[Archived] Fulham At Home

[Irishrover213]

This is huge game. We really need 3 points. Fulham will have their tails up after beating qpr. They will see us as another 3 points. Hopefully Lambert drives that home before Tuesday. Unlikely the team will change too much from Saturday.

Only change I can see is Hanley back in with Duffy losing out.

Come on boys a win here could go a long way. Lose and we are in serious relegation trouble

[VinjayV4]

It's coming believe me, only the away contingent has pushed it above 12k a few times this season.

It didn't happen v QPR so I don't think it will happen v Fulham. The 3 game series will probably prevent any chance of that for the Birmingham game and most Middlesbrough fans have probably retained their tickets anyway.

[chor808]

Really important home game and we must see a reaction after Saturday. Lambert needs to have them fired up whoever plays.

A no show from anyone in the team is unacceptable.

There points and we relax and enjoy the cup, anything less and panic will set in.

[Mike Graham]

3 points is a must from this game.

Fulham have sold 80 tickets so far; expect a gate of circa 8.5 to 9K but announced at around 12.2K.

We need a must win mentality and some hard nuts in midfield and defence.

We desperately need an Andy Todd or Kevin Moran type player.

[FGS5635]

With the exception of us lacking a left wing back, I think our squad is more suited to 3-5-2.

We have the centre halves for it now we added ward. Marshall is a perfect wingback.

Allows us to have the extra man in midfield giving gomez a bit of freedom and also lets us keep two up top.

Id start

Steele

Hanley - Duffy - Ward

Marshall - Evans - Apkan - Conway

Gomez

Watt - Graham

Obviously not seen Grimes play, but maybe he could be left wing back. Pity Olsson left as he would have been a good wing back

[Amo]

On second thoughts, I don't see the need to play THREE defensive midfielders at home to a relegation rival. I wouldn't mind us dropping Lenihan for Grimes on the left side of the diamond.

[LewisF]

Surely the wins will come from somewhere????

Rovers 2 (Gomez, Watt) Fulham 1 (Cairney)

[JHRover]

Don't think Rovers have dropped below 12,000 attendance for a league game since the early 90's. Yes I know some people think the attendances are embellished but surely that's against football league rules? Plus of course the electronic records.

I don't think they embellish or even deliberately lie about attendances, rather Rovers, along with every other club in the country simply report the number of tickets sold for a game as the actual attendance. There will therefore be numerous occasions, particularly during the winter, for midweek games and televised games when a substantial number of season ticket holders or those given complimentary tickets chose not to go, yet tickets have still been issued to them and the club counts them as being there.

This isn't something unique to Rovers, it happens at most clubs, so whilst our official gates might be higher than the actual accurate number, the same undoubtedly applies to everyone else.

[4000Holes]

Steele
Marshall   Ward   Hanley   Henley
              Evans
     Akpan             Lenihan
              Gomez
         Watt      Graham

I would go with Grimes on the left, certainly for 60 mins. Natural left footer, something we are missing?

[JAL]

I would go with Grimes on the left, certainly for 60 mins. Natural left footer, something we are missing?

How many times have you seen him play.

[Dean]

Hoping we might try a more conventional shape for this one. Not a huge fan of diamond formations (I don't think we have the pace up front to pull it off every week) and Lambert did about having tactical flexibility with the new signings.

Steele

Henley Ward Hanley Spurr

Evans Grimes

Marshall Gomez Conway

Graham

[chaddyrovers]

Lambert has brought in Grimes to play.

I can see him playing on the left hand side of the diamond shape midfield

I would keep Evans in front of the back four and Lenihan on the right hand side and Gomez in behind the 2 strikers

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Hoping we might try a more conventional shape for this one. Not a huge fan of diamond formations (I don't think we have the pace up front to pull it off every week) and Lambert did about having tactical flexibility with the new signings.

Steele

Henley Ward Hanley Spurr

Evans Grimes

Marshall Gomez Conway

Graham

Interesting that you have pushed Marshall further forward - which is a difficult one for PL as he is playing so well at right back.

However - I think he has enough about his game to play on the right or left side of a midfield diamond - with Apkan or Lenihan on the other side :-

Steele

Henley Ward Hanley Spurr

Evans

Marshall Apkan

Gomez

Graham Watt

The one good thing on Saturday was seeing our two creative players (Marshall and Gomez) combining so well at times in the first half. Pushing Marshall further forward may help that even more.

