I missed it, will there be any highlights shown??!

Great idea btw, well done to all involved. ?

What a monster game this now is. The result could be anything given how unpredictable this division is.

Hopefully they're jaded after Thursday's exerts and missing Lawrence too. 

We need a fast, assertive, confident start. I reckon most of their fans will be thinking this is an easy 3 points (they shouldn't but they will) for them to kick start their own playoff push.

Haha, I have 2 young daughters and a crazy dog Matty, no serenity here hence why I'm awake at this stupid time!

I did look for an emoji of a man holding a baby, but there was none to be seen which is surprising in this day & age.  I guess I should be offended; who do I complain to, there must be somone?!

31 minutes ago, Feed the Yak said:

Congratulations to you both, same thing happened to us following the birth of our little man last week. ?

And congrats to you too!?

7 hours ago, Ossydave said:

Travis can easily do a job on Wazza.

As for the whole Corona debacle, went to asda earlier to get my missus some paracetamol and ibuprofen after giving birth yesterday and the shelves were completely bare. You dickheads. 

Congratulations!!?

"India’s top poultry firms such as Suguna Foods, Godrej Agrovet and Venkys have reported up to a 50 per cent drop in sales of chickens and eggs in recent months, while sales have dropped by as much as 80 per cent in some areas."

https://amp.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3065227/coronavirus-chicken-indias-poultry-industry-takes-steps-stop

The BBC's coronavirus live feed is reporting that chicken sales in India have plummeted since the outbreak due to misinformation being spread online about chickens being carriers.

It'll be interesting to see if that'll have any kind of knock-on consequence for the club, good or bad depending on your perspective...

I thought we did ok yesterday and a draw was a fair result. Good to see us finishing strongly despite the setback of a missed pen, and seeing half their team on the floor was a funny sight!

I thought Gally was good first half, BB excellent second half, Nyambe consistent and Travis persistent. Poor performances from Tosin, Samuel, Rothwell & Armstrong, with everyone else average.

I think both pens were correctly awarded, would like to see the foul on Walton again cos at the ground it looked v late & high, an almost cast iron sending off. 

In isolation it's a good point but i have to say 3 from 9 is disappointing overall. Not surprising though either, as we're down to bare bones due to rotten luck with injuries coupled with recruitment issues.

Nevertheless they showed fight, character & togetherness and I can be proud of them given the adversities they've had to endure. Have we got stating power to kick on? I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure that if we'd have been told in August we'd be 3 points off 6th place on 1st March, to a man & woman on here everyone would have taken that & be of the view it is progress from last season. 

Of course it could (arguably should) be better but results this last week show that nothing can be taken for granted in terms of who has an easy or a hard run in. We still have our destiny in our own hands, howsoever we've got here, so let's try & stay positive, regroup, and go again next Sunday, which will be somewhat "after the Lord Mayor's Show" for Derby so a real chance to take the points in what will inevitably be a comedown for them after the hype of playing United on Thursday. We should get at them from the off.

23 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Whilst I don’t think today’s game is a dead rubber at all, if we don’t win, I don’t think we will ultimately get into the play offs.

Given Swansea's position relative to ours, today is a 6 pointer, the complete opposite of a dead rubber! 

Never having seen Carter but having been trusted to be on the bench recently  he should start alongside Tosin by reason of being least disruptive to the back 4. It could be the making of him, remember Phil Jones v Chelsea?!

I'd also replace Gallagher with Samuel and Rothwell with Buckley.  Something like below but with Dom Sam & AA being willing to work the channels and JB + Travis filling gaps in the middle when attacking. Potentially leaves us a bit narrow but we don't use the wide areas that well anyway.

     Walton

RN TA HC AB

  LT   BJ  SD

         JB

      DS  AA

1 hour ago, Inglorious basturk said:

Does a bit 

I really don't think it does at all. To get a point on Saturday at the home of a top 6 side is a great result, regardless of how it happened & regardless of tonight's scores. Getting 2 wins in 4 days now would really make that point count.

