Positives:

Luton aren't that great and with playoffs secured whether they rest players or not you feel they won't be at full throttle. Other than a midtable team with nothing to play for you can't get a better ask for a game. Well maybe a relegated team, but even so, it's the kind of game you want at this stage of the season. 

I also wonder if it not being in our hands will help our mentally fragile team. Pressures off with it being out of our control. 

Negatives

We are toothless. Bereton can't be arsed, Dolan and Hedges industrious but limited. It'll be hard to get the goals we need to win games. 

The horrible run we are on combined with even fewer options available from our very limited selection leaves us struggling. 

I've no idea what team to play. Bereton deserves dropping for phoning it in yet no one else is fot and can play striker. Maybe Leonard up top with Dolan and Hedges on the wings. Far, far from ideal but feel the other options are no better. 

Best hope is a tight game that we nab 1-0. 

8 minutes ago, speeeeeeedie said:

Chelsea's win against Leicester 2 months ago now looks like it was a 6 pointer. They have just enough points to be above the fray. 

Liverpool were on the right end of 2 VAR decisions. Bowen was offside. As to the handball, it hit Thiago's arm twice, but it fell into the VAR clear and obvious error grey area. If it had been given it wouldn't have been overturned either. 

Forest had a very good win. They missed a pen and went 1-0 down too. 

City-Arsenal is men v. boys. Arsenal have been outclassed. 

 

It's a shame there's so few games left or Lampard didn't come in a few games earlier because on current form they would get dragged into it. As it is there's too many points gap and too few games for it to go from funny to hilarious as they get embroiled in a relegation battle. 

Is it no goals and no wins for Lampard now? I get 2 games were against Real but even so it's pretty poor going. He's making Potter look good there and not even a modicum of new manager bounce. 

Refs still want Liverpool to get into Europe. 

City are strolling to the title. 

Good win for Forest as it's really hotting up in the relegation battle. A much needed win. 

For me there's a number of people to blame for this year likely falling short. 

TM leaving us a bunch of grafters with no end product. Dolan up top only works Vs nervy defences, prefer him on the wing. Lad has energy but less end product. Hedges can do some really good stuff, till it gets to the box. Gally too falls into the grafter over clinical if you have to put him somewhere. Teams need graft but they need end product. Nothing wrong with having one of these players in your team, teams need energy and graft. A couple or all three and it unbalances it and leaves you with very little goal threat. 

Likewise at CB. Carter and Wharton have made some errors but I do wonder what would have happened if we had a seasoned centre back who played over half the games. In Ayala we've been paying good money for very little leaving us overly reliant on young players coming through. 

Then there's Bereton - don't know whether it's TM, Broughton or Venkys but not selling him and watching him coast has cost us a decent transfer fee and meant we've had a player at half his effectiveness. Last season part of the reason Bereton got so many goals was he worked his socks off. Without that he's not got enough talent to influence games. 

Then there's Broughton. Any fool could have seen we needed strikers and goals. We get none. Vale and Hirst clearly weren't good enough and yet no effort is made whatsoever to get in a decent striker. Words fail me on this one. It's the biggest negligence for years even in our club. 

Even when we did make an effort, of kind, with the Forest lad, we still criminally arse it up. What's galling about this is that even with his negligence on the striker front, even just a seasoned quality pro in midfield could have massively been the difference. Not hard to imagine with him in cm we would have held on in at least one of the Preston or Coventry games. Every little hinders seem to be our motto. 

My other big worry is how mentally fragile we are. A hangover from TM days, because we are a young team, something else I'm not too sure. But it is a very worrying trend. The quarter final loss has knocked all stuffing out of the team. The fact we took forever to get a point from going behind. There's a fragility about us which I find really concerning. 

As for JDT I fluctuate. On one hand with what he was dealt, the squad he was left with and Broughton messing about, you can only praise him. I do however have big reservations about how we have sat back on leads at times, his use of Morton, and the daft passing it round the back needlessly. All are worrying signs. 

Not sure why I'm more reflective on the season than the game - probably because I don't want to think about another, and unfortunste, loss to that lot. An undeserved loss and painful seeing them do well. Strangely I've far less time for this iteration of the Dongles than the lot under Dyche that we played. A win or even a draw would have been a consolation to a disappointing end to the season. Think playoffs are gone now as too many teams need to mess up. But stranger things have happened so I'll keep hoping. 

3 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

We fucked it up in January.

It's one of many muck ups this season but undoubtedly one of the biggest. There's been a fair few others mind but the negligence regarding the squad, especially up front, has to be one of the biggest contributors 

And yet despite all this we still have a chance that isn't reliant on other teams.

It's still in our hands. Can't ask for more then that. 

15 minutes ago, DaveyB said:

Anyway, trying to keep positive - 3 or 4 points from our next two games (against teams who, whilst obviously very good, don’t really have anything to play for) should mean we go into the final game with the playoffs within our grasp 

We are really fortunate that despite slip up after slip up that we are still in with a decent shout. 

