4 minutes ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

It guarantees safety

Even better! Great outcome, all things considered given stretched resources & backroom changes.

Excellent. That SHOULD see them safe given the number of teams below them.

Top news this. Keep it tight lads!

Without stating the obvious, tonight is the biggest game of the season so far. Win or draw & it stays in our hands (just in the latter case), lose & we start being reliant (or at least too reliant) on others.

Results mainly went our way last night  with only W Brom making any real move (and they now have real momentum, where were they 3 weeks ago??).

To keep hopes up of a top 6 finish, we have to win tonight. Ideally we do it in style, but I'll take any kind of win. 

I think bring Adam Wharton into a 3 in the middle, with BBD, (possibly Hedges) Thomas and Leonard up front.

Stick with same back 5 if possible. Close call between Pears & TK but keep it simple. Brittain in for Pickering if he's injured.

JDT needs to make sure that if changes are needed,he makes them promptly, first half if needed. We cannot let this opportunity to jump up to 5th (whilst holding off 8th) pass us by, otherwise I fear that would be it in reality this season. 

9th, 10th, 1st, 5th, 3rd.

A tall order, but still in our hands.

COYB!! 

That was so frustrating. Much like the Huddersfield game, we could / should have won that game two or three times over.

I know we're short on out & out strikers (as in don't have any following January) but every player of an attacking persuasion ought to have the confidence to shoot. The number of times Travis in particular refused to shoot when in and around the 18 yard box is unforgivable. Anything could happen if you shoot, it might get deflected, parried or rebound off the woodwork.

Hey it might even go directly in!!  Who'd've thought?!

Don't shoot, don't score, simple as that.

On another note, again I thought JDT's subs, whilst right in terms of personnel, were made too late IMO, it's becoming his most annoying feature.

The best thing to be said is that it's still in our hands, but all breathing space is gone & looking at our remaining fixtures, you couldn't choose a much worse run-in if you tried, especially whilst (not) firing blanks.

Just go for it Rovers, have no fear.

And BBD, do something positive now to leave us with something tangible from your time here, otherwise you risk tarnishing the goodwill that has built up over a rather unique few years.

Great result, wonderful comeback, aside from boosting our chances Spurs will feel that's a real sucker punch for them. Still not out of it but in Rovers' own hands again.

With U18s winning at Stoke too, we could make it a huge treble tonight... 🤞🤞🤞

6 minutes ago, tomphil said:

we had a half decent target man within this squad we'd be 6 pints better off

I don't think @IraC ever felt better off after 6 pints...

10 hours ago, Shirley Crabtree Wrestler said:

Mind you don't end up in Peppermint Place...

Oh gawd... I'll not get me coat!

The number of times I stumbled over that step!! 🤦‍♂️

1 hour ago, roverandout said:

This is probably our best and only chance for a long time.  It will be unforgivable if we fuck this up. I've gone for we will do it but we won't win in the play offs 

What you're effectively saying there is that back in the summer when JDT was appointed, you expected a top 6 finish. That's not right is it? If you did, you were in a minority!

1 hour ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

 

A lot of my friends know of Rankin-Costello too. But that's in the main because he was a sensation on a Football Manager.

Think it was FM16.

That would make sense!!

55 minutes ago, Mellor Rover said:

Personally, wouldn't be giving him a new deal.

Might be controversial but I've seen enough of him the last few years to suggest this upturn is a flash in the pan rather than any real improvement in his abilities. He isn't nimble enough to be a winger, gets caught defensively at right back, and has NEVER played centre midfield and would be a fish out of water. 

Wouldn't moan at him getting a new one, but I'd hope a team who's supposed to be serious about promotion next season wouldn't hang their hats on him.

Think this is a little short sighted. Talking to non-Rovers supporting friends of mine he was the one player in our academy who they knew of & had a burgeoning reputation at that level. He starred for the U23sby all accounts, & had a decent impact into the first team before then suffering numerous injuries.

He certainly looked off the pace on his return to fitness until Christmas, but he is showing his ability now & is one I can see having a v bright future here or elsewhere & realising his potential, once a clear role has been identified for him.

Rather it be here then elsewhere I think.

Forest have just spent £160m on new talent in the last 9 months, isn't the fact that they played half of those against mostly our kids in the League Cup 4th round just as unfair?? I didn't hear much moaning then, it's no different really.

It's within the rules, so we have the right to choose our team if it complies with those rules, regardless of motivation. 

FWIW, it's true that JDT has been consistent in ensuring kids mix with pros, be that in first team squads, U21s squads & in training.

Nothing to see here, unless you have an agenda...

1 hour ago, Sparks Rover said:

What's the point.? U21 but half the outfield can be over 21..joke

It's the same for both teams though. I think I'm right in saying that most games we've played in this comp have been much younger than last night's was, and in fact given how many players Forest have on their books they might regret not doing the same.

