Arguably none, but promoted teams often surprise you.

Depends on how you play too. Wes Morgan won the league at Leicester, but he wouldn't have got a game at clubs who played a higher line. A fair few Burnley players would've been exposed too if they weren't playing in Dyche's system in my opinion. 

If we finish outside of the top 6 from the position that we were in (which I don't think we will) then I've got no issue at all with not extending Mowbray's contract. I'd be highly sceptical that we'd bring in a better option, but that's a separate argument.

I can't agree with those saying he should be kept on if we win the play offs but sacked if not, we can't be making decisions as big as that based on the randomness that could happen in 90 minutes of football. 

1 minute ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Indeed. How many more times can we keep saying "a point is okay"?! We need to start winning football matches, particularly against the teams just below us in the table. Must win tonight.

Agree - the whole point of playing down the importance of some of the games we've just had, rightly or wrongly, was assuming that we can make up for it by picking up a load of points after Fulham.

They'll probably be a tough nut to crack, but crack them we must. 

18 minutes ago, JHRover said:

An opportunity to make up valuable points on teams around us. We need to win to keep Millwall at arms length after their good run. We also see Luton have a tough game at Coventry and Sheff Utd play Middlesbrough so points to be dropped there for the teams around us.

Also on Friday Huddersfield have a tricky game at West Brom.

One positive about the rest of the season is that pretty much every weekend is going to throw up one of our play off rivals playing another. Luckily the closest we'll get to that (Bournemouth fixture aside) is tonight. Makes me much more relaxed about us finishing in the top 6. 

An obvious point, but now we've got that horrendous stretch of games behind us, it's absolutely vital that we cash in with this run before the international break. We'll need to go at around 2 points a game from now until the end of the season to even set Bournemouth a target, so you'd say a return of 9/10 points as a minimum is needed to keep us in the promotion conversation going into April.

Even if top 2 is completely unrealistic, that sort of return should really break the back of what we'll end up needing to finish in the top 6. 

Sounds like JRC will come in at right-back. Mowbray saying Zeefuik's injury was a strain rather than a tear. Should be back well before the end of the season at least. 

Khadra touch and go apparently too. With another game at the weekend & given that Millwall wouldn't be the sort of game that you would expect to suit him anyway, I'd leave him on the bench. 

3 hours ago, arbitro said:

The other week Bournemouth against Forest was off because (suspiciously) there was structural damage. This will now be played on May 3rd when the promotion and playoff picture will be clearer. If we had done that then there is a really good chance Brereton would be fit and players free of potential suspensions. I'm convinced it was rearranged so quickly so Rovers could get the 'London Double Decker' out of the way in successive games as was the original offer. Can you imagine Waggotts view on refunding money given his stance on refunds for the BCD games?

Not really a comment on our handling of the Millwall game, but I think that was literally the next midweek slot available for Bournemouth. God knows what they would've done if they hadn't been dumped out of the cup by that non-league side. 

I might end up looking stupid for saying this given their excellent recent form, but this could well be a deceptively decent time to play Millwall. They're doing it tough with their injury list at the moment, think they only had 14 or so fit first teamers against Reading. Obviously they still won, but then again Reading are also terrible and have the misfortune to be coached by probably the worst manager in the league. A midweek trip up North a couple of days later to play the team with give-or-take the best home record in the league is a very different prospect. If it was at their place I'd be dreading it but I still fancy us to beat them at Ewood. 

1 hour ago, Mellor Rover said:

Closer to tomorrow it gets, the more I fancy us... 2-1 Rovers after a blistering start and a horrible 70 mins after it.

Love it. Although if we are to win, I'd fancy it to be a horrible first 70 before stealing a late winner.

29 minutes ago, Geoff66 said:

With Bradey Dack back soon and BBD  hopefully, I think this team is good enough for at least a play off spot. I can't remember when I have cheered so much at ewood this season, usually moans and groans.

 

 

Agree completely about the play offs. Even before the QPR game I was very relaxed that we'd end up in there with the games we have left. Our home form is outstanding like you say and we've still got plenty of the low hanging fruit to play at Ewood. 

I think if BBD comes back from the international break fresh and scoring, then it's not impossible that we could post a total of a tad over 80 points, so then it comes down to how realistic it is for Bournemouth to fall apart before then if we're talking about the top 2. I can definitely see them struggling in the last month or so, but before then they've got Posh, Derby, Reading and Bristol City, all at home. We're probably banking on them dropping a decent number of points in their easier-looking games if we want to finish above them. It could happen, but pretty unlikely from where we're sitting now. 

10 hours ago, Geoff66 said:

Don't agree that the 2nd automatic spot is beyond us yet. We have a much easier run in than Bournemouth from now until the end of the season, Never say die get's you places.