Last 2 games are ok ones to have. Millwall are feeling the strain and in poor form - albeit with a lot to play for so not ideal - whilst Luton will definitely have an eye on the playoffs making it very winnable. 

What's keeping me going is how many teams are flopping just as much as us, and may well carry us through. 

Overall a good set of results for us. Millwall losing is massive as it could have taken two good results to catch up with them had they won. Feel like their small squad is feeling the strain now. 

Norwich blew any chance of getting in the mix. Only negative result Coventry but we were in a better position starting this round of fixtures than them, so it's not the worst thing in the world, if not ideal. We couldn't rely on every result going our way. 

Nice to see there are some bigger bottlers than us. Not a fan of Arteta and City always winning puts paid to the idea the Prem isn't skewed to favour the big clubs. Entertaining game mind. 

On 16/04/2023 at 22:07, AllRoverAsia said:

The basis of tippy tappy at the back is that the keeper is a footballer first and plays like a Beckenbauer who can use his hands at certain times.

His job description does not include staying on the goal line.

This is why Steele, useless at being a conventional keeper is in the first 11 at Brighton.

Neither of ours are that good at being Beckenbauer.

Surely there's still the requirement for this sort of keeper to y'know catch the ball or stop a shot on the odd occasion? Given Steele can do neither I'm a tad surprised he's in. 

Mind you his kicking was pretty poor as I recall too. Remember number of goal kicks/clearances going out for throw ins. 

6 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

I find it absolutely incredible that you repeatedly cannot separate the situations, obviously I am not advocating sacking Tomasson in the summer. I am saying if and when, maybe Tomasson will go elsewhere, maybe he will get fed up with the set up here, maybe a bigger side will try and poach him, maybe this summer, maybe next, whenever.

I also don't get why you think Lampard would be unobtainable, he will be a free agent with at best a sketchy CV, I would be flabbergasted (not totally though, looking at some of the strange managerial decisions that clubs make in the Premier League) if any Premier League teams wanted him.

So I will re-word. Whenever Tomasson goes, assuming Lampard would consider coming, would you take him?

Of course he can separate the situations! He knew exactly what you were saying but chose to WUM and pretend he didn't. 

It's why in pretty sure he's just on the WUM, of which the blind defence of Lampard is probably part of it too. 

From the context to the language used it's obvious it's hypothetical. He'd have to genuinely not understand concepts around words such as "if" and "want" to answer as he did. He'd also have to have zero appreciation of context given the conversation is clearly talking about managerial ability rather than a non existent managerial hunt. 

It's a sneaky, weasely answer imo and very poor form. 

I'll be honest, gutting as it was I'm even more convinced we will make the playoffs and get battered in them. 

Not because we didn't throw away the win, ably assisted by the ref, but because everyone else is bottling it and capable of a poor performance. 

I'm pretty certain one of the teams we are still to face will have an off day. Preston are more than capable of a poor performance and don't score many either, Millwall are having a wobble at the wrong time, and Luton will rest players. I think we will get one win from those 3 which should be enough to limp over the line. 

Add in that draws Vs our remaining opponents also is a help, as was last night's albeit a big missed opportunity too. Draws Vs those below us leave them with the task of still overtaking us with one less game to do so. Draws Vs those above mean they aren't getting away from us. 

Of those chasing, Norwich and Watford are both capable of shockers on a regular basis (Watford had one last night) and so I can't see them picking up too many more points. Even West Brom who I think are the biggest threat were bemoaning blowing a chance to get in the playoffs just a week or so ago after drawing 2 winnable games. 

Not a guarantee obviously and the lack of goals alarms me hugely. Our form is really poor and no denying we are doing ourselves zero favours. That said I think with so few games left that one key win (with a draw somewhere too) may well be enough to get us over the line. 

1 hour ago, bluebruce said:

Some talk about how we didn't reinvest after selling Armstrong, and I'm not saying we shouldn't have spent a little to do so, but if I remember rightly we barely passed that year's FFP as it was, and I think that was including 'selling' our training ground for another 15 mill ish.

That's a good point, well made. However to not bring in any replacement, not even on a free, was foolish indeed. Surely we could have avoided having nobody? Surely there was a bit of wiggle room to bring in a striker. Also that was 4 windows ago and he hasn't been replaced, so they haven't looked to do it even when things were less financially pressing. 

10 hours ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

"Years of underfunding"? I hold no candle for the owners who have made many bad decisions but they have been losing £15m - £20m a year for many years.

Not the same as investing in the squad though, by a long stretch. 

I mean not letting contracts repeatedly run down might be a start. Owners are culpable on this from blocking sales of players (Bereton) through to having mugs in place who let contracts run down en masse (last season). 

