v Plymouth Argyle (h) - 15/2/2025

[lraC]

40 minutes ago, BankEnd Rover said:

I predicted we'd win last night and we'll loose this -  I still stand by that sadly.

Will be a tough game, with a decent Plymouth following.

I don't mind if we loose it, so long as we don't lose it.

Sorry, pet hate.

[roversinmyblood]

26 minutes ago, Herbie6590 said:

I’d take the 12/10/91 iteration…

That’s what you call “Garnering” the points. Score early for a Speedie result. 

[joey_big_nose]

20 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

None of our midfield players are likely to get beyond Gueye. That’s one of the reasons we aren’t prolific scorers normally. Weimann hasn’t got the legs anymore. As you say now isn’t a time for changing pattern of play, but maybe if we go behind ?

Well I guess Dennis and Kargbo have been brought in to get beyond Gueye. I would see one of them coming in for Wieman.

Gueye to be fair to him (as evidence by his extraordinary heatmap against WBA) is actually very good at dropping in and playing in midfield too, and helping out the defenders when we are in a low block... He is a forward who prefers to play in the number 10 areas more than on the shoulder like a proper number 9.

Maybe the way we will setup would be better described as 

                                   Pears

 Brittain       Sanderson     Hyam      Riberio

                       Travis         Buckley

             Dolan          Gueye              Kargbo

                                Dennis

Quite like that.

[Waggy76]

52 minutes ago, Herbie6590 said:

I want another 5-2…

That was an afternoon !!

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Plastics said:

Why is it a must win?

We aren't good enough or consistent enough to be able to count on winning games against the teams in and around us (even on the back of the performance last night). 

History would indicate that we need 70-75 points to get into the playoffs. So we need 22+ points from our remaining 14 matches, but realistically probably 25 or more.

That means we need to pick up at least another 5 wins (more likely 6/7). If we are going to hit that target then we absolutely have to beat the bottom feeders.

We have to win at least 4/6 matches against Plymouth, Derby, Stoke, Luton, Portsmouth, and Cardiff. We should really be winning 5 or 6. If we don't pick up 13-15 points from those matches then we are going to find things tough.

Yes, we could spring the odd surprise. Yes, we could get lucky and have Sheffield United celebrating promotion on the final day and not really care (like Leicester* last year), but we have to get the majority of our points against the bad teams.

Why is this match particularly important? Not only because it would give us good momentum in spite of the managerial issues, but it would also maintain, and potentially grow, the advantage that we have over 7/8/9. If we win this weekend then there is a very good chance that the gap over at least one of those teams will grow. Psychologically that will be huge. 

Edited February 13 by Eddie

[roversfan99]

It could also make it very difficult for those slightly further down to make up any gap. 

[...]

Anyone in here from the noisy squad in the Blackburn End? Gotta keep them chants goin I try on jack walker upper lol

[SpaceBarSlam]

8 minutes ago, ... said:

Anyone in here from the noisy squad in the Blackburn End? Gotta keep them chants goin I try on jack walker upper lol

We need somebody to get a proper chant put together for Travis. Longest-serving player, captain and been in the best form of his career. 

He's more than earned it by now!

[BlackburnEnd75]

                          Pears

Brittain.  Sanderson. Hyam.   Ribeiro

                  Travis.   Buckley

 Weimann.     Dolan.       Dennis

                      Drogba

Subs: toth, jrc, Litherland, forshaw, cantwell, Hedges, Kargbo, ACD, woodrow

Similar team but with sanderson in for the presumed injured batth and dennis on the wing for Hedges. Could put the front 3 behind the striker in any order you wanted.

[roversinmyblood]

59 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Well I guess Dennis and Kargbo have been brought in to get beyond Gueye. I would see one of them coming in for Wieman.

Gueye to be fair to him (as evidence by his extraordinary heatmap against WBA) is actually very good at dropping in and playing in midfield too, and helping out the defenders when we are in a low block... He is a forward who prefers to play in the number 10 areas more than on the shoulder like a proper number 9.

