v Stoke City (a) - 10/3/23

[Officer Barbrady]

Can someone explain the Stoke love in? I really don't get it. They have won 3 and lost 2 in their last 5, not really tearing it up. Will it be easy? Of course not, no game in the Championship is, but we can get a result of that I have no doubt.

Will say it again:They are 16th for a reason. That's not me being arrogant, that's just what it is.

[Aqualung]

I'm not predicting the outcome as it would be a first for me. Stoke away the way we are performing at the moment should hold no fear. They aren't West Bromwich, Watford, Leicester nor Sheffield United. If jdt keeps his head and plays the same team as we did against the Blades we should get at least a point.i would hope. 

[Paul Mani]

Same again, in terms of match day squad, starting XI and performance and we’ll win. Simple as that. 🙏🏽

Edited March 7, 2023 by Paul Mani

[Gordon Ottershaw]

2 hours ago, Officer Barbrady said:

Can someone explain the Stoke love in? I really don't get it. They have won 3 and lost 2 in their last 5, not really tearing it up. Will it be easy? Of course not, no game in the Championship is, but we can get a result of that I have no doubt.

Will say it again:They are 16th for a reason. That's not me being arrogant, that's just what it is.

No matter who the manager is Stoke always seem to be fairly direct and physical, the sort of team Rovers traditionally struggle against. They are rightly regarded as a big club and have a recent Premier League pedigree. They have a good manager and represent the type of opposition that Rovers often trip up against when we're seemingly on the cusp of success. The pessimism is probably due to a combination of those factors.

Edited March 7, 2023 by Gordon Ottershaw

[Waggy76]

15 hours ago, had.e.nuff said:

we could do with an Andy Crawford type player to score form a few chances

Simon Garner would be better !!

[JHRover]

4 hours ago, Gordon Ottershaw said:

 They are rightly regarded as a big club and have a recent Premier League pedigree. 

Agreed with most of your post but who regards them as a big club? 

5 years this time since they were in the PL. Not really recent.

They're a middle of the road Championship side like 10-12 others these days, ourselves included. Tend to have enough to keep clear of trouble but haven't threatened promotion.

[ben_the_beast]

6 hours ago, Officer Barbrady said:

Can someone explain the Stoke love in? I really don't get it

Maybe the old saying "but can he do it on a rainy night in Stoke" is fully ingrained into people's consciousness. 

[AllRoverAsia]

ByWe are made of stronger stuff these days and will give Stoke a stern test.

I expect a low scoring win to Rovers but it could easily be a 0-0 or 1-1.

There has been a shortage of goals in our meetings with Stoke for quite a few years. 

[ben_the_beast]

19 minutes ago, AllRoverAsia said:

ByWe are made of stronger stuff these days and will give Stoke a stern test.

I expect a low scoring win to Rovers but it could easily be a 0-0 or 1-1.

There has been a shortage of goals in our meetings with Stoke for quite a few years. 

We should have beaten Stoke earlier this season, but we conceded the first goal and they shut us out. 

Our difficulty in coming back from losing positions could likely rear it's head again. My feeling is that so long as we get the first goal, we stand a very good chance. I agree it's going to be a low scoring game. 

[benhben]

Hopefully the 6 days of rest will do some of the squad good after a bit of an intense period. Cant see how you can justify changing the starting line up at the moment, so same side again. Only change I would consider is Brittain for pickering. 

Hopefully Stoke try and have a go which will leave some space on the counter. Think some of our players are better suited to that rather than breaking down a deep defence. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

11 minutes ago, benhben said:

Hopefully the 6 days of rest will do some of the squad good after a bit of an intense period. Cant see how you can justify changing the starting line up at the moment, so same side again. Only change I would consider is Brittain for pickering. 

Hopefully Stoke try and have a go which will leave some space on the counter. Think some of our players are better suited to that rather than breaking down a deep defence. 

I haven’t been a Pickering fan in the past but I thought he was among our best players on Saturday, as he was at Leicester. When JRC was subbed off  in the cup Brittain came on in his place and got the runaround off Barnes. I’d leave things as they were.

[RoversTilliDie]

On 05/03/2023 at 13:38, Exiled_Rover said:

How the hell does Pears have 7 clean sheets this season?!

Because he's a worthy replacement for Kaminski, the form speaks for its self.

[RoversTilliDie]

8 hours ago, Officer Barbrady said:

Can someone explain the Stoke love in? I really don't get it. They have won 3 and lost 2 in their last 5, not really tearing it up. Will it be easy? Of course not, no game in the Championship is, but we can get a result of that I have no doubt.

Will say it again:They are 16th for a reason. That's not me being arrogant, that's just what it is.

Blackburn Rovers were going through a bad patch until there 12 match unbeaten run, lets not take them to lightly.

[joey_big_nose]

28 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I haven’t been a Pickering fan in the past but I thought he was among our best players on Saturday, as he was at Leicester. When JRC was subbed off  in the cup Brittain came on in his place and got the runaround off Barnes. I’d leave things as they were.

