v Chelsea (a) - 1/11/23 - Carabao Cup

[yellowsubmarine]

No way we will beat them. Hoping we can put up a good fight and glimpses of some attacking football (if any). They will have too much for us even if they are playing a 2nd or 3rd team.

Scared to predict the score. Something respectable will be good.

[neophox]

If Buckleys not a regular come january in the Sheffield side he should return.

[Ossydave]

I just hope everyone enjoys it, both players and fans.

Sadly can't make it as I've just started a new job so couldn't really get time off.

Above all else we could really do with avoiding any further injuries too!

As for the result, you never know do ya, dare to dream and all that jazz 😁 it'll either be a pasting or a West Ham-esque battling win. 3-0 Chelsea if I had to guess.... 

[NeilInBristol]

1 hour ago, neophox said:

If Buckleys not a regular come january in the Sheffield side he should return.

Agreed. We need depth. Amazing that it's end of Oct and most of the summer signings haven't really been playing a lot considering we thought we did business early. The Swansea game shows we have zero depth. This game will just take the mic. I hope they go easy on us

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

The only way we’ll give them a game is to play our best eleven. We don’t play again whilst Sunday, what’s the problem ? Keep telling players they’ll be tired and they’ll play like it. Give players an excuse not to perform and 8 out 10 will take it.

[Upside Down]

Rovers win 2-0

[NeilInBristol]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

The only way we’ll give them a game is to play our best eleven. We don’t play again whilst Sunday, what’s the problem ? Keep telling players they’ll be tired and they’ll play like it. Give players an excuse not to perform and 8 out 10 will take it.

Do we have an available best 11?!

[TruRover]

Does anyone have a spare ticket for this? 🙏🏼

[jim mk2]

Our group of 4 are going more in hope than expectation. Although the odds are against Rovers and Chelsea are likely to win we will be happy if the team puts up a very good performance that doesn't let the club or the supporters down. It's also important that we do not hand Chelsea any "easy" goals through silly mistakes or defensive errors. If Chelsea beat us, I hope it's on merit, not us handing them victory on a plate. 

[moerpho]

This is all down to JDT. Rest players and focus on the league, or go all out thinking it will boost morale if we win. Second option comes with high risk and there apparently is no middle option. I’ll wait untill I see the lineup before I make up my mind about this one.

[roversfan99]

Tomasson has suggested pre match that he will make changes and "give people a chance."

The question is, how drastic that is. Travis is back which is a boost. Put in players like Wharton, Ennis and Moran and Travis and you arent weakening the side. Then you start considering the likes of Markanday and Garrett and you start to lose competitiveness, then even some of the likes of Gamble, Hilton Batty etc and it becomes an uphill task to avoid a thrashing. The problem is that the squad is just so thin.

He also said he hopes Szmodics is ok for the weekend. He perhaps should have been subbed off on Saturday if he was struggling.

[arbitro]

11 minutes ago, moerpho said:

This is all down to JDT. Rest players and focus on the league, or go all out thinking it will boost morale if we win. Second option comes with high risk and there apparently is no middle option. I’ll wait untill I see the lineup before I make up my mind about this one.

Personally I would sacrifice tomorrow for a win in Sunday at Norwich and my team would reflect that. I think it's a difficult one for Tomasson. If he goes strong and we lose he will be criticised by some and if he sticks with the youngsters and get beat he will also be criticised by some. If he plays a strong team and we get injuries it will really harm us. Some of them were blowing out of their backsides on Saturday too.

The perfect situation would be win both games.

[NeilInBristol]

8 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Tomasson has suggested pre match that he will make changes and "give people a chance."

The question is, how drastic that is. Travis is back which is a boost. Put in players like Wharton, Ennis and Moran and Travis and you arent weakening the side. Then you start considering the likes of Markanday and Garrett and you start to lose competitiveness, then even some of the likes of Gamble, Hilton Batty etc and it becomes an uphill task to avoid a thrashing. The problem is that the squad is just so thin.

He also said he hopes Szmodics is ok for the weekend. He perhaps should have been subbed off on Saturday if he was struggling.

I trust jdt and agree Sammie should have been subbed but we don't have the depth and you know these lads don't want to come off even if they should 

[arbitro]

Pochettino says he is going with a strong side.

