Bristol City v Rovers. Wed 9th Dec. 7.45pm

[dingles staying down 4ever]

3 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

Ah - the same logic that has Jamie Vardy as a National League striker.

Those three are top half Championship defenders at least and we all know it.

We’ll be fine.

If you say so....... I can see your logic with Williams and Nyambe but not with Bell. If Bell, Nyambe, Williams and Vardy were offered to clubs tomorrow which ones would end up in premiership, championship and League One. The only reason why I see your logic with Williams is it was rumoured that Swansea were looking at him in the summer. I also can't see Solihull being able to compete with slightly higher teams for Vardy.

[roversfan99]

This has to be another game we go into v a direct rival embracing the challenge and thinking that we have a good chance of getting 3 points, there is no reason for any inferiority complex. A loss would be a setback yet again at a point in which we are primed to be able to really push ourselves into that top 6, a draw would be respectable to an extent but a chance to make up ground somewhat spurned.

Would go assuming that Williams and Douglas are fit with:

Kaminski

Nyambe Ayala Williams Douglas

Holtby Johnson Rothwell

Elliott Armstrong Gallagher

Subs: Pears, Carter, Bell, Trybull, Davenport, Downing, Buckley, Dolan, Chapman

Hopefully there is no Elliott false 9 nonsense and we play as above. Davenport took the headlines with the goal on Saturday but I cant justify dropping Johnson who was outstanding.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

2 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

This has to be another game we go into v a direct rival embracing the challenge and thinking that we have a good chance of getting 3 points, there is no reason for any inferiority complex. A loss would be a setback yet again at a point in which we are primed to be able to really push ourselves into that top 6, a draw would be respectable to an extent but a chance to make up ground somewhat spurned.

Would go assuming that Williams and Douglas are fit with:

Kaminski

Nyambe Ayala Williams Douglas

Holtby Johnson Rothwell

Elliott Armstrong Gallagher

Subs: Pears, Carter, Bell, Trybull, Davenport, Downing, Buckley, Dolan, Chapman

Hopefully there is no Elliott false 9 nonsense and we play as above. Davenport took the headlines with the goal on Saturday but I cant justify dropping Johnson who was outstanding.

Why does it have to Johnson who gets dropped for Davenport? Both were on the park when Davenport scored

[roversfan99]

8 minutes ago, dingles staying down 4ever said:

Why does it have to Johnson who gets dropped for Davenport? Both were on the park when Davenport scored

I suppose that is true, although that was in a different shape, but either could in theory play to the left of the 3. I would still personally go with Johnson who was excellent, Rothwell who scored a brilliant goal and was given the last 30 minutes off and Holtby who will be rested up and gives a nice balance to that 3. 

[Ulrich]

4 hours ago, Uddersfelt Blue said:

If Williams is fit, which is unlikely given that he hasn’t featured for some time, he should play so Nyambe can stay at right back, a position we are fast running out of options. I can’t see Mowbray bringing in an U23’s player but you never know. 
 

I wouldn't want Williams to break down again and be out for longer. If Wharton is out long term, then we need him fit, something we have struggled with to date. If RB is an issue then maybe this Pike lad, but CB is real concern for us moving forward IMO. 

[Admiral Nelsen]

11 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

This has to be another game we go into v a direct rival embracing the challenge and thinking that we have a good chance of getting 3 points, there is no reason for any inferiority complex. A loss would be a setback yet again at a point in which we are primed to be able to really push ourselves into that top 6, a draw would be respectable to an extent but a chance to make up ground somewhat spurned.

 

 

That penny really dropped for me in the first half against Brentford. I'm not sure if they were playing within themselves a bit, but we went toe-to-toe in playing a high tempo attacking game and we outplayed them. Not saying that we definitely would have won without the sending off, but we've played plenty of the better teams now and I don't think that we've been outplayed by any of them when it was 11 vs 11. We've only really struggled either i) during a massive injury crisis or ii) against teams that are set up to frustrate us. 

