1 hour ago, NeilInBristol said:

Would be good to see bucko and Garrett play with tronstad. Garret could learn a thing or two from them

Like Travis I think Garett is much better getting forward than sitting and playing in a three with Buckley doing the sitting helps him do that.

20 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

It would only make sense if we had a third midfielder who was anywhere near good enough.

I disagree with that personally, I think its better to have a mediocre/makeshift 3rd midfielder who can help out Tronstad and Buckley get a grip of the midfield than a 3rd forward who isolated and sees little of the ball as Norwich lock down the centre of the pitch.

2 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

I expect Norwich to score at least 2 which will make it difficult for us to win. A draw would be ok.

I am hoping the way we setup should stop the easy conceding of goals. It seems to have since Eustace arrived. But Norwich will be the first genuinely decent attacking outfit we have met.

Hard to know till the game is played, but I will be very unhappy if we are conservative yet still give away sloppy goals. The number one priority tomorrow is to make it very very hard for the opposition to score.

Really don't get the Pickering hate. He's a good player at this level. Better than any left back we've had in a long time. I like also that he can step into midfield too and pick a pass.

Wish he had a bit more pace, but apart from that a very solid player.

That said if we are playing 352 I think I'd stick with Hedges as we want the wingbacks to be going forward and stretching the play. Pickering is going to need some time to bed in back from injury. Good for coming on last 30 mins or so.

24 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

Weird with Moran. He looked great when he first started but has struggled since.

My guess is he's the sort of player who is great when you are on top and everyones getting forward to combine with but when the teams confidence is shot and he's isolated, and needs to be strong enough, quick enough or clever enough make something happen on his own he can't do it. Sigurdsson is like that also I think.

Fair weather players who I don't think we will see much of between now and the end of the season.

10 minutes ago, NeilInBristol said:

Having watched him for 50 odd mins live I have to say. I can see why they let us loan him. We are such a generous club to take others players and give them mins. I see he trained with first team again today...

On tuesday Ayeri was in a three man midfield given loads of room, a free role, playing against a terrible Cardiff team, and saw lots of the ball and he was really poor.

Not got much hope for him. Moran looked much better when he came on, and Moran has been really struggling....

Igor Tyjon is a cracking name - sounds like he could be besieging somewhere in Game of Thrones. 

The one part of Rovers that continues to be excellent is the academy - I hope we do everything to protect it from the ongoing madness at the club.

2 hours ago, GaryC said:

Said it before on here but id move Gilsenan to the bench at least if hes not in JE starting plans yet and give him at least 20-30 mins to show what he can do, Hopefully then he can kick on as hes scoring regularly in under 23s but whether he can do that in first team is another matter but give him a chance as several of our players just dont look good enough at the present moment in time

Yeah - the only pertinent question to ask is "who can we bring off the bench to make something happen in the last 30 mins". If we go 352 Dolan might be on the bench so that's one. But after that there is literally no one else who would give any championship defence a moments pause. Moran, Leonard, Telalovic, Markanday, Ayeri... all will get eaten for breakfast.

In light of that Gilsenan has to be worth a crack just to see if he can beat a man on his own which is ultimately what all the others, no matter what qualities they may have, just can't do.

12 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Who have you got in mind Joey. As far as I can see all the other likely candidates for the fifth midfield player are injured or out on loan.

As I posted above Id go for Garrett in a three man midfield with Buckley and Tronstad.

17 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

                   Pears

    Hyam McFadzean Wharton

Briitain Buckley Tronstad Hedges 

               Dolan Szmodics 

                   Gallagher 

After seeing how it went at Birmingham and PNE I think we need the extra man in the midfield.... Id be very hesitant to go back to 343.

I am hopeful that the new setup and Norwich coming at us will give us some opportunities.... Does anyone know if Hedges will be available? Assuming he is the team I would go for would be : 

                                  Pears

                  Hyam      McFadz    Wharton

Brittain    Tronstad    Buckley    Garrett    Hedges

                     Gallagher      Szmodics

Think it's about as good a team as we can manage. Only big misses being JRC and Carter. I think with Buckley in there hopefully the pressure will come off Garett to sit deeper and he can get forward which suits him much better I think. 

Shame JRC (and maybe Hedges?) are both injured again. If we lined up like the below I think we'd be  hard to beat and offer enough going forward. Ayeri was a total waste of time but JRC in the system as the third CM could link up midfield and attack well I think, and offer a bit of a goal threat....

                           Pears

         Hyam     McFadz    Wharton

Brittain    JRC    Buckley   Tronstad   Hedges

             Gallagher    Szmodics

Not much on the bench though. Dolan can make an impact, but that's it I think. A couple who can come in and do a job in terms of stodging things up (Garrett, Chrisene) but no one who is going to come up with some quality to win a game.

I suppose the point JDT would make is that we committed so many players forward under him as we had very few players who could make something happen individually, so to create chances we had to have big overloads. Now we have stopped committing  we might be defensively sound but it's going to be very dry in terms of chances.

