1 hour ago, philipl said:

Well this is a stroll for a pretty disinterested looking Man U half reserves team. 

Hopefully Tom Lawrence's injury keeps him out of Sunday and Rooney doubles up on his yellow second half.

Rooney is different class from his fellow Rams but has lost most of the short distance pace he used to have and struggles to get around the park generally.

Derby did look very poor. Lots of misplaced passes and bad touches. Not that it will have any bearing on Sunday's game as they've apparently only lost 2 league games at home this season.

You are right about Rooney. There was one instance in the first half where he pinged a 60 yard cross field free kick straight to the Derby winger, who promptly miscontrolled it and the ball went out for a goal kick.

An odd one from South America; Ronaldinho and his brother arrested for having fake Paraguayan passports

Why would they be given Paraguayan passports when they arrived?

Is it me or do a lot of Brazilian footballers go off the rails once they have finished playing and go back home?

On ‎02‎/‎03‎/‎2020 at 06:56, chaddyrovers said:

Highly rated coach according to reports and has a background in coaching. Started at Crewe and then Liverpool. 

Well we don't know if they approaches made for Wellens or Robinson or Eustace were cos they first choice or before Critchley in the list, Or simple wanted to interview them before selecting their 1st choice. 

Coaching and managing are 2 different skills.

Going from Liverpool youth to Blackpool is like moving dimensions.

His drills during training may be the world's best but he now has to motivate players who operate on completely different ideals.

Good luck to him, but I think that he'll find it hard. Youth coaching is sheltered. Being a manager puts him in the firing line.

3 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

No,but he is a club legend so it's not as straight forward sacking him, I am sure he would have been gone by now if it was anyone else. 

I know a bloke over here who is a Boro fan. He's been slating Woodgate since last August. His take is that he should never have been given the job in the first place as he wasn't up to it. So far he is being proven right.

They are dropping like a stone. Others around them are waking up.

Scores and predictions after leg 1. 

Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Paris Saint-Germain - PSG should win at home and go through. Although they are serial bottlers and can't cope with Haaland.
Real Madrid 1-2 Manchester City - City have too much for Real.
Atalanta 4-1 Valencia - Classic Italian defending will see Atalanta through. Valencia aren't very good either.
Atletico Madrid 1-0 Liverpool - Anybody's tie. If Liverpool score early they'll win easily. If not I can see Simeone's tactically excellent yet aesthetically horrible team sneaking it.
Chelsea 0-3 Bayern Munich - Game over. Chelsea have no chance.
Lyon 1-0 Juventus - Lyon wound Juventus up last night, expect more of the same in Turin. Ronaldo usually turns it on in times like this. Despite Sarri I think Juventus will win. 
Tottenham 0-1 RB Leipzig - on paper Spurs can progress. In reality they are streets behind Leipzig.
Napoli 1-1 Barcelona - Barcelona will rag it through. Messi to score. Thankfully there will be no Busquets to roll around crying all game to waste time.

The Rovers all too predictable goalless home draw wasn't available over here so I watched Real-City instead.

They were miles better than Madrid. If Mahrez either shot a bit better or wasn't so greedy they could have had a few more too. 

That rogue Sergio Ramos was sent off too. He was protesting away at the decision even though it was a cast iron red card. I do wonder as it wasn't Ramos's usual manhandling if Jesus should have stayed on his feet and slotted in the 3rd. Or did he think that he was in the box and would get a penalty?

Real won't be top dogs again for a while. The 3 in a row winning team is on the way down. Modric, Kroos, Benzema, Ramos, Marcelo, and Bale are all on the back end of their careers. Hazard is a short term stop gap. They do have some good young players, but need a galactico or 2. They'll get them at some point soon. 

3 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

I wasnt criticising the mentality of the players.  Perhaps its a result of years and years where we have spent most of the time ambling along in the Championship, often with outside chances of success without ever actually even breaking into the top 6, maybe people think it is unrealistic and unfathomable to suddenly start being ruthless, to start going to top 6 rivals and potentially winning games. I also think some people as @PeteJD13 says dumb down expectations purposely to ensure that if they are not met, there is that defence mechanism in place. There is nothing wrong with for example being frustrated not to be able to see out a 2 nil lead (not for the first time this season) against a top 6 side, especially when a portion of the blame is at the referees door. Its very difficult having been in that position to just coldly revert to, well I would have taken a point beforehand. Equally, when you play 5th bottom at home, and you want the top 6, you should expect a win, it goes without saying that it wont be easy, but a top 6 team would eat up an opportunity like that 9 times out of 10, if not more. Also, every match day, any dropped points will likely be capitalised on by our rivals, if we want top 6/promotion, we should view every game as winnable. I felt that there was an inferiority complex on here going to Brentford on Saturday. It is understandable but if we are to move from mid table fodder to promotion challengers as we seem to be doing, that mindset must change, we can beat anyone.

That dumbing down mentality is part of the culture of East Lancs. It's easier to start your disappointment off early rather than be optimistic and look foolish if it doesn't go as planned.

Each of the 12 fixtures Rovers have left need to be considered must win games. A home game against a bottom 6 team, albeit in good form, should be the first.

