Lets talk about the Bradford City game

[Chris Black come back]

In a professional career amounting to 132 appearances across league, FA cup, League cup and Football League trophy, Ro-Shaun Williams has managed to score a total of zero (0) goals.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Records are there to be broken.

Put you're money on him scoring first on Saturday.

[selby]

  About time he started then CBcb, this season is the time to start, worth a silly Bet?

[RoversAlias]

We've spent money on Long, he has not been signed to back-up Ro-Shaun Williams.

He won't start immediately because he hasn't played much football in the last year but I hope he can stake a claim before long (no pun intended) for a starting berth.

[Sammy Chung was King]

I know he had time remaining on his contract, I just don’t see our club paying much, if anything for him. I think it was more likely they thought he wouldn’t get in the Wigan side and agreed to him leaving on a free.

[RoversAlias]

We paid a fee for him, so he did not leave Wigan on a free.

[Sammy Chung was King]

Is this from a club source? I wouldn’t have thought it would be any more than fifty grand.

[Janso]

Is this from a club source? I wouldn’t have thought it would be any more than fifty grand.

So not free then.

[Sammy Chung was King]

Is this from a club source? I wouldn’t have thought it would be any more than fifty grand.

So not free then.

Have you got a boil or a pimple?

[Janso]

Is this from a club source? I wouldn’t have thought it would be any more than fifty grand.

So not free then.

Have you got a boil or a pimple?

If you pay a fee for something, it isn't free, no matter which way you look at it.

[steve@dcfd]

We've spent money on Long, he has not been signed to back-up Ro-Shaun Williams.

He won't start immediately because he hasn't played much football in the last year but I hope he can stake a claim before long (no pun intended) for a starting berth.

He won’t back up Ro Shaun, Long is the only natural left footed centre half we have. Olowu as somebody says can played left side but he’s naturally right footed. Long will get his chance. What and if we get Anderson back fit well again his natural position is right of the two. But we have choices now. We will only see if we are better defensively when the games start. But the majority of the preseason the defence looks ok but the two in front have made a difference. So let’s hope we don’t have any more serious injuries ie Griffiths Molyneux  maybe Tomlin to reduce options on Saturday.

[RoversAlias]

Is this from a club source? I wouldn’t have thought it would be any more than fifty grand.

Yes both clubs reported when we signed him that it was for an undisclosed fee. What that fee amounts to is irrelevant, we went to Wigan and gave them money so we could sign Long. Simple as.

[Jonathan]

Maybe SCWK read it as an undisclosed free?

[anton123]

Really looking forward to Saturday now gonna be a great atmosphere, not had this much enthusiasm for rovers in a long time

[pib]

1300 sold out on the side, plus 2 of the 3 larger blocks behind the goal. 1700+ going already. Will be pushing 2k if we sell out the last block behind the goal. Should be a good day, wish I was able to go.

[scawsby steve]

Pre-season friendlies don't tell us much in the context of what we can achieve. Starting with 3 of last season's horrendous back 4 would worry me somewhat.

I'm sure we've not signed Long just to strengthen options.

I am sure we have SS. ( sorry I put Alan )
No way is Long an automatic starter in our back 4

Very confident we are going to see a completely different Williams & Olowu partnership at centre back this season.
We have a much stronger midfield which is going to give them protection. We were wide open last season.
They will have been working very hard on the training pitch on defence and with more thorough coaching I don’t see the shambles of last season repeating itself.
The only concern I have is set pieces, but I expect us to be much better at defending them also.

I think Olowu will get 5 goals at least this season and hope to see RSW get 3 at least also.
They are both capable.
So no way do I see Long starting on Saturday and if the current incumbents do really well and stay injury free then he could have a long wait to play a league game.

Camps, are you seriously suggesting that Rovers would pay money to sign a CB that's not as good as Williams?

You must have little faith in the judgement of Copps and GM if you assume that.

[NickDRFC]

Never bought into this “you can’t change a winning team” or “you need to wait your chance for a place” argument. If you’ve got someone that you believe will improve the team, you play them. Not saying that’s the case with Long but if McSheffrey thinks he’s a better option than either centre back immediately, that’s good enough for me.

[sedwardsdrfc]

I'd assume Younger will start RB and then it'll be Olowu and Williams together for this game at CH because they played the most together in preseason. Eventually Long would i imagine come in for Williams. Long is supposed to be a calm head who can play Williams the opposite.

I think the basic template of our side should be a 442 which will just change depending on if Tomlin plays in a 10 or if Andrews is up top with Miller. i'd go with the below for the 1st game with Knoyle and Long coming in when fit. I'd be tempted to start Andrews but think he'll be a handful coming off the bench for last 30

                Mitchell
Younger Williams Olowu Maxwell
Molyneux Biggings Clayton Rowe
              Tomlin
                   Miller

[DearneValleyRover]

I think Knoyle will start if fit, they will have been doing defensive drills in training so he will be upto speed, if Olowu hasn’t recovered fully from his illness then Long may also start

[les@donr]

We've got a tough opening game, so have Bradford. Both teams will me in the promotion mix come the end of the season. However, for now, the real test will be how good is our team up against a prontion rival? Can we translate preseason success to league success? Will Bradford get over their Chessie defeat and beat us? A good win for us will send out a message to the other L2 teams that we are a hard team to beat, and that the Doncaster Rovers of 2022/23 bears no resemblance to the Doncaster Rovers of 2021/22.