Yes.... recently both full backs have been getting much further forward than at the start of the season. We're overloading teams all the time. The combo of Dolan, Szmodics and Pickering down the left is very hard for other teams to deal with. It's been outstanding since Szmodics and Dolan came in. 

That said every strength always exposes a weakness - as we push up I do wonder how things will pan out against a more direct team that plays the longer ball into the channels behind our full backs. No one's really  done that recently, but someone's going to give it a go soon, maybe Stoke as they have the players for it. Carter and Hyam are often left as the only two back.

Edited March 7, 2023 by joey_big_nose

[RoversTilliDie]

24 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I haven’t been a Pickering fan in the past but I thought he was among our best players on Saturday, as he was at Leicester. When JRC was subbed off  in the cup Brittain came on in his place and got the runaround off Barnes. I’d leave things as they were.

The reason for Blackburn Rovers purple patch, they are playing as a team and goals are coming from all positions and so is the man of the match award. Another thing its giving BBD and Bradley Dack a well earned rest.

[Admiral Nelsen]

1 hour ago, AllRoverAsia said:

ByWe are made of stronger stuff these days and will give Stoke a stern test.

I expect a low scoring win to Rovers but it could easily be a 0-0 or 1-1.

There has been a shortage of goals in our meetings with Stoke for quite a few years. 

 

Yes, certainly since the 3-2 win there in the first year after promotion.

Absolutely mad game which summed up the good and the bad of a Mowbray team in 90 minutes. 3-0 up and cruising and by the end of the game we were seriously lucky to come away with the three points.

 

On reflection, we've actually got a decent record there over recent years. 3 wins out of the last 4. 

[Upside Down]

19 minutes ago, RoversTilliDie said:

Because he's a worthy replacement for Kaminski, the form speaks for its self.

He had a decent few games last season as well before that absolute howler against wigan.

[Guest]

41 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

When JRC was subbed off  in the cup Brittain came on in his place and got the runaround off Barnes. I’d leave things as they were.

I agree on that. Brittain seemed to back off into the six yard box for Barnes to run at us for their goal, although he was looking for some help to defend the middle. Still, he should have got closer to Barnes to stop him getting into a lethal area.

Pickering has improved this season, and certainly should not be dropped based on recent performances.

[BlackburnEnd75]

1 hour ago, goozburger said:

I agree on that. Brittain seemed to back off into the six yard box for Barnes to run at us for their goal, although he was looking for some help to defend the middle. Still, he should have got closer to Barnes to stop him getting into a lethal area.

Pickering has improved this season, and certainly should not be dropped based on recent performances.

I don't think Brittain did a lot wrong for that goal. They'd beaten the press and we were massively stretched. I felt Carter needed to come across sooner and help block him coming inside. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 minutes ago, BlackburnEnd75 said:

I don't think Brittain did a lot wrong for that goal. They'd beaten the press and we were massively stretched. I felt Carter needed to come across sooner and help block him coming inside. 

Brittain was playing centre half at the time . Why ? I don’t know. Barnes had half the pitch to run into. Once you let players like that get a run at you they have the advantage. JRC had him playing facing his own goal most of the time.

Backing off to buy time is all well and good but when your opponent gets to the penalty area it’s make your mind up time. You need to be more aggressive and make them do something.

[Andy]

It'll be a tough match, but so was the Sheffield game and we knew how to manage that.

We have to remember that we will drop points between now and the end of the season, but we can't get too excited about when we do.

If we can play even close to how the last few matches have gone for the rest of the season, I can't see how we won't finish in the top 6.

Top 2 might be a stretch target, but we've got the momentum behind us and all we can do is pick up as many points as we can.

I think we'll draw 0-0 or 1-1 on Friday.

[BigBar]

9 minutes ago, Andy said:

It'll be a tough match, but so was the Sheffield game and we knew how to manage that.

We have to remember that we will drop points between now and the end of the season, but we can't get too excited about when we do.

If we can play even close to how the last few matches have gone for the rest of the season, I can't see how we won't finish in the top 6.

Top 2 might be a stretch target, but we've got the momentum behind us and all we can do is pick up as many points as we can.

I think we'll draw 0-0 or 1-1 on Friday.

Very reasonable post and I agree. We are conditioned as rovers fans that even on a hot streak it feels like a crushing loss or complete no show is just around the corner. It's not that I fear stoke but it's just a case of we have been hurt so many times before syndrome. 

I wouldn't be surprised if we went there and won 3-0, equally wouldn't surprise me to go there a lose 2-0. I don't think a draw is the worst result but obviously hoping for 3.

[jim mk2]

Time for a Brereton recall? He's a Stoke lad and will be itching to play and do well in this game. If we play with the same intensity, pace and effort as the Leicester and SheffU matches we'll win at a canter. If we go back to the bad old ways, we'll do well to get a draw. It's as simple as that. 

[speedies gonna get ya.]

What's the weather forecast? 

[tomphil]

It'll be wrong whatever it is.