Rovers V Birmingham- St Stephens , sorry Boxing day

[Bigdoggsteel]

Fixtures on this day tend to throw up surprises, for that reason I would prefer to be playing WBA away, but what can you do.

I would go 4-4-2

                     Walton

Nyambe   Lenihan  Tosin   Bell

 Holtby   Johnson Travis Downing

            Gallagher Brereton 

A win would be just the tonic for last night and Dacks injury. 

[DE.]

Evans' purple patch appears to be over so I'd agree with dropping him, although I wouldn't play Gallagher & Brereton together. Would probably play Holtby in Dack's role (for as long as he's able) and either Bennett or Rothwell on the right. 

[G Somerset Rover]

Time to get back to winning ways. If we can't beat this lot then Mogga and the boys need a public flogging.

The good news is, this is a shoe in - a license to print money. I'm going 3-0 Rovers with Walton having an extended Christmas break. My 'fun bet' is 5-0 Rovers and if that comes off I'll be treating the Mrs' to a bottle of Châteauneuf Du Pape to see in Boxing Day evening with the in-laws.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[Bigdoggsteel]

24 minutes ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Time to get back to winning ways. If we can't beat this lot then Mogga and the boys need a public flogging.

The good news is, this is a shoe in - a license to print money. I'm going 3-0 Rovers with Walton having an extended Christmas break. My 'fun bet' is 5-0 Rovers and if that comes off I'll be treating the Mrs' to a bottle of Châteauneuf Du Pape to see in Boxing Day evening with the in-laws.

Not fun enough, I'm going 9-0 Rovers with a cheeky 20 on a Brereton hat-trick. Mulled wine bubbling in the pot. Ho ho ho. 

[chaddyrovers]

my team

                     Walton

Nyambe Lenihan Tosin Downing

              Travis Johnson

Armstrong     Holtby    Rothwell

                    Gallagher

So we can play 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1. 

[Amo]

I would drop Armstrong but who takes his place? Chapman won’t get a look in, and the alternative is Bennett.

[Stuart]

Just now, Amo said:

I would drop Armstrong but who takes his place? Chapman won’t get a look in, and the alternative is Bennett.

Bennett is a decent alternative on the right hand side of midfield. However, we are devoid of pace without Armstrong. So he plays regardless of how bad he is.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, Stuart said:

Bennett is a decent alternative on the right hand side of midfield. However, we are devoid of pace without Armstrong. So he plays regardless of how bad he is.

Ah Rothwell and Gallagher have pace. It's literally all Armstrong has at times 

[joey_big_nose]

26 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

my team

                     Walton

Nyambe Lenihan Tosin Downing

              Travis Johnson

Armstrong     Holtby    Rothwell

                    Gallagher

So we can play 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1. 

Agree with the formation but would play Bennett and Bell instead of Downing and Armstrong.

[BankEnd Rover]

52 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

my team

                     Walton

Nyambe Lenihan Tosin Downing

              Travis Johnson

Armstrong     Holtby    Rothwell

                    Gallagher

So we can play 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1. 

Like that team. Excited to see holtby in dacks role. 

[simongarnerisgod]

pretty much impossible to guess tony`s line up,apart from walton!!!,you would think holtby is a shoe in for dack,not as mobile but a fine passer of the football,however we can`t be sure if he`ll play until tony puts the numbers in a bingo machine and picks them out,im`e  sure thats what he does

[BlackburnEnd75]

                    VWalton

Nyambe  lenihan  tosin   downing

Holtby    Bennett  Johnson   Rothwell

                Gallagher   Brereton

[philipl]

Brum will have enjoyed watching Wigan show how it is done in disrupting us.

I would select the Bristol City starting eleven and tell them to prove Ashton Gate wasn't a freak result.

[only2garners]

Here's some stats to cheer all those of us who have seen us struggle against lower league teams at home who set up to defend and disrupt us and perform better against the better teams.

Of the current bottom 8 teams we only have one left (Stoke) to play at home. In contrast we have 5 of the current top 7 teams still to come to Ewood.

[roversfan99]

Really difficult team selection.

Holtby has to start. Neither wide man deserves to start but not much in the way of alternatives. Id put Johnson in from the start next to Travis but he was really ungainly when he came on last night. Adarabioyo back in if possible. Who starts up top if Graham cant do another 90 minutes?

[Amo]

Walton

Nyambe Lenihan Tosin Bell

Chapman Johnson Holtby Rothwell

Gallagher Brereton

Subs: Leutwiler, Bennett, Williams, Travis, Downing, Armstrong, Graham

[Ossydave]

I think the reverse fixture was the worst I've seen us play this season, time to put things right. Since then they've actually only won 2 other games, we've been quite the opposite losing only 2.

I just hope they come and have a bit of a go at us and leave some space for us to utilise.

They've been panned 3 nil 3 times away from home (a quarter of all games), now THAT would go down a treat.

I wouldn't like to call it, the lineup and tactics will be interesting and I pray Tosin is fit for this one.  I think Bell will also feature.

I'm going 2-0 Rovers which will set us up well for Huddersfield who will have no option but to have a go themselves. 

Edited December 24, 2019 by Ossydave

[DE.]

Just now, Ossydave said:

They've been panned 3 nil 3 times away from home (a quarter of all games), now THAT would go down a treat.

I don't think we've beat anyone by 3 clear goals this season so sadly unlikely! In fact since Mowbray has been here it's hard to remember many games where we've won by three more than the opponent. We had a couple last year with Wigan and Hull, but both were in the second half of the season and weirdly the Wigan result was sandwiched between that horrendous run where we lost 9 out of 11. 

[Fraserkirky]

Walton

Nyambe Lenihan Tosin Bell

Holtby Johnson Travis Rothwell 

Armstrong Gallagher

Think that’s what we finished with vs Bristol away. A balanced team

[Lie_still_Rover]

                 Walton

Nyambe, Lenihan, Tosin, Bell

           Johnson, Travis

   Armstrong, Holtby,  Rothwell

                 Gallagher


That would be my side, on the fence with Bell, think we may miss Downings set pieces but thought he, along with a few others looked jaded yesterday.

Surely Dacks injury opens the door for another attacking player from the u23's to step up- Chapman would be my man- get him coming off the bench for Armstrong, or even Holtby. You could move Rothwell central and Chapman could fill in either side.

Come on Tony, give the lad an opportunity!

[Sparks Rover]

Is it on the red button?

[Mattyblue]

No. The Hudds and Forest games are though...

[chaddyrovers]

19 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Is it on the red button?

Nope. 

Just the Huddersfield and Forest games are. 

Rovers don't want it the red button I would imagine. 

[Vilesinner]

13 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Fixtures on this day tend to throw up surprises, for that reason I would prefer to be playing WBA away, but what can you do.

I would go 4-4-2

                     Walton

Nyambe   Lenihan  Tosin   Bell

 Holtby   Johnson Travis Downing

            Gallagher Brereton 

A win would be just the tonic for last night and Dacks injury. 

Exactly the team he should play. This line up brought our best performance of the season, and the players from the other night need a rest. Hopefully young Buckley makes the bench.

[Vilesinner]

Just now, Vilesinner said:

Exactly the team he should play. This line up brought our best performance of the season, and the players from the other night need a rest. Hopefully young Buckley makes the bench.

Bennett for Downing though, as Downing would need to be rested.