Maybe the way we will setup would be better described as 

                                   Pears

 Brittain       Sanderson     Hyam      Riberio

                       Travis         Buckley

             Dolan          Gueye              Kargbo

                                Dennis

Quite like that.

Interesting 🤔 could be a genius move, definitely thinking outside of the box. 

[Exiled_Rover]

58 minutes ago, Eddie said:

We aren't good enough or consistent enough to be able to count on winning games against the teams in and around us (even on the back of the performance last night). 

History would indicate that we need 70-75 points to get into the playoffs. So we need 22+ points from our remaining 14 matches, but realistically probably 25 or more.

That means we need to pick up at least another 5 wins (more likely 6/7). If we are going to hit that target then we absolutely have to beat the bottom feeders.

We have to win at least 4/6 matches against Plymouth, Derby, Stoke, Luton, Portsmouth, and Cardiff. We should really be winning 5 or 6. If we don't pick up 13-15 points from those matches then we are going to find things tough.

Yes, we could spring the odd surprise. Yes, we could get lucky and have Sheffield United celebrating promotion on the final day and not really care (like Leeds last year), but we have to get the majority of our points against the bad teams.

Why is this match particularly important? Not only because it would give us good momentum in spite of the managerial issues, but it would also maintain, and potentially grow, the advantage that we have over 7/8/9. If we win this weekend then there is a very good chance that the gap over at least one of those teams will grow. Psychologically that will be huge. 

I almost liked this - but it was Leicester last year and they did not want to lose to us. We pissed on their chips last year, it took the shine off their promotion party. 

[Eddie]

21 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

I almost liked this - but it was Leicester last year and they did not want to lose to us. We pissed on their chips last year, it took the shine off their promotion party. 

Sorry, poor mistake given the fact that Leeds are in the Championship. But you get my point. Just squeezing in the response on my lunch break and the brain failed me for a moment. 

[joey_big_nose]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

We aren't good enough or consistent enough to be able to count on winning games against the teams in and around us (even on the back of the performance last night). 

History would indicate that we need 70-75 points to get into the playoffs. So we need 22+ points from our remaining 14 matches, but realistically probably 25 or more.

That means we need to pick up at least another 5 wins (more likely 6/7). If we are going to hit that target then we absolutely have to beat the bottom feeders.

We have to win at least 4/6 matches against Plymouth, Derby, Stoke, Luton, Portsmouth, and Cardiff. We should really be winning 5 or 6. If we don't pick up 13-15 points from those matches then we are going to find things tough.

Yes, we could spring the odd surprise. Yes, we could get lucky and have Sheffield United celebrating promotion on the final day and not really care (like Leeds last year), but we have to get the majority of our points against the bad teams.

Why is this match particularly important? Not only because it would give us good momentum in spite of the managerial issues, but it would also maintain, and potentially grow, the advantage that we have over 7/8/9. If we win this weekend then there is a very good chance that the gap over at least one of those teams will grow. Psychologically that will be huge. 

I might be wrong but over the last few years we have tended to be quite good against mid table teams but usually lose against teams in the top six and bottom three. I think our record against bottom three sides is really really poor in recent years. This year a bit better - against Plymouth, Luton and Hull we are P4 W2 L2 so far.

[Eddie]

Just now, joey_big_nose said:

I might be wrong but over the last few years we have tended to be quite good against mid table teams but usually lose against teams in the top six and bottom three. I think our record against bottom three sides is really really poor in recent years. This year a bit better - against Plymouth, Luton and Hull we are P4 W2 L2 so far.

Not sure we can rely on that historical trend to win us points down the stretch. We've also been awful in the second half of seasons...

Win the 'easy' games. Hope for a bonus from the tough ones. 

[jim mk2]

It's so important we win this to get a run going after the very welcome and unexpected West Brom victory and gives us some momentum going into the sharp end of the season. 

