6 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

There’s this thing called suspension.

Despite your attempt to be witty, he was actually injured. Served his 1 match ban last match  

Poorly treated Scott Wharton trotting back onside in the final minute there when we’re slinging it in the box. 
Loser mentality and loser output 

7 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Yes, he's looked ok in the Cup. People are desperate if they're asking him to save our season though.

Of course we’re desperate, we’re absolutely shocking 

21 minutes ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

Really solid looking squad for us on paper with the rarity of square pegs in square holes all over! 

Only liabilities for me are the cement footed pickering, lack of a natural centre forward(nothing new there though) and Calamity Pears. 

Not sure if this in bold is sarcasm or not (contradicts the 2nd paragraph that I agree with)

2 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Wouldn't say we're safe with a win today, although it would be a massive step towards safety. 2 wins maybe.

Good set of results today though, I thought Venus being put on gardening leave and Rowett coming in would spark Birmingham into life

Win would leave us 6 points and a better GD clear of Brum, Wednesday and Huddersfield. Would require 2 of those 3 teams to turn a 3 game swing against us with just 7 remaining.

I don’t think a win settles it now, but expect us to pick up a point or two from the final 7 games after. 

Good results for us. QPR late goal means we know its Brum to cheer against now 

Win today and we’re safe, but would be content with 1 point

Best league finish since relegation and the closest we've come to Wembley in the FA Cup both last season.....so not a clue what Wharton is banging on about, it's worth noting some of his mistakes at the end of season could be good reason as to why we didn't make the playoffs in the end.

As others have said, it's loser talk, laying blame at someone no longer around.

On 27/03/2024 at 14:06, speeeeeeedie said:

Hard to disagree on the drop off. Yet what team aside from maybe France (excluding Mbappe) could you say that for?

Last night was essentially it for Southgate. His next games are tournament warm-ups. He will already know 80%+ of his squad, now he has to wait and hope that all the players he wants stay fit.

9 of his 11 is set; Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire (yes, he'll play if fit), Rice, Bellingham, Saka, Foden, Kane. He needs to decide on a midfield partner for Rice, and a left back.

Of Southgate's usuals Grealish, Shaw, Trippier, Alexander-Arnold, Pope, and James are injured. Potential new boy Colwill is too. I assume if they are all fit come end of May they'll be in the squad. 

Toney, Rashford, Watkins will be in the squad as will Chilwell and Gallagher.

Phillips, Sterling, and probably Henderson are gone.

Yeah, providing all are fit, there is about 6 or 7 of the 23 spots up for grabs, 16 nailed on if fit.

3rd choice keeper who will get 0 minutes

2 x CBs who will get 0 minutes (Branthwaite, Colwill, Guehi, Konsa, Gomez, Tomori, maybe Chilwell)

1 x CM between Gallagher and Henderson

3 x Attacker who may get a handful of minutes in final group match (Watkins, Toney, Bowen, Gordon, Palmer, Grealish)

Pickford, Ramsdale, GK3

Walker, Trent, Shaw, Trippier, Maguire, Stones, CB1, CB2

Rice, Mainoo, Bellingham, Maddison, CM1

Kane, Saka, Foden, Rashford FW1, FW2, FW3

Maybe he opts for another Defender or Midfielder instead of the final Attacker, given Trent will be CM or nothing.

Agree with the 11 (or 9) you listed too, providing all are fit, slow in Shaw LB and Trent alongside Rice and we have no excuses to not win the whole thing

On 17/03/2024 at 10:40, sharpysharps86 said:

Good point on its own. The majority of away draws in this league should be considered a point gained, such is the Championship.

However, imagine if Rovers had actually beat Millwall and Plymouth. We'd basically be safe at this point and there would be much more positivity surrounding JE. Instead, I still think there's a big possibility of relegation due to the run-in.

Sounds like it was a much more balanced team yesterday, more than likely down to the returns of Hedges, Tronstad and Pears. Hopefully we can keep a consistent group together between now and the end of the season.

Gallagher's form when he came back from injury was promising but he's fallen off a cliff in recent weeks. Deserves dropping but the problem is who do you bring in? There's literally only Telalovic available to come in.

Millwall OR Plymouth. I honestly think if we were sat on 44 points now instead by winning either of those matches (with either Millwall on 42 or Plymouth on 40) we'd be pretty much feeling safe and thinking 1 or 2 results would do it from 8 matches.

Ipswich are actually odds against, which suggest they have less than 50% chance of winning, and there is greater than 50% chance of Rovers picking up at least 1 point

(if you're willing to believe early prices are correct)

We should be going into this demanding and expecting a point(s) return, anything less is a disappointment. They're not huge favourites.

I think 2 wins does it for us on 48 points. 

There are only 8 games left. 2 wins for us means 2 of Wednesday, Birmingham and Huddersfield need 10+ points thanks to our GD, so they can only lose 4 max out of their 8. 
It’ll be difficult for 2 of them to perform to that level and also QPR, Stoke, Plymouth all picking up more than us. 

Beat Sheffield Wednesday + 1 other and we’ll be safe, preferably sooner rather than later. 

I wasn’t sure which thread to post this in, but it caught my eye and it’s something everyone here has probably assumed over time, and now with evidence to show it as fact (that we are horrendous at set pieces). 
Set Piece GA vs GF with colour coded dot based on position in the league 

Weren’t we advertising a ‘set-piece coach’ at one point? I assume nothing came of it, but whoever is in charge of this specialist area is grossly underachieving, as have our players throughout the season. 

