It is very difficult getting points in professional football. As we and other teams low down keep demonstrating. I have believed all along that we will stay up, but only because the other teams simply cannot accrue enough points to save themselves.

It's been a thoroughly depressing season. I foolishly had high hopes for us this year. 

Leicester already promoted. Coventry's hopes hanging by a thread.

Regardless, I expect them both to be professional and try to win.

Our options are very limited. Eustace knows his best 14. Unfortunately, we struggle to score goals and some of our players are prone to disastrous errors. 

Rovers 1 - Coventry 2.

23 hours ago, JHRover said:

With you 100% there. Its the feeling of hopelessness, and betrayal.

Over the last 12 months or so I've felt not frustration, hope, optimism for the club, but feelings ranging from dislike to outright hatred. I'm ashamed to even be associated with it.

It's tough. I certainly have had to do a lot of soul-searching and will again this summer, it certainly isn't normal peaks and troughs of supporting a football club, it certainly isn't enjoyable or healthy. But I'm not one who can just switch off my emotional investment in the club and walk away (yet). So I'm in this limbo zone which I suspect many others are where I keep going, keep coming on here, keep thinking about it, but just feel numbness and disgust and weary resignation.

Its almost like a state of civil war. There's an enemy within that needs defeating and destroying before we can even begin to think about anything else, and peaceful coexistence with that enemy is no longer an option in my book.

Sums up my feelings from when Big Sam was sacked and Kean was recruited. It was obvious what was about to unfold.

I've been in footballing limbo ever since those events and that was the last time my family and i had a season ticket. 

Well, well, well. A bit nerve racking at the end, but brilliant result for the club.

4-0. This has been truly pathetic.

4 subs. Thats a first in 48 years supporting.

Congratulations to Eustace, I am sure he will be feeling a touch happier now.

Brilliant result. Well done to all involved.

Chuffed for the travelling fans. Chuffed for the manager.

Very good value for the point. Pity we didn't offer more going forward. Clean sheet. Clearly the players are playing for the manager.

42 minutes ago, lraC said:

I am basing what I think on what I saw on Tuesday and yesterday.

We were all over the place at the back yesterday. It wasn’t as though some slick passing or great through balls were opening us up, a simple punt over the top and their striker was through.

That happened at least 3 times and let’s face it, we were very lucky not to get hammered. 

Fair enough. Let's hope I'm right and you are wrong. If any of us were any good at predicting results we would have all won the pools years ago.

2 hours ago, lraC said:

We will definitely get beat and assuming Boro can finish better than Plymouth can, it will be resounding.

Given the return of 4 points from 6 games and no wins so far, this will rank as one of the worst starts ever for a Rovers boss.

There will still be no action taken and the odd poster still believing we will stay up.

PS Huddersfield just went one up. 

I believe we will stay up. I know i'm in the minority. I'm not sure why there is absolute certainty we are already relegated. Might as well give up now reading a lot of the posts on here.

You don't get draws at this level if you are unorganised, are not trying, have no belief, zero structure and useless players. It's only a week ago we were all proud of the team against Newcastle. 

3 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Lets be honest that winning in India is a toughest task in World test cricket. 

I do think it is time we move on from Bairstow in the test team and he just plays white ball cricket. Probably Foakes aswell. 

I would bring Brook in at 5 and look for a new test keeper. 

On the bowling front, Jimmy Anderson is simply world class player. Bashir and Hartley will improving and hopefully continue their development now

Yes its a tough series. Hence why you need to be committed and focused. Prepared and ready for the challenge ahead. What a crap gameplan we employed.

Crawley gets a pass. Technically he's not good enough to open, has not reached three figures in any innings, but has consistently made runs and is worth his place in the team.

Root is obviously good enough, bit I challenge anyone to justify why any other batsmen should remain in the side. 

Two new openers. Promote Root to bat at 3. Crawley at 4. Brook 5. Stokes at 6 or 7 as long as he is bowling as well. Batsman wicketkeeper at 6 or 7. Bowling all rounder at 8, like a Moeen Ali.

8 batsmen and 6 bowlers. Sacrifice a dedicated keeper.

This series has been a total car crash. Should have been 5-0. We've lost this test by an innings in three days. Absolutely effing pathetic.