But we can't take anything for granted.  We have a great chance to cut the gap and I really hope we go at them from the off, however failing to win tomorrow, whilst damaging, would not end our hopes as this league is completely unpredictable.  Luton beating Brentford & Huddersfield beating Bristol are arguably surprise results tonight, but that's just scratching the surface of recent upturns. Recently Wigan won at Leeds (again), Barnsley hammered Fulham at home & our next opponents Stoke won at West Brom. 

In short, it's crazy but damned exciting!

And we've still to go to Luton, Barnsley, Wigan, who are all picking up points at the moment.

There is NO easy game in this next dozen fixtures, sadly.

Just now, OldEwoodBlue said:

Good results.

If Tony manages to fuck this up tomorrow he wants shooting.

Not that simple. Luton & Huddersfield, both below Stoke, have just beaten Bristol & Brentford, both above us.

We can take nothing for granted, but we are at home and it is a great opportunity. 

Some great results tonight.

No pressure Rovers...!

11 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Brentford struggling. Makes our 2-2 there look poor

No it doesn't. IMO.

I really enjoyed that match (in a nervous way!), it was a truly gritty and workmanlike away performance against a technically good, confident team on their own patch in a bit of a bear pit atmosphere in poor conditions. We were a little lucky with some of their finishing, but overall I think we created the clearer chances, albeit less of them.

We could have been better in possession, esp 2nd half against the wind, bit that's perhaps being a little churlish. Their goals came from a proper worldie - great timing, chest control & strike, unstoppable IMV - and a very soft penalty, much softer than ours as even if he did get a tap from behind he was already diving to the ground.

In terms of individuals, the back 5 were excellent in the main, Travis & Johnson were everywhere. Downing had a quieter game, as did Samuel, Buckley grew into it and Arma was excellent. Should've had a hat trick though.

No mental weakness was shown in my opinion, quite the opposite in fact. The team's application & commitment was excellent and we still went for the win after being pegged back - not the sign of a mentally weak team. The subs helped too and did not blunt us defensively or in an attacking sense.

The team have to look at this as a point gained not 2 lost and go into this week's home double with real confidence, not disappointment. We've taken 4 points off one of the league's best teams, so outside of further injuries, poor reffing or worldies there's no reason why we can't get into that top 6. It's in our hands, so buckle up & enjoy (!!) the ride...

I went for the first option but not knowing how long Williams is out brings into play other options. 

I would change as little as possible, and Mulgrew might be the best option if it ends up being Stoke & Swansea at home with Williams unfit.

But then TM took Carter to Charlton so he obviously sees something there, and there's Magloire too...

1 hour ago, Ossydave said:

Next week basically defines our entire season for me.

Beat them and yep we are 100% promotion candidates. 

Lose and heads will undoubtedly drop.

I'm just pissed off it's an early KO, can't stay over as my missus is nearly due!

Good luck to you and your missus, hope all goes well.

Have you thought of Tony / Toni for a name?! ?

In my view, every fan needs to forget the issues of the past for now & just get behind TM & the players. That doesn't mean don't objectively criticise his decision-making going forwards, but let's not colour it with prejudices from the past. No major changes will happen now & we wee with the willy we've got, as Souey so eloquently put. The end of the season will be the time to drill into the detail of where we succeeded and failed & how we can learn from that.

However we've got here, whether people think it's because of TM or in spite of him, this represents our best chance of the playoffs in years and I'm pretty sure everyone on here would have taken this position back in the summer. It's a short, 13 game season from hereon in

So let's embrace it, embrace each other (virtually, of course!), get down in force to watch this team home & away where possible and be as one to help do our bit as fans to give this tight knit squad the added confidence to go on & achieve something that would be fantastic for our great club that's suffered so much adversity this last decade.

Tubthumping over!!

5 hours ago, Atko's Engine said:

Gonna go with a gut feeling of a Rovers victory, 0-2, goals from AA and Downing, assists from Buckley & AA. 

Think we'll do enough to keep a clean sheet, we just need to ride out the 1st 15 mins to quieten the big home crowd.

Ok, so I got the key personnel wrong but other than that I'm quite proud of myself!

That's a great result & performance in squalid conditions against a team with a full house behind them, momentum from a big win in midweek & where no other top 8 club has won (I think).