[Dean]

Interesting that you have pushed Marshall further forward - which is a difficult one for PL as he is playing so well at right back.

However - I think he has enough about his game to play on the right or left side of a midfield diamond - with Apkan or Lenihan on the other side :-

Steele

Henley Ward Hanley Spurr

Evans

Marshall Apkan

Gomez

Graham Watt

The one good thing on Saturday was seeing our two creative players (Marshall and Gomez) combining so well at times in the first half. Pushing Marshall further forward may help that even more.

Mainly due to lack of options really. I like Marshall at right back a lot, but we don't really have many other options out wide. Taylor and Bennett are solid but not particularly creative.

[ChrisyG]

Interesting that you have pushed Marshall further forward - which is a difficult one for PL as he is playing so well at right back.

However - I think he has enough about his game to play on the right or left side of a midfield diamond - with Apkan or Lenihan on the other side :-

Steele

Henley Ward Hanley Spurr

Evans

Marshall Apkan

Gomez

Graham Watt

The one good thing on Saturday was seeing our two creative players (Marshall and Gomez) combining so well at times in the first half. Pushing Marshall further forward may help that even more.

I'd go with that formation too. Marshall needs to play further forward as he's one of our most creative players. I certainly wouldn't play Conway after his showing against Hull.

Hopefully Hanley, Graham and Akpan are fit in time.

[joey_big_nose]

We have 3 major attacking issues at the moment.

1) Who is going to score goals

2) How do we get width in a narrow formation

3) How do we stretch the oppo defence

All roads lead to Tony Watt for me. If he can perform he can score goals, run the channels, get in behind. Graham and Jackson are okay but they are never going to step up to the required degree to really scare the oppo and get them on the back foot.

He really is the main man for us. If he plays poorly then we are really struggling.

I wouldnt be suprised to see Grimes start. Lambert likes to throw players in. It would be supremely useful if he can both pass and tackle. A rare combo in this league...

[Mr. E]

Why do we have a game only a few days before the Hammers clash, but West Ham get a free week to rest and recover? How in the world is that fair?

[chaddyrovers]

Hope Akpan back in training for #rovers. They'll assess Hanley & Graham further ahead of Fulham tomorrow. @BBCLancsSport

[islander200]

How many times have you seen him play.

He has already said on the transfer thread that he had seen Grimes play for Exeter,if your interested have a read of his posts

[sambo]

Why do we have a game only a few days before the Hammers clash, but West Ham get a free week to rest and recover? How in the world is that fair?

We have 4/5 days, but I guess that's the difficulty of playing in the Championship and playing 8 extra league games.

[1arC]

Why do we have a game only a few days before the Hammers clash, but West Ham get a free week to rest and recover? How in the world is that fair?

Don't worry about that. Look how we rested up by having the Boro game postponed and Bolton played. Two days later a fresh Rovers were turned over by a tired Bolton, who never win at home! If anything playing and hopefully getting a win, could lift the spirits and give us renewed energy and hope.

[Mercer]

Needless to say, a huge game.

Think much will depend on who is fit and who isn't.

Fulham are no mugs - they have, on paper, better players than Rovers but have been playing well below their potential for some time. Impressive win at QPR and perhaps signs that Jokanović is getting them moving in the right direction.

McCormack and Dembele can be sensational at this level and providing it's not too cold for them at Ewood tomorrow night, would be no surprise if they don't run out winners by a couple of goals.

[JAL]

Lambert has brought in Grimes to play.

I can see him playing on the left hand side of the diamond shape midfield

I would keep Evans in front of the back four and Lenihan on the right hand side and Gomez in behind the 2 strikers

Both Evans and Lenihan should be dropped for the Fulham game after their 45th minute surrender on Saturday.

Neither showed any fight.

[Amo]

I would go with Grimes on the left, certainly for 60 mins. Natural left footer, something we are missing?

Yup, see my second post. Against a side like Fulham, we can afford to sacrifice one of our defensive mids for Grimey.

Have a feeling he won't start, though. I can see Lambert throwing him on in the second half if we're not making any inroads.

[JAL]

Hope Akpan back in training for #rovers. They'll assess Hanley & Graham further ahead of Fulham tomorrow. @BBCLancsSport

Desperately need all three back after Saturdays performance.