jim mk2

Archer’s 32 is the surprise of the day, the lad can hardly hold a bat properly. Hats off to Root, a proper Test cricketer. Why can’t the others play like him and treat each ball on its merits instead of trying to attack all the time? Bazball nonsense. Is 325 a decent score? Let’s see

5 minutes ago, 47er said:

248 for 6 so it won't be that bad Jim! They should get 300 at least from here and the pitch is already showing cracks so its not a complete disaster.

No team has got to that score at the Gabba batting first and lost I believe.

Seven down, Jacks chasing another wide one. Brainless batting. The bowler didn't have to do anything.

I'd take anything above 270. 

Root 100. Well played Joe. Hope it sticks in the convicts' craw

This lot have a death wish it seems. Brook and Stokes both nicely settled and then doing something silly. The useless Smyth gone too. 250 all out? 

Brook is vice captain, where's the responsibility in playing a daft shot like that? Good recovery after a disastrous start (Pope played another awful cross-batted shot) and Crawley played well but it's all or nothing with him - he's either very good or dreadful. A Test average of 24 in the past year or so says it all - he's lucky still to be playing Test cricket

13 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He's 6'5" and strong as an ox.

He's as weak as a kitten for a man of his stature. He gets outmuscled too easily and rarely wins headers even against defenders less tall than him. He's clumsy on the ball, lacks pace and cannot play with his back to goal. And on the rare occasions he gets sight of goal he usually scuffs it. Sell

The question is why Ismael continues to bring on De Neve and leave Ribeiro and Pickering sitting on the bench. Both are better defenders - has he provided an explanation? 

36 minutes ago, roverblue said:

The last 10 mins should have been replayed, no justification for 90.

Daft comment - the match had to be replayed in full. 

Ipswich deserved nothing from that game. In the end though we don’t score enough goals, trying to defend one goal leads is always likely to end badly 

Just now, Old Codger said:

Talk about setting the tone.. Rovers' website preview of the game states as follows: "Sitting eighth in the table, McKenna's men will rise to fourth in the standings with a victory this evening."

Not being funny, but can't anyone on the Rovers staff actually write English - a more accurate sentence might have used the word 'would' rather than 'will'.

Pedantry, I know, but it feels like the club already accepts the inevitability of a negative outcome, instead of going in knowing it is a game of football, in which as we know, anything can happen.

As I said earlier, we need to stick the form book up their conceited tractor boy arse.

What we need, and what we get - often two diametrically opposed concepts, from the existential perspective of a long-standing Rovers fan..

FWIW, COYB!

The tense of the verb is all-important. "Will" describes a certain future event while the conditional "would" describes a hypothetical or possible event

In other words, that's the Rovers website predicting an Ipswich win. 

It's not pedantry; it's wrong

Fly Me to the Moon - Frank Sinatra

Some s****houses in that Wrexham team ..... not least Moore, O'Brien, McClean

And with Hyam there too the immutable law of the ex will come into play

Our team will not be able to stand up to that lot

Wrexham 4 Rovers 0

2 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Running out of assets to sell.

Hypothetically, although it would never happen, if NO-ONE turned up they'd have to sell wouldn't they?

 Probably not. We've been written off in their eyes, consigned to the metaphorical bottom drawer to be forgotten about in the hope that one day we might come good. I can't any catalyst for them selling - at least not financial. In the grand scheme of their multi billions, we're a little blip on the balance sheet

5 minutes ago, rovers11 said:

 However, they can't dismiss an empty stadium and dwindling match day income as just a minority. 

Why should an empty stadium bother them, or for the matter declining income? Their solution as always is to sell another asset. The fans mean nothing to the owners - as we know. 

Preston away, QPR home; the highs and lows of football. It’s a funny old game, except it isn’t when you have to sit through putrid games like last night.

QPR were everything we weren’t : well coached, skilful players, playing to a plan: it was obvious they were going to win from the 1st ten minutes. They should have been 2 up at half time. Chair was a delight to watch. 

Most glaring of all was the sheer lack of ability in that Rovers team. They looked like a bunch of squad players making up the numbers- which is most cases they are. Apart from the young left back, who should have a good career in the lower divisions but isn’t championship quality, not one player had a good game.

Made a special effort to get to Ewood last night after a 300 mile round trip of the country. I won’t do that  again in a hurry. Awful. And the worst of it, there were some boos but most fans shrugged their shoulders and left. Apathy reigns at a depressing and depressed Ewood

Made a special effort to attend, ff knows why

Absolutely abysmal. Such a poor team, all of them squad fillers, not one you’d have as first choice

Barely 10000 there or so it looked, and like a morgue, just sullen resignation 

Barely 10,000 here

Love the Bonny Inn. Still try to pop in there from time to time. Of the two pubs at Ramsgreave you'd have expected the Risjng Sun, which always looked down at heel, to have been the one to shut. Such as shame the Bull's Head has gone - it was a great pub in its day. Knew the family that ran the Knowles Arms in the 1960s

Back to the Championship...

The smell hanging over the town centre from the Thwaites brewery 🤢

Duttons were taken over by Whitbread and Lion Ales the first to close IIRC

Boycott writing in the Sunday papers today said the way England play is "brainless" and he "can't take the team seriously anymore"

“They never learn, because they never listen to anyone outside their own bubble, because they truly believe their own publicity."

“A 40-run lead on a fast, bouncy, low-scoring pitch was huge and, with Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope together at one stage, England were in charge at effectively 100 for one. But as exciting as this England team can be, they are always only a blink of an eye away from self-destruction.

“Chasing balls away from your body on fast, bouncy pitches is fraught with danger. It’s like Russian roulette. Save those shots for low, slow surfaces where the odds are in a batsman’s favour.

“When the Aussies get stuck for a wicket all they have to do is go fishing. Dangle the bait and wait for a bite. Our lot can’t resist."

Who would argue with that? 

This nice little run is very welcome but the big test of this very thin squad is ahead - the games come thick and fast, and injuries and tiredness will take their toll. We desperately need experienced cover in defence for the missing Wharton and Carter and in other parts of the team too. Will those players be coming to the club to help the manager and keep the momentum going? Very unlikely. 

38 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Jim, that’s all they know. They can’t play any other way.

India series and the 2023 Ashes series were drawn 2-2 and England should have won both. To be fair, England played some proper cricket this summer, dug in when necessary but they've reverted to Bazball type in this Test. We won't win the next one either if they play the same way

To lose in 2 days like that requires a special kind of uselessness. McCullum and Stokes have questions to answer about the approach to that game in view of England's poor preparation for the series and the players need to look at themselves and rein in the Bazball nonsense and play proper Test cricket, which means patience and playing each ball on its merits.

Pathetic and as predicted. You can get away with batting like amateurs in one innings but not a second time. Horrible losing to them in any circumstances but this is a humiliation. 

Watching the highlights Pears pulled off some very good saves in the first half that kept us in the game, though Preston should have scored. Gyuere (sp?) tried to put too much on his header when all he needed to do was glance it. All in all we have to be pleased with that result and we must have one of the best away records in the league. If only we could fix the home form and send the Ewood fans home happy for once

Can we play all our games away from home? Great win, unexpected. The league seems very open, not many outstanding teams; still think we’ll end up in the bottom half and the long season will take its toll on a thin squad