Bye bye play offs

[robinrover]

Tonight only underlines what has been a poor month.
Yes we beat QPR by a very fortunate goal but what else has happened?
Defensive stability coupled with offensive frailties.
I have stood by Gallagher but I am not sure I can anymore and how many times did we get into a decent position for that ball to fly behind or over every single head.
You know that little old Luton that were never going to be close to us,are one game in hand away from overtaking us,at the business end of the season.
We are literally looking devoid of answers.

[champs95]

I hope we play Luton in the play offs. We are miles better. And we are pretty average. None of the current sides in the play offs are any good. Luton are worse.

[robinrover]

Form suggests otherwise champs

[champs95]

Form suggests otherwise champs

Reckon they will keep winning for the next 10 games? I don't.
If they were any good they would have been inside the top 6 already.
We have been in the top 6 88% of the season so far Robin. They have been 0%.
This is the poorest standard for years. Certainly since we got promoted.
Loads of very very average side, us QPR, Boro, Coventry, Sheff Utd, WBA, Forest etc we have all been up here.

We are miles away from being good enough to go up. We are nothing special.
Luton are a level down, who have never been in the top six all season. They are pretty average, nothing special at all.

Millwall where in better form. 5 wins in 5. They were awful. They are awful. 0 shots all night.
Luton aren't as good as them. So form is good, if its lasts. If Luton win all 10 remaining games, which they will need to, they will get in the top 6. If they win the next 3 they go up.
Good luck with those next 13 games. They would need to vastly improve on the current form that has never seen them get in the top 6 once.

[robinrover]

They are currently in the top 6 😂

[champs95]

They are currently in the top 6 😂

As are Robers Robin. And have been since September 21. Not once have we been out.
Have Luton? XD

[champs95]

never once been above us all season.
Dack back tomorrow, bet he scores the winner.

[champs95]

another factor everyone forgets but will still roll out, the classic, they have a game in hand.
What you haven't sussed out is who they play.
Its Sheff Utd. :)
so if they beat Sheff, we stay above them, still in the play offs. Which knocks Sheff Utd out, for us. So that will do us a favour.
If they lose to Sheff Utd, that will do us a favour, as it means Luton don't go above us. If they draw, both stay behind us.
So in no way we do lose out regardless of the result.

I'm assuming all of that as factored in? Or not ......

[champs95]

Looking at their next fixture, QPR on Sunday. That's great.
Because we have been streets ahead of the likes of Luton etc all season, whatever the result on Sunday, we win.
They win, they keep QPR out of the play offs. If QPR win, that hepls us too. If its a draw, that also helps.
And thats because we have found ourselves in a great position. O:)

[champs95]

Even better news tonight. Huddersfield (using the same logic as how Rovers are viewed) have kissed goodbye to the play offs. And auto promotion. Only drawing with 13th placed WBA. 2-0 up aswell. Thats another rival alongside us that is now completely out of the race. Of course, Bournemouth are also completely out of it aswell, based on current form.

Dropping like flies.

[robinrover]

All that is fine and good but we are dropping points left right and center.
Same against Bristol as against millwall we were miles the better team but come out very frustrated.
This has to stop,otherwise we are exiting the play offs.

[champs95]

All that is fine and good but we are dropping points left right and center.
Same against Bristol as against millwall we were miles the better team but come out very frustrated.
This has to stop,otherwise we are exiting the play offs.

That is all fine and good Robin if the sides like Luton etc etc where all winning games.
Now Luton's 5 days in a play off place is over and they lost to a poor QPR side at home, maybe you will see why I was saying they where a poor outfit.
Not really sure why you where talking them up. QPR have been losing loads recently. All the sides around have. You appear to think this is just happening to Rovers? Abd Luton etc are these fantastic sides chasing us down. If Luton where any good, they would have been way above us by now. We have scored 3 goals since xmas and won twice. In 13 games. Sorry but if any of these sides where good, they would all be well in front of such a woeful side like us. They aren't. They can barely muster a win between them. Us included.

