Peterboro

[BillyStubbsTears]

Rigo

I know you were off the scene at the time so you might not know the details.

There were two catastrophic errors by Dickov in the run in.

Against Bolton, we "went for it" by picking a patently unfit Wellens in the hope that he'd be able to pull the strings and take the game to them. He didn't. He was a passenger for 45 minutes as they ripped us apart and were 2-0 down by the time Wellens was taken off after 35 mins. That was a match where a more cautious approach would have stood us in better stead.

Even more egregious was the error in the penultimate match against Reading. With 27 mins left, we were 1-0 up. Then we conceded an equaliser. We had been doing a decent job of throttling the game with the Dull Brothers (Keegan and Furman) in central midfield.

Dickov immediately went for broke. Chucked Wellens on for Furman. We lost our shape and conceded another 2 goals and in doing so, lost the point that would have kept us up.

We didn't play the percentages in either of those matches. We went for broke when we could have played it cautiously.

Now, there's no guarantee that cautious would have worked. But there is stone cold certainty that going all out for a higher points total did NOT work.

[Bentley Bullet]

But what if we'd ground out a point or two by doing what you suggested, and then Birmingham won their final game at Bolton, or their penultimate game at home to Wigan?

[BillyStubbsTears]

BB.

You really don't get this idea of playing the percentages do you?

Do you refuse to go out of a morning because there is a statistical possibility that a meteorite could land on your head?

[Bentley Bullet]

No, but I get Richie Wellens to stick his head out first.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Maybe that explains why he was f**kec at the business end of 2013/14.

[Bentley Bullet]

Well I never f**ked him.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Rigo

I'm tired. Someone else can fill you in.  But suffice to say, none of it is based on hindsight.

[Bentley Bullet]

What if we'd only ground out a point at Elland road a fortnight earlier?

[BillyStubbsTears]

BB

You're a smart bloke. I'm sure you can work it out for yourself.

[idler]

At the end of the day all Rovers fans leaving Elland Road thought that we would be safe.
Nobody expected to only get 1 point from seven games.

[Sammy Chung was King]

Oldham will get to safety, as will we. Colchester will make some points up because they have a decent forward thinking playing here and there, but can't defend they will go down, they have been struggling for a fair few years(If we stay up we could do worse than make Moncur our first signing).
Blackpool will go down, badly run club, they have been sinking for a while now, sometimes momentum negative or positive can't be stopped.
Crewe are a club i admire, they produce their own players, try to play in a certain style, and pull some surprising results out, i think this season they will drop through the trapdoor.
The last place to stay up will be between Shrewsbury and Chesterfield, Shrewsbury will be the one's who drop into league two(if they do i would go after Luetwiler the keeper and Whitbread the centre half), if i'm wrong and it's chesterfield, the club want to get in for Jay O'Shea.

[les@donr]

Sammy, what if we go down, what next?

[dickos1]

Can't see Shrewsbury going down, they're 9 points clear

[Sammy Chung was King]

Sammy, what if we go down, what next?

Then we will have to start shopping in the conference north and below!.

[The Red Baron]

Ferguson has nailed his colours to the mast on the points total. 50, he says.

Yet 50 wasn't enough last season (though 51 would have been.) Also as per BST's comments on this subject, it could push us into poor decisions at the tail end of the season.

Although I have a safety target in mind (the same one since a ball was kicked) I'm a fan, not the manager. I'd rather hear him saying that there's 30 points left to play for, and we'll be aiming to get as many as possible.

Plus, looking at some of the players we've got, the moment they get 50 points they'll be on the beach.

[RoversAlias]

I get what you're saying but, say we do reach 50 with games to spare, Fergie isn't going to say (to his players or the press) "well, we've done it now lads get your deck chairs out". He'll say that we need to keep pushing for points and wins to get as far from the bottom four as possible.

In the short term, it doesn't need to be worried about anyway. We won't go into the Peterborough game saying "right if we can nick one point here that starts us on the way to 50".

[NickDRFC]

An awful lot of our players look like they've been on the beach for several months, if not all season!

[Chris Black come back]

This is the latest in his attempts to kick the arse up the squad about the situation we are in currently.

We have had (I paraphrase) "risk getting dragged into the shit" then "we need a result vs xxxx" then "we are in a relegation dog fight" and now "we definitely need 50 points".

All various ways of kicking can down road and avoiding fact that we are deeply in the deepest hole full of stinking turds that we have had the misfortune to see for many a long year.

[IDM]

With fans like you we are.
[/quote

With the current performances you tell me otherwise then

Their not even talking about investing in the squad to get us out of this mess and no I don't mean loaning untried kids

We're talking about the performances to come, not the ones that have already happened.

