v Bristol City (a) - 20/11/21 (& local info for those heading to the gate, from a Bristol City follower)

[Paul Mani]

For me….

                    kaminski

Nyambe Lenihan Ayala Pickering

                   Trav Edun 

Poveda         Bucko     Dolan

                      BBD

Davenport unlucky and I wouldn’t be against him for Edun. Dolan has been arguably our best player this season (with Bucko) so returns. Poveda the best player on the park vs Sheff Utd and keeps his spot.

Subs - Pears, Wharton, Davenport, Johnson, Rothwell, Khadra, Butterworth 

**Wharton, Rothwell and Khadra to start at home vs Peterborough on Wednesday and then back to this team again away at Stoke on Saturday.

Exciting week!

 

Edited November 19, 2021 by Paul Mani

[USABlue]

22 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Rothwell couldn't have any complaints if he misses out here. Travis and Buckley will start and then its between ; Rothwell, Edun, Davenport and Johnson for the last spot. 

Same team as last time out if possible.  Same way of playing too, PLEASE.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Can't put this Rovers side on any accumulator...just like Forrest says,you never know what your gonna get!

[tomphil]

Will the tombola throw out brave Tony or timid Tony when the players numbers drop out ?

Tricky one this and coming out of an Int break we are usually sluggish so i expect he'll go similar to at QPR looking for a draw and hoping to nab something.

The defensive availability and selection holds the key for me.

City 1    Rovers   1

[Admiral Nelsen]

3 hours ago, Paul Mani said:

For me….

                    kaminski

Nyambe Lenihan Ayala Pickering

                   Trav Edun 

Poveda         Bucko     Dolan

                      BBD

Davenport unlucky and I wouldn’t be against him for Edun. Dolan has been arguably our best player this season (with Bucko) so returns. Poveda the best player on the park vs Sheff Utd and keeps his spot.

Subs - Pears, Wharton, Davenport, Johnson, Rothwell, Khadra, Butterworth 

**Wharton, Rothwell and Khadra to start at home vs Peterborough on Wednesday and then back to this team again away at Stoke on Saturday.

Exciting week!

 

I'd just about lean towards Davenport over Edun, but other than that I like that side. Khadra slightly unlucky after a goal and a good second half performance vs Sheffield United, but to be honest I thought they masked him having some pretty dreadful spells until that point. I like him, but his game intelligence/respect for possession needs a lot of work for me. 

 

It would be a big call leaving out Rothwell though. It was one thing to drop him last time out when we could've easily done the same to the whole starting XI, but generally this year he's been involved in a lot of what we've done well. If we go back to 433, I can see Mowbray going with:

 

                   Kaminski

Nyambe Lenihan Ayala Pickering

         Buckley  Travis    Rothwell 

Poveda                            Brereton-Diaz

                      Dolan

[chaddyrovers]

                    Kaminski 

Nyambe Lenihan Wharton Pickering 

                Travis Davenport 

Poveda         Buckley         Dolan

                     Brereton-Diaz 

Subs:- Pears Edun Ayala Rothwell Johnson Butterworth Khadra 

[arbitro]

Anything but the same team and tactics from last time out will be wrong in my view.

But I don't believe that Mowbray can help himself so I expect changes. I also expect him talking up Bristol City who have taken a measly 7 points from a possible 24 at home this season in which they have only scored 6 goals.

[Admiral Nelsen]

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

Anything but the same team and tactics from last time out will be wrong in my view.

But I don't believe that Mowbray can help himself so I expect changes. I also expect him talking up Bristol City who have taken a measly 7 points from a possible 24 at home this season in which they have only scored 6 goals.

 

Not defending Mowbray's tendency to over-tinker, but I think Ayala & Pickering coming back in is entirely fair enough. Edun (as much as I'm glad that we have him) found it tough going against Sheffield United and obviously was obviously a part of the Fulham drubbing. Dropping Wharton after a good return is harsh I suppose, but I think you'd really struggle to overestimate the importance of Ayala's contribution before he got injured. I suspect that he'll get his chance again sooner rather than later anyway, but in the meantime I'd look to make the very most we can out of Ayala before his next spell out.

 

[arbitro]

3 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

 

Not defending Mowbray's tendency to over-tinker, but I think Ayala & Pickering coming back in is entirely fair enough. Edun (as much as I'm glad that we have him) found it tough going against Sheffield United and obviously was obviously a part of the Fulham drubbing. Dropping Wharton after a good return is harsh I suppose, but I think you'd really struggle to overestimate the importance of Ayala's contribution before he got injured. I suspect that he'll get his chance again sooner rather than later anyway, but in the meantime I'd look to make the very most we can out of Ayala before his next spell out.

 

The Sheffield match was the best we have played this season, that is indisputable. We looked solid defensively, probably more so than any other time this season. I agree Ayala has been good this season but dropping Wharton sends out the wrong message to the players and fans. However as I said in my earlier post I expect there to be changes.

[Admiral Nelsen]

14 minutes ago, arbitro said:

The Sheffield match was the best we have played this season, that is indisputable. We looked solid defensively, probably more so than any other time this season. I agree Ayala has been good this season but dropping Wharton sends out the wrong message to the players and fans. However as I said in my earlier post I expect there to be changes.

 

There's a good case to keep Wharton in the team, definitely. Very impressive considering the time he's spent away, even though you could say he could've dealt with their goal better. 

Don't get me wrong, I think there's a pretty good case to keep the whole XI the same (and I hope we mostly do) but I wouldn't go overboard with how solid we looked, personally. I think we were great overall, and should have scored more than three, but at the same time our goal lived a bit of a charmed life to keep them down to just the one. This after the Fulham game, I think this is one of those cases where one or two changes to a winning side is warranted and not just Mowbray being Mowbray. 

