smiller14

I like them as people but if Szmodics and Hirst were chased all summer, then this lauded and refined summer transfer strategy might need a second look…..

Because the system is negative. It’s the same very away game - he showed the same attitude at Reading, Cardiff and Luton. It’s approaching disrespectful how he approaches away games.

If this was Mowbray I’d be calling for his head. The most pathetic , toothless, cowardly away performance since the last one last week. Does he give a shit? Will he laugh away all interview?

Negative, uninspiring shite again. He had no respect for the fans! Utterly garbage.

Golden. Think this I what I was looking for! Thankfully a lot of the stories wouldn't go on nowadays mind!

Not forgetting a Marcus Bent hat-trick. He scored 7 league goals for Wigan - 3 vs Rovers on one crazy afternoon.

Good point. He will have a lot of goodwill there simply by not being Steve Bruce, and like you said it isn't a bad squad. Just not sure what would constitute success there!

I'd give West Brom a wide berth. From what I've heard, they are skint and appear a bit of a basket case behind the scenes. But on the flip side, despite their lowly league position they haven't been as awful as the table suggests, suggesting there's a lot of scope for improvement. As for Parker, be interesting to see how he gets on. So far he's been a bit of a flat track bully; got two sides promoted who spent a fortune and were favourites, before struggling with the step up. Also can't see Leeds sacking Marsch anytime soon.

*Insert childish but nevertheless obligatory joke that JCC couldn't pull in Burnley because something inbred something* Don't you miss the derby day build up 🙄 😁

Correct in that Crewe was a 1-0 loss. There's a video somewhere on Youtube of their keeper's heroics. Some may argue it was Ashley Ward and co making him look good mind 😅 Wigan away was 3-0 but was a total disaster. Ince had to go after that! Forgot our 4-0 thumping at Bolton in all of this too under Bowyer - awful. A 1-0 late defeat there in 2013 wasn't great either. Come to think of it, had a few shockers there - 2-1 last minute defeat in Sam's last game, the 2-0 defeat under Kean. I still would have to say that Kean's era was my least enjoyable watching Rovers. Because of everything going on behind the scenes and in his interviews, I drew no pleasure from our games and even the wins were somewhat tainted by both disgust at what our club had become, the way fans would be derided by Kean/his media cronies and the fact it always kept him in the job. Every game was played under a cloud - through no fault of the fans who went. Wigan and Bolton at home were both particular low points, but it was a truly horrible time.

Never mind - found it:

Very niche I know - don't want anyone to waste much time on it mind 😅

That was a tough one - went to that too. Remember loving the sea of blue and white behind the goal though at least! The Cardiff City Stadium has largely been an unhappy hunting ground too. Off the top of my head remember an awful 1-0 defeat under Lambert, a wretched 1-1 draw under Bowyer, Duffy's own goal 'heroics' and then last week's disappointment. Then again, we won on 2 of the last 3 trips there - although both were behind closed doors!

Bit of an odd request, but I remember a belter of a thread on here when we played Burnley in 2005. The best pre-match build up - people talking about nervy cans/brews, derby day memories etc. I can't find it on the archive/messageboard Gold (the 'bring on the dingles' thread was replaced a week before KO by the look of it) and would love to read it again. Anyone able to help?

My first ever Rovers game 😁

That was 2011! This was the year West Ham cheated to win the game and to stay up. Never been more angry leaving Ewood. As for other bad games (will just do ones I attended rather than watched): Rovers 0-1 Crewe (2000) Man United 7-1 Rovers (2010) Take your pick from trips to Cardiff

Can we finally break the hoodoo at Wigan? We love finding a way to lose/drop points here, and it's spanned more managers than I can be bothered to count. It's a very winnable game, they've been pretty poor at home. Bucking this recent WLWL trend is imperative, and is very possible if we get the balance of passing/purpose right again. Gutted I can't make it, sadly midweek is too tricky from Cardiff.

Delighted tonight. I was frustrated and thoroughly hacked off midweek, so over the moon to see this reaction. Very happy Rover! And especially happy for Szmodics - I have criticised him but performances like that will prover me wrong. Nothing beats a Saturday night after a win.

Confirmed no bubble travel and 2,200 allocation. Ticket details to follow. However they’ve said there’s no trains running? Is that true?

I love the faith you have!

Shows the mentality of the squad. So eager to down tools and hate it when the going gets tough. We've seen it this season even before the goals - if a team shows intensity against us we completely fall apart and fail to match them. On Saturday I just want us to pass with purpose. Tuesday was seriously pathetic; if that's football I'm not sure I enjoy the sport!

My main concern is that our downturn in form seems to be accelerating as the system JDT wants to play is bedding in more. This indicates a real struggle to adjust to it. We need to adjust very quickly, as it's an unforgiving league and any long-term strategy/'project' goes out of the window if we become embroiled at the wrong end of the table.

He wasn't convinced he would be good enough for the Championship. 15 goals in 46 games in League One isn't 'wow' worthy. They've kicked on without him this year and he was critical of many of his performances. I hope he does well, but he was surprised a team at our level supposedly aiming for promotion would be targeting him, as he was confident Pompey could comfortably replace him. And so far, he's been proved right with Pompey flying high in the league. I hope he proves me/him wrong!

I don't think the majority of games mentioned there were worse than the 4 away games I mentioned. We looked absolutely toothless in all 4. We created nothing and the scoreline flattered us in all 4. What games have we played well in then? I'd say Watford, Swansea (ably assisted by an awful home team) and Blackpool. QPR and West Brom we weren't awful but we certainly rode our luck in the latter and created nothing in the former - 0-0 would have been a fair result. The other 7 have been largely abysmal. We scraped past a very poor Millwall team, got absolutely pasted at Cardiff, Sheff Utd, Luton and Reading, could have been out of sight at half time vs Bristol City and Stoke. We've shown signs but I think we've been very poor more often than we've been good. You will obviously disagree.

One thing I'll say - where is this high press? People keep mentioning it but I haven't seen it in the vast majority of games we've played.