v Ipswich Town (h) - Good Friday, 29/3/24, 17:30

[DE.]

Ipswich will be coming to Ewood to win, no question about that. They're gunning for top two and will be desperate to take advantage of Leicester stumbling at the finish line, also aware that Leeds' imperious form over the past few months leaves little margin for error in terms of keeping pace with them. Ipswich's playoff spot is essentially secured, so they can afford to put it all on the line in every match. Very little pressure either, as the team are already performing high above expectations. 

It remains to be seen how a Eustace-managed Rovers will deal with this. Ipswich are top scorers in the division by some margin (80 goals scored, Leicester next best with 74), so the chances of our sub-standard defending not being punished at least a couple of times seems small. Holding out in general seems unlikely, but try to fight fire with fire and it could be back to getting properly hammered. 

Don't really envy Eustace in preparing for this one. 

[tomphil]

2 hours ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

5-0 Rovers   30,200 🤪

Rovers 1   Ipswich  0

Hendry

6,579

[J*B]

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

Havent you always been disturbed by a potential season in the Prem due to a potential lack of competitiveness? Yet in the Championship you are happy to lose to Southampton and Ipswich at home (2 of only 8 games left and of only 4 at home) as long as we dont get hammered.

Yes to both - the idea of going up, being sold AND having to effectively buy a full squad (as I'm not sure any of ours would be good enough) - absolutely terrifies me and stinks of "straight back down". If that was to happen I don't think I'd find much fun getting tonked most weeks by the worlds best players. 

At this stage of the season I would be setting targets for each game - Ipswich, Southampton and Leeds in my opinion, will beat us 99/100 times at the moment. So I would prioritise goal difference in those games and instead would target getting a minimum of 6 points from Sunderland, Bristol and Sheff Weds. Which I think would be enough to keep us up. 

[Mattyblue]

Ipswich would beat us 99 times out of a hundred at Ewood?

Get out of it.

[chaddyrovers]

Ipswich are a good side but we are more than good enough to beat them. Cardiff beat them 2 weeks ago. So they aren't unbeatable. People need to believe in this team and stop with this deafest attitude people have.  

 

[tomphil]

Ipswich are a strong side obviously but they are on a promotion bounce, just one season out of league 1.

They are beatable and have been.

The whiff of defeatism is swirling again.

[MarkBRFC]

2 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Ipswich are a good side but we are more than good enough to beat them. Cardiff beat them 2 weeks ago. So they aren't unbeatable. People need to believe in this team and stop with this deafest attitude people have.  

 

2 wins in 20 Chaddy.

[yellowsubmarine]

I don't think the players believe in themselves either. Just pray our goal difference wont get a big hit.

[chaddyrovers]

4 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

2 wins in 20 Chaddy.

yet again Mark, I am fully aware of that but we have to still belief in our players and head coach unless what's the point in being at Ewood Park supporting the club, Eustace and the players

[Mattyblue]

If anyone knows of any bookies who are willing to offer 100/1 for us to just avoid defeat, if you could send me an IM. 

[arbitro]

18 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Ipswich are a strong side obviously but they are on a promotion bounce, just one season out of league 1.

They are beatable and have been.

The whiff of defeatism is swirling again.

We really should have beat them at Portman Road. After coming back from 3-1 down there was only going to be one winner until Pears decided to punch rather than catch. I can't believe how they are being talked up in this thread.

[J*B]

36 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Ipswich would beat us 99 times out of a hundred at Ewood?

Get out of it.

Sadly, I watched their performance against QPR and thought they where streets ahead of us. They where absolutely brilliant, especially in attack and everyone knew exactly what was expected.

[joey_big_nose]

They've lost away at Cardiff and Preston recently so its hardly impossible. But they're the favourites obviously.

I thought we looked a pretty good proposition against Boro. So feeling okay about this one. Think another draw likely.

[joey_big_nose]

On 17/03/2024 at 14:14, simongarnerisgod said:

i hope eustace sees  we can`t play a high defensive line against a renown counter attacking team.whatever the result.im`e sure we will be  "outstanding"😁

I think playing a high line is okay if we dont have McFadz in there. And helps of we have Carters pace too.

If Carter is fit he will have a decision to make between Carter, Hyam and Wharton. I cant see us going back to a back 3 after the back 4 looked good against Boro.

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, J*B said:

Yes to both - the idea of going up, being sold AND having to effectively buy a full squad (as I'm not sure any of ours would be good enough) - absolutely terrifies me and stinks of "straight back down". If that was to happen I don't think I'd find much fun getting tonked most weeks by the worlds best players. 

At this stage of the season I would be setting targets for each game - Ipswich, Southampton and Leeds in my opinion, will beat us 99/100 times at the moment. So I would prioritise goal difference in those games and instead would target getting a minimum of 6 points from Sunderland, Bristol and Sheff Weds. Which I think would be enough to keep us up. 

If we would lose 99 times out of 100 to any teams in the league in your opinion, whats the difference to being in the Prem, bar that we are getting beat by average players instead of world class? Surely you would prefer us to get relegated so we wont be playing against anyone who we wont be competitive with?

