ROVERS V Wigan

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

You're just naming games. 

Games I was at, which he was part of and was just as culpable as the other 3 or 4 that were in defence. He also watched Will Keane run past him at home to Ipswich which he got away with off the top of my head. He’s by far our best defender, yet he’s still nothing special and as the poster above says he’s a player that seems to get better when he’s not playing.

[Fraserkirky]

55 minutes ago, Mellor Rover said:

Of course.

Preston, Swansea, Sheffield United, Brentford, Leeds, Bristol City and Reading.

Mind the Preston one, when he came steaming out of the back to make a challenge and getting nowhere near the ball, and Preston scored easily. Got mauled against Sheff Utd at home too, just off the top of my head.

[Fraserkirky]

57 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I saw Wigan unluckily lose to Derby last week but what struck me was how big the majority of their players looked. They are known to be physical so we need to fight fire with fire. No more Mr Nice Guys please.

I think our biggest problem is we are poor in the air as a team, a collection of short arses. You would expect a team of munchkins to be quicker and have more athleticism but..

We are slower than a week in Barlinnie. The players that have pace don’t really use it effectively, Armstrong/Nyambe/Reed/Bell.

The squad really is a mess.

Edited March 10, 2019 by Fraserkirky

[Mercer]

23 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

You must be down a fair wedge by now. I have genuinely never seen one of your Rovers predictions come true.

Are you actually a bookie and all this is a brilliant ruse to win money off gullible punters? ?

As I've said before, my Rovers' betting is all a bit of fun - if I win, it gets spent on some goodies, if i lose, it's just a 'Tony shrug'.

The real money on betting is earned through 'sports trading' and there are big bucks to be made there dependent upon how much time you spend on it.  It's a bit of a hobby for me and a couple of hours a week is more than worthwhile ?

[rigger]

2 hours ago, tomphil said:

Good thing from Saturday was there was no panic after going a goal down early on and heads haven't dropped yet so they should be up for this. We need a bit of luck from somewhere and it might come in this in the form of a late penalty after the customary poor goal conceded.

Rovers 1  Wigan  1

bad thing was, there didn't seem any urgency either.

[alcd]

23 hours ago, Tom said:

Wholesale changes needed.

Brereton, Magloire, Rothwell and Travis in

Chapman on the bench 

Brereton in for who? Graham? Nothing to suggest that would be anything other than a massive step backwards. Magloire is untried and gave away a goal on his last U23 appearance. The other two changes are obvious so don't expect Mowbray to make them.

[Mercer]

1 hour ago, alcd said:

Brereton in for who? Graham? Nothing to suggest that would be anything other than a massive step backwards. Magloire is untried and gave away a goal on his last U23 appearance. The other two changes are obvious so don't expect Mowbray to make them.

I'd try Brereton and Graham as a pair in a 442.

As for Magloire, Raya, Rodwell, Williams, Mulgrew, Bell etc are all tried but hardly trusted with all their mistakes which have cost us.  The lad Magloire can hardly be any worse.

[Oldgregg86]

Those saying magloire should start can't have seen much of him. He isn't better than what we have and has a mistake in him, he just has the adage of potential. I wouldn't be playing him until we get this monkey off our back and certainly not in a local derby against Wigan.

Imo Scott wharton was ready to be given a chance but he's out on loan. That annoyed me more than downing leaving

Edited March 10, 2019 by Oldgregg86

[Tom]

1 hour ago, alcd said:

Brereton in for who? Graham? Nothing to suggest that would be anything other than a massive step backwards. Magloire is untried and gave away a goal on his last U23 appearance. The other two changes are obvious so don't expect Mowbray to make them.

Dacks our main man but for me deserves to be put on the bench for a game, too many times yesterday he sauntered back from offside positions with no urgency at all 

[Mercer]

30 minutes ago, Tom said:

Dacks our main man but for me deserves to be put on the bench for a game, too many times yesterday he sauntered back from offside positions with no urgency at all 

To me, he needs to lose weight and, IMO, is some way short of the fitness level required.  I would be staggered if any club paid the often quoted £15m or even £20m.  IMO, he looks far from a PL player and based on recent performances, I would think his value is falling sharply by the game. 

