The NFL playoffs start this weekend. I always enjoy watching them. 

Top seeds this year are Baltimore (AFC), and San Fransisco (NFC). It's hard to look past either of them making it to the Superbowl. Both get a first round bye, and both get to play their game(s) at home. 

This weekend's games are;

Kansas City v. Miami

Buffalo v. Pittsburgh

Houston v. Cleveland

Dallas v. Green Bay

Detroit v. LA Rams

Tampa Bay v. Philadelphia

17 hours ago, Ianrally said:

Will the Wrexham fans be employing Mickey Thomas to make them some counterfeit tickets.?

For the younger members he was a Wrexham idol who was jailed for a counterfeit currency scam and money laundering. 

I think it was When Saturday Comes (is it still going?) that had promo one issue; "free inside, A Mickey Thomas tenner".

I had a mate who was pals with a few Wrexham YTS lads during the time it all happened. He said that the dressing room was awash with the dodgy cash. 

As for the game, Rovers should win this one. Despite all the glitz Wrexham are still league 2 newcomers. Rovers, even with all their woes, have much better footballers. 

There will be plenty of US interest in this game. 

4 hours ago, davulsukur said:

😂😂😂

Employing Rooney has backfired spectacularly. If they want to continue the downward trend getting Lampard in will do that.

He might, however, get them a few results before the wheels fall off.

Rooney did a decent job under extraneous circumstances at Derby. His stint at DC United was unremarkable so other than the fact that he is Wayne Rooney - a once wonderful player - why did Birmingham hire him? 

If Lampard and Zola are in the frame it seems like Tom Brady and his mates are falling for the celebrity line again. Both are failures in management. I'm all for them getting the job though as it will benefit Rovers. 

Was it Brian Clough who had a blank chapter in his book titled "what the average chairman knows about football."

1 hour ago, davulsukur said:

It would be classic Rovers to lose to bottom of the league and then beat Leeds but I agree that we are in for a tubbing here.

It would but I'm in the loss camp again. Leeds are too strong. Leicester won easily at Ewood, Leeds are the other team in the division who look a class above and are likely to do the same.

Roves don't have the greatest record against Leeds either.

Rovers won - 32

Leeds won - 47

Draw - 23

16 hours ago, Giant said:

Villa were brilliant tonight, they battered City and should have won 4 - 0.

They were. City couldn't get out of their own half. 

3 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

Usually the Premier League bores me to tears but this year is actually very interesting with Arsenal, Villa, Spurs, Liverpool all looking very good and Man City being shaky. Would love it if Villa could stay up there, just for the variety. Always more engaged if a side is involved who isn't part of the traditional big six clubs (much as I hate that term)..

It does seem different this year. I don't think Arsenal's squad is anything special (Saliba, Odegaard, Rice, Saka, aside) but they are ploughing on. Liverpool's only loss was controversial yet they look shaky at the back. Spurs but are entertaining. Maddison's injury is a shame for them. Emery has Villa playing well. I saw them against Liverpool early on and they were poor. 

City will bounce back, De Bruyne will return, and if needed they'll splash the cash in January. They seem to suffer without Rodri. Kovacic, Nunes, and disappearing act Kalvin Phillips can't replicate what he does. Stones played in midfield last night. As good as Rodri is he is slow and is good for a booking, especially for one of Guardiola's "tactical" fouls when someone gets the wrong side of him. He was banned for last night's game after accumulating 5 yellows. He's also been sent off this season. 

Even further down teams aren't rolling over. Wolves, Palace, Bournemouth get the odd result. 

Burnley and Sheff Utd are the worst 2 teams in the division. Luton have no quality at all but are making a fist of it, especially at home. 

Man U and Chelsea played last night. Ordinarily this game would have been hyped up to no end yet it was an afterthought. Between them they won 9 of the 11 titles on offer from 2004-05 to 2014-15. Both teams are so far away from getting back there. They have spent so much money on who knows what. Fernandez, Mudryk, and Caicedo, cost Chelsea over £300m. Man U paid £80m for Antony, £70m+ for Hojlund.

Imagine if they didn't sign those 5 and instead donated that money to football league teams. Neither team would be worse off and all 72 league clubs would have £6m to work with.

5 hours ago, bazza said:

I'm going to get in before Mike Delap. I can't think of many who played for both clubs.

Albert Nightingale and David Batty. Not sure if Jason Wilcox also went there. Duncan McKenzie?

I heard a story years ago that Rovers wanted Gary McAllister from Leeds. Howard Wilkinson said no, so Rovers came back with "how about Batty then?" They said yes and I'm glad that they did. He was superb for Rovers. He won player of the season ahead of Shearer. He spent most of the title season injured. Then left for Newcastle not too long after.  

