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

[Fraserkirky]

1 minute ago, chaddyrovers said:

At fault for goal. Poor defending 

Cross was deflected and landed on the boys napper. Ayalas fault for me

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, DE. said:

Bristol opened us up a few times, so it wasn't a surprise to me when they scored. They had two golden opportunities in the first half. Less in the second, but with our defence you just knew we were going to gift them at least one chance to score.

Missed Lenihan I thought. Wins a lot of scrappy headers. Armstrong killed us I thought 

[neophox]

Thought Armstrong was lively tonight and linked up well with Eliott, just one of those nights when nothing went right despite playing well. Unfortunately Armstrong had wrong boots tonight and was a bit in a hurry when he could easily taken it easier and scoring some goals. Johnson looked a bit rusty but Ayala played well and looks to get fit. Williams looked rusty. Nyambe can go more forward, hes got pace. Douglas was a strange one, did not contribute much and was also slow when Bristol C attacked. Cant say he's an upgrade on Bell yet. 

 

In midfeld Rothwell played well. A bit disappinted on Holtby who did not create anything of note and was rarely involved. Gallacher had a ok first half but disappeared in second.

Dolan came on but is best when playing him with plenty of room with his blistering pace. 

 

Just forget this game could had gone either way. We will beat them at home next time.

Think we will beat Norwich on saturday if we can keep up with the tempo needed.

Edited December 9, 2020 by neophox

[darrenrover]

3 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

Brentford, Bristol and Norwich - two of which away.

Its a good week on the back of a good run.

Sky falling in again after 1 loss in 8?

Yeh, I can be a bit of a moaner at times but FFS, some are taking things to a different level. 

Please get some perspective, we're a decent side and a bloody good 'un in the making but you can't win 'em all.

[chaddyrovers]

Just now, Fraserkirky said:

Cross was deflected and landed on the boys napper. Ayalas fault for me

Nyambe lost his man and didnt react

[4000Holes]

Thought we played ok but never really looked like scoring.  Defence ok but lost a goal to a bit of ping pong, can happen.  With this defence, a least my heart is not in my mouth every time the opposition attack.

learn and then onward to next match.

[SBlue]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

Nyambe lost his man and didnt react

They all fucked it. Not seen Douglas block a cross yet.

[Exiled_Rover]

1 minute ago, Tormund said:

To be fair Douglas hasn’t got much match fitness plus he’s had a few niggles. Just doesn’t look fit to me, hopefully he’ll improve.

He's a yard and a half too slow to play LB in this league at the moment. 

Don't know if he was faster pre-injuries, but teams get in behind him all the time. 

[superniko]

9 minutes ago, Stuart said:

Agree about Armstrong. He just gets his head down and shoots. It either goes in or it’s another wasted opportunity. He needs to get his head up and recognise that he has team mates. It’s like he is playing for himself. He’s scored a lot of goals this season but he’s no Dack.

Andy Cole got pelters for needing five chances to score one - and that was in the PL.

I think infogol said he’s had 20 more shots than anyone else in the league.

In a way it’s a compliment to the chances we create and the positions he gets himself in, but god he is selfish. Take out his penalties (scored 3 missed 1 I think) then it’s 11 goals from 69 shots (16% conversion rate) over 6 shots per goal. 

He’s a good player, he’s top scorer in the league, has decent pace and most of the time puts in a good shift too. Tonight was an off night in front of the cameras. But the £40m or so on the other threads is laughable. 
 

edit: that’s before tonight so will be 11 from 78 shots now ie over 7 shots per goal. 

Edited December 9, 2020 by superniko

[ben_the_beast]

So disappointed with the loss. But not to worried as we absolutely did not deserve to lose. 

Set something straight. We would not have lost that were it not for Arma. He needs ripping a new one in the dressing room. Not because of a poor performance but because he put himself before the team tonight. And that's not acceptable. 

[Stuart]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

Missed Lenihan I thought. Wins a lot of scrappy headers. Armstrong killed us I thought 

Mowbray isn’t up to it but, I agree, you have to blame Lenihan for us dropping 5 points in the last two games. Williams should be nowhere near this side. Even Mowbray admitted he had barely played this season.

This is the difference between real promotion candidates and pretenders. We drop important points at important times.

Fine margins.

[roversfan99]

6 minutes ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

What a load of cry-babies.

 

We could have won this game, but we played a good side who have a far more settled team than us and they nicked it near the end.

 

What other fans slag off the league's top scorer?  

