13 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Must have panicked in the heat of the moment because I don't think the back pass rule would have applied. If a defender unintentionally slices a clearance and the keeper picks it up then its not deemed a foul because it wasn't an intentional pass.

Interesting hypothetical though - if he had conceded a free kick a yard out- would we have been entitled to line up eleven players on the line making it virtually impossible to score or would they get a free hit?

Had he touched the ball with his hands it would have been deemed an intentional pass and punished with an indirect free kick. So it is my belief he was reluctant to use his hands when the ball spun off his sliced kick. The choice was that or concede a goal. No brainer really

2 minutes ago, J*B said:

I was told Koumetio is a bit of a running joke at Brockhall between the players and coaches. He's absolutely terrible and at this point is essentially here to be used for shape drills.

And yet he is on the bench ahead of O'Riordan. In truth both have been signings which have offered nothing with one of them costing a reported £500k. Once again questions have to be asked about recruitment.

Rovers under 21's play Arsenal at Ewood tonight. If I was Eustace I would be insisting on Koumetio and O'Riordan playing with a view to seeing if they can play against Coventry in Saturday. We desperately need some pace at centre half and aside from Carter we have none. However I don't for one second think either will play. Eustace likes his experienced players irrespective of his badly they are playing. Hopefully Michalski plays too.

19 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

To go into a game where a win at home to second bottom seals your place in the league next season with the sole focus of not losing is not constructive. A back 5 (not a back 3, as very much a 5) kept until 15 minutes from the end, not good enough. And even if your primary focus is to avoid defeat, you have to outline some sort of plan as to how to attack. We again didnt have one, Gallagher and Dolan were ineffective but its not helped when the only sort of way of getting it forward that I could see was for our centre backs to aimlessly lob it into the channels. All they spent their day doing is chasing them down where at best you win a throw in.

He said after the game that we controlled the first half. Laughable.

It was absolutely a back five with the sole purpose of keeping a clean sheet. He has set up this way in most of his matches so far and it simply puts us in defensive mode. It worked really well at Leeds and was the main reason we won. It's horses for courses though and against the likes of Plymouth, Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday at home we should play a more attacking formation with an extra midfield player. In two really good performances at Middlesbrough and home to Southampton we played a four at the back and kept clean sheets. In my view it was because we had the numbers in midfield to stop them playing. 

It shows a real fear and lack of tactical acumen from Eustace. One of the criticisms of Tomasson was that he was one dimensional, had no plan B. Eustace is pretty much the same.

I've just seen the goals on tv and I'm staggered that Pears tries to blame Hyam for his aberration for the third goal. He is compounding his embarrassment. And for their second Brittain looks like he is towing a caravan trying to keep up with the Wednesday full back who scored. Under normal circumstances there would be wholesale changes for the Coventry game but I'm beginning to fear that Eustace isn't comfortable making big decisions that might upset players. His all too cosying up to the players just doesn't sit right with me. 

5 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

who says Eustace is a yes man? what is that base on? you seeing what happens at brockhall every day? or just BS? 

We lost today down to 3 mistakes simple as. 

Who is responsible for results? The most important thing is results and so far under Eustace they haven't been good enough. It really doesn't matter what happens at Brockhall or what Eustace says. Judging him solely on results he has failed.

17 minutes ago, roverblue said:

This guy has shown nothing to deserve keeping his job once the seasons over.
Regardless of if we stay up the results have been abysmal and the lack of accountability from him and the team stinks.

He has the security of a two and a half year contract. I don't believe we could afford to get rid of him after the lunacy of that deal. Irrespective of what happens between now and May 4th I really think Eustace will be here next season.

8 minutes ago, Silas said:

 

The Premier League crapping on all below them as per. 

Somebody is telling lies here. 

I sincerely hope all the major FA Cup sponsors pull out in protest at this. I don't expect them to but they really do have some clout. Bullingham is now saying that this was agreed with several other organisations including a four man EFL committee. Whose best interests are they representing? I wouldn't trust Rick Parry with anything.

