v Sunderland (h) - 26/12/2024

[Ossydave]

They've only won 1 in 5 away from home, their win at Swansea was decent like after being 2 nil down.

Losing Trav is absolutely gutting and to a lesser extent Pickering. We've not done TOO bad with injuries up to now but you just knew it would scupper any faint play off dreams. Just wish it could have waited till after we played that lot 😪 

Needs a big reaction on Boxing Day, something Trav would have helped with as well.

[Upside Down]

6 hours ago, Forever Blue said:

January will be interesting. Surely they’ve learned by now that investing in new players whilst in a position of relative strength might actually bring success. 

LOL

[JHRover]

If you are going to pick up injuries then late December or January is the 'best' time to do it, as you are heading into a transfer window with the ability to quickly replace people and reinforce as opposed to having to wait for several months and make do.

So Rovers know what they need, the manager does, over to the owners and board to strengthen......

They aren't going to be able to use the 'secretary having a meltdown' excuse or 'admin error' again so soon after the last couple of January's and they aren't going to admit the rancid owners won't back the club so the most interesting part of the next 4-5 weeks is going to be what cock and bull nonsense they come up with to explain a lack of backing for Eustace and whether he puts up with it. 

[philipl]

Having just watched some Sunderland highlights they are very mobile up front and unlike us strike on sight. We will have to defend from the front much better than we did at Millwall.

At the other end, their defence is not particularly secure. If we play Baker, I hope both he and Tronstad are encouraged to use their powerful shooting abilities.

[Exiled_Rover]

4 hours ago, islander200 said:

How would 2 points from the next 2 games be outstanding?

We have as good a home record as most In the division, Hull have spent the majority of the season in the bottom half

 

 

New manager bounce and they have a better squad than we do.

[simongarnerisgod]

42 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

New manager bounce and they have a better squad than we do.

dont know how you work that one out,they are in the relegation zone

[Ricky]

8 hours ago, davulsukur said:

Trav is a massive loss over the next few weeks. Not too sure on Baker, he's done OK as a sub and filling in for 1 game but there has to be a reason a struggling Stoke side loaned him out.

Yeah because who would loan out one of their best midfielders to another team in the same league…. Oh yeah, we did. 

[islander200]

52 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

New manager bounce and they have a better squad than we do.

We are 5th in the league at home against a team who have been in the lower half most season,Saturday was a pretty poor performance but its our only defeat in seven and we have only lost twice at home this season. We are 5th on merit 

Even Sunderland like someone else pointed out , they have one win in 5 away from home in the league 

We may get zero points.We may only get 2 but it will be a major disappointment if that is the case. It certainly wouldn't be outstanding 

[joey_big_nose]

I feel like this season (and in stark contrast to recent years) through luck or design we have ended up with 2 decent players for every position on the pitch. So we've been able to ride out what seemed a catastrophic loss in Carter, and I am optimistic that we have the quality to replace Travis and Pickering, despite both being really excellent for us this season. Trav has been player of the season so far for me.

Baker goes straight in, Beck to left back, and I guess Dolan or Hedges go on the left and that's the team pretty much. Still will have an okay bench assuming one of Ohashi or Geuye is on it with Wieman and Sigurdson if he's back from injury? Leonard as well. It's not galaticos but something there to influence a game in the second half.

Where we are really vulnerable imo is if one of the two CBs are taken out. Pickering was our viable cover there really, so we will be forced to used Faz who really does not look mobile enough to me to play football at this level any more. We need a CB in first day of Jan.  

[arbitro]

I look at the Sunderland team from their last match and really don't see anything to justify what seems a majority view that they will beat us. One of our tormentors in chief from recent seasons (Clarke) is no longer there and in our last game against them we scored five. Our recent strength has been our organisation and despite losing Travis that will still be there on Thursday. Having read reports from Sunderland's recent matches it seems they too are well organised so it could be another and of attrition with one goal either way.

[sharpysharps86]

16 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

2 points from the next 2 would be outstanding.

Our season is about to hit the buffers I fear - injuries and fixtures piling up.

I think most would be disappointed with 2 draws from 2 home games, especially when one is against a side currently sat 21st in the division. I can accept a draw at home to a side above us in the table, but come on, we should be putting Hull to the sword regardless of their new manager. It was important that Hull beat Swansea the other day, they've got that first win under new management out of their system.

Obviously comes with the disclaimer that injuries are a concern and nothing is guaranteed.

[chaddyrovers]

Rovers 1 nil

[TonyM]

This fixture always makes me think of Boxing Day 2001. I was spending Xmas with my in-laws in the East Midlands but by Boxing Day was really in need of a break. I managed to get through to someone in the ticket office that morning who told me the game was sold out, but with some begging and pleading they managed to find me a single ticket in the Riverside, so I drove up to Ewood.

In that game, Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips gave us a real lesson in what a strike partnership was all about (we had Grabbi up front on his own) and completely ripped our defence apart. Craig Short got himself sent off and we were probably lucky to only lose 3-0. Attendance was just a few under 29,000.