I'd say that it's out of our hands, rather than beyond us. They are a couple of last minute wins away from being on extremely ordinary form for a promotion contender, and that's been going on for much longer than our recent spell, so I'd say there's potential for the wheels to come off when they play so many of the stronger sides, back to back.

We'll be relying on them taking a nosedive though, as well as us putting some form together which is similar to our spell before Christmas. The absolute bare minimum that we'll need will be 80 points, which is a bit of a stretch even with the kind fixture list.

Ryan will be back sooner than expected

10 minutes ago, 47er said:

I accept that it is possible that Nyambe could leave whatever was offered. I don't know how much he earns or how much he wants. But its strange that 3 players whose contracts run out at the end of the season all seem likely to leave.

That suggests to me that they feel undervalued but that's merely my opinion. Whatever the truth of it, there clubs don't seem to have this problem at this scale do they? Or have I got that wrong too?

A good question, I think there's a pretty good chance that this is going on a lot more than we appreciate. I know PNE had a similar situation a year or two ago when four of their best players (Davies, Pearson and maybe Fisher and another?) were all leaving at once. Not sure if all of them left in the end, but most did and it was certainly hanging over them for a while, like our situation has  this season. 

3 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Huddersfield won there, are they any better than we are ? I think mentally they’ll be rembering the 7-0 and expecting things to be easy. It’s human nature.

I expect the pattern to be something quite similar to the game at Brammall Lane. They'll almost certainly be asking most of the questions to begin with, but the longer we can keep them out, the more I'd expect us to frustrate them and then start causing them problems.

Wouldn't go as far as to say I'm confident that we'll get something - they're obviously the better team - but it wouldn't shock me. They give you a chance on the break, which should suit us, especially if Rothwell is back. 

2 hours ago, Mellor Rover said:

If we did end up in the playoffs, I’d be very happy if the table ended like this, nobody to fear in that other 3.

Could you imagine if at the start of the year you were offered the chance to go up from beating QPR over two legs, then beat the winner of Luton vs Huddersfield? 

To be fair, the fans of those clubs would be talking about us in exactly the same way, but I'd absolutely snap your hand off for that now. 

I'd be looking at QPR as strong candidates to drop out come the end of the season. Even assuming they put on a better show than they did at Ewood, they still have Luton, Huddersfield, Sheffield United and Forest all away from home, and Fulham and Sheff U again at Loftus road. Very tough set of fixtures compared to ours, so you'd assume that they would need to beat a decent number of teams in and around them to stay where they are. 

28 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Gallagher must be one of the least physical players for his size at the club. When has he been a “ handful “ ?  It reminds me of an American boxer being interviewed after knocking out a glass jawed British heavyweight in the first round. The Yank said “ I thought your guy was an awkward opponent “. The interviewer said “ How do you mean, awkward  ?” The Yank replied - “ When I knocked him out he fell over awkwardly ! “

No arguments from me there! I'm just saying that Mowbray tends to give out praise and criticism to all players when he talks about them in the media. With Gally he's mentioned his physicality and having 'fantastic attributes', or something along those lines, whilst also saying that he needs to score more.

My point is that sometimes he's accused of unfairly digging out certain players in his interviews, but I think there's more of a pattern of him talking about good points and bad points at once, and that he does this for pretty much everyone. 

14 hours ago, OldEwoodBlue said:

You won't see a better game of football.

Really enjoyed that ! Top drawer.

Matip and Lukaku goals were surely fine?

Never seen it work out where they change the keeper for pens.

So good to see Harvey back. Bit of shithousery what Trav taught him and really good to see him score his pen.

 

I seem to remember Van Gaal tried it in the World Cup with the Dutch national team and they ended up winning with the keeper (Tim Krul?) making a few saves. Would be interesting to see how many times that a team swapping their keeper has actually lead to them winning the shootout though - wouldn't be at all surprised if it has no difference whatsoever. 

3 minutes ago, RoversClitheroe said:

Makes a change Mowbray focussing on the positives and not the negatives with Khadra.

If it were an academy player it'd be a different story.

Without wanting to go back and dig out the quotes, didn't he say that if he ever wants to play in the prem then he can't be missing chances like he did vs QPR?

Seems to me like he's very consistent in the way he talks about players. Talks up their good points, but (maybe a bit too much) does so in the same breath as bringing up the thing they need to work on.

Rothwell - looks amazing when running with the ball/needs more end product.

Nyambe - Unbelievable athlete/needs to offer more going forwards

Wharton - Really solid defender who can pick a pass/needed time away to 'become a man'

Gallagher - Can physically be a handful for defenders/needs to score more

Graham - Class finisher & target man/ not mobile enough to be play in the way that we wanted to at the time.

Buckley - Amazing technique & ability to weave out of challenges/ needs to put chances away when they come.

And you could go on. I think he only stops doing that when the form of a player is so good that it sounds churlish to say anything negative, i.e. Dack or Armstrong in their purple patches. 

