Dreams of 1995

All of the players that played yesterday can very easily fit into our first 11. I don't think we put out a second string team at all. Granted, the game may have gone differently with Dack, Mulgrew & Graham but, with hindsight, you can't argue with the squad selected when we pushed a Premier League team (and a good one at that) as far as we did. To top it off we have now given Brereton/Rodwell a good run and boosted competition for those first 11 places. Had we gone with players like Tomlinson, Nuttall, Travis, Leutweiler etc filling the squad there'd be substance to the argument that the manager doesn't take this cup seriously.

I think Bauer has done some ligament damage. He probably won't be fit himself by January in all honesty.

He isn't a left back either.

The thing is that we do have strength in depth all areas except defence. We have an abundance of central midfield options and our forward positions all have 2 players per position. We should have no issue with handling the rigours of this league. It is in defence were the worry lies. Lenihan has a tendency to get injured for long periods and Mulgrew is already showing signs of injuries. Are Downing and Williams a centre half partnership that makes you confident? Likewise if Nyambe gets injured our next right back is Travis or Bennett. One is a young lad and the other is taking away from our wide players. If there is money in Jan it has to be spent on a defender or two. It's the only area of the pitch that has question marks over it currently. Rovers have neglected it for too many years and it has always come back to haunt us: see Bowyer's/Coyle's years as a prime example

Bell is primarily left footed and probably why he struggles when the winger cuts inside. He's shown himself to be quite limited defensively. I'd still prefer him to Williams for what he gives us going forward and I think with the right coaching he can overcome his defensive frailties. Left back has been a real contentious issue so far this season. I think eventually all will conclude that neither are good enough to retain a spot in the team once our ambitions turn towards promotion. That's not to say I don't believe we can achieve a play off spot this season by the way. I'm more talking that if we are to become a team that is talked about in terms of promotion/play offs there are certain positions that will need replacing -left back being one of them.

What a difference Crouch made judging by these stats. We had a truly awful last 30 minutes

If the information went to the wrong address and he was forwarded it late then the court has done right in revoking the punishment he was given in his absence. The case of information going to wrong addresses happens a lot - he probably did change his address but the information had already been sent out. Traffic offences are hardly the worst indicators of poor character Rodwell has shown. I wonder how many people on here truly have clean licences....

Anyone saying they wouldn't want McCarthy in this league as their manager is a liar. He's had 3 promotions hasn't he? Jesus Christ. You don't do it 3 times if you are a bad manager! I genuinely think we are in contention for a play off spot. We'll have a patch of dropping points but think this team is made of sturdy stuff. We don't like losing at home which is the foundation of all good sides. Under previous managers we struggled to put together any run of results at home so it's refreshing to actually see us doing so well. I actually can't remember the feeling of disappointment after a league home game at the moment!!!

Crouch is a consummate professional and certainly wouldn't be a 36 year old I'd have turned my nose up at signing in the summer! A fantastic player who can score any type of goal. His days are numbered and I wouldn't be surprised if this was his last season. It speaks volumes for Stoke's fans booing him - assuming the booing wasn't solely because Afobe went off. He dug them out of the dirt a few times last season despite their relegation! Between that and their comments before the match about us I'm glad we stuck 3 past them. They are quickly finding out what 99% of relegated teams find out that no fixture in this league is a definite win.

With 98% of all lags on community service orders in East Lancashire being from Burnley our Bradley has to do his on times when the unwashed aren't. Best days are Monday mornings between the hours of 7-11 whilst they sleep the white lightning off.

We always have a chance of winning it if we are in it! I love cup runs. The chance to possibly reach Wembley is worth it all.

Raya Nyambe Bennett Reed Smallwood Evans Rothwell Dack Palmer Graham Brereton It's about time Nyambe started to learn to defend on his own. I prefer my defenders to be able to defend alone.

