The Canadian

Just now, JoeHarvey said:

He was the middle of the three, and roamed around a lot. And It’s against an Under 23’s side who didn’t have a physical striker. I guarantee that he’ll never play centre back again for us or anyone.

Two red cards was just a really unlikely circumstance. I wouldn’t have Hart at CB for the 23’s let alone the first team in the cup.

I think he is still better suited to it than Cunningham, Bell and possibly even Grayson. Yes, Hart was absolutely brilliant the other night.

17 hours ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

We're not gonna win promotion either, so.....

I don't see why not! :-)

23 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Can Cunningham play cb. Thought I read on here he could play there which would free up bell or hart to play LB. 

Hart looked pretty decent at Centre back when moved there when our U23s were down to 9 men the other night.

2 hours ago, Darwen Rover 007 said:

How poor is Gallagher in the air! 

What's Rudy upto these days, that guy was a monster in the air! 

Excellent in the air. Won 12 Ariel challenges against Boro alone.

Just now, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Happy-ish with that asides from Gallagher on the wing and Bennett at FB. Reckon we’ll be seeing both all season long though so I best get used to it.

Rankin Costello will be a great attacking substitution for Bennett if we fall behind.

Gallagher has been excellent in the wide position so far. Maybe it's not pretty, but Wilcox and Ripley weren't either but they sure we're effective..:-)

5 hours ago, magicalmortensleftpeg said:

Don’t want to see Williams anywhere near contention for left back. He’s a centre back. Let’s not try to solve one problem by creating another.

It will have to be Bell or Tosin. I’m hoping that for one game Bell can hold it together but I fear my hope is misplaced.

 

Tosin is non fullback either.

5 minutes ago, Parsonblue said:

Two moments of madness cost us tonight.  Doyle made a hash of a pass that led to Platt making a poor challenge and was rightly shown the red card.   Then Doyle, already with a yellow, throws the ball away and is rightly booked again and shown a red.  I would imagine Billy will read the riot act to these two - and rightly so.

I thought Sam Hart was outstanding tonight and showed an old head when the younger ones were tending to lose theirs.  White and Lyons did well in centre of midfield but without Jack Vale we didn't offer much of a threat up front.  I was disappointed with Chapman who flits in and out of games and at times looks totally disinterested.

I thought the lads did well to hold out for as long as they did with nine men.  It's going to take time for the new lads to integrate with the remains of last season's team, but that's the nature of youth football.

Yes, two fantastic tackles, and a great block. And the speed he ran was incredible when tracking back. 

Rover Chat have him 5 out of 10; they must be blind!

He and White were brilliant!

Was silly, though he was trying to get back into position. Yeah, the lads sure got stuck in. I think they'll do okay this year again.

Just now, Atko's Engine said:

A similar start to the season as last year, 1 point from 9. What were the sendings off for? Sounds like that was the difference between the sides on the night, rather frustratingly.

A heavy tackle by Platt and pushing the ball out of the hand as he ran by to get back in a defensive position by Doyle. Doyle had already been booked.

The 9 lads did extremely well and had a couple of chances even to score.

I thought Hart and White had excellent games tonight. Hart looked like he handled centre half pretty well, and he sure has some pace, and made a couple of crackerjack tackles. He's looks like a young Gareth Bale imo.

Unlucky to lose.

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Dack was quoted at £20 million in January, bet we don’t get £10 million... we can all play this game!

I'll take the promotion, it's worth much more. :-)

Just now, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

You "could do with the £5,000" yet are happy to put £400 on a 12/1 bet? A likely story. 

I have great faith in our young players. £5,000 is a lot more than £400. :-)

It's a long term investment. Gallagher was quoted as £10 million last January, and we got him for £5; makes BB almost free. :-)

1 minute ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Backed us to win. Why do I do this to myself?

I have £400 on us at 12/1 for promotion.

Could do with the £5000.

Won £5000 in the past when Rovers finished 6th in the Premier league; beating Bolton on the final day. £300 on at 16/1

And I was nervous enough beforehand watching games.

7 hours ago, frosty said:

Whatever your opinion on the players themselves is, nobody can say that £12.5m (I think it’s slightly higher) on three players for Rovers is ‘peanuts’.

And while it looks like Gallagher will be a regular, Brereton looks further away from a starting spot than ever. 

Oh, in Championship terms it is small beer for 3 players. Big money for us I agree. I am happy with the 3 anyhow. :-)

4 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Hoillett did absolutely nothing wrong imo. He wasn't an Allardyce type player and therefore wasn't given a contract or opportunities commensurate with his ability and by the time he came to the fore under Kean (strangely) his contract was running down and he could pick and choose the best offer to go elsewhere.

In fact he's the last player Rovers fans should be calling out imo as it was largely down to him we didn't get relegated at the end of Kean's first season in charge. But there's football fans for you  I suppose.

I thought his poor performances and Kean's reliance on playing him was a major reason why we went down.

Tosin and Williams have spoken in great lengths about not wishing to play at fullback, where they are both unsuited to. If Tosin did play it would be at the expense of Lenihan, as Tony likes balance with a left footer and right footer at CB. Probably why he persisted with Charlie for so long; that and his goals.

