Markanday does look like hes snuck on from the under 9s

Fucking hell Sigurdsson is just jogging about while everyone is pressing

Sigurdsson on. Please please please put the effort in.

6 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

not sure about moran but buckley has been immense

Think hes done really well, hes looked after the ball well and found some good through balls. I can see if we had Garrett in there we just wouldn't be able to break so well.

Buckley however has looked different gravy. Looks top notch, sure a few Newcastle fans will be saying "whose this guy"?

1 minute ago, B16Rover said:

I know what you're saying but modern football will never not make me laugh.  Strikers naff on the ball but phenomenal when he's no where near it 

Yeah its mad isnt it, but take him out of the side and we have a big problem defensively. And all our other strikers are just as bad offensively so we might as well stick with him.

2 minutes ago, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

Gallagher has been poor, everyone else not a single complaint from me 

Without the ball hes been excellent...

Moran and Buckley has worked really well. Humble pie for me and a few others...

Have to say been very impressed tactically by Eustace. Were so compact but breaking with some really slick football.

Nothing at all like the hoofball nonsense thats been peddled around.

Well if nothing it is bold...

Crikey is it really Moran and Buckley as a midfield two? I mean that is asking for serious trouble...

6 minutes ago, WacoRover said:

As an American, I’m still somewhat shocked my English cousins cannot integrate crowds. We’ve never had to segregate based on fans support, home/away, etc. 

Have they always been segregated there? 

I dont think its an english thing per se - fans dont integrate in football generally globally (Italy, Spain, Argentina, Germany etc). Rugby, cricket etc all integrate fine in the UK and abroad. Why that is? Not really sure... I would guess combination of being very popular and teams tending to be geographically very close to each other meaning very easy for huge numbers of away fans.

In US sports teams tend to be located very far away from each other. Rovers have 12 professional clubs within an hours drive...

Yeah - also from a morale perspective if the best players are not allowed to play in the most anticipated game of the season I can see that being a big problem. Resting one or two knackered players we can get away with, but wholesale dropping the first team and playing kids in a game all the senior pros will be chomping at the bit to play is asking for disillusionment.

I think we will probably play close to our best side.

On 24/02/2024 at 22:09, Commondore said:

Another cameo appearance today. There's not really a place for him in Eustace's current kick-it-and-run stye, and I doubt him nor the club are prepared to wait and see through next pre-season if he'll fit better into whatever JE supposedly cooks up then. Which is a shame, because I genuinely believe he's the classiest player currently on our books, and probably the one with the highest potential. 

Hes been absolutely useless under JDT as well. I have seen absolutely nothing from him outside the box, he cant beat a man, his passing and link up is poor, he cannot physically compete at all. Only thing hes done well is find a bit of room and ability to finish in the box.

Id stop playing him as a wing back or wide forward as he offers less than nothing, and try instead subbing him on through the middle in a two up front as we need him to get in the box. He will get bullied but might be able to drift about and find something to work with.

3 hours ago, martonrover said:

But better to draw all four than lose them, which was the reality under JDT this season.

I think draws against Preston and Norwich are creditable, but we need to be beating the teams around us……

Yeah, but it feels like that situation is now solved with a combination of better tactics and players back from injury. We should now go more aggressively after a win rather than be focussed on not losing. 

Tempting fate, but going through the first choice players it's pretty good mid table quality mostly (Hyam, McFadz, Wharton, Brittain, Buckley, Tronstad, Pickering, Gallagher, Dolan, Szmodics plus JRC, Carter and Hedges when back from injury).  Only player I really question whether they are good enough to finish mid table is Pears, but he's looked solid since coming back. 

The issue is really the bench is horrendous (Whalstadt, , Chrisene, Ayeri, Moran, Telalovic, Sigurdsson, Leonard, Markanday). We've got to hope we don't need to play any of them.

1 hour ago, philipl said:

Four must not lose games.

The problem is four draws could well see us closer to the bottom three!

Better to win two lose two than draw all four.

Part of JDTs success you could argue was from caring little for draws...

We probably do need to start adopting a more offensive approach for those four. Defence looking serviceable now. Time to press on a bit.

7 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

I thought Brittain was clearly man of the match - Gallagher failed to convert any of his three chances. 