Still enjoyed getting away from the in-laws for the day though !

This time I'm not making the trip, but will be watching on TV. Not confident about it and would accept a draw but hoping for a 2-1 win.

COYB

 

Edited Tuesday at 09:59 by TonyM

[Herbie6590]

 

[Gav]

Just bought 8 tickets and I struggled to find any sat together, looks like another bumper crowd in the offing, let hope the injuries don't dampen the spirit and Rover to win 2-0. 

[USABlue]

I forsee a gloomy miserable holiday period on the Rovers front.  We had managed to hobble through with a lengthy casualty list for quite a few games but the last two straws will be the ones that cripple the camel.  Too bad, I fear we will lose all the ground we had gained over the next 5 or so matches. Wheels start to come off, 3-1 to Mackems Late consolation for us.

Edited Tuesday at 11:48 by USABlue

[USABlue]

On 22/12/2024 at 03:19, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

It’s up front where the problems are. ACD will be a very lucky boy to get a start. He was poor yesterday and any Sunderland scout watching our game yesterday will have seen just how to deal with him.  Luckily for him Dolan was worse when he came on.  I’ve made my views clear about Hedges previously but what alternatives are there with Beck needed at full back. Gueye ? I can’t remember another Rovers player like him. How many touches did he have in our opponents penalty area yesterday ? We make so few chances that we need a clinical finisher up front. That’s exactly what he isn’t.

ACD looks like a poor mans Dolan to me every bit the same headless chicken but with even ooorer touch and close control and he is not as pacey as some were making out.  Not good enough 

[USABlue]

On 23/12/2024 at 03:32, roversfan99 said:

If we bring in Buckley for Tronstad then it is a considerable downgrade. 

We unfortunately lack width as we havent sufficiently recruited players who can provide it.

And if we had width just what would we do with it?  Cross the ball? to who exactly?  Our big lad up front is not that good at heading, Gally like.

[islander200]

4 minutes ago, USABlue said:

ACD looks like a poor mans Dolan to me every bit the same headless chicken but with even ooorer touch and close control and he is not as pacey as some were making out.  Not good enough 

He was the best player on the pitch in the first half the previous week .Dolan doesn't score the goal ACD did in that game 

Saturday was his 2nd league start ,and all our attacking players were poor, Cantwell being the worst of them 

[JHRover]

30 minutes ago, Gav said:

Just bought 8 tickets and I struggled to find any sat together, looks like another bumper crowd in the offing, let hope the injuries don't dampen the spirit and Rover to win 2-0. 

I reckon about 24,000 on at current sales including their 7,300.

Still plenty of empties in the Riverside and no BBE upper but yeah Jack Walker and BBE lower reasonably full.

[USABlue]

35 minutes ago, Gav said:

Just bought 8 tickets and I struggled to find any sat together, looks like another bumper crowd in the offing, let hope the injuries don't dampen the spirit and Rover to win 2-0. 

Large crowd when we are on an upturn usually just about gaurantees a loss.

[davulsukur]

18 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Baker got stuck in that Chelsea loan vortex for too long, but he's a quality player.

Stoke had a change of manager and wanted rid of him, it happens. We're undoubtedly paying all of his wages so that's as good as a transfer for them.

It does happen but if he's that good surely a new manager would prefer to keep him around when the squad isn't that great. I'll bow to your superior knowledge on this one though. Hopefully he comes in and does the job.

12 hours ago, Ricky said:

Yeah because who would loan out one of their best midfielders to another team in the same league…. Oh yeah, we did. 

Wasn't that long ago that plenty on here were calling Trav a league one clogger tbf. 

But yep, it was a terrible decision to let him go out on loan but with the hierarchy we have here, it's not a surprise tbh.

[Dreams of 1995]

You have brought some festive cheer in those last couple of posts USABlue

Lovely Christmas Eve to you too 👍😂

[Mattyblue]

The Travis move was ridiculous. ‘But he’d fallen out with JDT’. So what? He was literally weeks from the sack, a completely non-sensical decision to loan out the captain when facing a relegation battle (unless it was all to save three months wages)

Edited Tuesday at 12:11 by Mattyblue

[JHRover]

Completely nonsensical indeed and I and a few others pointed this out the day it happened. I'm not aware of many other examples of clubs loaning out their captains to rivals mid-season but then again not many other clubs operate like this one.

Of course as time has gone by and Travis' importance both on and off the pitch has become more and more apparent it only looks even more of a shocking decision and just imagine had we actually got relegated off the back of it.

Some want to console themselves by believing the party line that it was all the fault of that nasty unreasonable JDT. Nothing to see here folks, nothing at all to do with Venkys, shadow man or Waggott, the wage savings of course just a convenient by-product. A bit like it being ever so convenient that Ian Silvester suffered amnesia and forgot how to submit a transfer form on deadline day and that conveniently saved the owners the expense of spending on new quality signings.....