v Cardiff (a) - 15/1/22 - 12.30pm kick off

[chaddyrovers]

 

 

 

[JHRover]

Ridiculous that in the unprecedented circumstances such as these - which sees the Welsh assembly adopting different rules to England - that we still have to follow the 'blackout' rule for 3pm kick offs. You'd have thought they might have made an exception given this isn't being done for commercial reasons but out of necessity.

Then again maybe the early kick off appeals to Rovers and Cardiff -- get the game done and everyone can be home early.

[tomphil]

I fear with this being behind closed doors won't suit our team and it'll also afford TM to do something odd with his selection. Had Gallagher been fit he'd have been a shoe in to start on the right again.

Tricky game this i hope they approach it in the right fashion and don't start setting out just to stop the opposition again.

Not confident about this one for some reason but i'll keep the faith.

Cardiff   1     Rovers   1

[chaddyrovers]

4 hours ago, JHRover said:

Ridiculous that in the unprecedented circumstances such as these - which sees the Welsh assembly adopting different rules to England - that we still have to follow the 'blackout' rule for 3pm kick offs. You'd have thought they might have made an exception given this isn't being done for commercial reasons but out of necessity.

Then again maybe the early kick off appeals to Rovers and Cardiff -- get the game done and everyone can be home early.

Don't know why you are surprised given that Wales and Scotland have had different rules for ages.

Made an exception? Just look at Wales government reaction to Chester FC having fans in their stadium which is on the border of England and Wales. https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2022-01-10/football-club-that-straddles-border-warned-over-covid-rule-breaks

[JHRover]

18 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Don't know why you are surprised given that Wales and Scotland have had different rules for ages.

Made an exception? Just look at Wales government reaction to Chester FC having fans in their stadium which is on the border of England and Wales. https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2022-01-10/football-club-that-straddles-border-warned-over-covid-rule-breaks

I'm not surprised fans aren't allowed in as I'm well aware of the rules the Welsh regional assembly have imposed. 

I'm surprised that the only way the game can be broadcast to fans is by moving kick off away from 3pm to avoid the 'blackout' imposed by the league, which is designed to protect the sanctity of 3pm games and avoid gates being destroyed by live streaming.

I would have hoped some common sense could prevail and recognition that these are exceptional circumstances forced by the Welsh authorities and not for commercial reasons.

But as I say, I expect both Rovers and Cardiff are quite happy with an earlier kick off for travel and organisational reasons so it matters not.

[chaddyrovers]

3 minutes ago, JHRover said:

 

I'm surprised that the only way the game can be broadcast to fans is by moving kick off away from 3pm to avoid the 'blackout' imposed by the league, which is designed to protect the sanctity of 3pm games and avoid gates being destroyed by live streaming.

I would have hoped some common sense could prevail and recognition that these are exceptional circumstances forced by the Welsh authorities and not for commercial reasons.

 

aren't they UEFA rules about 3pm blackout? 

[JHRover]

Thought it was EFL but not sure. Either way the point is the same 

[damo100]

Cardiff have the worst home record in the Championship, based on that, this on paper should be a winnable game.

The early start could prove beneficial if we can get the 3 points as this would put a little pressure on teams around us in the league. 

Cardiff 0 2 Rovers

Crowd: 0

Edited January 11, 2022 by damo100

[Upside Down]

Hopefully we don't go into this being too over confident. If we can keep our heads then we stand a chance of winning.

[JacknOry]

As long as we don't have Britney Pears in goal, we will win 0-2 (BB and Khadra).

[Gav]

3 hours ago, Upside Down said:

Hopefully we don't go into this being too over confident.

If Pears and the rest of Saturdays team reads this site we'll have no problems on that score.......

[1864roverite]

Tough game for Rovers who need to be far better organised than they were against Wiggin. Happy with a point 1-1

[rigger]

39 minutes ago, 1864roverite said:

Tough game for Rovers who need to be far better organised than they were against Wiggin. Happy with a point 1-1

If we are planning for promotion, a draw at Cardiff is not a result to be happy with. 

[Gav]

20 minutes ago, rigger said:

If we are planning for promotion, a draw at Cardiff is not a result to be happy with. 

Nonsense. 

Take a look at our record away at Cardiff, a draw would be a good result and keep us right on track for promotion.

[rigger]

6 minutes ago, Gav said:

Nonsense. 

