v Sheffield Utd (a) - 23/2/22 - Match Preview

[RoversTilliDie]

19 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Yeah I agree. Khadra a good player but when a game swings this way dolans the better of the two and should be replaced 

If I was Mowbray I would go with an attacking formation, Diaz out for a month or more. We need somebody to fit BBDs shirt and start putting the ball in the net.I bet one ore two of the Blackburn end wouldn't mind wearing it.

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, Mellor Rover said:

It's more than a few weeks! TM just trying to downplay it and make it sound like he'll only miss a few games. I think he misses the next 7.

Mowbray mentioned today that it "looks like he could miss his game against Brazil in the Maracana" which is in the next international break, at least 7 games away, 8 if Millwall is rearranged before then. So it could be well beyond that. He also said "let’s hope he can impact the end of our season" so it doesnt look promising.

[Bigdoggsteel]

9 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Mowbray mentioned today that it "looks like he could miss his game against Brazil in the Maracana" which is in the next international break, at least 7 games away, 8 if Millwall is rearranged before then. So it could be well beyond that. He also said "let’s hope he can impact the end of our season" so it doesnt look promising.

I would hope he isn't anywhere near South America if he hasn't played for us before that 

[Bigdoggsteel]

39 minutes ago, Geoff66 said:

If I was Mowbray I would go with an attacking formation, Diaz out for a month or more. We need somebody to fit BBDs shirt and start putting the ball in the net.I bet one ore two of the Blackburn end wouldn't mind wearing it.

Don't encourage him 🤣

[roversfan99]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

I would hope he isn't anywhere near South America if he hasn't played for us before that 

It seems like he wont even be fit by then.

[Bigdoggsteel]

9 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

It seems like he wont even be fit by then.

Was it taking that shot he got injured? It looked so inconspicuous,but I suppose that happens. 

It's a huge blow ,no doubt, but I'm not surprised ,I had a bad feeling when he went off to the last international games that it was a heavy workload. 

Maybe he should have been rested again against WBA ,but that's easy for me to say now. 

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Was it taking that shot he got injured? It looked so inconspicuous,but I suppose that happens. 

It's a huge blow ,no doubt, but I'm not surprised ,I had a bad feeling when he went off to the last international games that it was a heavy workload. 

Maybe he should have been rested again against WBA ,but that's easy for me to say now. 

It was the shot yes, rolled his left ankle when planting his foot to shoot. He looked tired in the games before that but ligaments and ankles especially are tricky, doesn’t take much for them to go. Who knows if less workload would’ve effected things. My opinion is it wouldn’t, but he looked like a hamstring waiting to happen anyway.

[Bigdoggsteel]

15 minutes ago, Mellor Rover said:

It was the shot yes, rolled his left ankle when planting his foot to shoot. He looked tired in the games before that but ligaments and ankles especially are tricky, doesn’t take much for them to go. Who knows if less workload would’ve effected things. My opinion is it wouldn’t, but he looked like a hamstring waiting to happen anyway.

Ya ankles are tricky. It looked a fatigued and frustrated shot I thought. He looked a few gears below since the last trip. They aren't doing great over there and all this new pressure seems to be on him. A break might be good. For him individually at least 

[neophox]

My only concern would be our attack. We have our strongest defence and midfeld and need at least a point.

Hopefully three👍

[SuperBrfc]

This may well be a dress rehearsal ahead of a play off semi final tie. Sheff United have been on a good run, but they have had a couple of 0-0's in there prior to thrashing Swansea. I think we're making too much of them personally. They are a bang average side with a long throw and Billy Sharp as their main weapons. Gibbs-White is a threat too, fair enough.

They won't have it as easy against our backline as they did on Saturday though. I think we're going to do a job on them. 0-1. COYB.

[RoversTilliDie]

If the Championship was decided on injuries Rovers would be 25pts clear. They must have had 100 plus injuries in the last couple of seasons. One player returns from injury another two take his place.

[bluebruce]

8 hours ago, Geoff66 said:

If I was Mowbray I would go with an attacking formation, Diaz out for a month or more. We need somebody to fit BBDs shirt and start putting the ball in the net.I bet one ore two of the Blackburn end wouldn't mind wearing it.

I understand the temptation to over compensate, but I don't think the solution to our best attacker being out is to go more attacking.

We should play to our strengths not our weaknesses, and that's why I'd rather stick with the current approach. At the very least, it has proven hard for teams to break it down. Even with no goals, every clean sheet is a draw. We are bound to nick goals here and there too. I think it's our best chance of sneaking enough points to make the playoffs.

[davulsukur]

Must win game if there ever was one. 

Sheff Utd will close the gap on us to 1 point with a game in hand if they win. QPR up next and Fulham after that. Boro close behind with a game in hand on us as well.

A lot of pressure going into this (and the next game after). Screw this up and we could be outside the playoffs after the QPR game.

Not even going to call it but these next 2 games are huge.

[MarkBRFC]

Yeah if we lose tonight all of a sudden the gap to 7th is only 2 points.

I predict we'll be pretty much out of the running by the international break.

[Guest]

Tonight is huge after last nights results, snap your hand off for a point, as long as we beat QPR Saturday. 4 points minimum required from these next 2 ahead of a free hit against Fulham next week. We all know what happens to this Rovers team when the pressure starts to be put on them normally though...

[Bigdoggsteel]

5-6 points from the next 3 games would be an acceptable return. Anymore and it would be excellent 

[rog of the rovers]

Really do fear for the current Rovers side when we concede first. 

