Championship season 2019-20

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

59 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Not really.

PL club’s just bring in cheap English 3rd choice keepers to fulfil the ‘home grown’ squad quota. No chance of a game, whereas clubs want their younger keepers out on loan playing somewhere.
 

See Lee Grant at Man Utd and Andy Lonergan at Liverpool.

We got the wrong keeper from Brighton. That Sanchez on loan at Rochdale looks a better bet to me. 

[Amo]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

I rated Walton has a good championship keeper. Someone mentioned to me yesterday about an article in a national newspaper saying how highly rated Walton is and he will be top class keeper. 

Do you ever form your own opinions?

[Stuart]

11 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Well Raya is still making the same mistakes he was here. 

Wouldnt show anything up at all but understand why you have that opinion. 

It would how good their recruiting of players is. They have bought some good ones from overseas. 

Don’t worry mate. I understand why you wouldn’t see it.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

12 hours ago, Stuart said:

Don’t worry mate. I understand why you wouldn’t see it.

Yeah I don't know why you bother Stuart .All their other signings have been good apart from Raya. What can you say ? I suppose you need eyes that see.

[Dreams of 1995]

Walton had a good start but has made so many mistakes. It's remarkable how he is in the top 5 keepers for clean sheets this season but you can imagine he'd be head and shoulders above every other keeper if he can cut them mistakes out.

Sadly, we won't ever see if he will. I thought Walton was an upgrade on Raya but he isn't. Raya was always going to be a good goalkeeper and we've dropped an absolute clanger letting him go. A shocking piece of business.

 

[Silas]

As of today we are the only team in the Championship with 0 goal difference:

27 played, 35 goals scored and conceded, 37 pts on the board, 5 pts off the playoffs.

We really are the steady Eddie's of the league.

 

Those sort of stats rang a bell so I had a look back. Pretty much exactly 6 years ago, 19th Jan 2014 (only 2 teams in league with 0 goal difference):

26 played, 32 goals scored and conceded, 37 pts on the board, 4 pts off the playoffs. 

 

The following year, 2nd Feb 2015 (the only team in league with 0 goal difference):

28 played, 38 scored and conceded, 39 pts on the board, 8 pts off playoffs. 

 

The next year, 18th Jan 2016 (3 teams with 0 goal difference):

26 played, 23 scored and conceded, 29 pts, miles off playoffs.

Sidenote- we finished this season as one of two teams with 0 goal difference, 46 scored and conceded. 

 

Summary: Our time in the Championship the last decade, (barring our relegation season), we certainly have been consistant.  Consistantly mediocre and mid table. We score goals,  we concede goals, pretty much in perfect unison. 

But just a tweak at either end of the pitch could be the difference that pushes up towards the top 6. 

Over half a decade later, countless personnel and a few manager changes, I just don't see any signs of that progression being made. 

Yes,  it's good to be stable and clear of the bottom of the table, but at some point the next step needs to be made to push us towards the top end. It's the only way to save the club. At the moment, I just get that groundhog day feeling. 

[arbitro]

Middlesbrough are two down after fifteen minutes at Spurs with both goals coming about through trying to play out from the back. Woodgate seems as deluded as some of his fellow smoggies ???.

[Husky]

Put it in the history books.

Saturday 18th January 2020: The day Rovers finally joined the Championship.

Up until then we were one of only a few teams that hadn't battered anyone.

[darrenrover]

Tony, don't get a nose bleed if we're close to a play off place. Today along with Ashton Gate, should have proved to you to have belief in your convictions. Just go for it and fear no-one: Leeds are doing as they normally do and imploding. Christ, we could even get into the top 2!

Stop fucking about with your formations and stick with a simple formation that every bugger can understand and relate to!

Just thrilled to bits at a great day!

[AllRoverAsia]

Not any doubt about the red card for Phillips. He tried to break a leg,

Leeds concede to a double handball goal, miss a penalty, have a player sent off and lose.

Can it get any better than that???

Well yes, it can at Hillsborough. 

[philipl]

Perhaps worth asking the question, if all teams performed to the top of their potential every week, where would we be in the table.

My guess is higher than we are now.

 

[Husky]

Since winning at Rovers, Luton haven't taken even 1 point on the road in 9 games.

We're back to being 'just 5 points off the play-offs'. ?

 

Edited January 19, 2020 by Husky

[Bigdoggsteel]

13 hours ago, philipl said:

Perhaps worth asking the question, if all teams performed to the top of their potential every week, where would we be in the table.

