Let's talk about the Bristol Rovers game

[Bristol Red Rover]

This is going to be a very different game from Charlton. The obvious is that they will set up defensively and press us. They're not such a direct threat up front but with their new addition could be relatively dominant in midfield. I think we'll set up the same as last week, so it is likely we have to find that space, keeping the ball to feet (they have some tall defenders), and punish them with the slick passing we have. I can see a lot of stalemate with the result depending on who holds their shape better, who makes a mistake, who can cut through in that final quarter.

I'm going for a 2-1 but can easily be a 1-1 or worse.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Having watched the full match replay of the Charlton game (via the iFollow app) I was very impressed with Rovers passing and movement. Gomes was certainly disciplined enough to support Whiteman and at times covered each other when finding the spaces.

I noticed Halliday and James were both prepared to come inside into midfield areas to enhance the movement. Also Halliday getting into the box at corners which we've not seen before. I was impressed with Lokilo's ability to suck a defender in and change direction and create openings even if sometimes his final delivery wasn't quite there.

Basically, on that performance, there won't be many sides can live with that movement and flexibility.

This is a further chance to preach what they've been practicing and providing we can be a little more ruthless in the final third (sounds greedy after scoring three) I hope we will further show our credentials.

Definitely looking forward to investing another tenner!

[selby]

  Already invested my tenner DBR even though I could get it for free, every little helps.

[graingrover]

  Already invested my tenner DBR even though I could get it for free, every little helps.

another nice gesture Selby

[DonnyBazR0ver]

You're both very generous. When the time comes I hope you get some desreved recognition.

[selby]

  Personally I don't want any recognition at all DBR I have had years of entertainment, friendships, and pleasure while supporting this club, being now retired and more time on my hands it has become an even more important part of my life, my hobby and leisure time, its fun.
  The fact is the club needs help financially at the moment, home games are now a drain on finances the home sides having to give free Passes on ifollow to the away side and free passes rightly to their own season ticket holders.
  Financially I am in a position where I can buy a pass for the game and the only reason for publicizing this is in the hope that a few others in the same position might also do so and drip feed the club finances in this bad time for all of us. Recognition is the last thing I want at all but thanks for your kind thoughts.
   

[selby]

  There is a big difference how the two managers seem to be perceived by the two set's of supporters, Darren being well thought of and having our backing and our confidence in him to build and be able to integrate players into a team.
   While the Bristol supporters are not in general very complimentary about their manager at all.
  From the outside looking in their attitude seems a bit harsh to me, certainly over the last few years their managers have not been overwhelmed with the luxury of lots of dosh to throw at the team, and any player that shows promise seems to be snapped up by other teams from under the managers nose as soon as they appear.
  Although we have a great record over them over our recent History they have always been one of the more honest sides in how they play the game, and most of the matches as well as the results that put a gloss on them I suppose have in the main been entertaining with good football being played by both teams.
  Let's hope it carries on over the weekend and both sides have a good season, the supporters of both sides deserve it.

[eadiee73]

  There is a big difference how the two managers seem to be perceived by the two set's of supporters, Darren being well thought of and having our backing and our confidence in him to build and be able to integrate players into a team.
   While the Bristol supporters are not in general very complimentary about their manager at all.
  From the outside looking in their attitude seems a bit harsh to me, certainly over the last few years their managers have not been overwhelmed with the luxury of lots of dosh to throw at the team, and any player that shows promise seems to be snapped up by other teams from under the managers nose as soon as they appear.
  Although we have a great record over them over our recent History they have always been one of the more honest sides in how they play the game, and most of the matches as well as the results that put a gloss on them I suppose have in the main been entertaining with good football being played by both teams.
  Let's hope it carries on over the weekend and both sides have a good season, the supporters of both sides deserve it.