Skin of our teeth at the end with Jones hitting the bar and someone air shotting an open net. 
But otherwise, 2nd half in particular, the best we’ve looked under Eustace, and I’d imagine due to the 4 at the back, allowing us to do more in the middle. Also great to have Tronstad and Hedges (for composure and effort) back. 

Pickering exposed a bit, but usually is when up against pace and Sigurdsson is like playing with 10 men. Looks every bit a footballer until the ball is at his feet. 

Can’t fault the effort, results go our way too and that late Boro chance might finally be the rub going our way. Big shout to the away too, who you could hear all match. 

Red card for Huddersfield now (Sorba Thomas no less)

A Rovers and Rotherham goal would be the icing on the cake. 

Boro are giving us plenty of space and possession. We look fairly in control this 2nd half. 
Great work rate on two occasions from Gallagher and Szmodics. 

Lots of results going our way at the half way stage 

Stoke and Wednesday losing. Our saving grace might be not being the worst of a bunch 

In the McFadz argument - I’m in the camp that he’s okay, I’ve not seen enough to form a strong judgement either side. But I will take him every day and twice on a Saturday at 3pm over Dom Hyam. He is just too weak, too quiet, too slow and too soft for a relegation battle. 

Frustratingly if we had won just one of either Millwall or Plymouth we’d be sat in 15th, with 6 teams between us and the drop and 5 points clear with a better goal difference and 9 games to go. 

Well we’re now 3rd favourites for relegation behind Rotherham (no odds offered anymore) and Sheffield Wednesday. 
It seems everyone else is clocking on to our downfall too now 

2 hours ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

You're talking out your arse fella. 

you are wrong on both counts! And I wouldn't even say that I've been posting "a lot" recently so I don't even know(or care) what you are talking about. 

This was my favourite. You’re a WUM point blank.
Saying JDT was as manipulative as Kean.

Open your eyes.  

1 hour ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

You're talking out your arse fella. 

you are wrong on both counts! And I wouldn't even say that I've been posting "a lot" recently so I don't even know(or care) what you are talking about. 

You just keep blabbing on about how we were the better team and should have been in the lead and unlucky, you must be asleep and dreaming through the 90 minutes. Clueless. 

5 hours ago, OldEwoodBlue said:

So if I have this right, since Eusless arrived, Sam Gallagher has been playing Centre Forward and has not had a single shot.

Is it 7 games, no attempts ?

What sort of Duck Egg is he ?

 

He is beyond frustrating. When you look at individual moments in the game you realise how bad a footballer he is, in positional sense more than anything else. 
Prime example today, the Sigurdsson sitter he missed, the break when Szmodics had the ball, Gallagher was still trotting around about 30 yards behind the ball. 
You’re meant to be our number 9! Beggers believe we didn’t cash in when we could. What a waste of wage. Built like a Spartan but has the brain/skill of a *insert inept character*

2 hours ago, M_B said:

I agree with everything you say, although we should have been 2 up and cruising  before Plymouth got on top. 

Been flicking through the match day thread since I got back, and it would appear that if Eustace does actually keep us up after the bollocks he inherited, he will probably deserve a knighthood. 

He inherited a team that was pretty much mid table, about 12 points (or close to that ?) above the drop and finished outside the playoffs by goal difference last season 

59 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Three games ago I was quite comfortable that we wouldn't to down. That doubt dissipated somewhat after Swansea but after Tuesday and today I'm convinced we will be relegated. The first ten minutes aside Plymouth were streets ahead of us and if I was a fan of theirs I would have been disappointed not to win and win by three or four goals. We started well, scored and Sigurdsson misses an easy chance and for some unfathomable reason the game changed. We must have the slowest three centre halves in living memory so to play a high line against a pacy young team was footballing suicide. Time and time again they got in from either a simple ball over the top, down the sides or in behind. So we get through to half time and expect changes particularly when we see Hedges doing a strenuous warm up at half time. But no, our tactically astute manager doesn't see it the same way as us and that we are once again being overrun in midfield. The second half starts in exactly the same vein and lo and behold a ball over the top of our high line catches us out and McFadzean is off. I honestly don't think that anybody with half a brain cell thought at that point we could win. Then a couple of baffling changes which hindered us even more handed a bigger advantage to Plymouth whose changes we really positive. The inevitable happened and once again was a calamity of errors. I really thought Plymouth would go on to win from there and once again bad finishing and luck saved us. Two players worthy of mention were Szmodics and Ayari. The rest were pretty useless but the biggest criticism from me is for Eustace. I know it's only early in his time here but the omens aren't good, in fact they are poor. He doesn't appear to have and tactical nous or has the ability to change anything. His one dimensional approach is alarming and his touchline demeanour doesn't inspire me. Still he might be happy tonight as, according to him today wasn't a must win game. I'm struggling to get angry right now and my acceptance is almost a fait accompli after the last thirteen years. My disgust is for the owners and their munchkins at Ewood. Hopefully something happens on Tuesday in a court on another continent that hastens their departure.

On the bus home me and my granddaughter looked at the likely line up of League One next season and have already planned some trips. 

Very well summed up and such admiration for the travel and time you put into the club despite these turbulent times