Brentford (A) - 12:30pm KO (Sat 22nd Feb 2020)

[Mattyblue]

To be fair, they aren’t a ‘west London’ glamour/fashionable club like Chelsea, or even to a lesser extent, Fulham. They are on the fringes of the urban sprawl towards Hounslow and Heathrow and have been lower league plodders for almost their entire history.

They are getting plaudits because they a quality Championship side doing things differently.

[rigger]

23 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

I enjoyed watching Brentford play. Also think their recruitment of players is excellent. 

I only ENJOY, watching the Rovers 

[philipl]

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Brentford+railway+station,+Brentford,+United+Kingdom/Griffin+Park,+Braemar+Rd,+Brentford+TW8+0NT,+United+Kingdom/@51.4881637,-0.3078579,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x48760db93a3996e9:0x1d90a4b0418b1c1!2m2!1d-0.3096264!2d51.4875832!1m5!1m1!1s0x48760dc6d595c749:0x9d14b7ba0fa6a6f3!2m2!1d-0.3025508!2d51.488173!3e2

 

Says 9 minutes but isn't the away end the one nearest to the station now so should be quicker?

[chaddyrovers]

3 minutes ago, rigger said:

I only ENJOY, watching the Rovers 

I always enjoy watching Rovers play

[Bigdoggsteel]

This going to be a tight one, 11 , 2-1 or 1-2 I feel. 

Not losing would be fantastic. Even if we do though, no need to overreact. The game is still on. 

[benhben]

1 hour ago, rigger said:

I only ENJOY, watching the Rovers 

Would you not watch a world cup final or champions league final? 

[superniko]

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

I enjoyed watching Brentford play. Also think their recruitment of players is excellent. 

A decent article on it here:

https://talksport.com/football/fa-cup/659667/brentford-data-revolution-england-smartest-club-championship-leicester-fa-cup/

They're owned by Matthew Benham, professional gambler, and clearly one of the smartest in the game. Very well run club, who go about everything the right way.

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, benhben said:

Would you not watch a world cup final or champions league final? 

My 2p.
But it wouldn't have any emotional value because unless its England or Rovers, I don't care for the outcome.

[Blue n whites]

Just been informed I'm working in bedford on sunday night. Flight down from edinburgh getting booked.  COYB.

are they selling on the day

[Oldgregg86]

3 hours ago, rigger said:

I only ENJOY, watching the Rovers 

Why ?

if anything I enjoy watching other games more because I’m relaxed and have no emotional investment. Obviously if we win nothing beats it

football as a sport is to be enjoyed by all not just The club you support

[Mattyblue]

I only CARE about Rovers, which means I often don’t enjoy a lot of the 90 minutes. 

Hull game as an example, I only started enjoying it when we got the second and third goals in quick succession. I did then enjoy the end of game celebrations, the walk to the car, the checking of the table, the highlights, the match report etc etc 
 

 

[rigger]

3 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Why ?

if anything I enjoy watching other games more because I’m relaxed and have no emotional investment. Obviously if we win nothing beats it

football as a sport is to be enjoyed by all not just The club you support

I now have very little or even no interest in any other teams games, thereby getting very little enjoyment

[Amo]

6 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

I always enjoy watching Rovers play

Even during our lowest point under Kean? Liar or masochist?

[OldEwoodBlue]

By 5 o'clock next Saturday we will have played 3 more games so we will have a pretty good idea if the play-offs are realistic or not.

This is a MUST WIN game.

No ifs, no buts. 

3 teams below us have relatively winnable games so if we lose we can be back in 11th on Saturday night, like a yo-yo with a nose bleed every time we hit 8th.

Win and we put pressure on the rest who kick off later.

Can Mowbray fire them up and break his glass ceiling?

 

Absolute MUST WIN GAME.

[Mattyblue]

It isn’t though is it, with two home games against Stoke and Swansea following.

Bristol City and PNE both lost at home at the weekend after cracking away wins... owt can still happen - it’s February!

[OldEwoodBlue]

We need 2 points per game to achieve our target.

So I rephrase.... 6 points from the next 3 games is the MINIMUM

 

[rigger]

5 hours ago, benhben said:

Would you not watch a world cup final or champions league final? 

I would not go out of my way to watch 

[rigger]

54 minutes ago, Amo said:

Even during our lowest point under Kean? Liar or masochist?

Neither 

[simongarnerisgod]

we need to play further up the pitch on saturday,not sure trying to kill the game the mowbray way is the best tactic,brentford are a very attacking side at home,if we sit back we`ll be overrun,id`e try and put pressure on their full backs and try to condense the midfield so they don`t have space to find their pacy attackers,griffin park is a tight little ground so get in amongst them and put their midfield under the cosh,approach the game the opposite of what you are supposed to do when playing away,go straight at them

[Mashed Potatoes]

42 minutes ago, OldEwoodBlue said:

We need 2 points per game to achieve our target.

So I rephrase.... 6 points from the next 3 games is the MINIMUM

 

Hardly. We could lose all 3 and still get enough points from the 10 after that.

[bluebruce]

This game is huge. I wouldn't go as far as to say it's the biggest game of the season, because a playoff final is obviously bigger than anything, and all games feel more important at the time. But I think this is a serious litmus test.

We are on a good run of form which could get derailed, but if we are as good as we are hoping we are becoming, we should be able to at least avoid defeat (anything can always happen of course no matter how good you are). It's a chance to take points off a playoff rival who are a good side, maintain our run, show we are serious, finally hit top 6, and a chance to exorcise the ghosts of last season's collapse. As we all know it was the reversal from 2-0 up to lose 5-2 which signalled our season ending and we were awful after that. Lenihan's injury that day being a big factor of course.

This is a game where even if we go 2-0 up, we will therefore still be quite nervous.

The season probably isn't going to hinge all on one game, and good runs can end anytime, and bad ones too. That said, I feel like it is likely to be a big marker and therefore...

A defeat and I'm going to go back to thinking the playoffs are still a bit beyond us as we will have returned to our nosebleed tendencies and just given an umpteenth false dawn.

A win and I'm going to feel like we are a serious force in this race and have a real shot.

A draw isn't conclusive either way, but will leave me feeling we do have a bit of a shot, as we will have gone toe to toe with a good side, a playoff rival, and not come undone under pressure.

[OldEwoodBlue]

The other factor about this game is regarding attendances.

They just released a super 6 ticket. Win against Brentford and it will have a few sales.

Lose and the feeling will be Mowbray has us back to square 1 in 11th and that's as good as it gets.

First game on the ticket is Stoke on Wednesday (also competing with the red button). Miss getting it before that game and the ticket has no value with only 5 remaining. So the window to maximise sales of the super six hinges entirely on this game.

[Mattyblue]

I personally would’ve had the bundle  kicking in after the Stoke game.

[USABlue]

Gut tells me this is where we trip up.  Early game, on telly, hope building, playoff position in reach.  All the indicators for a definite loss.

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

Hardly. We could lose all 3 and still get enough points from the 10 after that.

Last heard when we were fighting relegation.