About right. I’ve just made the same comment in our forum about the difference between our attitude towards our manager and your attitude towards yours. As I said earlier ours is under pressure after just two games, though in truth his awful record since Boxing Day, only two wins in 20 odd league matches after we were 4th in the table when Coughlan threw his toys out of the pram and went to that massive club Mansfield in the league below, doesn’t help him. He’s very inexperienced and came in saying he wanted to play exciting, possession based football with a younger team. The trouble is our possession %s have been below 50% in every match he’s managed and we haven’t played exciting football. We’ll stick with him but he needs some wins and pretty quickly. If he’s successful in getting the team to do what he’s promised it will be great but, it’s a big “if”. Most think he’s recruited well and our squad is better than it was last season. We’ve shipped out some big earners and replaced them with better players, we think, but they have to prove it with results. Except we’ve lost Clarke-Harris and his goals and haven’t replaced his goals, so far. According to the ITKs our budget is lower than last year. No idea if it’s true but in the current climate it would make sense.
Our opening two games were tough ones against teams I expect to go up and we played ok defensively, holding out until the last few minutes in both before losing points. Looking forward to Saturday when I think it should be a more equal match between two fairly close teams. As ever, time will tell!
UP the Rovers!

[selby]

 Eadiee73, thanks for the input it is always great to hear the oppositions  opinions on ourselves, as for comparing us with Sunderland and Ipswich I think a few teams in this league will more than match them on the field of play.
  They are yesterdays men to me who are having a bad time adjusting to their surroundings, and with supporters who will turn on them at the slightest slip up sad to say.
  Whether empty stadiums will be to their advantage or not remains to be seen, certainly crowd pressure has resulted in us as a club being on the wrong end of atrocious decisions at both places in recent years, a tackle at Ipswich and physical wrestling of our defenders at Sunderland certainly still leaves me feeling cheated and the former going a long way to costing us relegation from the Championship as the point would have kept us up. But they may gain from the lack of expectancy from their large crowds when things don't go so well on the pitch.
 To me they are now what they are deservedly, two Division 1 sides who used to play in the top tier of English football.
  You pose just as big a threat to where we want to be in this division and we need to play and be at our best to overcome your team.
   If we can carry on the standard of play we achieved at Charlton we will be a team to be reckoned with at this level, consistency now being the thing we have to try to achieve, but I am not expecting your team to give us the same room to play  in midfield that we had at Charlton so watching the game will be interesting for both sets of supporters to see if the sides can progress against different formations.

[eadiee73]

Eadiee73, thanks for the input it is always great to hear the oppositions  opinions on ourselves, as for comparing us with Sunderland and Ipswich I think a few teams in this league will more than match them on the field of play.
  They are yesterdays men to me who are having a bad time adjusting to their surroundings, and with supporters who will turn on them at the slightest slip up sad to say.
  Whether empty stadiums will be to their advantage or not remains to be seen, certainly crowd pressure has resulted in us as a club being on the wrong end of atrocious decisions at both places in recent years, a tackle at Ipswich and physical wrestling of our defenders at Sunderland certainly still leaves me feeling cheated and the former going a long way to costing us relegation from the Championship as the point would have kept us up. But they may gain from the lack of expectancy from their large crowds when things don't go so well on the pitch.
 To me they are now what they are deservedly, two Division 1 sides who used to play in the top tier of English football.
  You pose just as big a threat to where we want to be in this division and we need to play and be at our best to overcome your team.
   If we can carry on the standard of play we achieved at Charlton we will be a team to be reckoned with at this level, consistency now being the thing we have to try to achieve, but I am not expecting your team to give us the same room to play  in midfield that we had at Charlton so watching the game will be interesting for both sets of supporters to see if the sides can progress against different formations.