18 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Interesting to see Rashford get some deserved criticism at the weekend. He has the odd patch of incredible form but also many spells where not only is he ineffective but he totally downs tools. He did it during the Ronaldo days and the Pogba days but the focus was elsewhere. He doesnt deserve to be in the England squad considering the alternatives barring a massive change. Not one we would want in the trenches.

ESPN has a couple of articles up at the moment criticising him too. He scored 30 goals last season, but only 5 the season prior. 

I rate Rashford. I have said time and again that he needs to leave Man U in order to improve. He's too comfortable. Him being a hometown boy has allowed him to get away with what he has. Fans will give him more leeway, and it looks like managers do too. 

5 hours ago, wilsdenrover said:

Match of the Day 2s analysis of the City Spurs game…

Plenty of criticism of the referee decision at the end - no criticism of Haaland’s mistake (missing from 10 yards).

Plenty of praise of Tottenham even though nearly every one ended with the phrase ‘it didn’t work but’.

In my opinion, this highlighted two of the problems with the modern game.

1. Where at all possible, blame the officials - possibly understandable from managers   but indefensible from pundits (maybe it would help if it wasn’t such an old boys club)

2. Style over substance - if it looks ‘right’ (who decide this?) then it doesn’t matter if it  
   works or not.

 

 

One aspect of watching Premier League over here is that I rarely, if ever, listen to pundits after games. I am stuck with them at half time but there is no match of the day to watch at night so no chance for enlightened chat.

City-Spurs was an interesting game. I thought that Spurs were awful. They should have been 4 or 5 down by half time. Far too much stupid play at the back followed by bad decision making when attacking. Emerson Royal was an accident waiting to happen. He looked about as steady as someone on a unicycle holding plates of jelly. 

Liverpool played every game available in 2021-22 and suffered for it last season. City are doing much better but something is missing. They are conceding far too many goals, and De Bruyne isn't going to fix that when he's back,. 

Speaking of Liverpool, they are also conceding goals far too regularly. They were miles better than Fulham but couldn't keep them out, and it took a late flurry to win it.

As for Man U. Another woeful performance. I don't think that Ten Hag is the magical coach many want him to be. 

12 hours ago, Upside Down said:

Well there's this or starters https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/sep/22/i-had-to-leave-concerns-raised-over-state-of-uefa-amid-cronyism-claims

Then there's allegations that the vice president is involved in drug trafficking, has been involved in match fixing etc...

All of these organisations are rotten to the core.

I'm not doubting that there are dodgy UEFA officials. 

What I am saying is that referees are not on the take. Both the on pitch and in room VAR officials are making colossal errors due to one second guessing the other leading to indecision. There isn't a Mr. Big at UEFA HQ telling them what decisions to make to influence games. Nor are the Emiratis, Saudi, Qataris, and other big pocketed owners showering referees with jewels.

In years past it has happened. Marseille. The dodgy Belgian (I think) ref from years back who admitted taking bribes. Franco's influence on Real Madrid teams, and who knows what the former iron curtain teams were up to in the 70's and 80's. 

The amount of money in European football, and the blanket prevalence of gambling makes it too much of a risk to upset it.  

7 hours ago, Upside Down said:

Naive beyond belief there mate.

Go on then, fill me in on the details.  

5 hours ago, MarkBRFC said:

Wednesday will be up for it after there last minute goal last night, and they are due another win.

We'll lose this 2-0 and come crashing back down to earth.

I'm with you, this has got a Rovers loss written all over it. 

Chance for 5 away wins in a row. 

Playing bottom of the league.

Potential bad weather.

Current division top scorer riding high. 

Up to 7th. 

19 hours ago, Upside Down said:

You don't think UEFA are corrupt?

Really?

The referees aren't. 

UEFA officials live in a murky world. They aren't bent like FIFA but I'm sure there is a lot of influencing going on. 

16 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

I don’t know where or why there isn’t a champions league thread but I’ve just witnessed another horrific VAR balls up that has robbed Newcastle a place in the next round. They played their hearts out  and defended like warriors only for that young 17 year old kid to have a ball kicked into his stomach and bounce off the back of his elbow . A 97th minute mbappe penalty knocking them out. Disgraceful decision. The ref didn’t give it in real time which was the correct decision only for var to come along and ruin another great game. If that was rovers I wouldn’t sleep for a week. Awful decision and I genuinely feel for all the geordies that travelled and had what would of been a game of a lifetime to remember completely destroyed be var

I usually start at CL thread at the start of the group stages but haven't been bothered yet. I'll get one going once the knockout stages start. 