If Hart is fit enough I'd play him. Better in the air than Bell, and much better going forward. 

6 hours ago, JHRover said:

Hart is nowhere near good enough to be starting in the Championship and even if he were he's never done before and has played one u23 game since his significant injury in pre season. Not a chance he will be starting.

He was excellent preseason and on loan last year. Definitely much better than Bell imo. 45 minutes the other night might not be enough though. I thought he and JRC played very well in that game.

10 hours ago, Mercer said:

Two clean sheets and wins on the bounce should have provided an enormous shot of confidence.

A stuttering start for Cardiff,  Has age finally doused Warnock's drive, hunger and passion.  Maybe, it only works for so long with the players and it gets too familar and boring.

It's a home banker for me and I'm going to bang last night's win winnings on Rovers at 11/8.

I'd go: Walton, Nyambe, Lenihan, Williams, Hart, Travis, Johnson, Downing, Dack, Rothwell, Graham:

• Nyambe for Bennett - IMO, Bennett will never be an effective right back.  For my liking, time and time again, he is beaten too easily and if Mowbray perseveres with him then I think there will be more roastings to come for our hapless skipper
• It would be folly to break up Lenihan and Williams as the two centre backs and surely Hart is better defensively than Bell
• Rothwell for Armstrong - IMO, Armstrong offers virtually nothing other than his pace (don't think the lad has it and certainly hasn't a football brain)
• Graham for Gallagher - not impressed with Gallagher when he was here before and, IMO, will never be the player Graham has been and still is.  An incredible Sky statistic that our £5million man hadn't netted in his previous 20 league games (now 21 games after Hull).

I think Mowbray has wasted the best part of £14million on Armstrong, Brereton and Gallagher and for that reason alone, should no longer be our manager.  Is Brereton injured or is Mowbray's £7million+ man so ineffective that he can't even make the bench now!? 

 

Absolutely loving Gallagher in our team. The £12.5 million he spent of the 3 is peanuts; especially when he got over £3 million for Raya. Every signing in the window is looking the business! Happy days! :-)

12 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

I thought this thread had been started, but I can't find it. Apologies if I missed it

Nice game to have to test where we are at. A win here and things will be looking bright. I still have concerns about our strength in depth in some areas, but I think we have a better 11-14 than last season. Huge pity Cunningham can't play, I was getting used to us having a 75% Irish backline  

A few dilemmas for Mowbray now, the left back position one, but the the main one being does he start Graham. Any word on what Breretons injury is? 

I would go with the following. I just think Bell is so shot in confidence and ultimately ineffective , that I would chance Hart. If the Cunningham signing has in any way kicked Bell up the arse, then maybe him, but I would have big doubts. The issue I am beginning to find most perplexing, even in light of improved performances is Armstrong over Rothwell. I don't know if we can hope Johnson and Downing will play every game, but it's pretty clear that the two of them are quality that we have lacked for a good few years, arguably since we went down. 

                  Walton

Bennett  Lenihan Williams Hart

             Travis Johnson

    Rothwell  Dack Downing

                 Gallagher

As for Cardiff. Neil Warnock manages them, they signed Flint. I think we all know what we can expect from them. Will be a scrap. 

That's the team I would pick. Thought Hart did pretty well for the Under 23s the other night; strange he was taken off at half time. I wonder was it to rest him for Saturday, or struggling with fitness. Really don't want Williams at Left back, and he doesn't want or deserve to play there.

3 minutes ago, BlackburnEnd75 said:

Disagree that Gally was very good vs Boro, didn't think he was great last night either, won the freekick that led to the goal by using his physicality to recover a poor touch.

MOM against Boro imo. 12 Ariel duels won was incredible. He plays an important part in the solidity of our team. 

1 hour ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

A word of warning  - though we deserved to win - the last two wins have all been about fine margins - which could easily go against is in the next match. In the same way the fine margins went against us in the previous two matches.

Encouraging signs - but let's be realistic.

Much like Sheff Utd last season.

1 hour ago, Lee0r said:

Bennett is an absolute liability. He shouldn’t be anywhere near that side. So many times in that first half he could have cost us a goal. It’s laughable how much Mowbray likes him. 

Johnson, Downing both very much an improvement. Gallagher did a good job out there. Travis was average today I thought but did do well at the weekend. 

Makes life much more comfortable bringing Graham on off the bench to defend a lead. 

Still a lot to work on. But 6 points is bloody brilliant from where I thought we would be at 3pm last sat. 

Feck me! Don't know what game you were watching. Travis was again absolutely fantastic! :-)

11 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

I also think it will be same team unless there are injuries.

Some or all of Rothwell, Buckley and Armstrong will get a shot from the bench.

Really think Brereton could be finished at Rovers.

4 goals preseason says otherwise. Just needs confidence. If it wasn't for a blatant handball he would've scored in his last game. He'll come good! :-)

43 minutes ago, Gary C said:

Looking forward to the Hull game now and Cardiff next weekend. Unfortunately Bell will have to come in for the ineligible Cunningham but if Tosins back William's could be a better option for one game before reverting back to centre back

Williams is a very poor left back too, so I'd go for Hart before he or Bell.