Agree with much of that. We felt it was a good time to play Sunderland when the SOL was empty which I think it was and we did really well in the first half until Parkinson had a go at them and we relied on our keeper to keep us in the game. We were accused by Parkinson of gamesmanship, wasting time and acting up after frustrating them in the opening game it was ever so ironic. Last season McGuire went down like he was dead to get our Ogogo sent off and they score straight after we went down to 10 men. Parkinson likes to give it out but doesn’t like to get it given back. Ipswich however looked good in the two matches we played them and I’d be surprised if they don’t do well, even if Lambert isn’t liked by the fans. They at least try to play football the correct way whereas Sunderland moaned and complained their way through our match, going at the referee. They might be basket cases but I think they’ll still be there or thereabouts come April, if we get that far!
We’ll likely be without Nicholson our attacking winger/ midfielder which might mean Westbrooke pushes forward to accommodate Upson but to be honest it’s hard to guess what our team will be. We’ll likely only play one forward and pack midfield but they can get bullied out of it by bigger, stronger teams. Are you one of those?
In patches we pass the ball very well and our midfield do look comfortable on the ball but with few options up front, so far. Fingers crossed for a point at least tomorrow.
Up the Rovers!

[selby]

  Come on lads the club need as many as possible to log onto ifollow to watch the game whether they are using the code or paying for a pass. The more the  numbers the more the club know we are still behind them at this horrible time for everyone.
 Have a great afternoon watching and Stay safe everyone.

[ravenrover]

If you don't use your pass code does that save the club a tenner?

[selby]

  Good Question RR, I honestly have no idea, Although I would guess not, as far as I know any season ticket pass is free to the club as well as the ticket holder while crowds are allowed into the stadiums.
  But I would not put money on it.
 As an aside the Premiership are looking closely at the numbers that have been generated and of course are looking at whether they can make a buck, although their contracts with Sky could cybosh that way of thinking although the EFL would be advised to look at broadcasting away games to clubs in future according to reports.

[Campsall rover]

Eadiee73, thanks for the input it is always great to hear the oppositions  opinions on ourselves, as for comparing us with Sunderland and Ipswich I think a few teams in this league will more than match them on the field of play.
  They are yesterdays men to me who are having a bad time adjusting to their surroundings, and with supporters who will turn on them at the slightest slip up sad to say.
  Whether empty stadiums will be to their advantage or not remains to be seen, certainly crowd pressure has resulted in us as a club being on the wrong end of atrocious decisions at both places in recent years, a tackle at Ipswich and physical wrestling of our defenders at Sunderland certainly still leaves me feeling cheated and the former going a long way to costing us relegation from the Championship as the point would have kept us up. But they may gain from the lack of expectancy from their large crowds when things don't go so well on the pitch.
 To me they are now what they are deservedly, two Division 1 sides who used to play in the top tier of English football.
  You pose just as big a threat to where we want to be in this division and we need to play and be at our best to overcome your team.
   If we can carry on the standard of play we achieved at Charlton we will be a team to be reckoned with at this level, consistency now being the thing we have to try to achieve, but I am not expecting your team to give us the same room to play  in midfield that we had at Charlton so watching the game will be interesting for both sets of supporters to see if the sides can progress against different formations.

Agree with much of that. We felt it was a good time to play Sunderland when the SOL was empty which I think it was and we did really well in the first half until Parkinson had a go at them and we relied on our keeper to keep us in the game. We were accused by Parkinson of gamesmanship, wasting time and acting up after frustrating them in the opening game it was ever so ironic. Last season McGuire went down like he was dead to get our Ogogo sent off and they score straight after we went down to 10 men. Parkinson likes to give it out but doesn’t like to get it given back. Ipswich however looked good in the two matches we played them and I’d be surprised if they don’t do well, even if Lambert isn’t liked by the fans. They at least try to play football the correct way whereas Sunderland moaned and complained their way through our match, going at the referee. They might be basket cases but I think they’ll still be there or thereabouts come April, if we get that far!
We’ll likely be without Nicholson our attacking winger/ midfielder which might mean Westbrooke pushes forward to accommodate Upson but to be honest it’s hard to guess what our team will be. We’ll likely only play one forward and pack midfield but they can get bullied out of it by bigger, stronger teams. Are you one of those?
In patches we pass the ball very well and our midfield do look comfortable on the ball but with few options up front, so far. Fingers crossed for a point at least tomorrow.
Up the Rovers!