[rigger]

2 hours ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

 

There's a good case to keep Wharton in the team, definitely. Very impressive considering the time he's spent away, even though you could say he could've dealt with their goal better. 

Don't get me wrong, I think there's a pretty good case to keep the whole XI the same (and I hope we mostly do) but I wouldn't go overboard with how solid we looked, personally. I think we were great overall, and should have scored more than three, but at the same time our goal lived a bit of a charmed life to keep them down to just the one. This after the Fulham game, I think this is one of those cases where one or two changes to a winning side is warranted and not just Mowbray being Mowbray. 

As long as any change is an improvement. I don't mind.

[chaddyrovers]

 

[joey_big_nose]

A few games ago I was pretty unenthused by Poveda, Davenport and Wharton. Khadra I could see was a decent player but he hardly had any game time.

That all of them have put in a very good performance and we also have Ayala back changes the mentality really. Should be able to put out a solid XI and have 3 decent options from the bench.

If you were the Bristol city manager trying to setup it is a difficult prospect as Rothwell, Dolan, Diaz, Buckley, Poveda and Khadra all offer something different. If Gallagher's available that's different again.

We're a threat on the counter and a threat from set pieces, a lot of pace and trickery, and score a lot of goals. Not many teams (except Fulham...) will fancy playing us.

[Gone to seed]

That is the problem with these fecking meaningless international breaks - it totally destroys any momentum at a local level. Mind you, TM is quite good at that himself with his constant tinkering. 

Regarding tomorrow, I do hope he sticks with a winning formula / mentality and goes for the jugular - I mean, why not just go for it at this stage of the season? If it works, then way hay, and if not, there's plenty of time to turn things around. I think we'd all prefer a balls-out, grafting and entertaining attempt to actually win the game, than a timid 'come and get me' tippy tappy don't hurt me buuuuuulllllshit that is often served up at away games after a break...

C'Mon you BLUES!!

2-1 Home advantage says the head, 1-3 delirium says the heart!

[TruRover]

Anyone who doesn’t think Rothwell should be starting is crazy.

 

Kaminski 

Nyambe Lenihan Ayala Pickering 

rowthwell Travis Buckley 

Poveda brereton Khadra 

Edited November 19, 2021 by TruRover

[Gav]

The Wurzels 1 Rovers 3

 

[only2garners]

41 minutes ago, TruRover said:

Anyone who doesn’t think Rothwell should be starting is crazy.

 

Kaminski 

Nyambe Lenihan Ayala Pickering 

rowthwell Travis Buckley 

Poveda brereton Khadra 

Clearly I'm crazy then.

[Sparks Rover]

6 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

Yeah, but there are 19 teams who have conceded the same or less......same old story.  Mogadon Out!

[Claytons Left Boot]

On 18/11/2021 at 09:39, infoman said:

Hope to see as many of you at our place on Saturday,any indication of how many Blackburn Rovers followers will be making the trip?

I know of a coach going from one of the Darwen pubs. Apparently, we’ve sold ‘just short of a thousand.’

[OldEwoodBlue]

11 years of Venkys. Very humbling.

[OsloRover]

On 18/11/2021 at 15:09, roversfan99 said:

Mowbray said that Ayala and Pickering are back, Gallagher is still injured and surprise surprise, sick note Rankin Costello has got a new injury. Unsure if Van Hecke got a 1 or 3 match ban.

 

I've read somewhere that it's a 3 match ban for van Hecke

After a good performance in our last match, I'd try to stick with the ones who did well - like Davenport and Poveda

Edited November 20, 2021 by OsloRover

[Displaced Rover]

14 hours ago, TruRover said:

Anyone who doesn’t think Rothwell should be starting is crazy.

 

Kaminski 

Nyambe Lenihan Ayala Pickering 

rowthwell Travis Buckley 

Poveda brereton Khadra 

Rothwell shouldn’t be starting so call me crazy. Two reasons:

1) Players who started last game deserve to keep the shirt.

2) Whilst he’s not signed a contract extension, we should be planning for future without him.

[Doug]

Pre season I wouldn't have predicted we'd be 7th after 17 games....unless it was from the bottom!!

A win today and a couple of good results elsewhere and we are in the nosebleed zone.

Decent competition for many positions on the pitch should mean a good starting 11 and decent bench.

C'mon Rovers, give us a good weekend, 3-0 to us.

Edited November 20, 2021 by Doug

[SuperBrfc]

The table doesn't look too bad at the moment and we have two winnable games coming up. We know what that usually means, but a win today would set us up nicely for Peterborough.

Bristol City aren't the side they were a couple of seasons ago and have struggled so far this season. They've lost key players in Nagy, Pack, Eliasson and Diedhiou and haven't replaced them properly by the looks of it. They are there for the taking today.

I'm expecting Ayala, Pickering and Dolan to come back into the 11, with Wharton, Edun and Khadra dropping to the bench. If we show the same intent as we did against Sheff United we should beat these. COYB.

[TruRover]

 

38 minutes ago, Displaced Rover said:

Rothwell shouldn’t be starting so call me crazy. Two reasons:

1) Players who started last game deserve to keep the shirt.

2) Whilst he’s not signed a contract extension, we should be planning for future without him.

He’s criminally underrated by this board. By far the best midfielder we have at the club. 
 

While normally I would agree with the 2nd point Rothwell has clearly never become distracted this season - his work ethic has been incredible and he clearly cares and want to win. 
 

While I like davenport 2 holding midfielders against a poor Bristol city team is overkill. 

Edited November 20, 2021 by TruRover