Let's talk about the Leyton Orient game

[selby]

  After going to two games that floated my boat somewhat and I found refreshing, this game would hardly be the game I would have picked by choice to try and get that elusive third win on the trot to cement my belief we can actually get among the play off places.
  They have been by a mile the best side in the division, consistent and well managed by Richie Wellens, who is a bit of a throw back as to the way he doesn't go along, or seems not to consider the soft hand approach is the best with his players and calls a spade a spade, and in their case it looks to work.
  I have thought for quite a while that lower league clubs in the capital can get players in, either coming to the end of their careers at a higher level, or loans of younger players from those higher levels much easier than clubs not  London and The Orient look to have tapped into it having a good blend of younger players and some still useful older players we have come across in past games.
  The way we played yesterday, and signs of it against Rochdale a few days before have given me a little hope that at last we look like we can at last start to look forward with this group of players who are mostly young and from the start most thought could get better given the chance. hopefully they now have some belief in themselves and start to fulfil some of their promise, as I said a few months ago we have players who can carry the ball past players and are now showing, or at least in the last two games have shown they can, and its exciting to watch.
  The thing that impressed me yesterday however was our work rate to stop Carlisle from playing, something we have been very poor at, our game off the ball causing very few problems for other sides who have mostly found us easy to play against, yesterday was different we were hard to play against when not having the ball, and that is again going to be very important at Leyton.
   Anderson and Williams were immense, and for once Close was good off the ball putting a foot in and doing some of the dirty work in areas it mattered, something we have not been that great at. And a word for Miller, the lad works his socks off, and yesterday he ran the Carlisle central defenders to distraction from the first minute, had a great assist and with Williams and Anderson gave us a core down the centre of the the field that did it's job well.
   So we go with hope if we can replicate that form to me, but it will not be easy, what do you think?
  Will our wide players now have the confidence to get on the ball and be expansive and express themselves?
  Can we once again be hard to play against?
  Can we take the game to Leyton, which I see as our best chance of getting anything from the game?
  Will Richie be hell bent on giving us a good hiding?
  Are we capable of causing a shock and getting among it ourselves?
  Lots to discuss about this game, have we once again seen a false dawn? or have we turned a corner? please have your say.

[Campsall rover]

  After going to two games that floated my boat somewhat and I found refreshing, this game would hardly be the game I would have picked by choice to try and get that elusive third win on the trot to cement my belief we can actually get among the play off places.
  They have been by a mile the best side in the division, consistent and well managed by Richie Wellens, who is a bit of a throw back as to the way he doesn't go along, or seems not to consider the soft hand approach is the best with his players and calls a spade a spade, and in their case it looks to work.
  I have thought for quite a while that lower league clubs in the capital can get players in, either coming to the end of their careers at a higher level, or loans of younger players from those higher levels much easier than clubs not  London and The Orient look to have tapped into it having a good blend of younger players and some still useful older players we have come across in past games.
  The way we played yesterday, and signs of it against Rochdale a few days before have given me a little hope that at last we look like we can at last start to look forward with this group of players who are mostly young and from the start most thought could get better given the chance. hopefully they now have some belief in themselves and start to fulfil some of their promise, as I said a few months ago we have players who can carry the ball past players and are now showing, or at least in the last two games have shown they can, and its exciting to watch.
  The thing that impressed me yesterday however was our work rate to stop Carlisle from playing, something we have been very poor at, our game off the ball causing very few problems for other sides who have mostly found us easy to play against, yesterday was different we were hard to play against when not having the ball, and that is again going to be very important at Leyton.
   Anderson and Williams were immense, and for once Close was good off the ball putting a foot in and doing some of the dirty work in areas it mattered, something we have not been that great at. And a word for Miller, the lad works his socks off, and yesterday he ran the Carlisle central defenders to distraction from the first minute, had a great assist and with Williams and Anderson gave us a core down the centre of the the field that did it's job well.
   So we go with hope if we can replicate that form to me, but it will not be easy, what do you think?
  Will our wide players now have the confidence to get on the ball and be expansive and express themselves?
  Can we once again be hard to play against?
  Can we take the game to Leyton, which I see as our best chance of getting anything from the game?
  Will Richie be hell bent on giving us a good hiding?
  Are we capable of causing a shock and getting among it ourselves?
  Lots to discuss about this game, have we once again seen a false dawn? or have we turned a corner? please have your say.

To be honest this is a bonus game. If we get anything from it points wise I think that would be fantastic.
The most important thing on Saturday is the performance. Keep up the standards we showed yesterday and yes we could cause a shock.
But we should remember Leyton Orient haven’t got 53 points at the half way stage for no reason.
That is an unbelievable record. If they double it then that’s one of the highest totals ever.
DU over to you on that one.

[Campsall rover]

Just checked that one myself and if Orient double their half way total they will equal the record of 106 points set by Reading in 2005/06

That’s under the 3 points for a win system of course with 46 games played.

[Herbert Anchovy]

This is almost a home game for me! I’ll be sitting in the home end with a couple of O’s supporting mates.

Make no bones about it, Orient are by far the best team in the division. Richie has them playing a high tempo game with some very talented players….But

According to my mates, Most teams who play them at home are coming to defend and trying to nick a draw which plays right into their hands. The teams who’ve put them under real pressure are the ones who’ve chased and put them under real pressure from the start. Just as we did against Carlisle. I reckon Miller will be vital to us getting anything out of the game as their defence can be a bit suspect when being pressured by opposing forwards. It’ll be tough but they are beatable if we put in a real shift.

[ForsolongaRover]

I agree with Herbert A's observations and even if we were not on a high at the moment we should not go anywhere in this League and defend.

