Bristol Rovers (H)

[Zico]

30 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

I'm a touch surprised at 66s. Is that typical?

Maybe I'm over egging us, but we've scored plenty recently, I imagined the chances as being higher! (Odds lower)

Was 200/1 last night 

Looking back 

Port vale 40/1

Harrogate 25/1

Oxford 150/1

Exeter 33/1

Blackpool 100/1

Shrewsbury 100/1

Solihull 22/1 

Northampton 66/1

 

 

[RUREADY2ROLL]

10 hours ago, Felixflybad said:

Hi all

 

I'm from Scotland and bringing my 12 year old son down on Saturday for his 1st Bolton match. We arrive at Horwich Train Station around 12.00. What are the best pubs close by for pre match atmosphere.

Get in Nam Ploy on the retail park; great atmosphere; good beer and the food is good. They have the football on, a live singer and a magician pops round to the tables doing card tricks. You can book a table to ensure you get seats

[Cheese]

18 hours ago, radcliffe white said:

Sheehan suspended?

Yes.

[gonzo]

Any ESL spares for my 9 year old chaps?

[itdiddidit?]

8 hours ago, gonzo said:

Any ESL spares for my 9 year old chaps?

Pretty sure my eldest isn't coming I'll check and give you a shout bud

[gonzo]

44 minutes ago, itdiddidit? said:

Pretty sure my eldest isn't coming I'll check and give you a shout bud

Nice one x

[captainmed]

I just hope IE isn’t over-reacting to the one defeat in goodness knows how many games - away from home at the top of the league!!!! 

It was disappointing in the 2nd half of course but I feel he’s gone a little OTT.

Worse than @RUREADY2ROLL reaction 😂
 

Edited December 14, 2023 by captainmed

[Tonge moor green jacket]

Just now, captainmed said:

I just hope IE isn’t over-reacting to the one defeat in goodness knows how many games away from home at the top of the league!!!! 

It was disappointing in the 2nd half of course but I feel he’s gone a little OTT.

Worse than @RUREADY2ROLL reaction 😂
 

I think he was miffed by the performance, rather than the result. 

He's an emotional chap, which is fine, but hopefully he has someone close who will tell him if he's gone too far.

[Stig]

It was dire in the second half though. Frustrating thing this season is when we've won we've looked great but, my god, when we lose it isn't tight, it's an absolute shambles. It's a proper mental issue and fair play to him, Evatt's has admitted as much.

What he does about it this season, I've no idea, but just hoping we can keep beating the dregs consistently enough to get top 2. One thing's for sure, I wouldn't fancy us in the play offs - every team will play like Barnsley last season and Portsmouth this season, knowing we're likely to crumble.

Bristol at home though should be a banker, get going for that top 2 again

[MickyD]

3 minutes ago, Stig said:

Bristol at home though should be a banker, get going for that top 2 again

We never lost top 2

[desperado]

8 minutes ago, Stig said:

It was dire in the second half though. Frustrating thing this season is when we've won we've looked great but, my god, when we lose it isn't tight, it's an absolute shambles. It's a proper mental issue and fair play to him, Evatt's has admitted as much

It’s a good debate this one.

And as you say, Evatt is well aware of this.

I think his post match comment was something along the lines of “I wouldn’t mind if we lose playing our way”. Which I assume means if we were were playing well, keeping the ball, creating (but missing) chances etc and getting caught with a break away then it’s almost hands up in the air and… well that happens.

Reading falls into that category. But Wigan, Carlisle and Portsmouth definitely don’t.

[Stig]

12 minutes ago, MickyD said:

We never lost top 2

You know what I mean, pull clear and make sure of that top 2

[Johnnyrotten]

17 minutes ago, desperado said:

It’s a good debate this one.

And as you say, Evatt is well aware of this.

I think his post match comment was something along the lines of “I wouldn’t mind if we lose playing our way”. Which I assume means if we were were playing well, keeping the ball, creating (but missing) chances etc and getting caught with a break away then it’s almost hands up in the air and… well that happens.

Reading falls into that category. But Wigan, Carlisle and Portsmouth definitely don’t.

IMO Wigan and Pompey very different to Carlisle.  Well beaten in those 2, no complaints, lost to the better sides on the day.  Carlisle looked poor, and we handed them victory with the pen(s), and just passing it around 2nd half without threatening to create a chance.  But loads of opportunities to have a pot shot or score from corners etc, on a good day.  Very different at Pompey, we could still be playing now without getting near to an equaliser.  I'd love us to play Carlisle this week again, no worries that we would repeat that performance, but I wouldn't like to play Wigan or Pompey as they just looked like they had the better of us.

[RUREADY2ROLL]

2 hours ago, captainmed said:

I just hope IE isn’t over-reacting to the one defeat in goodness knows how many games - away from home at the top of the league!!!! 

It was disappointing in the 2nd half of course but I feel he’s gone a little OTT.