[Alan Southstand]

GM has, more or less, stuck with 4-2-3-1 through the pre-season games so I hope he sticks to it. Now is NOT the time to tinker (that’s what pre-season is for).

The problem may come in the form of injuries to players and the formation having to change because of missing personnel. That can’t be helped, of course.

[steve@dcfd]

Without Seaman who was injured last night and Griffiths who was injured on Saturday we should have 19 players available to the squad. So if there are any doubts which have not been revealed yet against Molyneux Tomlin and maybe Olowu then the squad for Saturday will be reduced and not as good. We wait to hear and will be deflated if those players are missing from the match day squad. Any formation will be possible if that’s the case.

[ncRover]

Molyneux has to be ok otherwise we have no right winger!

[wing commander]

  Bradford are the bookies favourites for promotion so not a great away fixture to start with. That said Chesterfield turned them over 3-0  last week with a strong line up and the first game is probably the best time to play them.

   It's been nice to see a bit of positivity returning here after a great summer of recruitment and a good pre season and i just hope that if things don't go our way this weekend we stick with that and dont turn on the negativety first game up.

[Campsall rover]

Pre-season friendlies don't tell us much in the context of what we can achieve. Starting with 3 of last season's horrendous back 4 would worry me somewhat.

I'm sure we've not signed Long just to strengthen options.

I am sure we have SS. ( sorry I put Alan )
No way is Long an automatic starter in our back 4

Very confident we are going to see a completely different Williams & Olowu partnership at centre back this season.
We have a much stronger midfield which is going to give them protection. We were wide open last season.
They will have been working very hard on the training pitch on defence and with more thorough coaching I don’t see the shambles of last season repeating itself.
The only concern I have is set pieces, but I expect us to be much better at defending them also.

I think Olowu will get 5 goals at least this season and hope to see RSW get 3 at least also.
They are both capable.
So no way do I see Long starting on Saturday and if the current incumbents do really well and stay injury free then he could have a long wait to play a league game.

Camps, are you seriously suggesting that Rovers would pay money to sign a CB that's not as good as Williams?

You must have little faith in the judgement of Copps and GM if you assume that.

Didn’t say Long isn’t better than the others.
The fact is they have done well as a pair in pre season and Long hasn’t had much time with us yet, so don’t see GM changing something that’s working till he needs to.
I am sure Long is a very good player.

[steve@dcfd]

Pre-season friendlies don't tell us much in the context of what we can achieve. Starting with 3 of last season's horrendous back 4 would worry me somewhat.

I'm sure we've not signed Long just to strengthen options.

I am sure we have SS. ( sorry I put Alan )
No way is Long an automatic starter in our back 4

Very confident we are going to see a completely different Williams & Olowu partnership at centre back this season.
We have a much stronger midfield which is going to give them protection. We were wide open last season.
They will have been working very hard on the training pitch on defence and with more thorough coaching I don’t see the shambles of last season repeating itself.
The only concern I have is set pieces, but I expect us to be much better at defending them also.

I think Olowu will get 5 goals at least this season and hope to see RSW get 3 at least also.
They are both capable.
So no way do I see Long starting on Saturday and if the current incumbents do really well and stay injury free then he could have a long wait to play a league game.

Camps, are you seriously suggesting that Rovers would pay money to sign a CB that's not as good as Williams?

You must have little faith in the judgement of Copps and GM if you assume that.

SS this is what McSheffrey had to say when we bought him
McSheffrey said: “He’s young so there’s no guarantee he comes straight in.

"He’s got to earn the right to play, but he gives us real good options and good strength in that position.”

So when the manager believes he’s ready he will play. But Williams and Olowu have been the pair in preseason and the games I have seen Williams had been the better of the two. As I’ve said before once and if Anderson is fit I believe the central two will be Anderson and Long

[selby]

  Sheffield Wednesday beat Bradford 2-0 in a behind closed doors game.

[Sammy Chung was King]

We go into the game with optimism instead of dread, unlike last season. I think we can go to Bradford and win, if we don’t, then we move onto the next one. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be confident.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

What I like about what I've seen so far, is all our outfield players want to score goals and are prepared to have a go. Some of them have struck the ball with venom and accuracy.

If we have moved away from trying to walk the ball into the net, and take the opportunities to have a crack on sight of goal, then it bodes well.

[ncRover]

Hopefully we have a game plan to combat Oliver up top for them. If balls are allowed to get up to him he will simply dominate Williams and Olowu.

That being said I am very confident in our new look attack to outscore the opposition.