roversfan99

If you start Buckley you are essentially playing with 10 men. Graham has been subbed off in both games this week so should be fine. Bennett quite simply cannot play left back, and Williams will be back v Wigan so ask Downing for one more shift. Im not for seeing a game against a decent Championship side but one who lost at home only 2 days ago as such a low priority considering our next game isnt for another 9 days after. Weve picked up 13 points from 5 games, lets go and aim to get something.

I think Holtby for Dack has to be the obvious change. Wouldnt surprise me if he didnt as often the obvious logical change isnt the one that Mowbray does but we will see. Graham has to start 100%, critical in terms of what he brings to us and has had 20 minutes rest in both games so far. Dont want to see Bennett in the team at all to be honest, especially not shoehorned in at left back, a position he simply cannot play with any competence. Williams still isnt fit so id try and get Downing through one more game and we can reassess with Williams back for the Wigan game, although the gap between means Downing should be ready to go again. The wide areas are a huge question mark, I like many others much prefer Rothwell to Armstrong but he simply hasnt taken his chance of 5 successive starts, no goals, no assists and his general performance level especially in these last 3 games has been really poor. Armstrong rarely imposes himself on games but we are crying out for goal contributions from our wide players and in his defence he does have one matchwinning goal and 2 assists in the last 5 games. Problem is that Rothwell left and Armstrong right is the only way we look balanced. If he does want to be cautious and stick Bennett in it should be for Rothwell and in the same position. Johnson would also be a consideration but I would probably stick with the 2 we have already in there for now. Walton Nyambe Lenihan Adarabioyo Downing Travis Evans Armstrong Holtby Rothwell Graham Subs: Leutwiler, Bennett, Rankin Costello, Johnson, Gallagher, Chapman, Brereton

I really hope not, totally devoid of any attacking threat, see the Stoke game at home last year. Holtby 100%.

Pretty poor performance between 2 teams that wont get too close to the play offs. Ayew the stand out player. Our best player was Nyambe, superb. Centre backs solid but Adarabioyo too lax on the ball at times. Downing average. Walton with a few good saves including a superb one at the end but questionable again for the goal. Thought the midfield 2 failed to get a grip of the game, Travis is particularly limited. Rothwell totally non existent and right to be hooked but not for Bennett who was woeful again, never a full back and not a particularly good player full stop. Deserves dropping but weve no real alternatives. Armstrong got an assist but pretty brainless again. Dack was ok but not sure on the red but he will be missed at the weekend. Holtby started well but didnt have too much influence as the tempo dipped, needs to start as a 10 at Bristol City but I suspect Mowbray wont. Graham is imperative to us, superb finish to end a good move, Gallagher not half as effective and showed a lack of awareness failing to release players a couple of times but one run was very good.

Is anyone having sound issues on the red button?

Most of them players were not contributing so arent missed.

They released a couple of high earning non contributing players which makes no difference to the difficulty of the job. They lost 2 key players but luckily for Cooper he had 2 highly paid replacements already there with proven calibre. To suggest that their fans should be "overjoyed" by the appointment of Cooper (who from the outside seems to be doing ok, nothing spectacular, nothing overly worrying) seems a little patronising and over the top IMO. Happy about the team selection tonight anyway.

I agree that in the last 2 games he has not been that good but it would really affect the balance of the team to do that. Holtby is certainly not a left winger so you would then potentially have to move Armstrong where he is far less effective and theres a snowball effect.

He has scored 42 goals in 104 games for us, with 17 assists. 24 of those goals and 8 of those assists have come in 62 appearances. Quite simply, the consistency of his goal contributions over his whole Rovers career has been there for all to see. Even if he has a few barren appearances, he is undroppable because you know soon enough, over the course of the whole season, he will score far more than any of our other attacking players.

Hopefully he wont change the team at all. Graham quite a few times last season played the majority of 3 games in a week,and is often subbed after an hour anyway, but is critical to the way we play. Downing is supposedly as fit as anyone, plus from our alternatives, Bell and Bennett are absolutely hopeless, Williams is not quite as bad but isnt quite fit so I would rather we try and get Downing through these couple of games and would be more open minded to resting him when Williams is back soon or alternatively if and when we sign a left back in January.

Theres often an obsession with the formation 4-4-2, essentially we do have 2 strikers but because its not 4-4-2 for some reason Ultimately, you replace a proven goalscorer (who happens to be more of a "second striker") with someone to put right alongside Graham, they almost certainly would not replicate Dacks goalscoring record.

Why should they be overjoyed? I found the appointment to be a huge risk appointing a novice but up until recently as an outsider he seemed to be doing well, but things have hit the buffers recently. So they are doing ok, but I cant see why they should be overjoyed! But I am not sure that someone who was able to reintegrate a £20m attacker on huge wages back into the squad in Andre Ayew, rejecting interest in him, can plead poverty. He was also able to reintegrate a £15m striker who has scored plenty of goals in Spain. Granted they lost McBurnie and James but they have 2 massively expensive high calibre players back from loan as direct replacements that previous managers have not had at their disposal. They seem to be keen to cut the fat from the squad, high earning and non contributing players but thats the same at every club.