Edited March 10, 2019 by Mercer

[tomphil]

3 hours ago, rigger said:

bad thing was, there didn't seem any urgency either.

True and not what you want in a supposed blood and thunder local derby but I do suspect some of it may be down to him saying keep calm and keep your heads going off his recent comments about wanting them to relax a bit and not be anxious.

Trouble is I think sometimes he and them are so laid back they almost come to a standstill.

[tomphil]

6 minutes ago, Mercer said:

To me, he needs to lose weight and, IMO, is some way short of the fitness level required.  I would be staggered if any club paid the often quoted £15m or even £20m.  IMO, he looks far from a PL player and based on recent performances, I would think his value is falling sharply by the game. 

Has the ability to be a top player and have at least a stint in the Prem but wouldn't be surprised if he lacks the discipline and mindset to achieve that I think that was touched upon reading between the lines by the panel on tv when we were on live a while back.

 

[@roverseas]

Major concerns for Rovers defense in this one, as we have no recognized midfielders/left backs that can play center backs available. Perhaps big Ben and Joe Rothwell can get 90 minutes of action as the heart of our defense?

Massive one for the confidence of the squad, need just a few more points to confirm safety, as I can not cope with another stressful end to a football season. Match buildup for this one starts... now! 

 

[Don Said]

Well this one has now turned out to be a huge game.

For Wigan, the big red light is flashing. 3 points above the drop, they simply need the points to avoid the danger zone. Rovers, the amber light is on - falling down the league whilst clinging on to the loot from the first 6 months, we need the 3 points to keep our necks straight.

I don't claim to be an expert on Wigan's issues but they seem very similar to Rovers at present. Includes but not limited to inconsistent team selections, players that don't know or can't perform the roles they are shifted in to, a soft underbelly and a lack of leaders to get through the tough days.

This got me thinking - out of the three promoted sides, Rovers are highest, Wigan second, Rotherham third. But Rotherham fans are very happy with their manager and us two aren't, in general. Why? Despite having arguably the weakest squad in the division, Rotherham are set up to perform as well as they can with the tools they have; they play to their strengths, and most importantly they have an identity. In a way they remind me of a tinpot version of Sparky's bully boys of 2005. We saw that the other week - we knew what they were going to do, we knew their game plan but it was too overpowering for our soft lads. Their players went out on to the pitch knowing exactly what they needed to do to beat us, and they did it. Wigan and Rovers don't really seem capable of doing that. Both have a few decent players but seem to set out every week with often strange team selections, without a solid game plan. If Wigan, but more so Rovers had the mind set, organisation and consistency of Rotherham we'd surely both be further up the league. Now Rotherham might still go down but at least they'll be able to look back knowing they made a proper fist of it, not being able to do much more. We certainly couldn't.

So, I've no idea what team we'll set out with. 3 at the back? 4 at the back? Which ball will the Elliott Bennett bingo machine spit out this week? Will we see an actual defender on the pitch? Who knows. Either way Rovers, grab it by the goolies. Get the 3 points, move on to the next and get to summer with your necks well above water.

[Amo]

Time for a change. Can't keep playing the same old plodders in different positions and expect results.

Let's start Rothwell, Brereton, and anyone from the U23's who's half-decent. 

[davulsukur]

16 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Those saying magloire should start can't have seen much of him. He isn't better than what we have and has a mistake in him, he just has the adage of potential. I wouldn't be playing him until we get this monkey off our back and certainly not in a local derby against Wigan.

Imo Scott wharton was ready to be given a chance but he's out on loan. That annoyed me more than downing leaving

Well, Magloire has been withdrawn from the U23 squad for tonight's game as he is in the squad for the Wigan game.

No Mulgrew or Rodwell till after the international break.

He'll start William's and Nyambe at CB for this one, I'm sure.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

Well, Magloire has been withdrawn from the U23 squad for tonight's game as he is in the squad for the Wigan game.

No Mulgrew or Rodwell till after the international break.

He'll start William's and Nyambe at CB for this one, I'm sure.

I can't see any other options for the middle of the back four. I'd at least play a back four and not the dreaded 3 at the back. Bennett, Nyambe, Williams, Bell. I can't believe I just typed that, what a rubbish selection.