The ref was in the middle for the World Cup final last year. He is usually top notch. It came out earlier today that although UEFA have not admitted that a mistake was made the VAR ref has been booted from his duties in a CL game today.

It was a farcical decision 

15 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

PSG pay loads to get those sort of decisions and have done for years since Qatar bought them during which time they have won SFA outside of France, long may that lack of success continue.

I don't buy the corruption angle at all. UEFA would love Mbappe in the final every year so fan boys will watch but it won't happen. Due to the relatively low standard of Ligue Un PSG players don't face enough tough games that creates the mental resolve needed for late-stage CL knock out matches, especially over 2 legs. 

They did get screwed a few years ago when Man U knocked them out. Rashford scored a dubious VAR awarded penalty in stoppage time. 

To go through Newcastle must win in Milan and need PSG not to win in Dortmund.

3 hours ago, LeftWinger said:

Same here. Show me a photo of a Premier League player from the mid-90s and I'd be able to name 99% of them.

I bet I'd struggle to name 30% now. 

Thought that might be the difference between me being 10 and almost 40.

I'd be hard pressed to name many players not affiliated with the "big 6". I'd struggle mightily if they were dressed in street clothes.

If I knew the player I also used to be able to name every team they had played for. Not a chance now. 

Panini sticker books were a fixture of my youth.

17 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

I know it’s hard for folk abroad to understand but a load of football fans here don’t have Sky and generally aren’t particularly interested in the PL.

Now I do have it but even I’m well out the loop, the World Cup proved that when the commentators would go ‘here’s player x of Aston Villa/Fulham/West Ham’ and I honestly wouldn’t have recognised them if they’d walked past me.

Fair point. If someone isn't interested then leave it alone, it's the moaning and groaning about it that comes across as being sour.

I am a Rovers fans but I don't have the passion for them and them alone like many on here do, and from what you are saying it happens across the board. I have always loved football but must be in the minority.

I can watch every Prem game every week if I so desire as I have a subscription to NBC. Without it I'd still get 4 live games every weekend.  

I get 2 Championship games a week with ESPN+ but as much as I like football watching the likes of Swansea v QPR is too much for me. 

Games are also on much earlier here so I can watch on Saturday morning and still have the rest of the day free. It causes less disruption than being on at 3, 5, or 7.30.

1 hour ago, DE. said:

The bottom four have now all changed manager. 

21st - Huddersfield

21st September - Warnock leaves, Darren Moore is hired. Huddersfield were 16th at the time and had eight points from the first seven matches. Since Moore took over they've only gained seven points from nine matches and are now 21st. No new manager bounce here. 

22nd - Rotherham

13th November - Matt Taylor sacked after a 5-0 drubbing at Watford stretches the club's run without an away win to 21 matches. It would certainly be ironic if Warnock was appointed and ultimately led Rotherham to safety ahead of Huddersfield. He's gotten Rotherham out of a worse situation before. 

23rd - QPR

28th October - Gareth Ainsworth and his dancing, chanting motivational speaker leave after QPR go nine games without a win, including a 4-0 hammering from JDT's lads. Relative unknown Marti Cifuentes, a Spaniard who had been plying his trade in Sweden, takes the job on 30th October. Two days later QPR chairman Amit Bhatia stepped down, essentially saying it was because he had better things to do. Cifuentes is unbeaten in his first two games in charge, drawing away to Rotherham and at home to Bristol City. 

24th - Sheffield Wednesday

4th October - It was a shock to hear Sheffield Wednesday had parted company with Darren Moore after last season's promotion, but hiring former Watford boss Xisco Munoz didn't seem like the worst idea. Turns out it pretty much was though, as ten matches, no victories and just five goals scored saw Munoz get the boot - although he probably wasn't too disappointed, as owner Chansiri had just announced he hated the fans and wasn't putting any more money into the club. 34 year old Danny Rohl thought yeah, that'll do me, and took charge on October 13th. He'd previously been assistant at the likes of Bayern and Southampton, and in taking the job became the youngest manager in the football league. Wednesday have mostly carried on as normal, however, losing four of the five matches Rohl has been in charge - the other being a home win against Rotherham. They're obviously still bottom and of the five games Rohl has been in the hotseat thus far, Wednesday have conceded nine and scored twice. 

Birmingham, Millwall, and Bristol City have also changed managers since the start of the season. 

Birmingham's seems to be the stupidest decision. Rooney is doing a terrible job. 

Contrast to the Premier League where not one manager has yet lost their job. 5 had gone by this time last year. 