I am NOT talking us up here. We are truly awful We are far more likely to go down next season once Ven Hecke leaves, and Lenihan etc. That we are going up this season.

The only reason we are 4th, is because the rest of this division are woeful too. Luton included. There is very little to choose between top and bottom. Apart from Fulham who are miles ahead.

we have been trying for weeks to fall away gracefully. Because this club and players have zero interest in promotion. That would mean they need to perform. They want to get back to easy street in mid-table asap. Trouble is, the sides around are all so poor, they are keeping us a false position where we do not want or deserve to be. Going up would be a complete disaster. They know that. The club knows that.
That's why we kept Rothwell. That's why we signed Ryan Hedges. We are a joke.
Luton are worse.
Dont get

[robinrover]

Why on earth wouldn't we want to go up.
Yes on playing terms we would probably get embarrassed with the current team however we need the money.
Eventually venkys will want some return and currently losing 20 million a year is not going to continue.
A few of the players could hold their own up there but we are talking 1 or 2.
Anyway nice to see dack in a rovers shirt again,even if it wasn't the fairy tale ending.

[champs95]

Why on earth wouldn't we want to go up.
Yes on playing terms we would probably get embarrassed with the current team however we need the money.
Eventually venkys will want some return and currently losing 20 million a year is not going to continue.
A few of the players could hold their own up there but we are talking 1 or 2.
Anyway nice to see dack in a rovers shirt again,even if it wasn't the fairy tale ending.

A few reasons. The Venkys would then walk. So that would be goodbye Rovers.
But from a football point of view, I disagree. Not one would make the step up. Apart from that decent centre half who is returning back to Brighton. The rest are a midtable Championship rubbish.
Burnley are terrible, but so far ahead of us it would be just embarrassing. Look at Fulham.
That 0-7 home defeat would be a regular occurrence.
If folk can't handle us dropping away at this level after one spell of poor form, I would question how folk will cope with a few months of 7-0 defeats. The gap is getting bigger every season. Unless you have big money, or a system like Brentford that may surprise a few teams in the first season (which Rovers have neither) then it's relegation by Xmas. Norwich are so far off being able to stay in that league, it is funny. They are another club so far ahead of us it is frightening.
Imagine Ryan Hedges in the prem. Our new £400k signing from Aberdeen in Jan. That was our intention right there.
While they didnt announce it, because thats not how clubs do things. They told all our fans and everyone in our league what our intentions where. a £400k stump from Aberdeen who never plays. And some injury prone RB a million miles worse than Nyambe from the German second division. We where 2nd in Jan.
The players are not interested, the manager isn't, neither are the club.
As a fan, I would nit want to start forking out £40 for a CAT A game to see Liverpool destroy us. So for me, that is me out. I aint paying that. Been there and bought the t-shirt.
I personally pocket nothing from going up. The Owners do, who will invest £0 into the club. As they then have their escape route mapped out. I am actually struggoing to think of one single positive.

No...we need to keep bottling it like we have been doing for 3 months, and pray that one of these absolutely god awful sides around us (who are all doing the same as us, as they cant afford to go up) get a few results and get ahead of us, and we bow out before embarrassing ourselves in the play offs. We are desperately trying to implode but its that poor a division, nobody else can muster a couple of wins.

[robinrover]

I'm sorry but if you are a professional athlete and don't want to compete at the highest level,then you really shouldn't be playing.
I agree venkys might walk but I sure as hell know,they won't be hanging around losing 20-30 million year on year,just because the players are not bothered.
A promotion bonus tells me venkys want it and that should make the players want it.
We are lacking the cutting edge currently.
Just hope we can find it soon before our season is another damp squib.

