The importance of Newport

It goes without saying that Rovers season could be helped massively by a good F.A.Cup run...as there is probably little else to go for already.

GB did have a very respectable Cup run last year,in spite of much misery in the Championship. Where he often came unstuck was against so-called weaker teams like Carlisle,Shrewsbury etc.,(mainly in the League Cup) playing a lot of reserves and every time we got turned over.....:blue: Im not actually blaming him for that,it was the least damaging way of finding out how good these players were,or werent as was always the case>:(

I just hope PL doesnt repeat his mistake :s . By all means give Jordan Rhodes a rest as he is too valuable a commodity(whether for us or in transferred value) to risk getting him injured in this game,possibly also Hanley,Conway & Steele but trialing 9/11 newbies would be a sue-fire way of getting tonked. With this in mind,and Kilgallon & Spurr badly in need of game-time Id set-up something like this :- Raya ;Hen

I agree Bobby. We need a confidence booster very badly. It would be nice if we could go down there and tonk them or very least a comfy win.

This game could alter things in our favour
3 defeats on the spin will of knocked the confidence alot so a 4th could send us into a relegation style mentality
I would like us to still field alot of regulars
gk Steele
rb Marshall
cb hanley (c)
cb kilgallon
Lb spurr
rw Mahoney
cm akpan
cm Evans
lw Conway
am Lawrence
fw Brown

Bob and Robin, I agree that we can't afford to put out a 2nd XI. I would be tempted, though, to try out one of the youngsters up-front. We have Rhodes, Lawrence, Koita, Delfouneso and Brown as front-liners, but no combination of that group inspires particular confidence - not with JR so out of form, anyway. I also wonder whether we shouldn't try out a genuinely attacking central midfielder too, and we don't have one amongst the regulars!
The line-up below is risky, but at least it means we won't even think about playing the long-ball game:
Steele
Marshall Kilgallon Hanley Spurr
Taylor Tomlinson Evans Conway
Lawrence Mansell

I see where you are coming from and to see mansell leading the line would excite me as I feel this youngster has a great future ahead of him however it would be too soon to start him as he is lightweight and more than likely just get pushed about
next season certainly give him the chances
interesting read from Lambert it sounds like he wants to push lenihan through to the first team so expect him to start and its over to him then he has got talent and ability and I hope he takes his opportunity.

Another 2 goals for mansell today against a very strong arsenal u21 team he is currently scoring pretty much every game for our development squad
I still feel this season is too soon for him but if he continues this goalscoring form he will be hard to ignore.

As I have booked the day off work,will be traveling on a round trip of nearly 500 miles He better not pick a "weakened side" Although I firmly believe what I’ve believed for three and a half seasons, that far too many of them simply aren’t good enough for this level (championship) anyway. Surely PL doesn't think he could play a second string XI against Newport and get away with it? Although few could complain about being omitted on Saturday however inadequate their replacements.Newport will be an inhospitable place to go, football and crowd reception wise and the last thing he will need is for the thousand or so there to support Rovers to see an exhibition which displeases them AGAIN after another long, costly and arduous trek.>:(

Well if Brown starts, heaven help you FC!!

Oh please no !!! Hopefully Brown has played his last game for us

[quote="flyingclub1875" Although I firmly believe what I’ve believed for three and a half seasons, that far too many of them simply aren’t good enough for this level (championship) anyway. Surely PL doesn't think he could play a second string XI against Newport and get away with it? Although few could complain about being omitted on Saturday however inadequate their replacements.Newport will be an inhospitable place to go, football and crowd reception wise and the last thing he will need is for the thousand or so there to support Rovers to see an exhibition which displeases them AGAIN after another long, costly and arduous trek.>:( [/quote]

You're probably right, FC. Lambert can't really afford more egg on his face, but he seems to be threatening change, including talking up Lenihan.
Realistically, though, I wouldn't be surprised if