Yet another international break is upon us. 

England play Malta and North Macedonia in the last round of qualifiers.

Squad here; ESPN - England squad

Lewis Dunk, Callum Wilson, and James Maddison are injured so Southgate has brought in Ezri Konsa, Cole Palmer, and Rico Lewis.

No Sterling again. He had a very good game yesterday too. 

17 hours ago, Wheelton Blue said:

I for one don't want to watch it every week. In fact, I have no interest in it whatsoever.

I know that many on this board naysay anything that isn't Rovers related but the Chelsea-City game was superb. 

City's metronome passing routines went out of the window, Chelsea caused them all sorts of problems, themselves too. 

Rovers have 3 main problems; no decent central striker, a recurring knack of conceding late goals., and little in the way of a strong physical presence 

Szmodics is keeping the team alive with his goals. If he had someone to share the goal load with Rovers would be in a playoff spot.

PNE's winner was the 11th conceded after the 75th minute. 

Unless new signings arrive in January Rovers will yoyo between 8th and 15th until the end of the season.

19 hours ago, R0verb0y said:

Doubtless, given the weekend it is, both teams will be wearing black armbands throughout the game, anyway; but, surely it must be possible for the announcer to use some form of words before the Last Post referring to us having "lost one of our own." without seeming disrespectful to the soldiers whom we'll be commemorating?

There is a world of difference between a fan dying in his 70's vs. those who died for their country. I'm with @only2garners, if it does warrant any action it should be separate. 

7 hours ago, philipl said:

4 of the top 5 failed to win.

Problem was the one which makes it uncompetitive won 6-1..

City don't look their usual at the moment. De Bruyne missing probably has a lot to do with that. 

They've already lost 2 games, one of those to Arsenal. They'll probably win it but it will be close. Arsenal and Liverpool will push them. 

We will see if Liverpool's draw at Luton was an aberration once the other top teams have been there. The atmosphere was raucous and felt like a cup tie. 

Spurs-Chelsea was extremely watchable madness.

Udogie and Romero should have both been sent off for their first incidents. Udogie jumped in two footed. Luckily Sterling saw him and jumped out of the way. Romero decided to pull a Beckham on Colwill. It was checked and the VAR officials left it. Very odd. 

Why Chelsea were passing it around the back when Spurs were playing so high up was beyond me. Mudryk and Jackson are seriously quick. I'd have had them stand on the halfway line and go at every opportunity. 

Chelsea may have won but they are still a mess. Jackson scored 3 but doesn't look like a striker. 

Spurs showed some character, although they were let down by the players sent off. Worse for them are the injuries. Maddison dropped to the floor after a run, nobody touched him, and van de Wen would be out for a while depending on how bad his hamstring injury is. 

On 05/11/2023 at 06:11, K-Hod said:

To not see that ball being out of play, is probably the worst display of incompetence I can recall.

Worse than the Spurs-Liverpool fiasco?

This one is subjective, albeit lots of different incidents bundled into 1. I'd have still given the goal. 

I like this explanation; ESPN: VAR review.

Arteta and Arsenal were way over the top with their reaction. 

Rovers should have ben out of sight after 20 minutes. 2 good goals and there should have been 2 more. Rovers played well, Norwich were poor.

Tim Sherwood used to get plenty of stick for giving the ball away, but he tried to make aggressive passes. Wharton is trying the same. If one of them would have come off there would have been a very good scoring opportunity. 

Szmodics doesn't look 100% fit. The keeper doesn't look convincing either.

I'd like to see a 3rd Rovers goal, preferably early. 

I have to give a hat tip to the Rovers fans at the game. Every time Shane Duffy got the ball it coincided with loud booing. It forced the commentator doing ESPN's coverage to explain why Rovers fans were doing it. He said that Duffy's last 11 games for Rovers included him scoring 4, 3 own goals, and 2 sendings off. He then clarified that his last game Duffy scored 2 own goals and was sent off. Well done commentator. Yet another seedy incident explained to a wider audience.

1 hour ago, 47er said:

That Newcastle goal should never have stood. VAR clearly showed the ball went out of play before it was crossed for the goal.

What's the use of it?

Why don't stadiums have cameras situated level with the goal lines? Do the corner flags get in the way?

I actually think it was a goal. The VAR angle seemed to show green next to the ball and the line but it wasn't conclusive. They shouldn't have bothered looking at other 2. It wasn't a foul nor was Gordon offside.

I liked the game too. It was short on chances but there was lots of full-blooded play. Havertz was lucky to stay on, and Guimares should have been sent off for elbowing Jorginho.

Wolves got screwed again. It was never a penalty.