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

[darrenrover]

After all the recent accolades, I thought Holtby was absolutely dire tonight. So much so, I had to keep checking if he was still on the park or not. His mind's elsewhere all of a sudden for me.

[Fraserkirky]

55 minutes ago, darrenrover said:

 

Lenihan has been diabolical this season, a liability and I feel Williams deserves his place in the side (at the expense of Darragh) based upon how he has performed at centre half so far this season. Their forward did well for the goal tonight, good control, swivel turn and finish. Someone doesn't always have to be to blame, if that's what you inferred.

Agree on Lenihan, if any team is stupid to offer solid money for him in January I’d ship him.

Williams was clearly not match sharp tonight, took half an hour for him to wake up. He completely missed a pretty straight forward header, then shortly after a long ball got put over and the camera just showed Williams in a mangled heap. Guessing he tripped over. He got better but still off from his earlier performances.

Think it’s laughable folk dismissing getting Kipre on loan in Jan, would be 1st choice.

Edited December 10, 2020 by Fraserkirky

[G Somerset Rover]

9 minutes ago, darrenrover said:

After all the recent accolades, I thought Holtby was absolutely dire tonight. So much so, I had to keep checking if he was still on the park or not. His mind's elsewhere all of a sudden for me.

He has been anonymous for a few games now. I personally think the writing is on the wall that he’ll head back to Germany or similar at the end of the season. I gather his missus lives their full time with his new born kid - must be quite a strain on their relationship and lifestyle!

[Crimpshrine]

Felt like a mid-table battle between two average teams. I think we deserved a draw but no more.

Considering the 11 players we put out wasn't far off our first choice team ( bar Dack ) and Bristol were missing quite a few big players it was a missed opportunity.

 

[DE.]

26 minutes ago, 47er said:

Our man of the match for me was Rothwell, he's going to be some player. 

He's 26 next month so he's pretty much at his peak now. I don't think he'll be getting significantly better than he is now anyway. I think it feels like he's younger because of how TM has treated and spoken about him. 

[47er]

10 minutes ago, DE. said:

He's 26 next month so he's pretty much at his peak now. I don't think he'll be getting significantly better than he is now anyway. I think it feels like he's younger because of how TM has treated and spoken about him. 

Yes you're probably right!

[SoldierMo]

33 minutes ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

He has been anonymous for a few games now. I personally think the writing is on the wall that he’ll head back to Germany or similar at the end of the season. I gather his missus lives their full time with his new born kid - must be quite a strain on their relationship and lifestyle!

Hes settled with his wife in Manchester

[Silas]

Despite us getting the standard nosebleed, and it feeling like groundhog day, I'm strangely quite positive still.

That graphic came up showing us in the top 2 in the league for basically all attacking stats. We've looked way more solid at the back recently (Kaminski key to it all imo)

We played some really nice stuff tonight. No end product, but it happens, mainly due to AA having a stinker/ball hogging. 

I've seen enough the last 2 weeks for me to keep the faith. I still think we have the ingredients to compete in the league this season. 

A win Saturday and tonight is all forgotten. And we really need to get over this hoodoo of not beating top half teams. 🤞

[booth]

I'll be very very surprised if it's not a clinical victory for Norwich on Saturday.

[RevidgeBlue]

2 hours 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?

Not sure how a week that could produce one point out of nine qualifies as a "good" one.

IF (and it's a very big "if") we beat Norwich I'd say that would be an ok week, draw and that would be a poor one.

Another loss would be a very poor one.

[Angry_Pirate]

100% on Mowbray this one... for as enjoyable a watch it was at 0-0, he let a pedestrian team sleepwalk into a 1-0 defeat with a lack of tactical subs in the 2nd half.

I said at 0-0 how this would go from a decent point, to an abysmal loss given the energy and individual performances.

Johnson was playing walking football with Holtby, Armstrong was plying for the cameras, Douglas was playing to get Bell a new contract and Williams was playing roughly 28% fit. Least we didn't risk tiring out Trybull before his weekend off.

Games like tonight show how far away Armstrong is from being a proper player. Embarrassing, and so typical of his all round game minus the goal.

[Miker]

That was a really disappointing defeat IMO. I switched it off after they scored.

I have a lot of love for Arma but he had an awful game and he was wasting too many great chances despite great work from Holtby, Rothwell, Gally and Elliott. TM should have done something to change things up. Either bring Dolan and/or Chapman on or move Elliott or Gally central.

Johnson was also having a poor game and bringing Davenport on could have injected some energy and drive into the midfield. Douglas looked to be struggling to keep up with Wells once he was moved to their right flank and Bell would have been a good option to bring on in his place.

