Did the reserves grab their chance

[robinrover]

In a word no
Leutweller looks ok but is he better than Raya based on the 2 matches so far no.
Wharton got sent off in 30 minutes shame i had high hopes for him he might need to wait months now for a chance.
Hart looked ok but any better than Williams?again its a no
Gladwin looks a bit of a mistake so far looked excellent against Coventry back in the league cup has failed to show any promise since.
Harper looking alot better than he did against S****horpe more to do with the fact he is in position now worth a place on the bench.
Nuttall only player to seriously be asking questions of the first team I would play him in the next league game but at whose expense?

[champs95]

In a word no
Leutweller looks ok but is he better than Raya based on the 2 matches so far no.
Wharton got sent off in 30 minutes shame i had high hopes for him he might need to wait months now for a chance.
Hart looked ok but any better than Williams?again its a no
Gladwin looks a bit of a mistake so far looked excellent against Coventry back in the league cup has failed to show any promise since.
Harper looking alot better than he did against S****horpe more to do with the fact he is in position now worth a place on the bench.
Nuttall only player to seriously be asking questions of the first team I would play him in the next league game but at whose expense?

Nuttall will come in now. Although he is not a direct replacement for Chapman, he will come on for him. Sadly (and I am shocked this hasnt been a topic?????) he is out for 3 months. Antonson will move out to his favoured left hand side, where he is effective. As a central striker he isn't. Personally i'd play Nuttall up front with Samuel. And see if they can form a partnership. Its clear Nuttall is the ONLY instinctive goal scoring striker we have. Also Harper needs games. If he doesnt play, we wont ever find out how good (or not) he is. My fear at times with Mowbray is his 'air on the side of caution' attitude. Now we lose Chapman for 3 months, I look back at all those games he only played the last 30 mins, and think he was woefully under-used. Now he is out, we no longer have that extra class. So we need to replace that with goals. Nuttall.
The person who is coming more and more into the fore is Dack. He is our main man. I think he will end up getting around the 20 goals mark, but crucially with him, he assists aswell.
The one main positive from the week is, we are now out of that waste of time Cup. We are sat in the play offs, we have never really got going at any point this season. Yet we will be 2 games behind everyone after weekend. We really dont want any distractions from now on. Now we need to start to try put together a run. Which without Chapman, is a huge task.

[robinrover]

My biggest concern champs is our inability to play well or break down teams in the bottom 8 of this league
Until we shake this worrying statistic we will still be here next season
Bury is a ***** game for us otherwise I can see us start to fall away.

[AucklandRover]

It seems like such a bitty season. All these international breaks combined with the bizarre Checkatrade thing means it's been hard to gain momentum or establish a pattern.
I agree the Bury game is really important, Robin/Champs, but there are still 30 games after that.
The away matches suit us better, anyway, because there is not such a tendency for the opposition to shut up shop.

[robinrover]

In hindsight maybe we should of just played the games
Each time we have called a game off we have lost momentum and it concerns me the same thing will happen in the bury game
Sadly I feel we have set a precedent with calling games off this weekend alone 3 games were called off if we had played the games at the time I strongly believe nobody would of postponed.
I just hope we can buck the trend of losing after a break otherwise we can kiss promotion goodbye.

[alfinyalcabo]

No doubt Champs will be shouting for Bury,his first love..

[champs95]

Alf,
I have my ticket, I've only missed 2 away games this season. I'll be sat with the Rovers fans, as that's who I have always followed. But I will always have a real soft spot for Bury. I still have a seat at Gigg that I take out every season for my Grandad who's no longer with us. Its a game I'm looking forward too, as its both sides of my family. I'll be with the 3,700 Rovers fans who have been magnificent away this year. And one in my 41 years that hasn't come up which is weird, not even a cup match?

Robin, I agree in that we haven't really got going this season. Do you seriously see anyone who is better than us? Wigan where nothing, Shrewsbury where nothing, we didn't lose to either away. We have both to play at home? We haven't got going yet we are very much in the mix. With games in hand. Nobody in this divison is any good, or should be feared. We have only just played a 3rd of the whole season, we have so much football left to play.

Robin, the Walsall game on Sat was called by them. We only had 2 missing (Mulgrew and Evans - the latter was suspended anyway) they had 4 players called up. So its not a choice we are making.

Looking forwards, I still think we will really miss Chapman, and are still light up front. If (and its a big if) Lenihan returns, in the Jan window if we get a decent enough offer of say £2m I'd sell. And spend a bit on a forward, or a really good winger (if Chapman doesn't return from Boro if his injury is too bad)

[alfinyalcabo]

A draw would be a win win result for you Champs then..

[robinrover]

The wing situation is a concern
Conway has lost the little pace he had and the injury problems will not improve
Antonsson is not a winger and gladwin looks uninterested
So in the short term we have our first aid kit out to try and repair a hole with a plaster but in the long term January is crucial for sorting this position out.

[champs95]

A draw would be a win win result for you Champs then..

I will not be happy at all with a draw. Rovers need a win to push on. I fear for Bury and that rot has set in. Bury already win, they make a shed load of money from a huge away following.