[Oldgregg86]

5 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

Well, Magloire has been withdrawn from the U23 squad for tonight's game as he is in the squad for the Wigan game.

No Mulgrew or Rodwell till after the international break.

He'll start William's and Nyambe at CB for this one, I'm sure.

I will show my arse if he comes off the bench

[JHRover]

1 hour ago, Don Said said:

Well this one has now turned out to be a huge game.

For Wigan, the big red light is flashing. 3 points above the drop, they simply need the points to avoid the danger zone. Rovers, the amber light is on - falling down the league whilst clinging on to the loot from the first 6 months, we need the 3 points to keep our necks straight.

I don't claim to be an expert on Wigan's issues but they seem very similar to Rovers at present. Includes but not limited to inconsistent team selections, players that don't know or can't perform the roles they are shifted in to, a soft underbelly and a lack of leaders to get through the tough days.

This got me thinking - out of the three promoted sides, Rovers are highest, Wigan second, Rotherham third. But Rotherham fans are very happy with their manager and us two aren't, in general. Why? Despite having arguably the weakest squad in the division, Rotherham are set up to perform as well as they can with the tools they have; they play to their strengths, and most importantly they have an identity. In a way they remind me of a tinpot version of Sparky's bully boys of 2005. We saw that the other week - we knew what they were going to do, we knew their game plan but it was too overpowering for our soft lads. Their players went out on to the pitch knowing exactly what they needed to do to beat us, and they did it. Wigan and Rovers don't really seem capable of doing that. Both have a few decent players but seem to set out every week with often strange team selections, without a solid game plan. If Wigan, but more so Rovers had the mind set, organisation and consistency of Rotherham we'd surely both be further up the league. Now Rotherham might still go down but at least they'll be able to look back knowing they made a proper fist of it, not being able to do much more. We certainly couldn't.

So, I've no idea what team we'll set out with. 3 at the back? 4 at the back? Which ball will the Elliott Bennett bingo machine spit out this week? Will we see an actual defender on the pitch? Who knows. Either way Rovers, grab it by the goolies. Get the 3 points, move on to the next and get to summer with your necks well above water.

I think ourselves and Wigan have probably suffered from over-confidence following promotion. Both managers probably felt loyalty to last season's heroes and believed they were good enough to coast to survival in the Championship. Both ourselves and Wigan enjoyed momentum from last season which has kept both our heads above water up to now, both have seen the rot well and truly set in although we had the benefit of a purple patch in January which Wigan didn't have. Both sides heavily reliant on home form which until recently was very good.

I see more Championship experience at Rovers than at Wigan, and also our manager is more experienced at this level than Cook who is used to managing promotion favourites in the lower leagues rather than relegation favourites in a big league.

Wigan have also had their takeover saga to deal with and less of a budget than we have enjoyed.

As for Rotherham I suspect their fans are delighted just to be in with a chance of survival in this league. Completely different expectation levels for them having been long term League One/Two rather than Premier League.

[davulsukur]

Just now, Oldgregg86 said:

I will show my arse if he comes off the bench

Not saying he'll get on. Just more of a concern that you're saying he's not ready and now he's in the squad, all it takes is Nyambe or Williams injury (both could very well happen) and he's on, which is worrying based on what you've seen of the lad.

[AllRoverAsia]

Raya at practice:

Wanted to post it somewhere that's read.  Not sure if the daisy cutters are meant....... 

[rigger]

1 minute ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I can't see any other options for the middle of the back four. I'd at least play a back four and not the dreaded 3 at the back. Bennett, Nyambe, Williams, Bell. I can't believe I just typed that, what a rubbish selection.

I'd be tempted to start Reed at right-back

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, Oldgregg86 said:

I will show my arse if he comes off the bench

If one of the centre backs gets injured he'll have to do. When you look back at the old centre halves like Keeley, Hawkins, Hunter etc they might not have been great at step overs and keepy uppies but they could put their bodies on the line every week and play every game.

[rigger]

Just now, AllRoverAsia said:

Raya at practice:

Wanted to post it somewhere that's read.  Not sure if the daisy cutters are meant....... 

With so much practice why does he cock it up, on match days.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, rigger said:

I'd be tempted to start Reed at right-back

Yeah, you could do that.