Eadie, you do realise there is only one Rovers and it isn’t Bristol. Thought I better let you know as you keep putting “up the Rovers “ at the end of your posts. We all think you are a DRFC fan. So change it to up the ‘Pirates’ or up the ‘Gas’.
Oh by the way where on Earth do those nicknames originate from.
I would be interested to know.
Thanks and all the best after today of course and excepting the return match at the  Memorial later in the season. ( If we get that far )

[idler]

Eadiee73, thanks for the input it is always great to hear the oppositions  opinions on ourselves, as for comparing us with Sunderland and Ipswich I think a few teams in this league will more than match them on the field of play.
  They are yesterdays men to me who are having a bad time adjusting to their surroundings, and with supporters who will turn on them at the slightest slip up sad to say.
  Whether empty stadiums will be to their advantage or not remains to be seen, certainly crowd pressure has resulted in us as a club being on the wrong end of atrocious decisions at both places in recent years, a tackle at Ipswich and physical wrestling of our defenders at Sunderland certainly still leaves me feeling cheated and the former going a long way to costing us relegation from the Championship as the point would have kept us up. But they may gain from the lack of expectancy from their large crowds when things don't go so well on the pitch.
 To me they are now what they are deservedly, two Division 1 sides who used to play in the top tier of English football.
  You pose just as big a threat to where we want to be in this division and we need to play and be at our best to overcome your team.
   If we can carry on the standard of play we achieved at Charlton we will be a team to be reckoned with at this level, consistency now being the thing we have to try to achieve, but I am not expecting your team to give us the same room to play  in midfield that we had at Charlton so watching the game will be interesting for both sets of supporters to see if the sides can progress against different formations.

Agree with much of that. We felt it was a good time to play Sunderland when the SOL was empty which I think it was and we did really well in the first half until Parkinson had a go at them and we relied on our keeper to keep us in the game. We were accused by Parkinson of gamesmanship, wasting time and acting up after frustrating them in the opening game it was ever so ironic. Last season McGuire went down like he was dead to get our Ogogo sent off and they score straight after we went down to 10 men. Parkinson likes to give it out but doesn’t like to get it given back. Ipswich however looked good in the two matches we played them and I’d be surprised if they don’t do well, even if Lambert isn’t liked by the fans. They at least try to play football the correct way whereas Sunderland moaned and complained their way through our match, going at the referee. They might be basket cases but I think they’ll still be there or thereabouts come April, if we get that far!
We’ll likely be without Nicholson our attacking winger/ midfielder which might mean Westbrooke pushes forward to accommodate Upson but to be honest it’s hard to guess what our team will be. We’ll likely only play one forward and pack midfield but they can get bullied out of it by bigger, stronger teams. Are you one of those?
In patches we pass the ball very well and our midfield do look comfortable on the ball but with few options up front, so far. Fingers crossed for a point at least tomorrow.
Up the Rovers!

Eadie, you do realise there is only one Rovers and it isn’t Bristol. Thought I better let you know as you keep putting “up the Rovers “ at the end of your posts. We all think you are a DRFC fan. So change it to up the ‘Pirates’ or up the ‘Gas’.
Oh by the way where on Earth do those nicknames originate from.
I would be interested to know.
Thanks and all the best after today of course and excepting the return match at the  Memorial later in the season. ( If we get that far )

Campsall, we were also called the Pirates by some at one time.
The Green Un used to have a little cartoon type logo for each team's match report. We had a pirate, Chesterfield a crooked spire, Rotherham a windmill and so on.
Happy days, I think one pirate even looked like our player manager Norman Curtis at the time.