It's great to hear how well the lads all played today, I think TM has really worked hard to instill a bit of a siege mentality in the squad, and a sense of not feeling sorry for ourselves over injuries & missed transfer targets. However his outward persona sometimes comes across, I think he is passionate about the game, passionate about his job here & truly cares for & understands the players under his wing.  He's done a great job using the injuries as a way to bring fringe players into the fray, and has blended youth with experience fantastically well (perhaps out of necessity but still). 

He might be too honest at times, somewhat naive when dealing with transfers, or try to over complicate things; but one thing I think he stands out as a top skill is his man-management, and he gets repaid for his loyalty in situations such as this.

Hopefully they get a good rest this week, maybe get a couple back from injury and put in a repeat performance next Saturday to lay to rest the ghost of last season's result there. 

Gonna go with a gut feeling of a Rovers victory, 0-2, goals from AA and Downing, assists from Buckley & AA. 

Think we'll do enough to keep a clean sheet, we just need to ride out the 1st 15 mins to quieten the big home crowd.

Our comfortable 3-0 victory is looking a better result on the back of this! Who'd have thought Hull had 4 goals in them based on what we saw?!

10 hours ago, Blue blood said:

Thanks for a well reasoned reply - I'll try responding in the post to help link up the discussion. 

 

Walton - the loan element is a big problem as there aren't too many benefits for us to it. But again the best I hear about him is "not as bad" which is hardly a ringing endorsement! When the debate is over how bad a player is rather than how good - and I think it would be hard to argue he has been good for us - you know that you've got a duff one. Fwiw he's not as bad as I initially thought imo but is still pretty poor. Far too many errors costing us goals, plus very few games where he has had a positive contribution. I struggle to see how he is anything but a failure given his performances and circumstances of him being here. 

Samuel a little bit more grey. Did ok for us a year before, but not looking like he will kick on. £500 k for a league 1 team was no small amount and one of our big 3 signings that year, so perhaps the expectation would be he would have made more of a contribution. For a 1 season, decent player I'm not sure it's a success story. Probably on reflection I'd say that's a pretty neutral transfer. 

 

Hmm not sure I agree all his signings did contribute. Hart, Harper, Whittingham and Caddis all spring to mind as not really making much odds as to whether we were promoted or not. We didn't hugely use our loans from higher table teams to full advantage. (Armstrong and arguably Antonsson aside.) A lot of the key players who carries us to promotion were already here: Raya, Nayambe, Mulgrew, Bennett, Graham, Lenihen. 

Could he have started building for the championship in those years - perhaps not (although to his credit Dack and Armstrong were so can't see it as a total free hit and he did ok at it.) That said given he had nearly a year and a half preparatory time pre championship with his team, he really should have been in a position to know exactly what was needed and to hit the ground running. Given we've not really challenged playoffs with such a huge prep time doesn't suggest he's doing that well or used that time effectively - especially when you consider how threadbare the squad will be next year. 

Perhaps disappointingly is the number of players who aren't really decent championship standard. I agree the playoff type players to give you that push were hard to get in league 1 but the rest of the squad being a solid and decent platform for them could have been. That a number of them aren't but are on decent contracts taking up wages is a problem. Smallwood with new contract, Bell, Samuel, Williams aren't really the type of players needed for a promotion winning squad. Factor in how unbalanced the squad is too and you wonder what TM has spent the last 3 years doing to be in this situation. 

Last season we went on the worse run in living memory and blew the January transfer window. I can't think of any manager who would have survived such a run. Also whilst the outcome was ok, the manner involving a second half of the season collapse was utterly disappointing leaving us wondering what might have been. 

As for this season the excuses you offer - and I agree the injuries have been terrible and a huge blow - are also criticisms of TM. He blew the two transfer windows, no one else. He is the one who brought in misfiring strikers so that we are dependant on our creative mids for goals. He is the one who has an unbalanced squad - we lucked out with injuries in the first half of the season that our paper thin defence wasn't exposed more.

Injuries have made a huge difference - it would be daft to say otherwise - but had TM done his job a bit better in getting in scoring strikers or used the windows better they wouldn't have hit us quite so badly. 

Again this defence is a  criticism of TM. He can't win against the weaker teams (you could factor in the Wigan home and arguably Brum game too - I'm not at all sure it is behind us.) Its a huge weakness of his.