Far more settled team? They have their first choice 2 CMS, their main 2 CBs, their main attacking midfielder and both full backs out.

Could have would have should have. We didnt, again when a top 6 place was available and v a decent side. If you come onto the forum after that happens surely you expect frustration?

3 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

Brentford, Bristol and Norwich - two of which away.

Its a good week on the back of a good run.

Sky falling in again after 1 loss in 8?

Big if that we beat Norwich but even so, it would be an average week. We need to stop viewing games v teams around us with an inferiority complex.

1 minute ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Very tight margins though. Very little in tonight's game. Harsh to not draw, but that's how it goes sometimes

Thats how it goes all the time if we either can get into the top 6 or play a decent side. If it was once or twice then maybe.

[Dolly blue]

On 07/12/2020 at 12:31, 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.

 

[neophox]

1 minute ago, chaddyrovers said:

Nyambe lost his man and didnt react

Williams and Ayala both slow but Bristol C attacker reacted quickest. 

 

[K-Hod]

Hi all- just a reminder, I know we are all annoyed that we’ve lost, but just remember not to start with the insults and name calling, it’s absolutely well embarrassing from grown adults. Now is not the time for point scoring from anyone.

[rhodie]

We played well, they played well, we lost, on any other day we might very well have nicked it. The most annoying thing for me was that smug look on that ex dingles face, winning MOM 

[DE.]

1 minute ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Missed Lenihan I thought. Wins a lot of scrappy headers. Armstrong killed us I thought 

Williams looked rusty, which I suppose was to be expected, and Ayala is not the upgrade I thought he'd be. Seems pretty average, but still OK for a free transfer. 

Arma was shocking tonight but we just couldn't break through their defence. It was one of those games where we needed to win another way - via something like a set piece, but as we've only scored from two set pieces all season that is a huge weakness that hurts us when we come up against teams we can't pass through. 

[neophox]

We had 22 shots on goal and 60% possession and 8 corners. Still no goals.

[Darrenbot]

3 minutes ago, darrenrover said:

Yeh, I can be a bit of a moaner at times but FFS, some are taking things to a different level. 

Please get some perspective, we're a decent side and a bloody good 'un in the making but you can't win 'em all.

I'll call us a decent side when we start beating decent teams.

[superniko]

On a more positive note...I thought Elliott and Rothwell were both superb. 
If Dack comes back anywhere near the quality we saw pre injury, then I can’t wait to see him play alongside Elliott. 

[neophox]

Think Ayala won a lot of headers tonight and showed leadership.

[booth]

5 minutes ago, West Yorks Rover said:

Bristol's home record before tonight  W 3 D 2 L 3

Not that good are they?

Personally I thought they were a bang average side tonight. They nicked a goal because our defence switched off about 20 mins into second half, they looked knackered.

Never thought I'd say this but we missed Brereton niggling at the back four. He gives Armstrong space.

[tomphil]

Always going to be an awkward one tonight but still feel we should have got a point. No real fluidity again and we hold ourselves back all too often because of that. Changes don't help but team was still strong enough tonight.

Just another of those nights, we'll play the same and win at some points in the season. 

Far too much reliance on Arm developing now.

[darrenrover]

7 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

Didn't deserve to lose that, 1 goal was always going to win it though I'm afraid and wasn't to be.

Actually defended pretty well for the most part and Williams didn't look like he was short of match practice to be fair.

Could be worse, we could have got panned 3-0 off PNE like Boro.

A few players looked shattered tonight and it'll be a relief to have a home game at weekend and let Norwich face the long trip, they won't just come and defend either.

Really do think we could have done with Big Ben tonight, he's not even training again yet though so assume the injury might be a bit worse than they first thought?

We really need to sort the corners out, wtf were THEY tonight? It looked like they'd been practicing of a sort, not sure what they were doing though apart from a shit effort at a conga. Remember Mulgrew banging a corner in against this lot in the early ko on a Sunday a few years ago, I don't think we've ever replaced his corners have we?

Agree with every word said.

[Bigdoggsteel]

2 minutes ago, Stuart said:

Mowbray isn’t up to it but, I agree, you have to blame Lenihan for us dropping 5 points in the last two games. Williams should be nowhere near this side. Even Mowbray admitted he had barely played this season.

This is the difference between real promotion candidates and pretenders. We drop important points at important times.

Fine margins.

It was a dive on Saturday and to say he is responsible for us dropping 3 points tonight might just be the funniest back handed compliment I have ever heard 🤣