Realistic competitors

[richtherover]

Does anybody think that we are starting to gel and looking like a team capable of taking this league by storm? Having watched every game from afar (via ifollow) I am far from convinced. Crawley were awful and the result was flattering. Rochdale were supposedly the worst team in the league and we really struggled to break them down. On another day we could easily have lost that game. When you come across a title contester team they are rock solid at the back,  creative in midfield and always look dangerous going forward. I've seen many Rovers teams in the past who were exactly that but we just seem clueless and totally disjointed. We may well get another 3 points at Hartlepool, mainly because like Rochdale and Crawley they are very poor teams who we have basically found hard to break down. We were pretty awful tonight again but got the 3 points. I'm happy yes of course but can't help thinking that we will need a much more "go for the jugular", type of attack, a much less "rabbits in the headlights" defence and a hugely creative midfield.  We're not that far away from that right now but not sure if the manager knows how to set them up. I am behind Gary M but if we're still sleepwalking after the next 10 games then we really need a change of leader. I know a win can paper over the cracks but performance wise we are miles away.
Hope I get proved wrong and we go on and breeze our way to the title playing McSheff ball, but it's gonna take a huge amount of luck and a complete lack of planning. Here's hoping, who knows?
RTID Rich the Rover

[roversdude]

Yes

[Campsall rover]

Does anybody think that we are starting to gel and looking like a team capable of taking this league by storm? Having watched every game from afar (via ifollow) I am far from convinced. Crawley were awful and the result was flattering. Rochdale were supposedly the worst team in the league and we really struggled to break them down. On another day we could easily have lost that game. When you come across a title contester team they are rock solid at the back,  creative in midfield and always look dangerous going forward. I've seen many Rovers teams in the past who were exactly that but we just seem clueless and totally disjointed. We may well get another 3 points at Hartlepool, mainly because like Rochdale and Crawley they are very poor teams who we have basically found hard to break down. We were pretty awful tonight again but got the 3 points. I'm happy yes of course but can't help thinking that we will need a much more "go for the jugular", type of attack, a much less "rabbits in the headlights" defence and a hugely creative midfield.  We're not that far away from that right now but not sure if the manager knows how to set them up. I am behind Gary M but if we're still sleepwalking after the next 10 games then we really need a change of leader. I know a win can paper over the cracks but performance wise we are miles away.
Hope I get proved wrong and we go on and breeze our way to the title playing McSheff ball, but it's gonna take a huge amount of luck and a complete lack of planning. Here's hoping, who knows?
RTID Rich the Rover

Well I think this team has got some fight in it. Got some character and some leadership.
3 things it didn’t have last season.

[POD]

We shouldn’t get too carried away.

Just two weeks ago, we had three defeats on the bounce and some people on the forum were asking for the manager to be sacked.

We have since beaten two of the weakest teams in the league and are about to play Hartlepool who are the next worst team, so nine points would be the expected return from these three games.

It’s how we now perform against teams in the top half of the league which will determine whether we are serious promotion contenders or mid table drifters.   
 

[Jonathan]

We shouldn’t get too carried away.

Just two weeks ago, we had three defeats on the bounce and some people on the forum were asking for the manager to be sacked.

We have since beaten two of the weakest teams in the league and are about to play Hartlepool who are the next worst team, so nine points would be the expected return from these three games.

It’s how we now perform against teams in the top half of the league which will determine whether we are serious promotion contenders or mid table drifters.   
 

We shouldn’t get carried away either way.

The expectation that we have a divine right to get 9 points from any three consecutive league games is daft and ignorant.

The expectation that when we win games we’re marching towards the title is ridiculous.

The expectation that when we lose games we should respond by sacking the manager and the board is clueless and toxic.

It’s a long season. 20 points from 11 games is a good start that surely most would have taken. There’s plenty of room for performances to improve, but to be saying that from the position we’re in, at an average of nearly two points per game, is in itself encouraging.

We’ll have a far better chance if people live in the real world, accept we’re not going to stroll through every game and just get behind the club and the team.

[Panda]

If you can win by playing poorly then it is the sign of a good team. So they say.

Credit to GM and the players though. They've got back on track from the pressure of 3 straight defeats despite the overall performances in the wins against Crawley and Rochdale not being significantly improved over those of the 3 defeats.

Playing poorly and winning will be enough for most fans, so long as we end up where we want to be at the business end of the season. At the moment we are set fair to achieve that but it's early days.

Results are decent and most fans will be happy. Performances on the other hand aren't and many fans rightly demand an improvement in these and quickly. We are still dour to watch apart from short spells in various matches IMO.

We are realistic competitors as we have a decent squad and the quality of many teams in this league are nothing to write home about.

[Campsall rover]

If you can win by playing poorly then it is the sign of a good team. So they say.

Credit to GM and the players though. They've got back on track from the pressure of 3 straight defeats despite the overall performances in the wins against Crawley and Rochdale not being significantly improved over those of the 3 defeats.

Playing poorly and winning will be enough for most fans, so long as we end up where we want to be at the business end of the season. At the moment we are set fair to achieve that but it's early days.

Results are decent and most fans will be happy. Performances on the other hand aren't and many fans rightly demand an improvement in these and quickly. We are still dour to watch apart from short spells in various matches IMO.

We are realistic competitors as we have a decent squad and the quality of many teams in this league are nothing to write home about.

The last 2 performances have been significantly better than at Barrow. More than significantly.
We played a good Mansfield team who were tactically smarter. Swindon game we never got going and allowed them to dominate possession, we were very lethargic.
But to say we haven’t improved from those 3 defeats is not correct. We scored 4 v Crawley and ground out a win today v Rochdale. If we had played as we did at Barrow today we would have lost.

[Alan Southstand]

To be honest, Saturday will tell us how much we’ve improved. If we havn’t learned anything from the Mansfield, Barrow and Swindon defeats, then GM needs to have a word with himself.

Currently, we have 7 teams above us who are all doing better than us and they’ll all have a say on who finishes where. Plus, there’s teams just below us that will equally be aiming to get nearer the top 7 and will be endeavouring to improve. We really should be starting to see some signs that we’re not going to be pushovers but it’s not clicked yet into commanding performances. Hopefully, we get there.

[Sammy Chung was King]

I can see us putting a professional performance in against Hartlepool, and coming away with the points. They will try to make it ugly and a scrap, but we will just edge them. Molyneux might just nick a goal against his old club.
I can see us also beating Leyton Orient. I think the players know they have to perform to win that game. A win against Orient would make the players believe they are capable of challenging at the top.