[champs95]

I'm sorry but if you are a professional athlete and don't want to compete at the highest level,then you really shouldn't be playing.
I agree venkys might walk but I sure as hell know,they won't be hanging around losing 20-30 million year on year,just because the players are not bothered.
A promotion bonus tells me venkys want it and that should make the players want it.
We are lacking the cutting edge currently.
Just hope we can find it soon before our season is another damp squib.




I think Venkys are too trusting and buying into a massive lie that Mowbray and Waggot are feeding them. But thats just me.
They say the right things. Our lads get paid a fortune and have the same facilities than most Prem clubs.
the only difference is the pressure. They have none at our level.
As good a player as Dack is at this level, reckon he spends 2 hours practising pens after training? Like Shearer used to do?
That's why Sherer never missed. Thats why he made it at the top level.
There is a reason Dack will never play at the highest level, same with almost all these lads.
At our level its all very nice, no real pressure, no spotlight on them.
Not one of them would want to push on to that next level. Its hardly likely the manager is pushing them.
And Venkys had to invest that money into a new striker, not a bonus.
If we signed a quality striker in Jan, we would no doubt be sat 2nd now, instead of falling away.

[robinrover]

Can't really dispute what you have just said.

[champs95]

Can't really dispute what you have just said.

even half fit, and out for 2 years ....Dack still showed his quality at this level last night. Anmd also the impact he has on this team.
For 2 months now we have struggled to find that 'something different' when finding ourselves unable to break down the oppo.
Just that basic peel away for the short corner, the lovely ball ball he puts in for Dolan, who really couldn't miss as it was that good. What look like simple things, are often the hardest. Just doing something different on a corner un-did them.
Being fair, had we had Dack during all that time we missed Brero we would have gotten some results no doubts.

Once Brero is back, and Dack has another 3/4 games under his belt, we start looking a different side again.
Any side that comes into form at that end of the season going into the play offs do have a real chance.
Still not sure how we still find ourselves here, but we are.

[alfinyalcabo]

Hopefully you will fall away as usual,then we will be playing you next season as its a racing certainty that we are going down this season.

[champs95]

Hopefully you will fall away as usual,then we will be playing you next season as its a racing certainty that we are going down this season.

You lot are miles ahead so I wouldn't worry too much ;D but I think you may be right. You need to get more points than Everton basically. I'd be more than happy if you managed that.

[robinrover]

Yep bye bye.
Hopefully that clown will not have his contact renewed at the end of the season.
He got us promoted with a squad on very high wages but since then has done not alot.
Stagnating at this level...hooray cheers Tony mowbray.
We have surpassed expectations this season after under achieving last season but one thing can't be taken away,when the window closes our form drops dramatically.
Why???
Ask tinkering tony.

[champs95]

Even though they are doing their best to ensure they are all sat on a beach come May talking about how unlucky they were to miss out on the play-offs, the other sides around them again showed what an equally inept bunch they are.
Hudds lost twice in a week, what a time to lose a 17 match unbeaten run, what a time for your wheels to drop off.
QPR, who beat Luton at home lost at home to Peterborough.
While we are doing our level best to ensure we get nowhere near the play-offs, the others are not playing ball.
They are all as poor as one another. A few are like us, could'nt afford to go up and are falling away for a reason, but some stupid club is going to end up falling over the line here and will end up where none of these sides want to be, in the Prem playing Liverpool & Man City. Its clear none can put a run together. Apart from the top 2.
Bournemouth won't be caught now by anyone, I can tell you that.
If the plan works, we will be lucky to finish in the top 8.
I thought around xmas time, if they can stay in the top 10 they will be lucky.

What muddies the water, and again what nobody has figured out as they look at Rovers fixtures and results in isolation and dont factor in anything else, most of these sides in the top 8 all play one another every week from here on in. So a few wins and a few draws will keep Rovers in the top 6. But I dont see where a few wins are coming from. Maybe Bournemouth at home in our final home game, as they will likely be up by then. And have nothing to play for.