[Alickismyhero]

The nickname  "The Gas"  is connected with the old gas works at the side of their ground with the smell passing over.

[Campsall rover]

Eadiee73, thanks for the input it is always great to hear the oppositions  opinions on ourselves, as for comparing us with Sunderland and Ipswich I think a few teams in this league will more than match them on the field of play.
  They are yesterdays men to me who are having a bad time adjusting to their surroundings, and with supporters who will turn on them at the slightest slip up sad to say.
  Whether empty stadiums will be to their advantage or not remains to be seen, certainly crowd pressure has resulted in us as a club being on the wrong end of atrocious decisions at both places in recent years, a tackle at Ipswich and physical wrestling of our defenders at Sunderland certainly still leaves me feeling cheated and the former going a long way to costing us relegation from the Championship as the point would have kept us up. But they may gain from the lack of expectancy from their large crowds when things don't go so well on the pitch.
 To me they are now what they are deservedly, two Division 1 sides who used to play in the top tier of English football.
  You pose just as big a threat to where we want to be in this division and we need to play and be at our best to overcome your team.
   If we can carry on the standard of play we achieved at Charlton we will be a team to be reckoned with at this level, consistency now being the thing we have to try to achieve, but I am not expecting your team to give us the same room to play  in midfield that we had at Charlton so watching the game will be interesting for both sets of supporters to see if the sides can progress against different formations.

Agree with much of that. We felt it was a good time to play Sunderland when the SOL was empty which I think it was and we did really well in the first half until Parkinson had a go at them and we relied on our keeper to keep us in the game. We were accused by Parkinson of gamesmanship, wasting time and acting up after frustrating them in the opening game it was ever so ironic. Last season McGuire went down like he was dead to get our Ogogo sent off and they score straight after we went down to 10 men. Parkinson likes to give it out but doesn’t like to get it given back. Ipswich however looked good in the two matches we played them and I’d be surprised if they don’t do well, even if Lambert isn’t liked by the fans. They at least try to play football the correct way whereas Sunderland moaned and complained their way through our match, going at the referee. They might be basket cases but I think they’ll still be there or thereabouts come April, if we get that far!
We’ll likely be without Nicholson our attacking winger/ midfielder which might mean Westbrooke pushes forward to accommodate Upson but to be honest it’s hard to guess what our team will be. We’ll likely only play one forward and pack midfield but they can get bullied out of it by bigger, stronger teams. Are you one of those?
In patches we pass the ball very well and our midfield do look comfortable on the ball but with few options up front, so far. Fingers crossed for a point at least tomorrow.
Up the Rovers!

Eadie, you do realise there is only one Rovers and it isn’t Bristol. Thought I better let you know as you keep putting “up the Rovers “ at the end of your posts. We all think you are a DRFC fan. So change it to up the ‘Pirates’ or up the ‘Gas’.
Oh by the way where on Earth do those nicknames originate from.
I would be interested to know.
Thanks and all the best after today of course and excepting the return match at the  Memorial later in the season. ( If we get that far )

Campsall, we were also called the Pirates by some at one time.
The Green Un used to have a little cartoon type logo for each team's match report. We had a pirate, Chesterfield a crooked spire, Rotherham a windmill and so on.
Happy days, I think one pirate even looked like our player manager Norman Curtis at the time.

Showing your age Idler.          Before my time. Well as a Rovers fan ( he says whispering ) You know what i mean.

I didn’t know that, so thanks. 

[Alickismyhero]

That brings back memories my memory of Norman Curtis was this rotund character with his long shorts held up as high as he could get them.

[drfchound]

  Come on lads the club need as many as possible to log onto ifollow to watch the game whether they are using the code or paying for a pass. The more the  numbers the more the club know we are still behind them at this horrible time for everyone.
 Have a great afternoon watching and Stay safe everyone.

It would be interesting to know how many match passes have been taken up for the matches played so far.
I wonder whether the club would want to make it public knowledge.