First goal massive in most Championship games, especially tonight. Score first and we're so hard to breakdown, with strengths playing on the counter attack.

Go behind and the opposition will just soak up pressure and our sideways movement.

Rothwell on a poor run of form, Buckley missed guilt edged chances. Pickering back is a big plus, Gallagher with another chance to show what he can do, Khadra largely ineffective off the bench, but good for 60-70 mins.

Kaminski

Nyambe - Lenihan - van Hecke - Wharton - Pickering

Buckley - Travis - Rothwell

Gallagher - Khadra

[G Somerset Rover]

1 hour ago, davulsukur said:

Must win game if there ever was one. 

Sheff Utd will close the gap on us to 1 point with a game in hand if they win. QPR up next and Fulham after that. Boro close behind with a game in hand on us as well.

A lot of pressure going into this (and the next game after). Screw this up and we could be outside the playoffs after the QPR game.

Not even going to call it but these next 2 games are huge.

Mellor's beat me to it, but 4 points is an absolute must from the next two games IMO. I'd take a draw tonight but only if we follow that up with a win against QPR on Saturday. I'm with you though, we simply have to hit form now. Our confidence will be shot to bits if we lose this, draw or lose with QPR and lose to Fulham. We simply can't allow it to happen.

[G Somerset Rover]

1 hour ago, MarkBRFC said:

Yeah if we lose tonight all of a sudden the gap to 7th is only 2 points.

I predict we'll be pretty much out of the running by the international break.

I posted it in the Millwall thread but we have three extremely kind home games in a row before the international break thanks to that rearranged fixture. If we're out of the running by the international break then we'll bloody well deserve it as there is 9 points begging to be taken there alone.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[Admiral Nelsen]

32 minutes ago, Mellor Rover said:

Tonight is huge after last nights results, snap your hand off for a point, as long as we beat QPR Saturday. 4 points minimum required from these next 2 ahead of a free hit against Fulham next week. We all know what happens to this Rovers team when the pressure starts to be put on them normally though...

I get what you're saying about the Fulham game being a free hit, but we have so little room for error for the top 2 now in my view, we can't be treating any game (even Fulham away) like that.

 

Say we need the average of 84 points to go up automatically, that means basically 5 wins and a draw out of the 7 games coming up which would put us on 70 before the international break, before needing another 14 from the last games. There are so many winnable games in there that it's not impossible (and chances are we might need just less than 84 this year) but every game is precious now. 

 

Agree that all that being said, 4 points from the next two would be a great return. QPR is looking like a must win, but you could argue that Sheff. U away is possibly the toughest game that we'll have between now and the end of the season, bar maybe Fulham. 

[Admiral Nelsen]

3 minutes ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

I posted it in the Millwall thread but we have three extremely kind home games in a row before the international break thanks to that rearranged fixture. If we're out of the running by the international break then we'll bloody well deserve it as there is 9 points begging to be taken there alone.

 

Our fixture list reassures me plenty when it comes to at least finishing in the play offs. We've suffered in the last month by having so many tricky games bunched up together (and some underperformance too) but we should really be able to cash in after the Fulham game. Doubtless there'll still be some slip ups, and these will probably be the difference if we find ourselves outside of the conversation for the top 2, but we shouldn't be panicking too much about the top 6 just yet. 

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

I get what you're saying about the Fulham game being a free hit, but we have so little room for error for the top 2 now in my view, we can't be treating any game (even Fulham away) like that.

 

Say we need the average of 84 points to go up automatically, that means basically 5 wins and a draw out of the 7 games coming up which would put us on 70 before the international break, before needing another 14 from the last games. There are so many winnable games in there that it's not impossible (and chances are we might need just less than 84 this year) but every game is precious now. 

 

Agree that all that being said, 4 points from the next two would be a great return. QPR is looking like a must win, but you could argue that Sheff. U away is possibly the toughest game that we'll have between now and the end of the season, bar maybe Fulham. 

I'm counting down the points to get to 70 right now. 

We simply don't have the goals to get to 84/85 points, I'm afraid that boat sailed when we didn't sign a striker in January.

Focus has got to be on 7 wins between now and the end of the season, taking us to at least 73 points, a couple of draws and we should be good for top 6.

The free hit game was mainly a comment suggesting any points in that are a bonus for us. They're beatable for sure but I don't expect anything from that game.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

 

Our fixture list reassures me plenty when it comes to at least finishing in the play offs. We've suffered in the last month by having so many tricky games bunched up together (and some underperformance too) but we should really be able to cash in after the Fulham game. Doubtless there'll still be some slip ups, and these will probably be the difference if we find ourselves outside of the conversation for the top 2, but we shouldn't be panicking too much about the top 6 just yet. 

Agreed on this.

For all the talk about form and gap to teams below etc the facts still remain, there is still a gap. Therefore I wouldn't swap our current position for anyone else's bar Bournemouth and Fulham.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

16 minutes ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

I posted it in the Millwall thread but we have three extremely kind home games in a row before the international break thanks to that rearranged fixture. If we're out of the running by the international break then we'll bloody well deserve it as there is 9 points begging to be taken there alone.

There are no easy games if you aren’t scoring.

[G Somerset Rover]

10 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

There are no easy games if you aren’t scoring.

Oh I agree. Just saying if we can't be winning those games then we won't deserve to finish in the play-offs (or better).