The issue we have is turning good performances against good teams into the wins we deserve. Only getting 1 point from the performances at Brentford, Swansea, Watford and Bournemouth is ridiculous, although to a certain extent you credit them for being more clinical. I think Bristol City are probably the sort of team that will look to attack us but don't have the individual quality that some of the other teams at the top do, so I can see the game suiting us quite well.

1-3 Rovers

 

[joey_big_nose]

34 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

 

That penny really dropped for me in the first half against Brentford. I'm not sure if they were playing within themselves a bit, but we went toe-to-toe in playing a high tempo attacking game and we outplayed them. Not saying that we definitely would have won without the sending off, but we've played plenty of the better teams now and I don't think that we've been outplayed by any of them when it was 11 vs 11. We've only really struggled either i) during a massive injury crisis or ii) against teams that are set up to frustrate us. 

The issue we have is turning good performances against good teams into the wins we deserve. Only getting 1 point from the performances at Brentford, Swansea, Watford and Bournemouth is ridiculous, although to a certain extent you credit them for being more clinical. I think Bristol City are probably the sort of team that will look to attack us but don't have the individual quality that some of the other teams at the top do, so I can see the game suiting us quite well.

1-3 Rovers

 

I would say Watford and Reading just looked a lot better than us (although to be far we were missing quite a few key players through injury). But those games apart we have looked the better team against everyone else we have played this season (imo) which is quite remarkable.

[Admiral Nelsen]

3 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I would say Watford and Reading just looked a lot better than us (although to be far we were missing quite a few key players through injury). But those games apart we have looked the better team against everyone else we have played this season (imo) which is quite remarkable.

 

I might be misremembering, but in my head the Reading game was one of those where we seemed quite badly depleted. If we had a decent team out then I'd definitely concede that they outplayed us. I remember Watford as being very similar to Bournemouth in that they were much more adept at taking their chances when they came along, but rightly or wrongly I recall feeling that we were very unfortunate to have lost. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

This has to be another game we go into v a direct rival embracing the challenge and thinking that we have a good chance of getting 3 points, there is no reason for any inferiority complex.

Agreed. And I think our intensity, pressing & attacking flair pre-Red Card at Brentford showed exactly what you've described. If we can go to Brentford and have two shots on goal before there's even a minute on the clock, I don't think this side will be feeling inferior to anybody.

I fully expected us to be on the front foot on Wednesday from the word go.

[CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber]

Get into them from the off I think this is ours for the taking 

[Mercer]

All teams suffering from injuries not least Bristol City and Norwich.

We have nothing at all to fear.

We might well concede but we certainly seem to have goals in our locker.

Rovers making plenty of money for me at the moment and odds for Rovers win at Bristol are very decent at 11/8 - big bet gone on.

Two wins this week will have us top 6 and breathing down the necks of 1 and 2.

We just need to feckin go for it -    you can choose courage, or you can choose comfort, but you cannot choose both!!! 

Edited December 7, 2020 by Mercer

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

2 hours ago, Mercer said:

we certainly seem to have goals in our locker.

Top scorers in the league. Ya reckon?😉

2 hours ago, Mercer said:

 you can choose courage, or you can choose comfort, but you cannot choose both!!! 

Surely you can take comfort in the fact that you chose courage?

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

Sky Sports Main Event on Wednesday. 

[Ewood Ace]

I wouldn't rush Williams back, he's an injury prone player and it's would be silly to bring him back early and risk him ending up out for another month, especially with Wharton set for a long absence. I'd go with.                        

 

                                Kaminski

Pike           Nyambe                 Ayala          Bell

                 Johnson                 Davenport

Elliott                        Rothwell                   Dolan

                               Armstrong

 

[BlackburnEnd75]

I'd be resting Johnson for this one. Keep him fresh for saturday.

