We are still deep in icky stick. But I think some of the negatives are over done. I will reiterate we are in the lap of the injury Gods. We shouldn't be but we are.. When I saw Leo starting my immediate reaction was Millwall shit houses were the last team I wanted to be facing but the reality they were neutralised for 90 minutes from putting Leo through the wringer. My guess is that protection contributed a lot to the perceived lack of urgency. There was a clear "don't lose the ball" instruction in operation after the Swansea debacle and we were good enough to reprise JDT ball and near 70% possession. Leo was rolling it out far more than Pears has been doing. People arguing there aren't at least two squads weaker than Rovers in the 11 clubs immediately above Rotherham haven't been taking much notice.

The game completely validated the point I made in the relegation thread. Our fate depends on Szmodics keeping fit and getting the injured players back and keeping fit. JRC and Carter in particular will bring qualities we were sadly lacking last night. Thankfully Pears being out didn't cost us last night although Pears would probably have stood up when facing that Millwall goal shot. That Millwall side were certainly no better than us and in the dog eat dog world of 2 going down out of 11 in danger (I am calling being within 6 points of a relegation place as in danger given the way both the previous 22nd and 23rd teams have put back to back wins together as had Millwall) there are definitely at least 2 of those 11 with clearly worse squads than Rovers.

2 from 11 to go down.

Szmodics Rovers

I wrote on a different thread that no senior heads rolling after a month (apart from JDT who was NOT responsible for the fax machine) meant that all three transfer deadline misses in the last two seasons were down to Venky's. This article in many words without actually saying so in reality pins the blame on Pune. For whatever reason- family bickering, inertia, idiocy, face saving making it worse, back door illegal betting, there must be other possibilities - Venky's have achieved: - wrecking the project which they could have adequately funded out of loose change by their standard of wealth before the Indian tax man came knocking - lost Rovers a chief coach who would have got us promoted - cost us Adam Wharton -got us a chief coach who might not save us from relegation - made Rovers 92nd out of 92 clubs any football club anywhere would want to have any transfer dealings with this summer and for the foreseeable future. I had hoped the first five years were a low point in Venky's tenure but we are back as a laughing stock shambles.

A fully fit Rovers squad should win this with a bit to spare. Injuries make this very even on paper so this becomes a Eustace v Harris head to head. Which coach has the better tactical nous and motivation skills. Eustace starts with a disadvantage with that accent which would deflate a helium balloon.

no

No prospect of injured players returning this side of the break so we are going to have to wee with the willy we've got. If only we had the fight and character of Souness' time at Rovers. Huge test of character tomorrow night.

If we have a fair run in with recoveries and no/few new injuries we will be fine unless Eustace is totally useless. If Szmodics and Pears get injured or suffer catastrophic loss of form and confidence, Eustace will have to be a miracle worker to keep us up.

When Garrett has a poor game, he is simply ineffective. When Moran has a poor game he is a 90 minutes liability or 45 minutes as we saw at Swansea. Millwall under Harris are physically intimidating and will target Moran. At least Garrett will send them home with bruised shins and egos.

Huge test for John Eustace's powers of management. Ordinarily we would expect a routine win but these are not ordinary times. Eustace has to earn his pay tomorrow night big time. And good luck!

If the dingles win every game from now in, they will get to 40 points. The only question left is whether we will make it double M65 misery...

It is an absolute must not lose. Thankfully not quite yet at must win although getting one win and two draws at least from the next three games is utterly essential. No our squad is not "shit". We would be fine with JRC, Hedges, Tronstad, Garrett, Barnes, Fleck and Leonard back in contention on Tuesday. But they aren't and we have a bit of a headache not least after the non-performances of Moran and Gallagher amongst others yesterday plus the return of the Pears flap... I would be looking at O'Riordan affording McFadzean a rest and either Ayari or Markanday in place of Dolan. We don't have an alternative to Gallagher who must be due the random bit of a good performance sometime soon. But above all, we need either Tronstad or Garrett back alongside Buckley. If they are not, Chrisene pushed into central midfield?

We have already played Rotherham twice- two 2-2 draws. The 3 point Rotherham bonus went to each of Bristol City, Swansea, Plymouth, Millwall and Huddersfield.

For the hell of it, I have taken the last 5 games form, extrapolated and added a bonus 3 points for each team with a Rotherham game yet to play. Here is 10th downwards (and it is down) Swansea 63pts Cardiff 61 Birmingham 60 Bristol City 59 Sheffield Wednesday 59 QPR 58 Huddersfield 55 Millwall 54 Sunderland 53 Plymouth 51 Watford 50 Middlesbrough 50 Stoke 50 Down on goal difference Rovers 45 Rotherham 19

Much as Dolan has improved, Markanday makes better decisions and I would start him in preference to Dolan.

Worth pointing out the injury situation which is suddenly as bad again as it was before Christmas. So very difficult to judge Eustace especially when there were spectacularly abysmal individual performances today no coach cancelled prepare for

Moran cost us that game. Little else to say.

My gut feel- and that is all it is. Everton and Forest will both get 6 points deductions before 4 April. Chelsea probably 12 points and City will finally be decided next season with a relegation enforced in 25/26 after appeal. It will give Luton a fighting chance to stay up but they won't. Dingles and Sheffield United would still go down if they give every other club in the League a 10 points deduction.

After the Lord Mayor's Show? Will John Eustace be proven a genius giving his two complete midfields 60 minutes each against Newcastle affirming and inspiring them or will all the players be totally drained physically or emotionally? This is not quite a must not lose but it is an opportunity to move sharpish towards the 50 points total. We don't want to be regretting a rubbish loss when the following results come in: Millwall v Watford Rotherham v Sheffield Wednesday Stoke v Middlesbrough Brum and Plymouth are entertaining Southampton and Ipswich while QPR go to Leicester- stranger things have happened than those three strugglers winning.. So fingers crossed for a second South Wales clean sheet. A more inspired performance than Cardiff would be a greatly appreciated bonus. Swansea are a bit of a nothing team but they can be dangerous and produce the goods as we know all too well from their visit to Ewood in October. Timely revenge required.

Watching it on TV, there were plenty of empty seats in the Walkersteel and Jack Walker stands.

The SPL is rubbish but so is much of the Championship. If Vale is turned into a goal scoring machine in Scotland's top league then it is not impossible he cannot bring that prowess south next season.

Newcastle have all the luck of the draw they deserved after last night.

I did put them in brackets but extrapolating current form they will finish on 52 points sandwiched between QPR and Wednesday.

We made him look ordinary. Ditto Guimares and Gordon for most of the 120 minutes.