Apologies for the delay in this thread. I have been busier than expected! ROVERS vs Stoke City - 22nd September 2018. First of all I thought it wise to compare our current position to this time last season. Occasionally we have tendencies to let ourselves get rather worked up by a poor string of results, or disappointing performances, or BBQs. It's important to remember how far we have come in 12 months. The last time I wrote a match review was Rovers vs Wigan last season. In it I called it the last chance saloon for Mowbray unless we won - we didn't. I called for his sacking that night and genuinely believed we wouldn't get anywhere with him in charge. In one of my more humbling of moments I'm happy to say how wrong I was. Under Mowbray's leadership we've seen a tremendous upturns in fortunes. There's still work to do, make no mistake, but what a 12 months it has been. On the 16th September we lost 1-0 at home to AFC Wimbledon. On the 23rd September we drew to Shrewsbury 1-1 thanks to a last minute goal by Dack. After that Shrewsbury game we sat 9th in League 1 a whole 44 places behind Burnley, 10 places behind Bolton and 30 places behind Preston in the football league. We had Ward and Caddis in our back 4; a bench that comprised of Antonson, Hart & Whittingham. Fast forward a year and we are ahead of both Preston & Bolton and only 14 places behind Burnley in the football league. Our bench is strong - Rothwell, Palmer, Brereton and Reed on the bench. Things look a lot brighter. We have Dack in attack, Mulgrew at the back... We are on our way to Stoke. Stoke City Stoke-on-Trent. A city famous for Phil Taylor, a river, pottery, Rory Delapy's long throw, Port Vale, the BNP, Stanley Matthews, football hooliganism and..ducks. There's not much I can say about Stoke City except those going be careful - between the "Naughty Forty", all pushing way over 60 by now ironically, and the women you'll be safe to get out with both eyes. It's not far from Manchester and not far from Birmingham. Somewhere in between. Honestly, there's really not much to say. They make a good vase and like a good punch up. It's about it. In terms of football it is a club with a rich history. The aforementioned Stanley Matthews could play a bit. He had a career spanning well over 30 years which is remarkable considering there was a war of sorts in between. A player who earned accolades from greats such as Cloughie, who said, in his own way "they don't make them like him anymore". They have also had a decent keeper in the past too. World Cup winner Gordon Banks who is also the club President. It's worth noting that the nations favourite football pundit has also tried his luck at management here too. Our very own Kammy had a go in the 90s but, as you'd expect, he didn't see the year out. Unbelievable Jeff. Our History We have beaten Stoke 42 times and they have beaten us 35 (all lucky) with 15 draws. However the last time we beat them in the league was in 2008 so here's to 10 years lucky. The last time we played Stoke City we hammered them 4-1. Josh King bagged himself a hat trick before going on to run the Premier League and Rudy Gestede got a goal, before he too went off to run the, err, line for Villa or something. Where is he now? The day a rather large fella by the name of Peter Crouch got a goal. Remarkably he still plays. The days of the "long-ball Stoke" seem to have gone as they try to play a more attractive form of football but, clearly, they still hang on to the weapon of height. Something tells me he'll fancy his chances against a Rovers side that has shown themselves to be fairly poor in the air. There is a player called Mame Biram Diouf for them. You might remember him from his season long loan at Rovers in our "better" years. Not a great player to be honest and reckon he was only here to try and calm El Hadji down back then. Likewise they bought N'Zonzi from us. A fantastic player who really came into his own whilst at Stoke. They bought him for a pittance of £3million pounds so a little come back this weekend will go a long way - they'll only owe us a further £45million then for his true worth. Class act. They too have been managed by Mark Hughes, of course, although I think we may look back at him more fond than they do. His "big money" signings like Imbula couldn't hack the rigours of English football and he was eventually hounded out by the ducks and sacked. He's in a better place now though. Stoke's Current Fortunes Stoke are now managed by Garry Rowett. A man who got Derby to the play offs last season. Rowett strikes me as a "nearly man" having "nearly" turned Birmingham City's fortunes around also. His start hasn't been the greatest but they got a good win vs Swansea on the weekend. They are currently below us in the table on 9 points - 2 points behind us and will be 5 points behind us come Saturday evening. Their current squad is littered with full internationals: Joe Allen, Jack Butland, Martins Indi, Affelay, Fletcher and of course have the likes of Shawcross (thug) and Bojan. None will be a match for King Smallwood though so it's not too much of a worry. They also have the rather thuggish James McClean so here's to hoping Smallwood puts an end to that lads disgraces early on. Predictions This will be undoubtedly a tough game. Stoke are still fresh out of the Premier League and we'll be on their own turf. I strongly back this squad against any team this league so I can see yet another score draw. 2-2 for me with a late goal by one side - they aren't too good at holding onto leads either. Dack and Armstrong to score. It will be a good day - easy to travel too, should take some good numbers and a pretty decent ground to watch the game in. Let's go ducks (did I use it right?)