Really? Brittains ability to take and control a pass into him fron any angle is very impressive. But I dont think he actually managed to create a single shooting opportunity all game despite having the ball in by far the best positions. Gallaghers and our other chances all came from the left and the middle despite there being much less of the ball in advanced positions there.

51 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Up until the Sheffield Wednesday match in early December we were fine defensively. After that we conceded far too many goals, many of which were from individual mistakes particularly goalkeeper and defenders. Without going over old ground the results fell off a cliff and that is what managers are judged on. But surely up until December you can't have been too unhappy with results.

Yeah, JDT probably could have done what Eustace is doing now once we went on the bad run in December to shore up, but I think he had got to the point where he decided he wasn't here for long so may as well stick to his principles.

I do think that run and leaving on such a low will have done massive damage to his career though, more than he thinks.

I see Sweden have not announced him....

Gut feel is we're going to get absolutely mullered. Think JDTs strength in the cups is that premier teams couldn't believe how attacking we were and we caught them out. 

While Eustace approach is the right thing in the league, I imagine we will really struggle to create much on Tuesday 

Hes only played 90 mins collectively over the last two games but Buckleys been very impressive not only in how intelligent he is on the ball but also putting a foot in and reading the game off it.

Think we will build the team around him now - hes always fitted around others at false 9, right back, number 10 etc. But he will now be the one everyone looks to in the middle of the pitch.

I think that focus will really suit him and he'll kick on in the way we have been hoping for a long time.

Its way too early to judge him about anything except is he doing the rational things to keep Rovers in the division. On that score hes doing pretty wel.

Anyone trying to get beyond that now is not really connected to what is sensible in my view 

28 minutes ago, johnradfordsubbuteo2 said:

don't agree on mcfadzean. some of his long passes to the flanks were pinged to perfection

Mcfadz looks like the perfect half season signing to me. Hes been so good, and offers exactly what we need.

8 minutes ago, arbitro said:

I think loads of problems is exaggerating it. They got in behind a couple of times in the second half as we stood off and allowed McClean time to play a straight ball through. Pears read them both and got there comfortably. And in the games under Eustace so far it's the first time we have been exposed like that. I thought we coped extremely well defensively today.

Yeah on balance Id say we got in behind them more than they got behind us.

Theres loads of slagging off of our way of playing - and Cardiff away it was truly dreadful until Buckley came on - but since Eustace has come in Im yet to see a side look any better. It was very even today and while we didnt do any slick football neither did Norwich who are in form and a good footballing side.

47 minutes ago, arbitro said:

First point I have to makes how inept the referee was. I thought he didn't look interested in the game and lots of decisions both ways were afterthoughts. He just didn't have any empathy with the game and his attitude was questionable, almost like he didn't want to be there. From my view it was a relatively easy match to referee but he made really hard work of it.

I enjoyed today's game and I thought we played more football today than we have in the previous three. It was always going to be difficult against an in from footballing team but I'm pleased we had a go at them particularly after going one down. You could make a strong case for the Norwich keeper being their best player and the number of chances we created was impressive. Lots of good performances today but probably most pleasing was Buckley. Hopefully he has got over his issues and will be the player most of us know he can be. We were quite solid defensively but susceptible to balls in behind given our lack of pace but Pears read the situations well and came out quickly. Norwich have some really talented players so I think today is a decent point and given a bit of luck it could have been three.

for me it was the best performance of the new managers shirt reign as we mixed up the way we played, absolutely the right thing to do in my opinion.

A post so good it deserves to be posted twice!

Good to read a fair assessment from someone who knows their stuff.

I think theres too many who refuse to see the good stuff as well as the bad.

7 minutes ago, Groundhog said:

I've actually forgotten what it feels like to play slightly better in the second half and come back to draw a game.

When was the last time/how many times other than Millwall on the final day we came from behind to gain any points?

I think under JDT we had 1 win, 1 draw and 11 losses from the last 13 matches where we went behind.

10 minutes ago, DE. said:

Another result to add to the rest where we go behind and can't come back to win. 

Finding it difficult to be thankful for a point at home to Norwich, who we handily dispatched at Carrow Road only a few months ago. How the tables have turned. They've gone from strength to strength whilst we've transformed into one of the worst teams in the league. 

Can't wait for the season to be over, regardless of the outcome. 

To be honest being able to come back and draw is a huge improvement from where we were.... Under JDT no way back after that free kick.