And here we are another five man defence at home against the mighty Plymouth argyle

8 hours ago, martonrover said:

IF (and it’s a big IF) we win on Saturday, it won’t look as bleak.

There would be grounds for hope and the table should look better.

Fail to win and I just don’t see where one is coming from.

It will only look less bleak until the run of fixtures coming up after it. For that reason, as you suggest, it is a must-win against Plymouth. Not a game for a 5-man defence at home....

That was utterly appalling. Millwall will be happy with that. Rovers are in the shit and it's only got much worse since the new manager came in. 2 shots on target, I think, against a shit team at Ewood. We are in a heap of trouble and I don't fancy this bunch of weaklings getting us out of it.

Was that Hyam telling the fans to calm down when yet again he took it backwards? This are  bunch of twats we've got here. 

That fucking short corner again. Symbolic of how shite this team is at all the basics.

What is the opposite of "the stars are aligning"...?!

A pretty disastrous 45 mins all round. Relegation looking likely, never mind possible

Jesus. So much positivity being burnt to the ground so easily.

1 minute ago, 47er said:

Great performance from the team. feared the worst but we were as good as them. Same old story, not enough class up front to play that final ball in and to convert.

Sad way to lose out.

Best thing about tonight, didn't we defend well?

Hope we have some energy left for the weekend, that's a big worry.

I share that worry. But this is where a manager can come into their own by using the game tonight as a motivational platform for the weekend. From what I've seen so far, I think Eustace might be particularly good at that. I'm now looking forward to the next few league games, whereas, before tonight's game, I had been dreading them. If some fans are feeling that, I bet some players are feeling similarly, too.

2 minutes ago, rigger said:

There are very few examples at a similar level, because they happen so rarely.

Yeah, fair enough. I guess my feeling is OK, then, and the alternative is, too. Not an important issue anyway. Hyam, like everyone else, was superb.

5 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Bit of a hard question to answer. I could list a ton of centrebacks and you could tell me no.

All that being said, Harry Maguire took one of the best penalties I've ever seen in the final of the Euros. Bet you wouldn't put him on a list of penalty-takers.

All down to who feels comfortable taking them. How they feel going into it. What the plans were beforehand. We're not privy to all of that, so it is pretty difficult to be critical.

Had Ayari missed you probably would have said you didn't want a 20-year-old loanee taking one. I thought Newcastle took the biggest risk by having a fresh sub take one.

Luck of the draw at a certain point.

All good points, Eddie, and I agree with them. There is no criticism from me, just stating a preference for attacking players taking penalties due to their more frequent striking of a ball towards goal - but it is no more meaningful or scientific than that! I was interested in the definite assertion that there were plenty of center backs that can take a good penalty and I wondered if there were or have been specific examples who play at championship level, and the evidence for that. Otherwise I think I'll keep going on my instincts and preference on this and be happy to be convinced otherwise.

6 minutes ago, rigger said:

Have you ever been in a penalty shoot-out ? Sometimes the attacking players do not want to take a pen.

I was genuinely interested in any examples at a similar level. My total lack of footballing experience isn't really relevant to my question. But the answer to yours is, no. Hopefully helpful.

1 minute ago, RTM08 said:

There are plenty of centre backs who can take good penalties

Which championship-level center backs would you name? I respect the captain stepping up but I'd rather see an attacking player take a 'final' penalty every time. Same goes with England.

15 minutes ago, Tugay Et Labore said:

No player has ever confused me more than Koumetio

No person in the world!

Just now, Exiled_Rover said:

He's a #10, not a CM.

Yes and not very good there either. But he is playing cm tonight and he is shit 

I think Moran might be one of the worst central midfielders I have ever seen play football

4 minutes ago, Bethnal said:

Got myself properly psyched up on the walk to the train home.

”first 15 minutes, we could do a bit of damage and get them off their game”

Their lineup against our lineup is a serious mismatch.

 

Virtually Newcastle's strongest 11. Aside from any other aspect, their central midfield is going to rip ours apart. A painful couple of hours ahead. As said by others, I do fear the potential terminal damage to the flimsy morale if we take a thrashing here. Let's hope I'm being way too pessimistic about this....

22 hours ago, rigger said:

The main thing Batty has over Gent is speed.

That'll get picked up in a urine test, at some point.

8 minutes ago, superniko said:

Trying to think of some that might match it…

Etuhu and Murphy?

Lowe, Akpan and Bennett?

The stuff of Post Traumatic Stress Disorders!

16 minutes ago, philipl said:

I was feeling OK. Then I saw that midfield duo.

Same here. I got my Rovers shirt on, began to convince myself we might just nick something here. Then I saw the line up and that central midfield. Demoralising. Inevitable really with the squad we've been left with. 

Also, a big game, big experience, and it is being given to some loanees who haven't done much at all in league games. Developing other teams' (dubious) prospects. The magic of the FA Cup.

And with that, the gap to the relegation zone is down to 4 points. Need wins. Others are getting them when it matters. We aren't good enough.

1 minute ago, OsloRover said:

We need to change formation and get more bodies in midfield. Personally I’d sacrifice Dolan and put Ayari or Moran on.

If anything sums up how awfully our squad has been ripped up, it is these words.

Have our scumbag owners, their representatives, or employees (Broughton) made that trip over to negotiate a "pre-contract", yet?

Surely not another lie...

1 minute ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He's a star man playing with an almost free role as a #10 in a 4-2-3-1. You've seen the last few matches that he struggles playing in a front 3. I don't think many teams are going to play him with a big CF up top either. 

I don't think there's quite enough to his game to attract PL interest, so I can't see him leaving.

I agree re PL. But a Middlesbrough, Hull, West Brom etc, or one of the relegated teams would jump at the chance. As he would with them and, frankly, who could blame him.