I'll get the Stoke one submitted tonight

Fixed that for you tomphil, free of charge

I was surprised to see Palmer back in the squad. Honestly expected Rothwell to be played out there. Palmer and Armstrong need to show more for me than they currently are. Palmer is a good player and has been involved in squads who have reached the play offs in successive seasons but you get the impression he hasn't fully settled here. You have to imagine Reed gets a start soon. He always looks tidy when he comes on. It was a pretty poor performance. Never really got going. Derby had quality in midfield that we couldn't match. Lucky to come away with the draw really but have to improve in the future. Good start to the season though. A couple of wins and we are looking healthy. Games like last night really show the importance of hanging onto leads when we have them.

Good work well done. The first instance of Lenihan "terrible play" though - a tad harsh, it was a slip after all!!

I've always preferred Bell but simply because Williams is a player I've never warmed to. Bristol City got rid of him when they began to have bigger ambitions than just surviving in the league and I don't think he's done enough to stay as our full back in the coming seasons. Bell has potential to improve and offers far more attacking. He's found wanting sometimes defensively but balancing the attributes of either player I think he's the better of the two. Who was our last solid left back? Olson?

Whilst it is obviously fair to criticise Dack for his silly mistake - as was done on the Bradley Dack thread - you do have to apply context when trying to compare reactions between players. Dack has been creating and scoring goals consistently since arriving; Gladwin has been consistently injured and has had the accusations of bragging whilst tanked up to add onto it. Had Gladwin been put in Dack's situation the reaction would be totally different and rightly so too. However, the reaction "in isolation" would be the same - that it is incredibly naive and stupid to think you'd get away with it, regardless of your community value. I wasn't calling you frothing at the mouth but more commenting on some of the rather Victorian style comments you see on social media these days about 'criminals'. There is a minority (yet still seems overwhelming) that champion disproportionate punishments for crimes committed.

Why have they done this? I don't see the purpose in not ordering something chronologically............... surely a function where you can switch how you want to order it is better than a worse compulsory method?

I couldn't care less if Dack nearly went to to prison as long as he keeps banging goals in whilst wearing Rovers colours. I hope this archaic need for social justice doesn't spill into any (minority I'm sure) fans booing him or anything like that. Social media tends to bring to light the frothing of the mouth types who pray for the days we lock minor criminals up for 35 years in isolation or make utter social pariahs of anyone who has made mistakes. Until, of course, a member of their own inner circle make those same mistakes.......but I digress Dack is the most exciting player we have had for half a decade - we should support him more than berate him. He's a grown man and I'm sure his own conscience tells him he's been an idiot. Likewise I'm certain Mowbray, Mulgrew and the other dressing room characters have told him what is at stake. He doesn't need us to constantly remind him of the silly situation he has been in. I for one hope he receives a rapturous reception on Saturday so the whole audience on Sky sees that he's wanted at this club despite his off the field troubles.

Having watched Nyambe over the course of 2 and a half years you have to admit he has dramatically improved. He's learnt to use his strength and pace far more effectively. He's poor in the air but so are most full backs - it's why attackers try and pull back in order to be challenging them in the air. That said he isn't the worst header of a ball in history so his weak point isn't terrible He's not a Premier League player. Not yet at least. He's playing at the level he deserves to be playing at, just like he was doing last season. He came on leaps and bounds in League 1 so I'm hoping for the same this season. His arc of progession, if you will, has been brilliant and similar progress will see him become a very good full back for us in the coming years

It wasn't the lack of talent Gladwin shown that completely irritated me it was the lazy way in which he went out about it. He would half arsed jump for a header or close the ball down. Then when he eventually got the ball at his feet, in a place where you'd expect he could do some damage, he continued in that lethargic manner. A poorly disguised pass or a naive attempt to beat his man when a simpler ball, which if executed with actual conviction, was on. He definitely reminded me a bit of the "could have made it" lads who play down Pleasington. A show pony with no real understanding of the game or the importance of team work. Finally, I will never forgive him for his lack of application in our humiliating defeat to Burnley. Yes, they were a side put together with the PL millions but there were players on that pitch that didn't understand the gravity of that situation. A tactic employed by Mowbray that game was for Raya to hit Gladwin whilst he competed for the header against Phil Bardsley. Makes sense - Bardsley is in his 30s and about half a foot smaller than Gladwin. Bardsley won more or less every header and the couple that Gladwin won one went out of play and the other straight to Brady. He wasn't bothered.

Villa's back 4 have to be among the worst in the league at the moment and we are at home. Attacking them has to be the priority. I want to see us get at them, turn them out of shape. We have a great attacking dynamic and can switch our front 4 pretty much at will if we want. Turn em inside out

Half the time you asked how he performed because you hadn't seen him play yourself. When answered you tried your upmost best to bring out the negatives of it. Boring.