[Wild Rover]

As far as I can see ( and that's not very far ), the performances TO DATE have been almost abysmal. DRFC were lucky to beat Barnsley and Crewe at KMS, look where DRFC would be without those two wins, now im sure there may have been other games where DRFC did not get what play deserved to cancel those two wins out, but, I just cant see how DRFC can escape the trap door. Ferguson has tried different personnel, Different formations, or both, end result seems set in stone. So maybe past results count for little, but the trend is there for all to see. Hope to hell im wrong, but cant see escape.

[The Red Baron]

This is the latest in his attempts to kick the arse up the squad about the situation we are in currently.

We have had (I paraphrase) "risk getting dragged into the shit" then "we need a result vs xxxx" then "we are in a relegation dog fight" and now "we definitely need 50 points".

All various ways of kicking can down road and avoiding fact that we are deeply in the deepest hole full of stinking turds that we have had the misfortune to see for many a long year.

I realise I am seen on here as a bit of a Jeremiah when it comes to relegation, but I think Fergie has been way behind the curve on this one.

The alarm bells started ringing for me back in early Feb when we'd lost two in a row at home. That's when he should have been concerned about going into freefall. If not then, then certainly after that godawful display against a poor Sheffield United side.

[drfchound]

As far as I can see ( and that's not very far ), the performances TO DATE have been almost abysmal. DRFC were lucky to beat Barnsley and Crewe at KMS, look where DRFC would be without those two wins, now im sure there may have been other games where DRFC did not get what play deserved to cancel those two wins out, but, I just cant see how DRFC can escape the trap door. Ferguson has tried different personnel, Different formations, or both, end result seems set in stone. So maybe past results count for little, but the trend is there for all to see. Hope to hell im wrong, but cant see escape.

TBH there aren't many of us who think we can avoid the drop now.
Probably the only bloke who cant see we are in a mess is DF.

[les@donr]

As far as I can see ( and that's not very far ), the performances TO DATE have been almost abysmal. DRFC were lucky to beat Barnsley and Crewe at KMS, look where DRFC would be without those two wins, now im sure there may have been other games where DRFC did not get what play deserved to cancel those two wins out, but, I just cant see how DRFC can escape the trap door. Ferguson has tried different personnel, Different formations, or both, end result seems set in stone. So maybe past results count for little, but the trend is there for all to see. Hope to hell im wrong, but cant see escape.

TBH there aren't many of us who think we can avoid the drop now.
Probably the only bloke who cant see we are in a mess is DF.

I would be surprised if DF didn't think that we are in a mess, but isn't going to publicly say so.

[Chris Black come back]

We've been pretty much entirely crap and bereft of fight since that home win vs QPR in the last Championship season. Since then we have meekly surrendered in two different leagues over three seasons and under three managers. Little dormice scuttling around shitting themselves whenever the going gets remotely tough. Like bairns scared when the light goes out at night. Embarrassing.

[les@donr]

Chris, it then has got to be more than to do with the managers? Are there deeper problems within the club?

[drfchound]

As far as I can see ( and that's not very far ), the performances TO DATE have been almost abysmal. DRFC were lucky to beat Barnsley and Crewe at KMS, look where DRFC would be without those two wins, now im sure there may have been other games where DRFC did not get what play deserved to cancel those two wins out, but, I just cant see how DRFC can escape the trap door. Ferguson has tried different personnel, Different formations, or both, end result seems set in stone. So maybe past results count for little, but the trend is there for all to see. Hope to hell im wrong, but cant see escape.

TBH there aren't many of us who think we can avoid the drop now.
Probably the only bloke who cant see we are in a mess is DF.

I would be surprised if DF didn't think that we are in a mess, but isn't going to publicly say so.

Les, if that is the case then why hasn't he addressed the situation with some experienced pro's coming in.
With his emphasis on kids we are certs for going down.

[Bentley Bullet]

 After our disastrous end to our last Championship season, some of us have the opinion that we shouldn't have gone for victory in games, but instead gone for playing the percentages.

Here's a question. Now that we find ourselves in a similar predicament to that fateful season, when should we now start playing the percentages? Should we go for victory on Saturday against Peterborough, or play the percentages?

BST, this isn't a personal piss take, and I'm not looking for an argument. I'm just intrigued how the theory would work with the lack of hindsight.

[eastender]

We could afford to be cautious and go for draws , after beating Leeds and with 7 games to go we were 8 points clear of the bottom 3.
We haven't got that luxury this time.

[Dare to dream!]

A draw does nothing for us Saturday we have to go for the win. Posh will be fragile and be there to be got at, lets attack them from the off.

[idler]

I'm sure that they will be saying the same about us.