30 minutes ago, Proudtobeblue&white said:

Chelsea completely outplayed, 3-0, Bayern.

They were very poor, but Bayern forced them into errors too.

The transfer ban helped Chelsea as it forced Lampard to have to play Abraham, Mount, James, and the like. However, they are still young and need older heads to guide them. Chelsea's older heads aren't good enough. Willian, Kovacic, and Pedro aren't good enough for business end Champions League play.

Not having Kante hurt as well. He does the work of 2 players.

In the other game Barcelona drew 1-1 away at Napoli in an utter bore fest. Expect more of the same in the second leg.

On ‎23‎/‎02‎/‎2020 at 04:22, MarkBRFC said:

I've had a quick look through the rest of the fixtures, and have us finishing on exactly 70 points, not sure that will quite be enough for the play offs but you have to say it is progress.

Of course, I'm probably well off ?

I missed your post before I posted.

It looks like we have a very similar outlook. You are a tad more optimistic than I, 19 to my 18 points.

2 hours ago, philipl said:

Every fixture we have to end season is winnable

And we could cock up the lot..

There are 36 points to play for. Over the 12 games Rovers need to amass 6 more points than those currently in the playoff positions and hope that the teams below don't go on a super duper run. 7 wins and a couple of draws will probably do it. I think that that will be a bridge too far despite Rovers playing well. 

The remaining fixtures are;

Home - Stoke, Swansea, Bristol City, Leeds, West Brom, Reading

Away - Derby, Wigan, Barnsley, Cardiff, Millwall, Luton

My (usually way off) predictions are;

Home - 3 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw

Away - 2 wins, 2 losses, 2 draws

18 points - 69 total - missing out by hair.

17 hours ago, Amo said:

Don't get the patriotism for English clubs in European tournaments. We can't stand them any other time.  

I'd rather an English team win than another country's. I know the players, the league, and won't have to listen to American fanboys talking up La Liga - that they never watch, or Ronaldo again.

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Haven't watched the champions league all season. Don't know who most of coaches are of teams in the competition or who even left in. My level of interest in the competition has faded away nowadays. Gone too boring for me last time I watch it. Plus I rather save the 30 pounds a month on it

You are missing out Chaddy. Last season's knock out stages had some of the best football matches I've ever seen. The fitness, skill, coaching, and overall play is superb.

Of the 4 games played this week you'll have at least 2 crackers next time out. Liverpool have to go for it against a resolute Atletico. PSG need to score, and stop Haaland (what a player).

Although unlikely Spurs still have a chance, and Valencia have nothing to lose so expect goals.

17 hours ago, roverandout said:

Got a horrible feeling that all 4 English clubs are going out at round 16. Chelsea wont beat bayern, city will lose to real.  Spurs are useless without kane and son. Liverpool are touch and go.

It's not a stretch to suggest it.

3 hours ago, oldjamfan1 said:

I think City will beat Real comfortably. I also expect Liverpool to come back in their game as well. Agree that Chelsea have a tough game and Spurs are goners.

I'm with you although I think Liverpool are touch and go. Can they sneak a couple of goals against 10 defenders and a good keeper? Spurs were outclassed last night and Chelsea don't have an identity, a striker, or a manager who knows his stuff (yet?). 

Simeone's Atletico are the best in the business at stopping other teams from playing. Give them a goal and it's even harder. They will be very hard to break down at Anfield.

Liverpool were woeful. No rhythm or cohesion, and their passing was uncharacteristically off too. Much of that was down to the opposition stopping them from playing.

Pluses for Liverpool going into the second leg are that they can't play much worse, are at home, and won't have that dodgy ref.

2 hours ago, Rogerb said:

And the previous 17 games show us where in the league?. Will be more than happy if proved wrong after 46 games and would be first to say Walton has improved in recent weeks however needs to be performing consistently. Statistical snap shots don't alter the fact he has difficulty getting down to shots near him.

After 16 games Rovers were in 18th spot on 18 points.

first 16 - 1.125 pts per game

next 17 - 1.88 pts. per game.

If Rovers keep that average up for the last 13 games they will make the playoffs. 2 points per game over a season will get a team automatic promotion.

Anyone thinking of the playoffs after the Hull win?

Over the last 10 years only once has a team made the playoffs with less than 70 points. It was Leicester during Rovers first season down in 2012/2013. They finished 6th with 68 points(interestingly Peterborough went down with 54). Rovers need 7 more wins to get to that number.

The Championship is still wide open, everybody is beating everybody, so it won't take 74 or more to get in. I can't see Rovers winning over half of their remaining games though.

1 hour ago, Tom said:

Those weren’t boo’s aimed at Maddison, it was Tattooooooooooo - just letting him know why we didn’t sign him 

Sounds like it was job done last night. Beating a team at home who Rovers were supposed to beat.

39 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

He is just a generally obnoxious and eccentric personality, he was banned for 3 games for throwing coins in the Blackburn End when he was on loan at Shrewsbury and I think he has made the news once or twice more for minor incidents.

Thanks.

2 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Hate to say it but it would be between Henderson and Pope for me, ones a knobhead and ones a Burnley player. Would probably go for Henderson although he does have a rick in him, hes better than Pickford.