Its a bizarre mentality that you share with quite a lot of other people, that people need to excuse the fact that they arent attending. It isnt an obligation to part with considerable money and free time to watch Rovers, certainly not to those who arent already attending. Your point about GAA fans not attending games is obviously not related to Rovers but again, I dont get how you can berate and lambast people for spending their hard earned money how they please. But there is no point the club employing this mentality as it is not constructive, but seemingly with passive aggressive marketing campaigns questioning commitment, I think they are. The hard core element are there almost regardless, its the floating fans, the ones for whom they have other commitments, maybe financial restrictions like everyone else, maybe they arent as interested, whatever the reason, attending every other week isnt an absolute must. Once upon the time, the club would have proactively thought, how can we get them back into the ground. Now, there seems to be a malaise spreading, an attitude of, how dare they choose not to attend regardless of cost and circumstance, lets berate them for it instead. If Waggott views attending as an obligation, as something that must be a priority, then essentially he is eliminating himself from any control over attending, his pricing strategies, surcharges, anything he does is irrelevant, the onus is all on the fans. That will not improve attendances. The Waggott tax is presumably partly out of principle, but it is another price hike that will make it even dearer for people who for whatever reason, maybe their own game has been cancelled, they have managed to get out of working last minute, other plans have been cancelled, whatever. Against Sheffield Wednesday, £36-£45 became £39 to £48. £39 was the cheapest you could pay if you decided on the day to attend. Against Derby, if you wanted a ticket in the Blackburn End but couldnt commit last minute, itll cost you £31. I suspect that you dont quite have your finger on the pulse, no disrespect, but obviously your comparison is GAA and often you reference prices to watch Ireland. Ultimately, they are international matches in a different country so a different economic state and are far less frequent than Championship games, so the comparison available is incredibly limited. You also dont attend games, but I am not having a go, it is a very good reason based on the distance, or as you would word it, excuse! But I am not sure that you are entitled to lambast others for not attending as a result, personally.

We essentially do play 2 strikers, and it is indeed the one that some may mistakenly not consider to be one who scores all of our goals. There is a place for it but I suspect many feels that it takes too much away in terms of strength in numbers in midfield.

I never said that it is proof of long term success under Mowbray or even justification that he is the man to take us forward, but for the last 4 games in isolation he deserves plenty of credit.

I still think people underestimate our need for more of a threat from an attacking sense. Our team isnt one which is fine going forward but broken at the back, we arent a top 6 team in either department at the moment. Without Dack we are devoid of any other consistent goal threat. Graham is still as critical to us as ever but it is becoming clearer and clearer that it isnt healthy for us to be so reliant on him, and up front, none of Mowbrays big 3 signings have the capability to go on a run of goals from what theyve shown. The issue with Brewster is no matter how highly rated he is, I dont think hes ever made a League appearance, just a few low priority cup games if im not mistaken, and im not sure if hes scored a senior goal. People can point to Tammy Abraham but he had already proven his capability at this level before he scored the goals to get Villa promoted. Playing for England youth teams is not the same.

Why do people need "excuses" as to how they spend their time and money? A short burst of wins at home will not suddenly lead to a sharp increase in attendances. And ultimately, it is unrealistic to expect it to continue indefinitely. The hard core are already attending. A return to the Premier League would be the best way to improve attendances. Failing that, the baton is not with the fans who clearly can take or leave attending, it is with Waggott who is doing his best to limit potential attendances with his aggressive and poorly thought out pricing policies.

Not at all, equally that is totally unfair. He deserves criticism for quite a lot but he deserves praise for the 4 wins on the bounce, end of.

I dont think Travis has been below the standard set by the rest of the team, far from it. I do think that Travis' ability is ever so slightly overestimated at times, especially his ability on the ball, but hes been very important dovetailing with Evans in these last few games and his performance level has improved so I find your comment a little strange to suggest that he is slightly off the high standards set.

Yeah Lenihan is the leader, Adarabioyo more cultured but can still head it away and they make a good duo. I think Lenihan would be a bigger miss out of the 2 simply because Adarabioyo and Williams lack that authority. Im not convinced that Adarabioyo will make it at City, I think thats a stretch even though hes admittedly impressed so far, you look at someone like Stones who has struggled to fill the void with Laporte out and hes miles ahead of Adarabioyo.

To suggest we are doing well "despite him" is incredibly close minded and unfair. If we are prepared to criticise him when we dont do well then he deserves praise when we do.

Exactly. To be honest, any team with a player like that, take Bowen away from Hull, Mitrovic from Fulham, Watkins from Brentford, Grabban from Forest etc and they wouldnt be able to replace them to the same degree. The top attacking players in the league. Compound that with our lack of goals from other attacking players and its a major problem when he does move on.

Yeah just a rumour just like Joe Hart. We dont have anyone who can get close to Dacks consistent goal contributions.

If Dack gets injured or sold there goes our only goal threat. Maybe not top priority but still a concern. And the Martinez mention was just a vague rumour if i recall.

No idea but he should have been over the below par keeper we did get.