and again to pull a rabbit out of the hat from a set piece. Cometh the hour, cometh the man!

Likewise down the right, I feel Bentley and Lowe could do similarly.

I don't rate Orr either as a player or as an individual, so to a point my line up was also to exclude him. If I was to alter anything it would be to leave Orr and Lowe as was and exclude Williamson.

[Kamy100]

Personally I think that it is a straight fight for 6th spot between us, Brighton and Boro, I reckon that we will need to pick up 30 points from the remaining 45 to secure a play off spot.

The way Rovers are setup (counter attacking football) we are suited to playing away from home at the moment where the onus is on the home team to take the game to us. Like against Brighton I expect Hull to have a considerable amount of possession, we need to keep the same defensive concentration/shape and hit them on the break.

Will be interesting to see if Appy changes things to cope with Hull's 3-5-2 formation.

[Tom]

Tough game after tough game at the minute and the law of averages says we will lose one of them

A win would be ridiculously huge though and really up the momentum

If we can stop the gap widening for now then we can always finish strong and make up the groud

[darrenrover]

Personally I think that it is a straight fight for 6th spot between us, Brighton and Boro, I reckon that we will need to pick up 30 points from the remaining 45 to secure a play off spot.

The way Rovers are setup (counter attacking football) we are suited to playing away from home at the moment where the onus is on the home team to take the game to us. Like against Brighton I expect Hull to have a considerable amount of possession, we need to keep the same defensive concentration/shape and hit them on the break.

Will be interesting to see if Appy changes things to cope with Hull's 3-5-2 formation.

Or also if Bruce changes things to counteract a resurgent Rovers in need of points.

I just hope many thousands take the trouble to cross The Pennines and get behind the lads

[onlyonejackwalker]

Thanks for the preview and positive comments m1st. Sorry to hear of your good lady passing.

Following a tremendous run of results, culminating in the Arsenal cup win, another positive result would be very pleasing indeed. A tough match against an organised and resilient team, but having seen them at Ewood there really is not a great deal to fear and I cannot see them beating us. Fingers crossed anyway.

1-1.

[ross-shire rover]

I don't know about this [and you're right; you are on the wrong thread; why not start your own?], but when I wanted two tickets for the Wolves game @ home earlier this season, I found that, although I didn't renew my season ticket, I'm still on the Ticket Office database.

So, presumably, you will be, too.

Which gives me heart for getting my Cup Final ticket!

Oh my god. That last sentence sends shivers through any Rovers supporter aged over 60.....

BTW Am I the only person who can't use quote earlier messages on Google Chrome? Having to use Firefox.

[ross-shire rover]

Feeling guilty about going off topic, so here's my take on the Hull game.

If they beat us, ( if we haven't already), we can finally say goodbye to automatic promotion.

If we win that will send a serious message to all other play-off contenders.

If we draw that's a satisfactory result for both teams.

So my prediction is 0-0 or 1-1.

If it's 0-0 at half time, there's a good chance we won't lose.

It'll be interesting to see what effect the win against Arsenal has. It could spur us on or could be something of an anti-climax and we get stuffed.

[Amo]

Will Brucie be dedicating this one to Allardyce?

[mick]

Going out on a limb and saying Rovers to win convincingly. 3 or even 4 - 0. It's seems that something right and proper is happening. With the squad that MA has put together I can see Rovers becoming the man utd of the championship...not expected to lose and usually don't.

[Boylerhaus]

I can see Lowe and Murphy starting in midfield. Williamson did really well on Saturday and could become a mainstay but for a guy for hadn't played in 6 weeks, 2 games in week might be a step too far. Bring back a rested Murphy who knows he has real competition now and save Williamson for the weekend.

[Martin]

First time in recent memory that we've had selection issues for the right reasons.

Can't see Lowe getting dropped. He does too much running.

[1864roverite]

Slowly but surely beginning to fall back in love with BRFC and football in general. Off to the game with Preston Blue and Ewoodbehappy.

Rovers to take the points.

[USABlue]

Slowly but surely beginning to fall back in love with BRFC and football in general. Off to the game with Preston Blue and Ewoodbehappy.

Rovers to take the points.

I hear you, nice to actually feel good about Rovers again, excited about games coming up rather than following us out of a sense of duty. This is a pivotal game in my opinion win this and we are truly on the up, lose and the question is, was it a flash in the pan?. Hoping for a Kendallesque 0-1.

[Gav]

Slowly but surely beginning to fall back in love with BRFC and football in general. Off to the game with Preston Blue and Ewoodbehappy.

Rovers to take the points.

Must say I fancy the trip, could be a last minute decision for us.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

I think Orr has been one of our best players recently. Composed and organised. Don't think we should be messing around with the defence.

Good to see Bentley get a game. I just hope he doesn't try too hard. Dj, Rhodes. Bents and Kazim should always get you a goal.