I get why anyone would be pessimistic about our prospects, we havent won a game yet under Eustace, our record over the last few months is embarassing. So talk of people needing to lose a defeatist mentality and believe in them blindly is naive in the extreme. But I cannot fathom why anyonrle would say they would be happy to lose as long as we dont get tonked. Nor can I understand your reluctance for us to be a Premier League team.

[oldjamfan1]

1 hour ago, J*B said:

Sadly, I watched their performance against QPR and thought they where streets ahead of us. They where absolutely brilliant, especially in attack and everyone knew exactly what was expected.

Funnily enough didn't we do a similar job on QPR at their place? No two games in this division are the same,  I thought everyone would have realised this by now. Rovers are more than capable of beating Ipswich at Ewood. Play like we did against Newcastle and we have every chance.

[DE.]

Ipswich have scored the most goals in the league and lost the least games in the league (5 out of 38). A point behind Leicester and Leeds and eight points ahead of Southampton on a fraction of the budget. They're an incredibly well-drilled team with an extremely strong mentality. We haven't seen that in well over a decade. That isn't talking them up or talking us down, it just is what it is, and at this stage of the season the table doesn't lie. You don't fluke 81 points, 80 goals and 5 defeats across 38 games. 

With that said, of course they're beatable. Any team in this league is, especially when you're at home. They've conceded 49 goals so their defence can be breached, and they've actually conceded the most goals of anyone in the top eight save for Norwich. Our problem is that we now don't score many and our defence is still pretty dodgy, despite improvements in that regard since Eustace came in, so it's going to be a very difficult match to get anything from. We can match them if we're up for it, and they've shown they can have off days - Cardiff recently - but the reality is we will need to have a solid game plan and the players up for it from the first whistle if we want all three points. 

It's obviously galling to see a team come up from League 1 and do something we haven't managed in 12 years of being in this league (excepting L1 season), but there you go. That's what a combination of good ownership and management can do. Perhaps one day we'll experience that again, when Venky's finally disappear. 

Edited March 18, 2024 by DE.

[RTM08]

Of the top 4 this feels like the most winnable, and we showed earlier this season that we can put goals past them if we go for it. However, I don't see us going for it under Eustace, and even if we did we literally only have Sammie as a danger. 

We'll play for a draw and hope we can nick it, so for me it will be 0-0 or 0-2. That said with 2 weeks maybe Eustace will finally have them playing. 

[Paul Mellelieu]

I'm going for a win.

[RevidgeBlue]

10 hours ago, J*B said:

Yes to both - the idea of going up, being sold AND having to effectively buy a full squad (as I'm not sure any of ours would be good enough) - absolutely terrifies me and stinks of "straight back down". If that was to happen I don't think I'd find much fun getting tonked most weeks by the worlds best players. 

At this stage of the season I would be setting targets for each game - Ipswich, Southampton and Leeds in my opinion, will beat us 99/100 times at the moment. So I would prioritise goal difference in those games and instead would target getting a minimum of 6 points from Sunderland, Bristol and Sheff Weds. Which I think would be enough to keep us up. 

Nurse? !!!!

Bloody Hell, Ipswich Southampton and Leeds aren't Manchester City or Barcelona. Get a grip!

We should be targeting something off every game. One of the three mentioned above might have an off day when we play them and I think it's more likely we'll beat one of them then routinely roll over all three of the so called "lesser" sides.

 

[bluebruce]

I don't know why but I have a funny feeling we sneak a win in this one, and that we'll draw if we don't.

I can't really give a logical reason, it really is just a gut feeling (and I'm rarely one for excess optimism, I prefer balance and logic). Closest I can come to rationale is we have some important players back and fresher legs after the break, 2 full weeks for Eustace to finally implement whatever his preferred approach is (no, I don't rate him yet, but still), we are overdue a win and we've yet to lose against the stronger sides we've faced under Eustace. Maybe it suits his game better.

No, it's not enough to predict a win or draw against a side having a much better season and run of form than us. No, I won't be at all surprised if it's a meek 2-0 defeat instead. But nonetheless, it's what my gut thinks is gonna happen.

[lraC]

 

[lraC]

Just now, lraC said:

 

Anyone up for wearing a Suhail Pasha mask, please let me know. I am in the process of obtaining a price and expect them to be £1.50 - £1.75. 

[Oldgregg86]

3 hours ago, bluebruce said:

I don't know why but I have a funny feeling we sneak a win in this one, and that we'll draw if we don't.

I can't really give a logical reason, it really is just a gut feeling (and I'm rarely one for excess optimism, I prefer balance and logic). Closest I can come to rationale is we have some important players back and fresher legs after the break, 2 full weeks for Eustace to finally implement whatever his preferred approach is (no, I don't rate him yet, but still), we are overdue a win and we've yet to lose against the stronger sides we've faced under Eustace. Maybe it suits his game better.

No, it's not enough to predict a win or draw against a side having a much better season and run of form than us. No, I won't be at all surprised if it's a meek 2-0 defeat instead. But nonetheless, it's what my gut thinks is gonna happen.

Weirdly feel the same . Gut feeling with no rational says win or draw and I’m usually quite pessimistic 😂

[Blow-in]

4 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Weirdly feel the same . Gut feeling with no rational says win or draw and I’m usually quite pessimistic 😂

We are historically awful after an international break. I would not be too optimistic.