 

[Tugayisgod]

26 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Personally I would sacrifice tomorrow for a win in Sunday at Norwich and my team would reflect that. I think it's a difficult one for Tomasson. If he goes strong and we lose he will be criticised by some and if he sticks with the youngsters and get beat he will also be criticised by some. If he plays a strong team and we get injuries it will really harm us. Some of them were blowing out of their backsides on Saturday too.

The perfect situation would be win both games.

Agree. It was obvious on Saturday that one or two were running on empty. It's not worth pushing them out again tomorrow, it's not our priority.

 

[jim mk2]

Rovers can forget about the league this season - we're not good or strong enough to challenge the top 10. The League Cup and FA Cups however are the chance for a bit of glory and a chance to provide excitement for the fans for the season ahead. A win at Chelsea might even give the players a boost in the league too

I don't agree with Tomasson. We should go strong as possible tomorrow night and he should pick his best XI. If he picks a "weakened" team and we get turned over Tomasson will have 3,000 very annoyed away fans and in the current parlous state of the club Rovers need don't need that

[rigger]

34 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Personally I would sacrifice tomorrow for a win in Sunday at Norwich and my team would reflect that. I think it's a difficult one for Tomasson. If he goes strong and we lose he will be criticised by some and if he sticks with the youngsters and get beat he will also be criticised by some. If he plays a strong team and we get injuries it will really harm us. Some of them were blowing out of their backsides on Saturday too.

The perfect situation would be win both games.

You lose in the cup, you are out. You lose in the league, it can be recovered.

[MarkBRFC]

Plus there is prize money on offer in the cup.

In the league it doesn't matter whether you finish 7th or 17th, there is no financial gain.

With the state the club is in you would think that any cup games would be a priority.

[wilsdenrover]

27 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Plus there is prize money on offer in the cup.

In the league it doesn't matter whether you finish 7th or 17th, there is no financial gain.

With the state the club is in you would think that any cup games would be a priority.

Winning the EFL cup has a prize of £100,000.

I imagine we’ll get much more than that from our share of tomorrow’s gate receipts.

 

Edited October 31, 2023 by wilsdenrover

[Exiled_Rover]

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

Tomasson has suggested pre match that he will make changes and "give people a chance."

The question is, how drastic that is. Travis is back which is a boost. Put in players like Wharton, Ennis and Moran and Travis and you arent weakening the side. Then you start considering the likes of Markanday and Garrett and you start to lose competitiveness, then even some of the likes of Gamble, Hilton Batty etc and it becomes an uphill task to avoid a thrashing. The problem is that the squad is just so thin.

He also said he hopes Szmodics is ok for the weekend. He perhaps should have been subbed off on Saturday if he was struggling.

He's used the League Cup as an opportunity to blood youngsters and get minutes into the legs of more established players.

I'd be shocked if we don't see Garrett, Gilsenan, Ennis, Travis, Markanday et Al tomorrow.

We started the same 11 three times in a week and it showed on Saturday, they looked knackered. I'd rest as many of them as I could.

[WacoRover]

Every game, play the best 11. Can’t win them all, but sure can’t, if there is no attempt at it. 

[wilsdenrover]

6 minutes ago, WacoRover said:

Every game, play the best 11. Can’t win them all, but sure can’t, if there is no attempt at it. 

Does the best 11 not need to take account of fatigue?

[Madon]

2 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Rovers can forget about the league this season - we're not good or strong enough to challenge the top 10. The League Cup and FA Cups however are the chance for a bit of glory and a chance to provide excitement for the fans for the season ahead. A win at Chelsea might even give the players a boost in the league too

I don't agree with Tomasson. We should go strong as possible tomorrow night and he should pick his best XI. If he picks a "weakened" team and we get turned over Tomasson will have 3,000 very annoyed away fans and in the current parlous state of the club Rovers need don't need that

For what it's worth, I'm going tomorrow and I'll be disappointed if he doesn't play the lads that got us to this round. 17 goals in 3 games, Garrett et al fully deserve their chance against Chelsea.

[Hasta]

2 hours ago, wilsdenrover said:

Winning the EFL cup has a prize of £100,000.

Plus €150k for appearing in the Europa Conference League regardless of whether you win a game in the qualifying rounds.

If you get into the group stages you are guaranteed €3million.

Edited October 31, 2023 by Hasta

[wilsdenrover]

11 minutes ago, Hasta said:

Plus €150k for appearing in the Europa Conference League regardless of whether you win a game in the qualifying rounds.

If you get into the group stages you are guaranteed €3million.

I think, for us, that’s a very big if 😁

Edited October 31, 2023 by wilsdenrover