15 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He’ll be missed on Saturday.

On Ayala, I was watching my Rugby League team warm up yesterday. I found myself smiling to myself at the thought of Ayala warming up with them. The image of Ayala smashing into a tackle bag was really amusing. These lads are on peanuts in the terms of wages but the y give everything to the cause.

Very true - they don't half pay for it in the long run though! The state of some league players once they retire really makes you notice how tough that game is. 

3 minutes ago, dallydally said:

I remember hearing Bobby Charlton on the radio being asked how he could shoot so well with either foot. He said he used to go in the back street when just a boy and practiced for hours on end kicking a tennis ball against the wall so that he could shoot well with either foot. No excuse for being so one footed

I remember reading somewhere that Pedersen had a similar story. Naturally right footed, but practiced with his left to the point where it became his dominant foot. 

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2022/february/26/injury-update--ryan-nyambe/ 

Encourage noises about Nyambe's injury, at least in terms of having him back this season. 

2 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Love that to happen but I'd have to take the glue you're sniffing

So nervous about this;  go behind early we're so poor at the moment we could be on the end of a 4-0 drubbing

No arguments that we look toothless once going behind, but I think losing 4-0 is (nearly) as unlikely as winning by that sort of scoreline. Our attack has been off, but we're still a very solid team. 

That said, a loss by the odd goal is looking like a decent bet, so I'd take a draw in a heartbeat!

3 minutes ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

I posted it in the Millwall thread but we have three extremely kind home games in a row before the international break thanks to that rearranged fixture. If we're out of the running by the international break then we'll bloody well deserve it as there is 9 points begging to be taken there alone.

Our fixture list reassures me plenty when it comes to at least finishing in the play offs. We've suffered in the last month by having so many tricky games bunched up together (and some underperformance too) but we should really be able to cash in after the Fulham game. Doubtless there'll still be some slip ups, and these will probably be the difference if we find ourselves outside of the conversation for the top 2, but we shouldn't be panicking too much about the top 6 just yet. 

32 minutes ago, Mellor Rover said:

Tonight is huge after last nights results, snap your hand off for a point, as long as we beat QPR Saturday. 4 points minimum required from these next 2 ahead of a free hit against Fulham next week. We all know what happens to this Rovers team when the pressure starts to be put on them normally though...

I get what you're saying about the Fulham game being a free hit, but we have so little room for error for the top 2 now in my view, we can't be treating any game (even Fulham away) like that.

Say we need the average of 84 points to go up automatically, that means basically 5 wins and a draw out of the 7 games coming up which would put us on 70 before the international break, before needing another 14 from the last games. There are so many winnable games in there that it's not impossible (and chances are we might need just less than 84 this year) but every game is precious now. 

Agree that all that being said, 4 points from the next two would be a great return. QPR is looking like a must win, but you could argue that Sheff. U away is possibly the toughest game that we'll have between now and the end of the season, bar maybe Fulham. 

7 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Far to cautious and despite what he said never gave it a right good go

Splitting hairs a little bit, but I think his issue was more lacking imagination than being too cautious. We tended to score plenty, he just didn't seem to really know how to do anything beyond setting us up as a standard 442, even when it clearly didn't suit some of our more talented players. I can count the number of games that we genuinely controlled on one hand, it was just a case of get it to a winger who can then cross it to Rhodes/Gestede. No wonder we used to concede so many late on.

56 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

in defence of jason lowe,he did try but he just was`nt very good,i always did despise evans though ,he was a shirker who managed to con managers who should have known better,bloody bowyer had cairney on the wing and evans in the middle🤬

Bowyer deserves a lot of credit for stopping some of the rot when he was in charge and his transfer record overall was very good.

That said, when you look at how we wasted some quality players (King, Cairney, Judge) to play our system whilst constantly having the likes of Williamson, Evans, Lowe, Akpan and other assorted hangers on in the middle of the park. What a wasted opportunity. 

1 hour ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

There better be no FA shenangians to help Bournemouth out. Their squad size is advantage enough. Lucky they got knocked out of the cup by that non-league team, the useless f**ks.... 

The race for 2nd is far from over 

Might be a lack of imagination on my part, but I genuinely don't know what they could do, realistically. The last day of the season can't be moved because of the play offs, so they need to play all of their games before then, same as everyone else. They already have more than one game a week (international break aside) until the week before they play us at the end of April - and you'd imagine the Swansea game will probably be rearranged for then. 

Definitely agree that they're catchable. Their last minute win against Blackpool can't mask their very ordinary form over a long stretch, much longer than our recent spell. They've also got a run in March/April which looks similarly horrendous to the one we're hopefully going to come out of after the Fulham game. Not saying we'll do it, or even that we'll necessarily get that close in the end, but they're vulnerable to a team who can put good form together, and our last quarter of a season is much, much kinder than theirs.