However.... not sure I totally agree with that view. We had a lot of openings yesterday where a good final ball would have put us through, but we were really really poor at passing until Buckley came on. Hopefully Buckley and JRC coming back in will open things up again. Maybe Fleck as well while we wait for JRC?

Edit - also it's probably lambs to the slaughter, but we are so short on decent attacking options we should probably be having a look a Gilsenan as someone to bring on up top. Feels like he may have the ability to make things happen individually.

3 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I agree with you there but my worry is we’ve got “ knife fight “ style players going into a “ gun fight “ at the moment. We are trying to play a style of football that lots of them aren’t equipped to play. That’s why it looks a mess at the moment.

I dont know... Reckon if we play the likes of Gallagher, Dolan, Szmodics, Buckley, Tronstad, Garrett, Hyam, Wharton, McFadz, Chrisene, Hedges, JRC, Carter theyre all hard workers (some of the hardest workers in the league there) who can put a foot in.

Ayeri and Moran are lightweight and not up to the battle but Id say we've got a fair few fighters.

Eustace is getting a lot of stick for the style, but based on feedback from his previous clubs, Birmingham and Kidderminster, he sounds like hes played different ways at different times.

He certainly doesn't seem a committed direct style manager like Allardyce or Pulis.

He inherited a situation (ie. 5 points in 11 games , more goals conceded than anyone else in the league, at a rate of around 2.5 a game for the same 11 games) where to adopt anything apart from a direct defensive approach would be absolutely mad.

Hes doing the right thing in a way that looks pretty effective to me. I want to see some midfield and offensive improvements, but again things looking up again with Buckley coming back.

Just now, simongarnerisgod said:

to spend no money and rely on free transfers you need  really good scouting and recruitment staff,ours are useless so yes,we probably will go down

Yes this is probably our biggest worry imo. Up to and including the window where we got Szmodics and Hyam our recruitment by and large has been pretty goo. But since then I've got increasingly worried. Tronstad is quality, and McFadz looks a very shrewd signing, but beyond those two its been really really poor in the last 2 windows.

Another poor window in the summer will see us in the conversation for relegation I think.

Just now, jim mk2 said:

Blimey, that was grim. Two desperately poor teams. Can we hang on to survive? It's going to be close

Theres no way we're going down... Cardiff themselves are appalling and 14th, we're 16th. There are just so many rubbish teams, as long as we defend competently (and the signs on that are good) we will stay up.

3 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He's not better. Pears had 3 CBs in front of him now, including McFadzean, who wins most of his aerial duels. 

To be fair its hard to judge.

Would like to see Leo with a stable defence and see how he does. But its hardly a priority to find out at the moment.

Good point and clean sheet in the circumstances.

Only real positives were the defence, particularly McFadz, all looking good, and Pears very steady. And Buckley was miles better than anyone else on the pitch on either side when he came on.

Negatives were how rubbish every forward and midfield player was except Tronstad and Buckley. Really really really poor. We're not going to commit many players forward so if we want chances and goals its all about individual ability and there wasnt any really. Probably Szmodics worst ever game for us.

As a spectacle I think that may be absolutely genuinely the worst half I have ever seen Rovers involved in. 

In terms of coming away with a result on the other hand looks not bad. Cardiff have had nothing really and weve got into positions maybe half a dozen times where the right pass sends us through... Feels like we will get opportunities if we can remember how to play football...

3 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He's not the only one, but he also needs to play much, much better. He's been shite tonight. 

Yeah, hes wasted four breaks through a poor pass.

In terms of limiting cardiff the setup is working well but weve got into positions where a simple pass creates a good chance and we've failed at it. Gally, Szmodics, Garrett and Ayari all have passed woefully.

Feels like Buckley will get the time and space to pass it. Id take Ayeri off.

The amount of simple 5 yard passes we are missing is absolutely mad 

9 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

Interesting lineup

 

Got my 352 wish, will be interesting if it does help the way I think it will or if Im just talking a load of balls.

1 minute ago, TheRovers1994 said:

Nobody else think our injury record is down to jdt and his over working ? Intense play intense training system and 6 day training week ? Obviously has took a toll on this team all season 

Yeah, the ground we were covering is obviously a factor. More kms you cover, the more likely injury is...

But I suppose under Eustace early signs are that while defenders will have a lot less ground to cover, the forwards and mids (including the wing backs) will be similar to JDT. A lot of pressing.

1 hour ago, Lancaster Rover said:

I think Ayari is one of those loose forward midfielders who floats about in advanced midfield positions, not quite a (modern) 10 and definitely not an 8 for me, in old money what you'd term as a luxury player. Out of all of the signings I find his the most odd as that (luxury) forward area is where we're arguably the best served in personnel with Buckley returning, Moran, Sigurdsson, Sammie can play there, as can Hedges, Dolan and JRC if called on. 

Given his build etc Ayari looks like a player and the areas of the pitch he goes into - who can either play number 10 or as a third CM. 

He seems to like carrying the ball, so I am sort of hopeful in a three he could be a bit like Rothwell was... running at players through the middle and opening things up. But in reality not seen enough of him yet to be sure. 

Whatever the case though we need an extra body in the middle desperately.