v Millwall (a) - 21/12/2024

[martonrover]

7 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

The last direct Blackburn - London train service was withdrawn in 1959 and it's time it was restored. The area's population  surely justifies it. Blackburn used to have direct trains to Glasgow, Liverpool, Wigan and Southport, among other places. all long gone.  

I agree. Lots of other towns had direct London services, too.

In Blackpool we lost ours, but it was restored when the Preston to Blackpool line was electrified.

If Lumo owners ,First Group, have plumped for Rochdale, they must just think there is a better business case for launching a service from there than other North West towns.

A place like Blackburn would be more attractive to an open access operator than a franchise, (or Great British Railways).

Eg, Grand Central, who run a direct London service from Bradford, stopping at stations not served by LNER.

 

[onlyonejackwalker]

I wouldn't be suprised to see Hedges, Dolan, Cantwell and Ohashi starting, Pickering, JRC, ACD and Gueye rested. Totally different playing away and hes found a recent way to win.

Equally, im happy to trust the manager and I'm loving the selection headaches a winning team and rotating squad brings. If we haven't a clue who will start, what chance Millwall?

Millwall 0 - Rovers 1. Anything else just wouldn't be festive.

[Atko's Engine]

The clean sheet & winning runs that we're on ought to be irrelevant to the outcome of any match, other than the confidence they bring to the squad.

I think that Eustace, perhaps more than any manager we've had since Hughes, is great at keeping folk calm, their feet on the ground, and implementing the "one game at a time" mantra. He'll be looking at this like he always does; as a tough game against a team who, despite their current disharmony, haven't conceded many & have played some decent teams of late.

I'm confident of a win here to set us up nicely for S'land then Hull.

11 games in 40 days is a tough ask, regardless of opposition. Sensible rotation will be key. Eustace has many more options open to him than I can remember in recent years, and I trust him to know how to use them. The easy change for Saturday imo is to bring in Cantwell for Pickering or Beck; I would also swap Dolan for Ohashi to give the latter a rest. Keep Gueye & Amario in, & no need to rush Brittain back in for JRC given the congestion ahead. Everything else stays the same for me.

[Forever Blue]

Don’t agree that Eustace has ‘many options’. He has more than JDT had but it’s still a squad low on quality in comparison to the squads Mowbray had at his disposal. 
 

In fact, thinking about it, Eustace doesn’t have the likes of Szmodics and BBD to call on which JDT had. There’s a bit more depth to the squad this season though. JE doesn’t have a bench full of 12 year olds like JDT had at times last season. 
 

Which all goes to show what a phenomenal job Eustace is doing, and what a terrific job JDT did until it all fell apart in his last 2 months.

Edited December 18 by Forever Blue

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, martonrover said:

I agree. Lots of other towns had direct London services, too.

In Blackpool we lost ours, but it was restored when the Preston to Blackpool line was electrified.

If Lumo owners ,First Group, have plumped for Rochdale, they must just think there is a better business case for launching a service from there than other North West towns.

A place like Blackburn would be more attractive to an open access operator than a franchise, (or Great British Railways).

Eg, Grand Central, who run a direct London service from Bradford, stopping at stations not served by LNER.

 

The plan is for Rochdale to become a commuter town for Manchester businesses . Then workers who have to attend meetings etc in London can get a direct train there.

[...]

2 hours ago, Forever Blue said:

Don’t agree that Eustace has ‘many options’. He has more than JDT had but it’s still a squad low on quality in comparison to the squads Mowbray had at his disposal. 
 

In fact, thinking about it, Eustace doesn’t have the likes of Szmodics and BBD to call on which JDT had. There’s a bit more depth to the squad this season though. JE doesn’t have a bench full of 12 year olds like JDT had at times last season. 
 

Which all goes to show what a phenomenal job Eustace is doing, and what a terrific job JDT did until it all fell apart in his last 2 months.

I think Eustace is the type of manager to play a steady game. Steadied the ship when he came in at end of last season, and he's been relatively consistent. Of course we havent had our major lows yet (here's hoping there's none) but feel he's someone that's getting the best out of what we have have on a weekly basis. We've had alot of games of late and plenty to come in close succession and the momentum is helping things nicely. 

Edited December 18 by BlueNWhiteArmy

[Ricky]

Millwall have had some decent home results this season. They’ve beaten Leeds at home already (as have we). I’d be happy with a draw in this one. A win would set us up nicely for the tough home games we have coming up against Sunderland and that lot down the road.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

4 hours ago, Ricky said:

Millwall have had some decent home results this season. They’ve beaten Leeds at home already (as have we). I’d be happy with a draw in this one. A win would set us up nicely for the tough home games we have coming up against Sunderland and that lot down the road.