Duckett and Pope are simply nowhere near good enough. One fortuitous innings each out of 10. Front line batsmen? Front line effing garbage. Crawley has huffed and puffed, puffed and huffed, the obligatory beautiful cover drive, but has the concentration of a teenager, or 6 week old labrador and clearly should be batting at four or five. No one will convince me hes not thick as pig shit. Root played like he was on crack, meths, skunk and diazepan for three tests. Effing hysterical if your one of 2 billion joyous Indians. Unfortunately I'm not. Some of those ridiculous shots he played were unforgivable. Then suprise, suprise he started scoring heavily again when he played his natural game. Shock, horror. Wheres his scoop gone the last two weeks? Tit. Stokes as a test batsmen simply isn't good enough, shuffling indecisively about his crease. Hes averagine less than 20 this series! My effing next door neighbour could do that and she's at least 75. At least! Probably nearer 85 although I've never enquired. That why I cut her lawn. Bairstow with his childish across the line run a ball stupid scores of 30. Neither use or effing ornament. Gormless Yorkshire twit. Argghhhhh!!! Foakes with his dominant right hand chipping to short mid-wicket every other dismissal like a total effing numpty. What the fack. Its like groundhog day watching him get 20+. And the longest ever tail since Caddick, Mullaly, Tufnell and Giddens. But without the laughs at Caddicks long barrier and Tufnells stoned lack of bravery. I'd rather watch Willis and Malcolm. Useless. Totally effing useless. The lot of them. So, so disappointing.

Occupy the crease. Take the shine off the ball. Tire out the bowlers. Let the moisture dry out of the wicket. Play on the ground. Protect your castle. Play straight. Rotate the strike. I'm talking to myself.

Scoop. Reverse sweep. Play across the line. Play in the air. Get out. Lose the match. Yippee!!!

Boycott once scored over 200+, batted for three days and was dropped for slow scoring. Thou shall not pass. Oh for some of his effing guts amongst these pathetic snowflakes.

Still don't think we will go down. Not saying we are any good and the trend of the last 18 games isn't positive, but equally there are some very poor teams around us and all are struggling for points.

It isn't a must win game either. There's loads of time to get more points if need be. There's very little difference between the bottom 16 clubs, irrespective of current league positions. 

Yes I liked JDT. Yes it made sense to me to recruit in his style when he left. No I wouldn't have rushed to get Eustace. But at least we have woken up, stopped conceding so many and are now much harder to beat. Plus we have SS for a few more games at least and he's a spunky little fighter.

Rovers 2-1.

470+ for 8. India's top 5 all make over 50. Painful.

1 hour ago, jim mk2 said:

 

McCullum and Stokes need to rethink strategy - the gung-ho Bazball approach has been exposed.

 

It's not been gung ho though Jim. Its often been poorly thought out, ill disciplined, pre-meditated and strangely crafted / manufactured. Gung ho suggests a level of freedom, aggression, belief. certainty and focus. It's been weird, like we have never played in India before. 

5 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Another horrendous surrender.

"England Collapse" should be the England cricket team's official title 

For me, only perhaps Crawley and the young spinners come out of this series with any credit.

Looks like 4-1. Should have been 5-0. I think we approached this series very naively and a few might pay the price.

Absolutely woeful.

Well done to Crawley.

The middle order has been a total let down this series.

For those blaming Hyam missing his penalty. Messi has missed 31 penalties. Ronaldo 29. Totti 18. Shearer 11. Rooney 11. Kane 11. Henry 8.

On a different note, seriously how good were ALL the players tonight? Every single one of them.

The keeper was outstanding, the three central halves hugely accomplished, our wing backs brilliantly nullified their dangerous wingers, our centre midfielders were skillful, resolute and hardworking and the three attackers ran their socks off and created numerous openings. All subs picked up the pace of the game immediately and contributed fully. 

Very proud of the team. Well done to everyone. COYB.

14 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Exactly Gav. People want old fashion cricket but how is going to the next generation and don't forget that fans going to watch Test cricket around the world is on declined so Stokes/McCullum want to entertain the fans and get people watching it again. 

Most teams lose in India cos their conditions are so unique and are top quality team. 

I don't think you understand what Bazball is tbh. Like many others on here. McCullum and Key have given a detailed opinion on how they want to play .

 

Crawley has improved under Stokes and McCullum. Our top run scorer in the Ashes btw..

Also what the averages of these players in India before this series I wonder?.

Old fashioned cricket? Fast scoring, attacking cricket was being played in the 1980's with Greenidge, Haynes, Richards and Lloyd. Then again by Australia for twenty of the last thirty years. It's not as revolutionary as the uninformed imagine.

India have not lost a series at home since Cook toured there with England 17 series ago. So what? Can we not aspire to be successful?

Oh I fully understand what Bazball is meant to be. But your general lack of knowledge and understanding prevents you identifying the nuances.