This is as much a case of us using the rules to suit our squad as it is of proving how reliant we've become on the academy as a whole, with so many younger players being part of the 1st team squad. 

At the end of the day, the best academy youngsters playing alongside seasoned pros is only going to benefit those youngsters for the benefit of the club long term. Those behind them in the pecking order will hopefully only be further motivated.

Big chance for AW today, let's hope he grabs it with vith hands & makes himself undroppable for the rest of the season. 🤞

Not going to sugar coat it, that was pretty awful, worst I've seen us this season  there's no redeeming features to come out of that whatsoever.

Poor from the start, no-one applied themselves properly (perhaps Szmodics & Pickering aside), and JDT's subs were way too late (should've been at half time or at worse 10 mins into 2nd half, not 5 mins after we go 2 down). Disappointed also that he started with Hedges, with Thomas being unavailable on Monday.

We've made it tough for ourselves now, no doubt. I'm not going to flip out about it but we need to find a spark from somewhere & quick if top six is to happen. 

Also done.

I've not read any of the prior comments yet, but what a massive win that was. With teams below us dropping points we now have a 5 point cushion to 7th, with all teams having played 37. So we can go.into the QF on Sunday full pelt, knowing our place in the top 6 will remain secure until after the international break.

That's a great position to be in and gives JDT freedom to select his possible strongest side. Sheff Utd played last night too, so both teams are equal in terms of recovery & prep time.

Turning to last night, I wanted a quick start & we got just that, but it didn't go to plan after that, albeit not for the want of trying. How that game didn't end up 4-0 or 5-1 I've no idea; a mixture of good keeping, poor decision making & bad luck combined to make it far nervier than we would have liked.

Szmodics was superb, what a signing he is turning into after a fairly mediocre & injury-disrupted start. He must be one of the first on the team sheet just now. Likewise Carter, was immense yesterday, but there were solid performances all round IMO. Pears looks proper at home, as does JRC - both were almost out the door in January! 

Top marks to the team for sticking at it and not panicking after the equaliser. And to JDT for getting what is surely max value out of a team of relative unknowns, journeymen & kids.

I'm so excited for Sunday now, wish I could be there but sadly can't be, so will cheer on from afar (probably behind the sofa!).

What a huge opportunity tonight is, on paper we have the easiest match of all our rivals but the attitude of the players & fans needs to be bob on, as do JDT's tactics.

If we do the basics right & play to our strengths we should be fine. I suspect Reading will seek to frustrate, but we need to fire at them right out of the blocks so their gameplan goes out the window very quickly.

Despite Buckley being injured, there are decent options as direct replacements (Morton, A Wharton, Garrett or even JRC) or indirectly through formation tweaks. I

I'm not gonna lie, I'm v nervous, but what a great thing that is to feel!!

COYB!!!! 

3 hours ago, Mike E said:

I'm married to a Burnley fan (and her inbred family) and the banter is amazing. I've never understood anyone 'hating' another club.

Rivalry is fine. Hatred is for the braindead.

You're married to her AND her inbred family?!

Won't that make your offspring, err, inbred too??

1 hour ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Don’t drink the tea 

I'll take a flask!

Cracking win that, really is. 3 wins in a week, top stuff! 

Delighted for Sam Goallagher! 

I must admit, as one of his staunchest  defenders these last couple of years I was starting to lose patience with him ever becoming a goal threat, but hopefully these 2 goals see him grow in confidence, and what a time for that to happen! 

COYB!! 

On 24/02/2023 at 11:27, smiller14 said:

Assists is a flawed measure when looking at centre midfield performance. As DMTP says above, often they 'assist' the player who is credited with the assist. Tugay probably ranked pretty little in assists for us, but how often did he control a game? The best example I can think of is the goal vs Liverpool on Boxing Day - Tugay made Gerrard look silly, played a wonderful pass to MGP who set up McCarthy. 

Now, I'm not even remotely insinuating our centre midfields have 'ran games' or even played well, as that hasn't been true. I think they've been poor at times, and Morton has regressed considerably since Christmas. Buckley and Travis seem to be coming to, at least. 

It's like keepers get the credit for clean sheets, and rightly so in many cases. But in some cases (like Tuesday) a keeper has no shot on target to save. On other times a keeper might have a storming game but concede 2 or 3 goals.

Stats can be manipulated massively, so the goals scored / assists created stat is also easily misleading.

I totally agree with your last para too, Morton was much better pre WC than after, fortunately Travis & Buckley seem to be stepping up a bit.

And as for notion that the club should abandon the appeal, that's nonsense. Whilst I agree there's less benefit we are likely to get if successful purely by reference to the number of games passed since deadline day, we absolutely have to go full pelt to get him in. If we'd slid down to 8 points off the playoffs then I might feel differently, but being in 4th place it's a total no brainer, regardless of whether it's us, the EFL or both who've cocked up.