Worse than @RUREADY2ROLL reaction 😂
 

IE is right; second half was piss poor and we were hammered 😀

[Whitesince63]

Maybe I’m overreacting too but after Monday I don’t feel the usual confidence about this one and fear another bump in the road. I think Bristol have underperformed this year but aren’t a push over side and I think they’ll do well in the second half of the season, especially now their idiot managers gone. I need to be re-convinced on Saturday but I fear a 0-1 to Rovers.

[Marc505]

6 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

Maybe I’m overreacting too but after Monday I don’t feel the usual confidence about this one and fear another bump in the road. I think Bristol have underperformed this year but aren’t a push over side and I think they’ll do well in the second half of the season, especially now their idiot managers gone. I need to be re-convinced on Saturday but I fear a 0-1 to Rovers.

Relax.

[Tonge moor green jacket]

17 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

Maybe I’m overreacting too but after Monday I don’t feel the usual confidence about this one and fear another bump in the road. I think Bristol have underperformed this year but aren’t a push over side and I think they’ll do well in the second half of the season, especially now their idiot managers gone. I need to be re-convinced on Saturday but I fear a 0-1 to Rovers.

"Joy to the world".

 

[mattbwfc19]

get back to winning ways and the start of another long unbeaten run pls

2-0 whites

[Biggish Dave]

We ought to have too much for these. 3-1

[Wanderlust]

2 hours ago, Whitesince63 said:

Maybe I’m overreacting too but after Monday I don’t feel the usual confidence about this one and fear another bump in the road. I think Bristol have underperformed this year but aren’t a push over side and I think they’ll do well in the second half of the season, especially now their idiot managers gone. I need to be re-convinced on Saturday but I fear a 0-1 to Rovers.

Blimey! You've done a complete 180 from your unrestricted jingoism of the past few months - are you OK mate?

Sure we could get beat as we could in any game, but as I keep saying it all comes down to how we play on the day because at our best we can beat anyone in this league, including Pompey.

We've had a bad performance that's all. It happens.

Which is exactly why it will be an exciting game tomorrow - will we or won't we turn on the style again? I think we will as the lads couldn't have had better motivation than the last time out.

[Ani]

Evatt is only saying what others say on a regular basis. Maybe the surprising thing is that he was surprised. What we lacked was the confidence/ability to play out against a well organised press. Add in Santos being given as tough a game as he has had all season we gradually fell apart. Remember we were better team for most of the first half. 
GT picked up a booking again and went quiet , Paris was great early but as possession dried up faded. However IMO the player who just disappeared was Sheehan. He is the  short link from defence and can not remember anything positive he did. 
Also thought Toal looked  vulnerable as they put extra on that side so he was left 1 on 1 , exposing the fact he ain't a left sided defender.
 

I would be happy if Bristol tried to play same way as Pompey as sure we will cope. Think Sheehan is suspended so GT moves in and Dempsey comes in. 
 

We have lost 1 in 11, so the players are well in credit, expect a decent reaction tomorrow and a comfortable 2+ goal win. 

[Wanderlust]

Gas fans have mixed views on this. Good performance against Crewe in the cup has lifted them, but they have a couple of injury concerns with Hunt and Wilson, two of their better players. They're saying the manager is increasingly encouraging them to "close the spaces" for the opposition so I think we can expect the dreaded press. One concern is if we play with wide attacking WBs so JCG and another (Williams to be given another chance for this game?) i.e. we beat the press and get the ball out quickly which is something we really struggled with against Pompey.

They have some quality in John Marquis and Scott Sinclair that we'll need to keep an eye on, although Sinclair hasn't featured a lot this season (he's 34 now) but they reckon he'll be in for this. Both can play.

Gas are mid table - a lot of draws this season - and overall their fans feel that a draw would be a good result, but a few reckon they can nick it if they bring their best game.

As usual, it's about who performs on the day.

[Cheese]

1 hour ago, Wanderlust said:

Gas fans have mixed views on this. Good performance against Crewe in the cup has lifted them, but they have a couple of injury concerns with Hunt and Wilson, two of their better players. They're saying the manager is increasingly encouraging them to "close the spaces" for the opposition so I think we can expect the dreaded press. One concern is if we play with wide attacking WBs so JCG and another (Williams to be given another chance for this game?) i.e. we beat the press and get the ball out quickly which is something we really struggled with against Pompey.

They have some quality in John Marquis and Scott Sinclair that we'll need to keep an eye on, although Sinclair hasn't featured a lot this season (he's 34 now) but they reckon he'll be in for this. Both can play.

Gas are mid table - a lot of draws this season - and overall their fans feel that a draw would be a good result, but a few reckon they can nick it if they bring their best game.

As usual, it's about who performs on the day.

Have you told them we're shit?

[Tonge moor green jacket]

1 minute ago, Cheese said:

Have you told them we're shit?

They can glean that from his match thread comments. 

[Cheese]

2 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

They can glean that from his match thread comments. 

He usually tells them directly on their forums.