[Colemans Left Hook]

At the moment Bristol Rovers (2 matches) are following the path of Northampton Town in season 2017-18

Northampton then made a lot of impressive signings pre-season so much so that when one bookmaker offered double the odds of the rest 16/1 yours truely backed them for promotion and often referred to them on here that they were in a false position . They sacked Justin Edinburgh in August and got "teflon" Floyd Hasselbank in who lasted til April then a third manager came in.

All i know is Bristol Rovers did lots of early business as well and were strongly fancied pre-season.

if they lose this today they will be one point from nine trouble at mill

things are a bit different from their last visit   here when they were 3rd in the league and you all thought they would win here , yours truely went for a  Doncaster win.  They lost 3-1 and  they went downhill after that defeat.

[eadiee73]

The nickname  "The Gas"  is connected with the old gas works at the side of their ground with the smell passing over.

Yes the gasworks always made gave Eastville a kind of gas smell. But we only became known as the gas because Bristol C***, the 82 ers, called us gasheads as an insult. But we quite liked it and turned it around into a positive and started to adopt the name.

Sorry for saying Up the Rovers, it was my attempt at humour seeing as we are both Rovers! It obviously failed.

UTG!

[drfchound]

The nickname  "The Gas"  is connected with the old gas works at the side of their ground with the smell passing over.

Yes the gasworks always made gave Eastville a kind of gas smell. But we only became known as the gas because Bristol C***, the 82 ers, called us gasheads as an insult. But we quite liked it and turned it around into a positive and started to adopt the name.

Sorry for saying Up the Rovers, it was my attempt at humour seeing as we are both Rovers! It obviously failed.

UTG!

I saw the humour in that mate. 👍🤔

[DonnyOsmond]

I reckon a viking would beat a pirate in a fight.

[Colemans Left Hook]

The nickname  "The Gas"  is connected with the old gas works at the side of their ground with the smell passing over.

Yes the gasworks always made gave Eastville a kind of gas smell. But we only became known as the gas because Bristol C***, the 82 ers, called us gasheads as an insult. But we quite liked it and turned it around into a positive and started to adopt the name.

Sorry for saying Up the Rovers, it was my attempt at humour seeing as we are both Rovers! It obviously failed.

UTG!

just thought i would mention a useless fact i discovered last week  . i was looking at the teams competing in the extra early rounds of the facup and picked on one .with a ridiculous name ( in the world of CLH) .... decided to check where they were and found out they were the oldest football club in Bristol ,,  meaning older than both Rovers and City and still going.

eadiee73  please refresh my memory what they are called

[StocksArmy]

The 1st goal will decide this game. We need to start fast and not let them feel their way in. Take the game to them early on and it could be comfortable. But this is DRFC............

[Campsall rover]

Fantastic. We have a serous team here. 
Full of goals. Bit more composure and it would have been 7-1
Bursik had nothing to do.
Whiteman and Gomes ran the show. Richards after a sticky start played very well.
Copps well Copps was Copps superb.

M.O.M   just Whiteman By a whisker.

DM for Prime Minister. 

[Campsall rover]

Great to see Posh & Fleetwood losing.
Also Bolton 3 straight defeats in League 2 

Oh what a day.

[Bessie Red]

Fantastic. We have a serous team here. 
Full of goals. Bit more composure and it would have been 7-1
Bursik had nothing to do.
Whiteman and Gomes ran the show. Richards after a sticky start played very well.
Copps well Copps was Copps superb.

M.O.M   just Whiteman By a whisker.

DM for Prime Minister. 

Great performance from all the players. My MOM - John Taylor!

[tonybuk86]

decent gane indeed, 7 points out of 9 at this stage is good, some big tests coming up soon though, still early days but its looking promising

[dknward2]

Great to see Posh & Fleetwood losing.
Also Bolton 3 straight defeats in League 2 

Oh what a day.

But this is Peterborough season of revenge