For example in an earlier post you stated that Bazball allowed cricketers to fourish and play their natural game. Yet missed the irony in your words watching our best batsman in Root struggle to incorporate meditated one day shots into his test arsenal. Until he had a word with himself and played naturally again.

Why when talking about the Indua series are folk determined to talk about previous series. Try and stay current. Bazball is ok on flat tracks pefect for the bullies. In India you need technical craft.

If Bazball.is all about maximising individual performance why have so many of our top order failed to achieve their average scores in India? Not improved scores, just reached their average?

Oh and I can name 6 or 7 top Indian players who have missed either the entire series, or matches in this series. So we've been battered by their second eleven.

Like I said it's been very disappointing, but those that can't see the wood for the trees harp on about how it was before Stokes took over. Might as well.go back to Brearley against the West Indies, or Gower in Australia, or Botham or Flintoff or Atherton disastrously in charge,. But I guess mentioning Root in the West Indies does deflect from 7 wickets falling for 35 runs in the last innings of Bazball. Or our inability to.last more than 40 overs in a test innings. 

You find it exciting as its over quick and matches your attention span.

8 minutes ago, rovers11 said:

What makes you think we won't go down? We are 4 points off the relegation places and have barely won a game this year. I wouldn't be surprised if we lose on Saturday to put us even closer into the mire. That's how bad we are.

Stoke will change their manager soon and then we are hoping and praying they don't get a new manager bounce otherwise we're in big trouble. 

5 games - 5 conceded - 6 scored - 6 points from 15 - 1.2 points per game.

We have won one, drawn three and lost one under Eustace. We have stopped conceding 2+ goals a game, are unbeaten at Ewood, have rationalised our approach, are now playing the percentages, have a head start on others, have made life simpler and some of our better players have returned from injury. Plus I do.not rate some of our peers.

2 hours ago, Gav said:

We could return to the days of 1 series win in 17 which is where we sat before Key and Baza came in?

What this side has achieved has been phenomenal, breaking records all over the place, I’m surprised at your comments. 

Not one batsman comes out with any credit? Are you sure you’ve been watching the same series? 

Maybe you want blockers at each end and play for a draw? Give me bazball all day long, this test has been terrific.
 

 

I'm just talking about India and its been disappointing. As much throigh the lack of intelligence and discipline as anything else.

Averages in India

Crawley - 41

Duckett - 39

Pope - 35

Root - 30

Robinson - 29

Stokes - 24

Foakes - 21

Bairstow - 21

Hartley - 19

Wood - 16

Ahmed - 12

Bashir - 4

Anderson - 3

Crawley normally averages 32. Duckett averages 42. Pope averages 34. Root averages 49. Stokes averages 35. Bairstow averages 36. Foakes averages 29.

So Crawley has outperformed.his normal mediocrity and Pope is marginally better than his uninspiring 34. All.else are below, or considerably below their normal average. Yet you describe this as trenendous.

The middle order has been pish. Total dog dirt. The top four not much better. We were clearly never going to win this series with those performances. 

We lost 7 wickets for 35 runs in 26 overs in our 2nd innings. Absolutely pathetic.

3 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Lets not forget just how good this Indian team is. they have some very good players and playing in home conditions. 

Lets stuff some people post on here like "they're being badly managed" or "We aren’t producing the players with the ” Right Stuff “ at the moment" are just embarrassing to read. 

We are a team who have actually make test cricket more appealing to young fans but also playing their natural way as cricketers. We took 3 young spinners out there and all have took wickets and would have learnt alot more playing out there. 

Crawley and Duckett has scored runs out there. No doubt we have missed Harry Brook.

These players are developing and learning through good and bad spells of cricket. 

 

We have lost the series after four tests. We were fortunate to win the one we did. We lost one test by the greatest ever margin in India. In some innings we have not survived 40 overs. India have had at least 3 top players missing every test.

Other than one big score from Pope, Duckett and Root we have often batted very badly / naively. And criminally gifted our wickets. In the last test alone I can think of four terrible dismissals.

It's not gone to plan. Because the plan was flawed. We have not scored enough runs or occupied the crease long enough. Those pointing out we don't have the players with the correct concentration, application, mindset and technique to prosper in India are simply stating the blatantly obvious. Did you know that the Indians didnt score a boundary for 35 overs chasing our total? 

They simply adapted to the immediate match requirements and played proper risk free test cricket with no misconceived, or pre-meditated ideas.

For me, Bazball has looked pretty old, dated and ineffective on this trip. I feel sorry for our bowlers. Not one batsmen comes out of this with any credit for me.