Doubt he will change Pickford now though.

What did he do to earn that distinction? I don't know anything about him.

1 hour ago, joey_big_nose said:

Pickford gives us a huge amount with his feet though.... If we bring someone in who can shot stop well but poor at distribution it does have a big impact on the team. 

My suspicion is Southgate will stick with Pickford.

Unlike past teams Southgate has players who actually play better for England than their club side. Pickford is one of them. I can't see him being dropped because of the odd error. He kept him throughout qualifying, and that time included his clanger against Liverpool, and a couple more cock ups.

It was one of the better Superbowl's. San Francisco will be sick this morning. 20-10 up with the best defence around and not much time left to 31-20 and losing. That will hurt for a while.

J Lo is 50, Shakira 43. They looked good.

5 hours ago, DE. said:

Public transport in general needs to be improved massively if the Government are serious about reducing car usage/emissions. It's well and good telling people to use trains/buses more often, but in this part of the country at least both of those options are extremely unreliable. Buses turn up whenever they want, rarely on time, making scheduling around bus travel almost impossible. Trains meanwhile are expensive, often delayed and if you're on a rush hour train good luck finding a seat. 

I can't blame people for choosing to drive over public transport because the latter is just not up to standard. I have less tolerance for people choosing to drive short distances rather than walking, excluding issues like bad weather, medical conditions, travelling somewhere else afterwards, etc. To me that's more to do with laziness and a contributor to the poor state of public health in general. 

It does. Cars everywhere is one thing I notice every time I go home. It wasn't like it is now 20 years ago. I've said previously that successive governments prioritised cars over buses and trains. I'm sure it has a lot to do with WWII recovery and allowing American firms the chance for new markets.

I used to work with a bloke who lived near Ipswich. He lived in the middle of nowhere, although not too far out, but said that he rarely went out for a drink. He had to drive everywhere he went because of the lack of public transport. There was a bus that went past his house once a week. 

7 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Ince suffered from lots of poor decisions by himself. Poor choices of coaching staff like Ray Mathias or Archie Know or Nigel Winterburn. Poor signings like Grella, Andrews or Fowler. His attitude towards everything thinking he was a big cheese here. He wasnt. Fans never took to him. 

John Williams made a massive mistake in appoint him at the time we did. 

 

Ince had far too much ego. He was never well liked as a player. Not many of his former teammates are full of praise for him. Mathias was awful. He had no business being part of a premier league team's coaching set up. I'll never forget an interview he did from his car after Ince was binned. He sounded like a Sunday league boss.

As to Robinson, I thought that the signing was a bit of a coup. England goalkeeper coming to Rovers. Friedel didn't have long left, I expected Robinson to last 10 years. He didn't though.

Days like today are why I like this messageboard. 

It was an almost universal opinion that Wednesday were nailed on for a home win. Cue a stonker of a performance and post after post singing the team's praises.

That's football. It allows people to dream.

Come Monday it will be back to the usual uncertainty. Mowbray has a full week and more with his team. If Klopp, Guardiola, or even Dyche had that much time to prepare there would be a massive improvement in team performance.

Let's keep dreaming.  

How many games did Cunningham play? Not many, right?

It was a shame that he got injured but it looks like a wasted loan.

On ‎14‎/‎01‎/‎2020 at 10:38, JacknOry said:

Too early to write him off completely but he should start having a backup plan. 

Rashford, Sterling, and Sancho as a front 3 will give teams kittens. They may need to stay on their feet though as they aren't the best at penalties, something that Kane is very good at.

32 minutes ago, DanLad said:

It feels like that for virtually every tournament England's 'star' player is injured beforehand and we are all supposed to pray that he's fit for the finals. He's then not properly match fit but gets played anyway and is useless resulting in England effectively playing with 10 men. Rinse and repeat.  Essentially, if Kane is physically fit (not injured) I think he will be a long way off match fit and shouldn't play in the tournament.  Unless he is back and playing effectively for a reasonable time before the finals start.

I don't think that Kane will be anywhere near match fit. He'll get the best treatment and rehab that money can buy but I don't think that there will be enough games for him to play in. That's if he comes back in April. He won't be playing matches until late April/early May. The Prem finishes mid May. He wasn't fit for the CL final last year and was very poor.

It is part of the narrative of England at tournaments from the golden generation on. It always struck me that other nations didn't have the same problems - they may have done but I didn't notice.

I seem to remember Japan/Korea 2002 being particularly bad. It was the era of the metatarsal injury.

I think that Southgate would have played Ox and Gomez in Russia too if they would have been fit. He didn't trust Walker. Ox was flying. He'd have been ahead of Lingard.

A question for the England fans amongst us.

Harry Kane's annual injury is upon us. His latest one looks more serious than his usual ankle issues. He did his hamstring and had to have surgery. Initial reports had him out until April, but yesterday Mourinho was a little more vague saying that he could miss the Euros.

Should Southgate write him off for the summer? Even if he does come back in April it will take him a while to get fit. He is also one who usually starts slowly. He was similarly out last spring, came back for the Champs league final and played like a chump.