Take a look at our record away at Cardiff, a draw would be a good result and keep us right on track for promotion.

To my mind, I don't look at our past results at Cardiff. I look at it as, we are challenging for promotion, a draw away to a team struggling near the bottom of the league is not good enough. And will not keep the pressure on our challengers.

[USABlue]

The beginning of the end as the bubble pops in glorious style.  ToMo holding the pin.

Edited January 11, 2022 by USABlue

[Admiral Nelsen]

If there was one benefit of the FA cup game, it's that it reinforced that the team that's been picking up points in the league needs to stay. Assuming Nyambe & Lenihan can play, the team picks itself.

 

I feel that this is quite an important game after the last two. Not at our best against a resilient Huddersfield, but a decent enough point in the context of our recent form. Wigan was a freak occurrence with their goals and was a cup game when all is said and done. Even so, a loss (or maybe even a draw) here and suddenly there's danger of seeing clouds in our otherwise clear blue sky.

 

Cardiff don't impress me one bit, but then again every away in the Championship has the potential to be tough. They'll also remember being put to the sword earlier in the campaign, so will want to get some pride back from then. Hopefully we open the scoring and then I'd be pretty confident of us seeing it out. 

[lraC]

The empty stadium, will make for an unusual (2020/21 excepted) atmosphere and should work to our advantage.

I am hoping for a win, but avoiding defeat is a must.

Rovers 0-1 Big Ben. 

[Sparks Rover]

1 hour ago, Gav said:

Nonsense. 

Take a look at our record away at Cardiff, a draw would be a good result and keep us right on track for promotion.

Not really Gav, the team behind have 2 games in hand and if we don't win and they do,  our automatic hopes are less positive.  Imperative we beat a shit Cardiff.

Edited January 11, 2022 by Sparks Rover

[only2garners]

An interesting stat from Cardiff's cup tie with North End. There were 42 fouls in the game, 27 of them by Cardiff. That might indicate the type of game we will have.

[only2garners]

23 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Not really Gav, the team behind have 2 games in hand and if we don't win and they do,  our automatic hopes are less positive.  Imperative we beat a shit Cardiff.

Generally winning at home and drawing away will get you in the top two most seasons. We're a bit behind that plan right now as we have played more home games. Achieving it in the rest of the season will give us 85 points. That has been enough to comfortably make the play-offs in the last 20 years but only automatic promotion in 2 seasons.

[roversfan99]

There is no reason whatsoever that we should go to Cardiff with the attitude that anything other than 3 points will not be a success.

We are 2nd in the league and have to get into an attitude whereby 3 points is a realistic aim from any game, we are 2nd in the table, 6 wins and a draw in 7 in the league, unbeaten in 9, we have had a full week to prepare, Cardiff are having a dreadful season and have collected 7 points at home all season, easily the worst in the league, and of course the stadium will be empty. They have also recently lost Giles who is a very good creative player at this level.

Obviously it is not the end of anything if we don't win but I'd be frustrated all things considered if we don't come back with 3 points. When you are at the top end of a league, if you drop points even with a draw, most of your rivals tend to make ground up on you.

[roversfan99]

4 minutes ago, only2garners said:

Generally winning at home and drawing away will get you in the top two most seasons. We're a bit behind that plan right now as we have played more home games. Achieving it in the rest of the season will give us 85 points. That has been enough to comfortably make the play-offs in the last 20 years but only automatic promotion in 2 seasons.

It is a well trodden cliche with an element of truth to it but of course it is unrealistic to expect to win every game at home therefore it doesn't translate, so surely against the worst home team in the league, it is a ripe opportunity to really expect 3 points.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

1 hour ago, USABlue said:

The beginning of the end as the bubble pops in glorious style.  ToMo holding the pin.

And I’m sure you’ll be first in line to congratulate Tony if we get a win on the weekend..

[only2garners]

53 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

It is a well trodden cliche with an element of truth to it but of course it is unrealistic to expect to win every game at home therefore it doesn't translate, so surely against the worst home team in the league, it is a ripe opportunity to really expect 3 points.

Of course it's not literal but it's a useful tool to measure where you are. We are currently in a slightly false position because we have played three more home games than away games and there are a couple of teams behind us with games in hand. 4 of our next 5 games are away so we need to get a couple of wins in there at least - they are all winnable if we can keep up our league form.