Trybull over Davenport as the sitting midfielder. A tad harsh but I seem to rate Trybull higher than others on here

[@roverseas]

Could be a case of square pegs in round holes again as TM patches up his defence.  Still waiting for the announcement of Dackarinhos return as it edges ever closer.  Win this one and we get ourselves a free hit against norwich on the weekend.  Hoping we can use the Brentford result to springboard ourselves a W midweek.

 

 

 

Edited December 7, 2020 by @roverseas

[Ossydave]

Pike came off injured tonight, no idea how serious but it probably rules him out of being involved on Wednesday you'd have thought, if he was even being considered.... 

I think we can definitely get something there. They've only won once in their last 6 at home and that was a crappy 1-0 against a pathetic Derby team.

In terms of the score it very much depends on who's available for selection in defence. If Del and Douglas are then I'm going for a 0-2 scoreline. If they aren't then it'll be a lot less comfortable I imagine. 

 

[philipl]

Hope Pike is OK- second time he has been injured within a fortnight.

[WacoRover]

We won both last year, Dack’s last game before injury, 2-0 (Johnson & Arma), & 3-1, the game of the restart. 

With or without Dacky this time, I expect a strong showing. Recent results, motivation, & Tony picking 11 names like a monkey picks bananas, Rovers can show themselves as serious contenders for promotion. Arte et Labore. 

[darrenrover]

Just had a browse on The Bristol Post site and Bristol City forum and picked up a few snippets of information:

They've only gained 11 points from 8 home games thus far this season and have an injury list at least comparable to ours. They've Mawson, Williams, Walsh, Smith, Watson, Kalas and Paterson unavailable.

It's proposed they line up in a 3-5-2 formation as follows:

                                  Bentley

             Mariappa       Vyner       Kalas

    Hunt   Bakinson   O'Dowda   Nagy   Dasilva

                          Wells          Martin

I note Nakki Wells is up top for them, he's been a pain to us in the past.

All in all the game is there to be won. Get into 'em, high pressing, from the off and I feel we should come away with the 3 points.

COYB!!

Edited December 8, 2020 by darrenrover

[philipl]

If they go 3-5-2 we are in for a war of attrition.

I think they tried that v Brum and failed.

Usually Bristol City have tried to play open attacking football so they are not that used to packing midfield. They certainly were open and attacking against Reading and were picked off very easily. Had Reading been as lethal with their chances as they were against us they would have hit Bristol City for 8.

That said Bristol City are not used to 3-5-2, we were not used to playing 4-4-1 but it worked second half with different combinations of nine players who probably hadn't practised as nines on the training ground.

Incidentally, did I correctly read Buckley plays right back in ten v ten practise games on Fridays? In which case perhaps I am wrong about that.

Stream of consciousness post here.

Looks like we have to be prepared for facing the total unknown on Wednesday apart from Nakki Wells.

At least Mowbray can concentrate on setting us up to win without over fretting about the opposition.

Edited December 8, 2020 by philipl

[JHRover]

Looks like we have appealed Lenihan's red card and will discover today if he is available for tomorrow. 

Well done to Rovers for doing so. Just hope we've put together some good footage for the appeal rather than a half hearted attempt.

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

12 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Just hope we've put together some good footage for the appeal rather than a half hearted attempt.

They've speeded everything up and added the Benny Hill music. 

[philipl]

Odds on reduction of reduction to yellow which means he would still be sent off and face a one game suspension?

[joey_big_nose]

I am wondering with Mowbrays comments after the Millwall game if we will consider changing our system against a back three as we struggled against both them and Barnsley? He seemed to imply a new approach could be needed.

As an aside I remember when Conte took over at Chelsea, played 343 and smashed everyone, over time it was realised an old fashioned 442 could work well against it as the 3 defenders struggled to figure out who to pick up with only 2 attackers...

I don't think Rovers have played 442 since we had both Gestede and Rhodes. But I could see Gally and Armstrong being a handful?

Anyway sure if we switch system it's more likely to be 4231 than 442.