Nutter on radio sheff...

[Superspy]

Listening to football heaven on the way to work last night, a rovers fan...Mick, i believe his name was....came on and said.

\"In the summer I think its about time to get rid of the dead wood...chambers and roberts....\"

Now, have I been watching a different team all year or have chambers and robers been brilliant for us this term?

[The Mighty Brian Rowe]

Yeah, I heard him and thought the same as you. To be fair the presenter (Andy? I can't remember) soon put him right.

He did have one or two decent points though, in relation to Chambers distribution being poor at times and Roberts' height getting targetted.

To be fair, every member of our squad could be improved, but we aren't Barcelona so we will have to make do.

Both fullbacks have been very solid for us this year.

[idler]

I wonder just who he'd like to keep if they are the first two names that spring to mind. I think that individually the defenders have performed very well.The problem has been playing as a unit and communicating at times.

[Biggles]

He'll be an insurgent from Rovrum trying to influence SOD. Well plot now foiled.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Should a full back be winning headers in the box?  If it hangs long enough to be attacked at the back post it should be the keepers, if it's lower then the centre half should deal with it.

I agree with idler, as individuals they are very good and I think maybe we could do with a bigger full back at times.  I'd like to see O'Connor used as a right back more often, simply because I feel he is better than Chambers.  Not that Chambers is bad, but Jimmy is the best right back in the league IMO.  It's a real shame we've not used him there.  Gareth Roberts has been probably our most consistently good player this season.  He's very good every week.  He's been brilliant for us.  It's one area we don't have to worry.  I'd rather get two centre halves in then we'll be much stronger.  Jimmy has filled in ok there, but we've not had many clean sheets and that has to be a big problem, particularly at home.

[Glyn_Wigley]

Roberts is the player that has improved most this season by a country mile.

[Superspy]

totally agree with that, last season i thought roberts was our liability, we seemed to be getting attacked a lot down the left hand side when he went forward and couldnt get back fast enough...this year though he's been fantastic.

regarding the whole chambers/oconnor situation, im pretty sure that run of 4 or 5 clean sheets/wins in december came when we moved JOC into centre back, and as things stand i would rather see chambers on the pitch with JOC in the middle (i think he's very good at it) than any combination of 2 of our regular centre backs... a couple of them make me nervous, jimmy doesnt.

[Superspy]

with ref. to your last paragraph. i'll sing roberts praises all day long now, and i wouldnt genuinely be more bothered about losing him than stock.

[Lesonthewest]

I believed at the start of the season we needed someone with a bit more height at left back, how wrong I was, Roberts has been superb this season, & looks like he is really enjoying his football. Cannot recall one game all season where he has been given the runaround.

As for Chambers, he is another who has come on leaps & bounds this season, very underated player in my opinion.

[northbayviking]

little Robo has probably been the most consistent Player this season. rock steady. sign him on for next year.

[DMnumber4]

To say that we don't have a designated left winger, how many times does Robbo face a two on one.

Unfortunately I can think of an error, Leicester at home when he mistimed the bounce of the ball and Waghorn raced in to slot home.

But the things he does right, far outweigh the things he does wrong, what a piledriver of a left foot he has!

[leedshayter]

chambers is quality ! my player of the season,sometimes knocks a stray ball here and there but always does a sound solid job.how many times does he get beat on the outside /inside not many.sound player gives 100% every game. who agrees???

[PDX_Rover]

Chambers, JOC and Robbo have all been good this campaign.  We've been pretty unsettled in central defence with injuries and what have you - I'd like to see Martis and Shackell together.  The replacements have done well though IMO.

All in all, we've had a great season. We seem comfortable at this level now and I can only see us adding more quality to the squad as the word spreads.

My main concern is losing SO'D and RO'K, rolling contract or not.

[bedale rover]

Rigoglioso wrote:

Rather than getting rid of either Chambers or Roberts, we should be pinning them down on longer contracts. Sometimes the opposition do target Gaz Roberts lack of height and try and exploit it, but how many times has the little man let us down in the past? I'm struggling to think of any games.

His screaming goals (Watford at home, Cardiff away, Posh away) are also beneficial as well, especially when you consider that some full backs barely ever get goals throughout their career.

People like to bang on about the likes of Billy Sharp, Stocky - when he's fit and other star players and that's fair enough, but Gareth Roberts is definitely an unsung hero in our success story of the past few years.

unfortunately leicester at home springs to mind

but all players make mistakes

[Barmby Rover]

I spent most of last season defending gareth from the \"not up to this level\" gang. He jhas always made up for his height by clever positioning and a good turn of speed. The way he controlled Wayne Routledge on three occasions, twice for QPR and once for Newcastle has been amazing. Give him two more years please.

[Viking Don]

Barmby Rover wrote:

The way he controlled Wayne Routledge on three occasions, twice for QPR and once for Newcastle has been amazing. Give him two more years please.

I agree, but I thought you weren't at those games BR, were you?