22 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Just let that resonate with everyone.

It’s almost like he has gotten zero cash from the owners to actually buy a forward!!

1 minute ago, roverandout said:

Piss poor keeper that has no presence 

Dont think this one is on Leo. There was zero pressure on Whiteman crossing the ball in, as soon as he had time to drop it in the box we were goosed. Brittain could have been stronger aswell, similar to what someone said above about how Potts defended against Wharton at the other end.

We constantly seem to what to look for the eye of a needle pass, ignoring a more simple pass and instead just forcing it into an area with loads of bodies. Playing intricate stuff is all well and good but we need to spread out the play a bit to open space.

We're also ridiculously open, no wonder the defenders are having a hard time when at times in the first half both Wharton and Travis seemed to be pushing around Leicester's 18 yard box to close down a kickout. Its mental, we dont have the players either up front or defence for this sort of game plan.

Just realized we are on Sky for this one, if history has thought us anything that generally means we're goosed to begin with!

Finally got a chance to look at the very limited highlights that Sky provide.

Bloody hell that Dolan chance, assumed it was bad but that was just bonkers. Never mind a bad miss as that can happen to all players, that attempted header looks more like he is trying not to score, he seems to be trying to get his head under it in a clearing fashion. 

Its that bad you would nearly question is there some betting scam going on with him!

9 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Nailed it.

You can pull 11 lads in from Pleasington who will give their all for 90+ minutes - that is the minimum requirement and no plaudits for 'the lads who ran their hearts out', it's scores on the doors that count.

Pears never the answer and unconvincing, Brittain was signed as a rb so ffs play him there and move JRC into midfield, Pickering not up to it and never was (combination stuff way he dealt / didn't deal with that through ball), Travis has his moments but so infrequent and as for Dolan and Gallagher............................................... 

Think it's going to be a long hard winter.

Think JDT will be gone by Christmas and words simply fail me where the Raos, Waggott and Suhail are concerned.

In 60+ years supporting Rovers there have been a fair old number of lows.  However, this is different era as worryingly, IMO, our present owners and senior executive management are passionless and simply don't care.  In the past, we may not not have had a pot to p1ss in at times, but there was a real passion there from the likes of Bancroft, Keighley, Brown and even Fox and obviously Jack himself who must be spinning in his grave at the wanton destruction of his beloved Rovers.

Pre season optimism rapidly evaporating.

Ah don’t worry Merce! I’m sure that optimism will be back by next weekend when you will be confidently predicting a handy victory! 😁

(Joking aside totally agree though.  The Sigurdsson signing when we were then thinking that Adams and Despodov were incoming seem a lifetime ago now)

Just now, roverandout said:

What a depressingly weak team 

Needs Gallagher in there!! 😁

After the absolute chaos of the close season it feels brilliant to be waking up to a proper matchday again. JDT is still here too, something which looked very unlikely a few short weeks ago. We'll see how it plays out at the end of the window and beyond but hey gotta take the positives where we can get them.

Team wise it more than likely picks itself I suppose. Just wish we had Sigurdsson ready to go from day one, would have given us a massive boost to our attacking options.

15 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Ruud Van Nistelrooy in exchange with PSV?

Can we get him involved as a player manager aswell to sweeten the deal. I'd have him up front over Gallagher all day long even though he's nearly 50!

Jesus, just one more point was all we needed. Just one of those last minute equalizers to stay out against Coventry or Preston. Totally heart breaking

I have no qualms about us gifting Millwall the winner in the 95th minute to stop Mowbray getting there. We did to enough other feckin' teams!!

In fairness that was a shocker of a pass from Wharton

Absolute quality from Wharton!
You would assume JDT has seen the error of his ways and he'll be an ever present next season.

The only silver lining in what looks to be a 3 or 4 goal hammering here is that Millwall will be keeping Sunderland and that other waste of space out of the playoffs. Us not getting there is bad enough but if Mowbray flukes his way in there when by right he should have been retired years ago following abject failure year on year would be just the cherry on the cake!