As you say it’ll be a really tough game. We’ll have to be at our best to get a result there. Having said that I think Eustace knows all that and he’ll have us ready mentally.

Edited December 18 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[Forever Blue]

From memory we’ve done quite well at Millwall in recent years. 

Edited December 18 by Forever Blue

[...]

5 minutes ago, Forever Blue said:

From memory we’ve done quite well at Millwall in recent years. 

Last 20 games 

Rovers 10

Millwall 3

Draw 7

 

Recent outings below

Edited December 18 by BlueNWhiteArmy

[KentExile]

24 minutes ago, BlueNWhiteArmy said:

Last 20 games 

Rovers 10

Millwall 3

Draw 7

 

Recent outings below

based on all of those 1-0s & 1-1s, I'm going for 4-3 to Rovers 😉 

[...]

7 minutes ago, KentExile said:

based on all of those 1-0s & 1-1s, I'm going for 4-3 to Rovers 😉 

Honestly based on that could go either way yea lol

[roverandout]

Didn't we beat them 4-3 in 2022?

[MarkBRFC]

2023, but yes we did.

[arbitro]

8 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

2023, but yes we did.

And we also beat them 2-1 in 2023 at the New Den.

[Hasta]

Baath and Hyam have been outstanding recently. Hyam has rediscovered hi first season form, and Baath has massively exceeded expectations. But I do worry about them having to keep playing 90 minutes of every game, especially with 5 games in 14 days coming up. At some point I think mcFadz is going to have to step in, which would be a worry.

[MarkBRFC]

Just now, Hasta said:

Baath and Hyam have been outstanding recently. Hyam has rediscovered hi first season form, and Baath has massively exceeded expectations. But I do worry about them having to keep playing 90 minutes of every game, especially with 5 games in 14 days coming up. At some point I think mcFadz is going to have to step in, which would be a worry.

I think that's when you would have to go to more of a strict back 3 with Pickering and Batth/Hyam either side of him, which we kind of play when Pickering and Beck play together anyway.

[roversfan99]

4 hours ago, Forever Blue said:

Don’t agree that Eustace has ‘many options’. He has more than JDT had but it’s still a squad low on quality in comparison to the squads Mowbray had at his disposal. 
 

In fact, thinking about it, Eustace doesn’t have the likes of Szmodics and BBD to call on which JDT had. There’s a bit more depth to the squad this season though. JE doesn’t have a bench full of 12 year olds like JDT had at times last season. 
 

Which all goes to show what a phenomenal job Eustace is doing, and what a terrific job JDT did until it all fell apart in his last 2 months.

Even Mowbray didnt have a really deep squad. Initially for the year or two after promotion much of the depth was the likes of Smallwood, Downing, Samuel, Nuttall etc, who helped us get promoted to varying degrees but weren't Championship players. And towards the end the funding was cut and the squad was too small to sustain a full season because the Armstrong money vanished.

[Herbie6590]

Previous meetings and last match…

[Forever Blue]

14 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Even Mowbray didnt have a really deep squad. Initially for the year or two after promotion much of the depth was the likes of Smallwood, Downing, Samuel, Nuttall etc, who helped us get promoted to varying degrees but weren't Championship players. And towards the end the funding was cut and the squad was too small to sustain a full season because the Armstrong money vanished.

He was well supported at times during his 4/5 years in charge. Nobody else had the luxury of spending £5m and £7m strikers. 

[rigger]

3 hours ago, Forever Blue said:

From memory we’ve done quite well at Millwall in recent years. 

I won a bottle of champagne in the full time draw a few years ago.

[neophox]

I would promoto McFadz to a coach role and get an good solid defender in january.

[Mike E]

Bath’s form makes one wonder how JDT would’ve managed

[Forever Blue]

5 hours ago, BlueNWhiteArmy said:

Last 20 games 

Rovers 10

Millwall 3

Draw 7

 

Recent outings below

There can’t be many teams we have a better away record against. 

[BlackburnEnd75]

3 hours ago, neophox said:

I would promoto McFadz to a coach role and get an good solid defender in january.

I think he's probably already doing that role now.

We are one cb injury away from a problem here with a lot of games in short succession over the next 6 weeks. 

We could get through the odd game with fadz or the full backs as wide cbs in a back 3 but would spell trouble if it's an extended period

If we are to dip into the market at cb, it would have to depend on when Carter is back (who for me is individually our best cb) and with Wharton due back next season it would be a loan for me.

Or we could o'riordan despite him not looking ready yet.