A defeat (or draw) would be such as disappointment and will take away the feel-good factor from Tuesday.

A must-win game for me. Nothing else will do. 

 

 

[bluebruce]

I think this is a tougher game than it looks on paper. Plymouth are actually in good form, 2 wins and a draw from their last 3 games. And they did us last time we played. Add those games together and you get 10 points from 4 games - which is more than a third of all their points this season.

Absolutely hammered Millwall yesterday, who we've often struggled against. Albeit with an own goal, a penalty, and 5 goals despite only 7 shots on target and 35% possession. They also beat WBA in their previous league game just like ourselves, and beat Liverpool in the cup. I think we're playing them at a bad time. Their tails will absolutely be up.

[...]

Looking at West broms upcoming games they have a tough run coming up which can fall into our favour if we can capitalise 

Edited February 13 by ...

[RevidgeBlue]

3 hours ago, Herbie6590 said:

I want another 5-2…

Maybe without going 2 down first though!

And did we miss a penalty as well or am I imagining that?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

12 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

I think this is a tougher game than it looks on paper. Plymouth are actually in good form, 2 wins and a draw from their last 3 games. And they did us last time we played. Add those games together and you get 10 points from 4 games - which is more than a third of all their points this season.

Absolutely hammered Millwall yesterday, who we've often struggled against. Albeit with an own goal, a penalty, and 5 goals despite only 7 shots on target and 35% possession. They also beat WBA in their previous league game just like ourselves, and beat Liverpool in the cup. I think we're playing them at a bad time. Their tails will absolutely be up.

As long as we are aware of that and react accordingly we’ll do ok. 

[bluebruce]

Just now, ... said:

Looking at West broms upcoming games they have a tough run coming up which can fall into our favour if we can capitalise 

It's a shame there are so many teams underneath us who can just slot into WBA's place as contenders if they slip though. We really have thrown too many points away this last couple of months. Even just a couple of those defeats having been wins would have us 9 points clear of 7th right now and make us very hard to catch. As it is, we're 7 points clear of 12th, and any team from there upwards could catch us if they go on a run and we don't do quite well ourselves.

[RevidgeBlue]

2 hours ago, Plastics said:

Why is it a must win?

For me we have 14 "must wins" coming up.

If we get to the stage where we're 4 points clear of seventh with a game to go etc the rest of the regular season ceases to be "must win".

Then, when the regular season finishes 3 more must wins hopefully!

[chaddyrovers]

This will be a tough game. Plymouth are performing very well under their new head coach. 

My team would be 

                       Pears

Brittain Sanderson Hyam Ribeiro 

              Travis  Buckley

    Dolan      Weimann    Karbgo

                     Gueye

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

13 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

It's a shame there are so many teams underneath us who can just slot into WBA's place as contenders if they slip though. We really have thrown too many points away this last couple of months. Even just a couple of those defeats having been wins would have us 9 points clear of 7th right now and make us very hard to catch. As it is, we're 7 points clear of 12th, and any team from there upwards could catch us if they go on a run and we don't do quite well ourselves.

I hope I’m wrong but I think we blew our chances in the window. 

[bluebruce]

6 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I hope I’m wrong but I think we blew our chances in the window. 

Aye I agree, mostly by dallying too long whilst the squad imminently needed reinforcements. We're about to have most of our players back anyway, which will set the squad up strongly for the final run, but the longer we went without bringing players in, the more points we lost, the better quality those players needed to be to save our season. My gut feeling is we didn't bring in enough ready-to-go quality up front to achieve that. Plus the fannying around lost us our manager, and I'm not fool enough to think one good result since means we don't have to worry on that front. The same thing happened last season when we got a one-game bounce from Eustace coming in, and we didn't really have great form after that game, it took a while for things to click.

[Herbie6590]

39 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Maybe without going 2 down first though!

And did we miss a penalty as well or am I imagining that?

We did…

https://www.brfcs.com/articles/the-gordon-lee-era/1897