1 hour ago, bigbrandjohn said:

Sadly in our season the word comfortable is not one I would associate with a a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. This lot have been unlucky and the new manager has given them hope. And they are fighters. I hope Leeds or Sunderland  Rovers turn up not Bristol City Rovers. 

I think it may be 1-1. And we might end up happy with that after a close shave. 

 

Nothing can be taken for granted in the Championship and to do so would be folly. Take the Bristol aberration out of it and we have only conceded 10 goals in thirteen games whereas they struggle in front of goal. As I said the first goal will be vital. In truth they need to win more than we do.

Rovers will no longer be offering a live domestic streaming service. As they are specific about domestic I assume there will still be a overseas service on offer. This is the reason why:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12873679/sky-sports-agrees-new-five-year-efl-deal-over-1000-matches-per-season

Sheffield Wednesday have only scored 36 goals this season (only 12 away from home) which is the second lowest in the Championship and their last six matches have yielded six points. As a team they have only scored 12 more goals than Szmodics. The only statistic in which they better us is goals conceded and the difference there is only four. They will come full of commitment and fight. If we match that I expect a comfortable win. As ever the first goal will be huge.

Hopefully we can cash in even more on a big away following.

21 minutes ago, Ghost7 said:

Yes, we absolutely should. Focus on making up your numbers with home fans.

Surely doing both is the best option. There are many, many sticks to beat Waggott with but I don't believe maximising the number of away attendees is one of them. His failings with regard to home ticket sales is well documented and mostly true and that point can be rightly laid firmly at his door.

One of the caveats around the cheaper season tickets was that the income from filling the Darwen End with away fans four or five times a season would offset the losses from the cheaper prices we paid. It worked really well and the initiative served two purposes. I really don't buy the argument about having lots of away fans and giving our opponents some kind of advantage. I'm sure it works the other way whereby any player worth his salt would want to play in a real atmospheric surrounding irrespective of where the noise comes from. 

29 minutes ago, philipl said:

Muric has cost the dingles defeat in the 6 pointer against Everton and the win against Brighton.

Good lad.

And that's Muric to my ears 😁. A reported £18m for Trafford and an undisclosed fee for Muric. If you melted them together in a pot you wouldn't get a good 'un. Kompany had his pants pulled down by City.

Well done to WATR for winning the award. It's them that get the credit for a terrific initiative which showed the club the potential we have and gave lots of kids the chance to go. Hopefully there will be other initiatives in the future which can engage potential supporters.

Congratulations to Sammy Szmodics for his prestigious achievement. His road to this point was difficult and he has done the hard yards to get here. The silver lining in a season of clouds.

Adam Wharton was really good again today in their win at Anfield. It seems like he has added another dimension to his game with some diligent defensive work to go with his undoubted attacking flair.

Just looking ahead to the weekends fixtures I would be really nervous if I was a Plymouth fan. They have a huge game at Stoke and if they lose and the teams around them win (on paper all winnable games) they will be outside the bottom three on goal difference. They then have Millwall away and Hull at home. However if Plymouth win Stoke could tumble.

Squeaky bum time.

28 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He’s quick over 10 yards but over say 40 yards he’s average pace wise. We haven’t got any real flyers in the team. The sort of players who can just run away from defenders with the ball at their feet.

Regarding decision making - he has a tendency to over elaborate, usually when he’s trying to buy time in possession so the other strikers can get forward in attack. He just needs to keep it simple and go for it.

I like the lad, he plays with a smile on his face. I’d be disappointed if he leaves. We’d miss his enthusiasm.

I would say that speed off the mark is one of the most important assets of a striker. I agree about his decision making and that is a frustrating aspect of his game. In a high press he is our most important player.

Just watching MOTD and just as the dingles could be heard singing 'we won the league at Ewood' Muric does a step over and costs them two points 😂😂. And Bellamy says it not his mistake but their mistake for asking his to play like that.

Hilarious 😂😂