TM had options but didn’t take them, whereas Bristol brought on Diedhiou who clearly changed the game.

Just really frustrating because the game was there for the taking and we just didn’t put away our chances and didn’t make changes at the right time.

[Silas]

21 minutes ago, booth said:

I'll be very very surprised if it's not a clinical victory for Norwich on Saturday.

Daunting as it is, we've scored 8 more goals than them in the league. Home v away records we've scored more than them and conceded less.

And they got beat away a week ago by Luton, although I accept they had horrific injury problems. 

Not saying it's a gimme by any stretch, but we've surely got to go into games like this expecting the team to have a chance of picking up all 3 pts. 

Besides, we're due some luck against them. The deflected goal in 2011 still hurts me now. 2 goals up and cruising. One of the worst deflections I've ever seen against us. Just looked it up and realised it was Bradley Johnson that scored it. Hopefully, he does the same for us this time round. 

[@roverseas]

Garbage! Too tired to give a crap.

 

 

[Fraserkirky]

I don’t expect us to win every game, but we have to start beaten these fellow top 6 hopefuls. They are not a better team than us and it’s frustrating, def deserved better. Tony make some mistakes tonight that hurt us. Really wasn’t much space behind their decent back line so Dolan wasn’t the answer.

If Holtby had to come off it should have been Davenport on. And maybe sit in a wee bit and be happy with the draw. Again amazed you take the best player on the night in Rothwell and your only route one target in Gallagher off. Johnson struggled for me again, but he does offer about the only bite in the side, and even then he lost multiple 50/50s tonight.

I suppose the optimist would say wait till we get Lenihan, Travis, JRC, Dack and Breo back, but the games here are ticking on and we have still to beat a challenger. Saturday is a must win to stay in touching distance.

Edited December 10, 2020 by Fraserkirky

[Stuart]

7 hours ago, Butty said:

Don’t think it would have made a difference to the result if Lenihan played tonight ahead of Williams, Williams clearly not fully fit but still didn’t do much wrong and certainly wasn’t at fault for the goal, we lost the game tonight by not creating enough clear cut chances in the final third, they’ve had one real golden chance and scored it. 

Williams was very poor and did a lot wrong. That’s all it takes to put uncertainty into a defensive unit.

Their goal was down to a lack of cohesion in our defence.

[CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber]

Still haven't beaten a team above us. Still haven't cracked the top 6 for more than a game ot two. The season won't be defined by yesterday's result but at some point we have to make the step up. On to Saturday 

[islander200]

7 hours ago, Crimpshrine said:

Felt like a mid-table battle between two average teams. I think we deserved a draw but no more.

Considering the 11 players we put out wasn't far off our first choice team ( bar Dack ) and Bristol were missing quite a few big players it was a missed opportunity.

 

Dack, Travis and Brereton would be in our strongest 11 for me

[neophox]

Think we should try and loan Tosin in january.

[islander200]

4 minutes ago, neophox said:

Think we should try and loan Tosin in january.

Who is playing in the premier league every week forbl Fulham?

[islander200]

How did Ayala not get that header on target

[PerthBlues]

12 hours ago, PerthBlues said:

I've emailed Rovers MD for what it's worth.

I`ve had two emails this morning apologising and my money has been refunded. 

 

We are sorry to hear that you have been charged for the event in question.

Please note that you have now been refunded with the amount of £10 and this should be with you within 5-7 working days.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

If you do have any issues like this during the next live game please contact us via the live chat option on the club's website and we will endeavour to resolve this as soon as possible.

 

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Funny thing re Armstrong - I actually thought his general play was a lot better than it has been all season. His control and runs off the ball were excellent  - somewhat ironic that he left his shooting boots at home - and his decision making on when to shoot and when to pass was so poor. Having said that - the way they dropped off him - it was almost like they wanted him to shoot.

Overall an opportunity lost - we looked the better team for large parts - but defensively (as a TEAM) you can often see how our current set up leaves us exposed at times. But it is that same formation - often with both full backs playing as wingers - that has seen us play some good attacking football.

Possibly the rub of the green we had in our previous home matches counted against us. But for all the doom and gloom - (for me) only felt like we dropped a point - as it had draw written all over it.

[LeftWinger]

1 hour ago, neophox said:

Think we should try and loan Tosin in january.

Maybe go for Harry Kane while we are at it for some competition for Armstrong.

[USABlue]

11 hours 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.

Exactly, for sure on nights like tonight when he has his shooting biots on the wrong feet.