There's stacks of examples where the squad hasn't been invested in. Could pulling in £10 mill and spending £250k on transfers, not replacing Armstrong, using loans to patch up a defence for years, not spending in January when we were in a good position (twice!) 

Hard to say the squad has been funded adequately. You could argue it's those below then but given they don't seem to care and allow them to continue, it's hard to say it's not the owners fault. 

As for the game/team my thoughts (albeit second hand due to sickness) are

1) The cup loss has knocked all the stuffing out of us. Most results since then have been lower than the likely outcome from how the game has gone. Hudds should have been a clear win, Stoke a draw, yesterday it seems pre QF loss might have been a scrappy win. Certainly Hull don't seem that good. 

2) We have a lot of very average players who consistently give about a 5/6. There's no superstars in the team, and we aren't getting more than the collective sum of these parts at all. The players may produce the odd 8 out of 10 performance but these are pretty rare. With no stars and a weak bunch of water carriers we are struggling. 

3) Has there been a team with fewer decent attacking options? Struggle to think of one  in our Championship career. Even the train wreck under Coyle had 4 striker options (less.said the better about the rest). Given how crucial goals are not strengthening there and having Gally and Bereton coast about doesn't help our cause. No plan B or viable options is killing us. 

4) On the last point this goes for most of the team. Centre mid Buckley or Morton are similar (Wharton is in the cold for some reason and even so that's a lot of responsibility for the lad.) Out wide it's Dolans pace in an average player Vs Hedges presence in an average player. Up front its Gally or Vale who in ap perveresely impressive way  makes Gally seem decent. Where are the options? Only thing I could potentially think to try is JRC further forward and Brittain at RB. 

Mind you this is what years of underfunding gets you. 

1 minute ago, BigBar said:

Saw a post somewhere, maybe on here about what a disadvantage it is for this massive encouragement to play football "the right way" and that it just feeds into the hands of the bigger clubs. In a nutshell the bigger clubs can get the best players at playing it out from the back. If all or most teams start to take this approach they will simple get outplayed and lose. It will keep the bigger clubs successfup and on top. You need a division with 20 differents styles or at least 10-12. There were times last night where we had a throw in and all I was thinking was "launch it into the fucking box". It's unpredictable and causes all sorts of problems but instead we throw it short and end up back in our own half 2 passes later as opposed to in their box with 2 centre halves and 3 strikers looking to get on the end of it with a couple of midfielders looking to pick up the loose balls. 

Spot on. West Ham are a massive example of this. Did well the last 2 years playing on the counter. Switched to play out from the back and "playing between the lines" (?) and have massively struggled 

This one-way,right way to play football ideology is hurting the game. 

Cracking idea by Chelsea to rehire a guy they sacked who wasn't good enough. 

And who had since been sacked by Everton for not being good enough. 

And whose sole other experience is doing no better or worse then the other Derby managers of that period. 

Potter on paper had a much more successful managerial career than Lampard, so you have to see it as an utter head scratchers. 

Interestingly the rules have now been changed (although not retrospectively) so only 5 years of a deal count towards FFP. 

Over the 90 minutes we deserved that. Brilliant result! 

Best I've seen Gally play in a long time. Also was impressed with Pickering who I often don't rate but thought he was excellent. 

Subs really didn't help us  Brittain was poor when he came on for JRC. Vale offers utterly nothing. 

Morton is always involved but loses the ball far too much and does more harm than good imo. 

If we play like that more often playoffs are very much on. 

1 minute ago, DE. said:

Undoubtedly our best performance under JDT by a massive margin... possibly our best performance overall in years.

Agreed. Arte and laboure in action. 

Fantastic. Simply fantastic. 

Leicester's stupid Dutch disease helping but my word we are stepping it up. 

Should have scored. Great pressing from the team but we need to take our chances. 

Tell you what this is a statement win. 

New manager bounce is a massive thing throughout football, even with some poor managers. Blimey we've seen it in the last few weeks at championship and premiership level. Factor in missing Dack and Bereton our two strongest attackers and it's a tough away game, despite QPRs form. 

So a convincing win with players stepping up is very pleasing even if QPRs form has been poor. Mentally tough to regain the lead as well. 

How long this run will continue I'm unsure, nor am I certain of the consistency of some of our players (or being totally truthful their level.) But whilst we are on this run and in great form we can really cement our playoff place. COYB!

4 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

Given the quality of our strikers, is there anyway of finding out how many chances each of those players has created?

I don’t disagree with your thinking, It would just be interesting to know.

Indeed. Likewise I feel Morton in particular is poor but Xavi and Iniesta in their prime would struggle to get assists with our strikers 

9 hours ago, lraC said:

It’s two wins and a draw from the last three and 7 points. Very happy with that. 

Well so it is! I totally forgot about the Swansea game. If only it was that easy to forget losses... 

Think the point still stands, grinding out away points Vs better teams and beating weaker ones at home is good form.