My guess is higher than we are now.

 

 

5 hours ago, Husky said:

Since winning at Rovers, Luton haven't taken even 1 point on the road in 9 games.

We're back to being 'just 5 points off the play-offs'. ?

 

I think the problem is we don't handle being favourites well. Always make it a slog. Even if we manage to win. 

All my best memories of performances are when we are the underdog

Edited January 19, 2020 by Bigdoggsteel

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

20 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

Not any doubt about the red card for Phillips. He tried to break a leg,

Leeds concede to a double handball goal, miss a penalty, have a player sent off and lose.

Can it get any better than that???

Well yes, it can at Hillsborough. 

Apparently Phillips has a problem with Cameron. A Phillips " tackle " put him out of the game for three months last season !

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

7 hours ago, Husky said:

Since winning at Rovers, Luton haven't taken even 1 point on the road in 9 games.

We're back to being 'just 5 points off the play-offs'. ?

 

You don't want to be playing newly promoted teams so early in the season. Play them now when their confidence is rock bottom.

[Blue blood]

2 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

 

I think the problem is we don't handle being favourites well. Always make it a slog. Even if we manage to win. 

All my best memories of performances are when we are the underdog

Totally agree. Said it before and will say it again. A big reason we won't get promoted is the easier games where we are comfortable favourites we struggle with. From Plymouth at home with their 4th choice keeper (I think) to Wigan without a win in an insane number of away games (and without a win in any for quite a while) throw in some expectation and we crumble. TM seriously struggles and cannot handle being favourites. Its no wonder he tanked at Celtic with this as an Achilles heel. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

11 hours ago, Blue blood said:

Totally agree. Said it before and will say it again. A big reason we won't get promoted is the easier games where we are comfortable favourites we struggle with. From Plymouth at home with their 4th choice keeper (I think) to Wigan without a win in an insane number of away games (and without a win in any for quite a while) throw in some expectation and we crumble. TM seriously struggles and cannot handle being favourites. Its no wonder he tanked at Celtic with this as an Achilles heel. 

Indeed. Maybe he got a taste for destroying teams on Saturday, so we can expect a more ruthless Mowbray from here on in. Giving it the big one every week predicting 5-0 wins for us  

[Husky]

12 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

You don't want to be playing newly promoted teams so early in the season. Play them now when their confidence is rock bottom.

Nice one Tone ?

[chaddyrovers]

Mark Bowen at Reading a new 18 months contract last week. Done a decent job there

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 hours ago, Husky said:

Nice one Tone ?

There were plenty on here saying " It's only Luton, we'll batter them ". What they were forgetting is newly promoted teams still have that bounce about them, they have a full squad- no injuries , no suspensions and their confidence will be high. Maybe the players thought it was going to be easy also.

[chaddyrovers]

WBA and Leeds both defeat in this round of fixtures. And tbh both deserve nothing. 

Will both not get top 2. 

I thought Stoke was excellent tonight. Defensive very solid. Butland solid as a rock. Michael O'Neill has made them harder to beat. Good structure to the team and formation. 

Danny Batth deserved his man of the match award

[Mattyblue]

A few clubs are now closing in on them.

Just imagine the palpitations if we’d had a decent Christmas period...

[chaddyrovers]

I think Fulham and Brentford will get top 2. 

Leeds need a striker or 2 IMO. 

WBA need a couple of signings. 

[47er]

16 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

think Fulham and Brentford will get top 2.

That Brentford keeper doing OK?

[roversfan99]

Still fancy the top 2 to stay there, both teams in really poor form but still with a gap ahead of the rest. 

Fulham have an incredibly expensively assembled squad, on paper I would say better than Leeds and possibly West Brom too but their manager carries the question marks for me, much prefer a Bielsa or Bilic. Brentford are a good team but not sure they have enough firepower, after the main 3 of Benrahma, Watkins and Mbuemo they have no one else really. Swansea are a dark horse too, no one seems to talk about them but considering they have I would suggest the highest paid and one of the best players in the league in Ayew, another big money striker in Baston who has eased off but is good to have and have been able to attract and afford the extremely highly sought after loan signings of Gallagher and Brewster, they have to be taken seriously.

The league is there for anyone this year, the standard is as poor as I can remember and I have seen so many drab games lacking quality. Our season is going to be tinged with regret regarding our big money recruitment and our injury woes because I am not sure especially with FFP about to crunch that we are going to have a chance like this again for a while.