That second is only a matter of time. We have totally given up the ghost here, what a pathetic bunch of wasters. God forbid they put some effort in and some challenges

Travis just doing a light jog in the middle of the field while Luton boss the game around him. Would have no qualms to see him shipped off in the summer.

40 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Can you imagine Gareth Ainsworth playing Dolan v Burnley...?   He got a result at the turf. 

It's on the manager this, for me he can go now.

JDT out as per @Mercer post above.

Gareth Ainsworth also lost 6-1 to Blackpool

1 minute ago, BigBar said:

It's obviously a massive factor but equally it's like we've given BBD, Dolan, Gally and Vale a free pass as a result. They should have stepped up and been better overall.

Agreed, opportunity was there for them to stake a claim and make the spot their own. Let’s be brutally honest, they’re all muck!!

On 23/04/2023 at 17:12, LDRover said:

I used to think he was just effort and energy with nothing behind it. However, I think he is key for us now, I wouldn't want anyone else one on one with the keeper, he's a great finisher and he constantly stretches defences with intelligent movement.

He deserves his place as a fans' favourite.

Hopefully he'll net the winner against the dingles tonight, that should see him borderline statue-outside-Ewood status!!

He's been a massive success for us this year I think. Arrived fairly unheralded (albeit with a large-ish fee for a transfer from L1). You could see in his first few games that he was a lad that would give 100% each game, just needed that run of games consistently in the team to show what he can do.

You could make an argument for him being the best finisher at the club. The way he turned and calmly slotted the ball home against Preston shows a level of composure that I dont think Gallagher, BBD or Dolan have. Pretty sure if either of those were in that position it would have been a bit of a welly and hope for the best, Sammie knew exactly what he wanted to do before he did it and had the ability to carry it out.

4 minutes ago, DanielMB said:

I cant help but smile at the people blaming JDT. Hedges couldnt keep his cool, Wharton slipped and Hyam deflected it.  1 poor choice and 2 unlucky situations. 

Yeh Hedges hits the worst shot in professional football history yet multiple people here are asking for JDT to be sacked. Let’s get Coyle back again shall we

Nice how JDT seems to think this is all fine! Not a sub to be found. Don’t overstretch yourselves lads, you don’t want to be on the shelf for the summer hols.

Yeh the suicidal knocking around at the back has returned with a vengeance! We’ll do well to win this one.

Could this be the last we see of Gallagher? Big statement by JDT bringing Leonard on in front of him and considering his impact you would think he could/should be pushing for a start the next game.

Gotta keep in Pears in nets I think, the chap has not done much (if anything) wrong since he has come in.

Also have to say it shows the level of enthusiasm around the season that 3 days out before an away game at Birmingham we are already on page 12 of the match thread! I'm sure the international break has something to do with it but its been a long time since we've all been pretty much counting down the hours to a game at the weekend!

Compare it to this time last year where on the Saturday morning of a game, you might be seeing a match thread of 2 or 3 pages!

Massive win last night, when you take into account the chances we missed and Reading getting back into it. Compared to past seasons around this time, we are definitely trending in the right direction form wise.

The thing that gives me the most hope is that we are coming into the business end of things in really good form. The amount of chances we had in this game, plus the chances we had against Sheffield United (and Leicester before that), a 3-0 score in all games wouldn't have flattered us (ok maybe 2-0 against the blades).

We are all having palpitations about missing the chances, but we are still creating those chances. You would think that if we keep playing as we are, something will click with the forwards and they will start putting them away more efficiently (Brereton has now had a couple after a barren spell, Gallagher had the two against QPR).
Compare it to earlier in the season where we we seemed to be fluking out every win we got, and there appeared to be zero plan or purpose to our play other than pass in triangles around our own 6 yard box!

Its impossible not be excited at this point in time. We were in the same position this time last year but you just knew it was inevitable we would drop out of the top 6. This year, we might just make it if we continue in the form we're in! Mind boggling when you think that most of us would have taken safety this season considering the players we had to replace!!