Looking critically at Orient's games in the last 2 months, you will see that they have dipped slightly compared with how they were performing up to then. In November they lost away to Crewe (in the Cup) and Wimbledon. Admittedly they then won 4 in succession, but in the TV match versus Stevenage neither team moved as well (- in the 2nd half which I saw) as we did yesterday as they slugged out their 0-0 draw. They then went to Newport and could only draw 0-0.

You might conclude that they would be due for a good performance against us and it would be bold to forecast much beyond a draw from our point of view, but if they produce the work rate that we saw against Carlisle there will a good deal for them to think about. 

Another point which you can pick up from the stats is that they have relatively few shots on goal, but they do get rather more on target than average! So we need another Carlisle performance, but without routine unnecessary time-wasting substitutions.   
 

[Campsall rover]

Watching the Northampton v Orient match 0-0 H/T

Have to say Orient have been very poor.  Hope they are as bad next week because if we go and have a go at them then we can beat them.

[normal rules]

I was dreading this one until the last two results.
I’m making my way down to the smoke Friday night to spend a couple of nights at the youngest sons in Balham. Sat morning will be a leisurely breakfast. A quick trip up the northern line to London Bridge to sample a couple of quickies on the Bermondsey Beer Mile, which my lad highly recommends for the purveyors of fine ale, then a quick trot up the jubilee and central line to hopefully meet up with a few fellow travelling rovers at The Birbeck Tavern.
To the game itself, the O’ s are having a very minor blip in their form, having drawn their last 3, and with Rovers on a “could you believe it” possible third win on the trot, a shock is certainly possible.
More of the same from the Carlisle game, and all will be good.
A draw would be very admirable. And I’ll take that happily pre match.
Dare we dream for more? A win would surely place rovers into a playoff slot.
And at 19/5 ( sky bet) Rovers may be worth a flutter for no other reason than to offset the £7 a pint prices that await us in the capital, if Rovers bag all three points of course.
Weather is looking very mild (12) but wet with light rain forecast all day.

[selby]

  Another game like the last two, if we are  to be serious about getting into anywhere near the playoff positions this is the type of game we need to go to and get some sort of result, a draw would boost the fans belief, a win and I think I would get a bit giddy.

[DearneValleyRover]

According to Orient fans all their centre halves are injured so will be looking to get at least one in before our game

[selby]

 And having a drop in form and not the all conquering machine they were at our level a short time ago.
  But we are just the team adept at getting teams on bad run's back on Tr....k  OH bloody hell not again.

[les@donr]

Definitely winnable. They will try to hard to beat us, leaving gaps at the back for us to exploit.

[colincramb]

Problem is, when we lose the first goal away from home our revert to type is complete capitulation, usually resulting in a rovers speciality 3-0 defeat.

We really need to have a greater grit and resolve in these type of fixtures if we are to get much from them. Whether we can do that going forward we will see

[Upton Rover]

I have got the past 2 results correct including saying 4 or 5 goals against Rochdale (not the 3 conceded) and the win against Carlisle, So again this will be our 3rd win in a row(when did we last do that?) and we will come out 2-0 winner’s keeping a much needed clean sheet.

[Colemans Left Hook]

The efl highlights proramme is "coming from " Leyton Orient this week - they said that at the end of the last prog.

As you might remember the manager lives in a flat "built as part of the ground"  -

When Russel Slade was their manager they highlighted this on the tv  -- I wonder if they might go down the route of popping into his flat for a cup of tea pre-match ?

lets hope they get their 4th "duck egg in row"  so Mrs Wellens has enough to make an omlette for the tv crew post match

[normal rules]

Arrived safely in the smoke. Think I passed the Wilfreda Beehive team bus going through the Hatfield Tunnel .

[Donnywolf]

I make this prediction .... though I am s**t.

It won't be as hot as when we played them after beating Daggers at Stoke (with a Promotion Goal from Franny Tierney)

[Chris Black come back]

Just looked at forecast for tomorrow. Looks terrible.

[normal rules]

Just looked at forecast for tomorrow. Looks terrible.

Mild and wet.
Like a good Sam Smiths

[Redroy]

Northcote Arms for me today.

[ravenrover]

Just looked at forecast for tomorrow. Looks terrible.

Mild and wet.
Like a good Sam Smiths

That was always the after effects for me :-]]

[Herbert Anchovy]

Fair play to the Rovers fans seen staggering off of their bus in Chalk Farm early this morning looking like they’d not slept for a fortnight! Hopefully they found somewhere serving a full English!!

[Canadian Rover]

Enjoy the day. I'll be tuning in as usual. Same eleven again until we get another centre half fit and we can move Knoyle back to RWB.

[Spud]

I'll be listening on ifollow too, kind of regretting not getting on one of the coaches, I get the feeling it could be a good day.

[Butchers Red]

Unchanged side from last week which is good news - apart from Clayton not even on the bench??

[ncRover]

According to Orient fans all their centre halves are injured so will be looking to get at least one in before our game

Beckles got sent off last week and Happe went off injured. That’s their first choice CB partnership out. They have had the strongest defence in the league so far.

Orient have also failed to score in their last 3.

Rovers 16/5 today.

[Campsall rover]

If Mansfield fail to beat Barrow and we win we are 4th this eve.

Massive game. I will take a draw but come on boys let’s go and win it.

[CaptainStock]

Is the game only available on audio?

[karlos]

Desperately need someone to help George miller so obvious!

[Campsall rover]

2nd half we showed very little attacking until last 5 mins or so.

Wonder goal beat us today. We looked very solid at the back and that was the only way they were going to score.

Mansfield lost as well. Oh well we move on to the next one. 3 points at Crawley is the requirement.

[drfchound]

Camps, you used to be a decent keeper back in the day.
If the goal today was a wonder strike, do you think Mitchell was at fault?