 

Am a bit torn on the increased value too. Probably overall - although we won't see that £12 mill back for our strikers - but whilst the squad has improved it is still horribly thin and unbalanced going into next season. Also whilst credit has to be given for improving our situation somewhat, given that Coyle had to sell his best players and had no money to replace them, it's not the fairest of comparisons. Also given we've had 3 seasons of TM, I do worry how slow the progress has been. Defence and up front and keeper don't look much better, if at all. Midfield is I will agree. 

Finally and this is a tad unfair as off topic slightly but ties into the behind the scenes stuff - am not sure we are better off. It's clear dark forces are still at work at Ewood - 3 managers from the same agency being an example of this - so I do wonder how much better things actually can be. Not TMs fault at all this one, but I'm equally sure he can't improve that situation either. 

Anyhow that's a heck of a ramble. TM isn't terrible and often it comes across that way in my posts. Not the intention - I dont think he is very good at all but he is a bit better than some of the non managers we've had in my lifetime. I feel that if we were a normal club with standards and hadn't been so horrifically treated no one would be happy with TM or the job he is doing. 

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on most things, otherwise we're at risk of boring the pants off everyone else!

At least we can both respect each other's point of view; let's just hope that I'm the one that ends up being proven right! ?

1 hour ago, Stuart said:

Before he came in we were heading for relegation from the Championship and we needed Warnock. Instead we got Mowbray and relegation was assured.

We'd missed out on Warnock the summer before, when Coyle was (laughably but not in a funny way) preferred. It wasn't a choice between Warnock or Mowbray when Mowbray was appointed.

If we had got Warnock in instead of Coyle that summer (like Cardiff did), maybe we would have got promoted (like Cardiff did) not relegated that season, and we would all be none the wiser about Mowbray. But then isn't it just as likely that we would also have been relegated again (like Cardiff were) and currently sat in 8th place in the Championship, a whole 2 points ahead of where we currently find ourselves (like Cardiff are).

Imagine how dark it would be on here now if we were in Cardiff's position, having been in receipt of Premier League riches for a season plus 3 seasons of parachute payments ?! 

I don't think many on here were disappointed with us signing Whittingham or Johnson, but they did/have proved disappointing and TM admits as much. Walton is not as bad as people make out (as proven on Saturday); his main weakness is that he's on loan not ours. Samuel I accept has flattered to deceive, but then he didn't cost much & is coming back from a year out injured.

Arguably his 1st 2 windows (which included Whittingham & Samuel) were successful as all his signings combined helped achieve the only acceptable aim of an immediate return from L1, some being more crucial than others of course. He can't reasonably be expected then to start building a squad capable of reaching the Championship playoffs when starting the season in L1!

Last season we consolidated, comfortably in the end. This season there is still decent chance of improvement despite awful unforeseeable injuries throughout the team, and disappointment in both transfer windows.

The reason we're not closer to 6th is because of 2 poor results at home to Luton & Charlton back in August; had they been victories like they should have been, things would be a lot brighter. Without wishing to tempt fate, that type of result seems to be behind us. 

So I think there's plenty of scope to say he's progressed the club significantly, and that's not even mentioning the increased value of the squad now compared to when he arrived & the behind-the-scenes technical improvements at Brockall, both if which should bear fruit longer term in terms of sustainability.

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

Your quote that is supposedly said every time we lose is obviously a massive exaggeration. But ultimately the problem is that the vast majority of the money weve had in the last 2 years has been horribly wasted and perhaps suggest that the manager will struggle to progress us to the team we aspire to be and ultimately we have never been in the top 6 which is our target. Those 2 frustrations and concerns are naturally unconvered when we lose a game.

I've probably read each of those comments on here in the last week to be fair.

I get the frustration re Gallagher & Brereton I really do, but to focus on those 2 signings alone and say TM deserves sacking for them ignores the value he's made on Dack & Armstrong. And who knows, if either one of Gallagher or Brereton notches 10-15 goals in the next 18 months we might get most of that money back, because that's how crazy the market is.

Do I think that will happen? Probably not, but look at Che Adams for example; he's 23, had 1 good season in a very average team that came from nowhere, and he got a £15m move...