Appleton: Rovers can still make play-offs (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Yes we can make the play offs but MA needs to strengthen the centre of midfield sooner rather than later. We look like a new team at the back with some real passion in our defending at last but we need some fire in midfield and our current crop isn't producing. There is nobody to break the opposition play up like a Robbie Savage type or someone of the quality of Tugay to unlock defences. Campbell and Bentley look rusty and need more playing time to find their sharpness but that will come. Murphy, Etuhu, Dunn and Lowe arnt up to the job, the team needs a new heart, bring in Stephen Ireland plus one other Mr Appleton and yes, we will have more of a balanced squad that can make the play offs. Don't strengthen that centre midfield and we won't but at least we won't face relegation that was a real fear before you took the helm.

Its not rocket science the man we need is Ruban. He may frustrate the hell out of you but he has the magic who o why did you let him go on loan.

We haven't a chance of reaching the play-offs if the manager doesn't try to win our home games.
He's been 'parking the bus' at Brighton, Arsenal and Hull but we need to do more to win games at Ewood.
On Saturday Appleton's recent loan signing DJ Camplbell was appalling yet he stayed on the pitch for the full 90 minutes whilst the likes of Gomes and Goodwillie remained sat on he bench.
Yes, I agree that our main problem is central midfield but surely he could have shuffled the pack for the last 25 minutes or so and tried to win the game.
He seemed content to play out a 0 - 0 draw.
The missing fans will not come back to watch unexciting, boring football.

batesempire wrote:
Its not rocket science the man we need is Ruban. He may frustrate the hell out of you but he has the magic who o why did you let him go on loan.

Because he's a liability? You may get forward play, but you're defence suffers massively from it. He never seems to lose the ball at a good time, he tends to lose it at such a bad time that they can counter in force. So hopefully this loan lets him see that actually it's him that's the problem and he comes back with his head out the clouds.

had a night out on the tiles last night with angry from accrington, dangerous dave, modan and indiapatel..........
what a laugh them guys are.....my sides are hurting from laughing so much

Appleton knows what he is doing and things were generally improving (especially defensively) - but the number of injuries to key players (before and after) his arrival are really going to test his managerial skills now.

We had Best and Nunes out, then King and Henley and Etuhu and now Olsson, CKR and Williamson. That is a lot of decent players all unavailable for the next week or two when it is critical we should be winning games and picking-up possible play-off points....

I reckon that the 'ask' to get the wins we need is almost too much now with the squad we have available now.

Any players MA brings in now will be purely to consolidate a top-half finish for Rovers with one eye on next season. I guess a lot of fans would have settled for that a couple of months ago...

RoverTheHill wrote:

batesempire wrote: Its not rocket science the man we need is Ruban. He may frustrate the hell out of you but he has the magic who o why did you let him go on loan.

Because he's a liability? You may get forward play, but you're defence suffers massively from it. He never seems to lose the ball at a good time, he tends to lose it at such a bad time that they can counter in force. So hopefully this loan lets him see that actually it's him that's the problem and he comes back with his head out the clouds.

He can come and change a game. A good manager would have the nouse to play him at certain times of the match and get best out of him. Also excuses from Appleton. We were four points away from 6th place when he took over (credit to Eric) and we have not made any progress since he has been appointed. He needs to stop blaming what happened before.

Captain Dreckley wrote:
Yes we can make the play offs but MA needs to strengthen the centre of midfield sooner rather than later. We look like a new team at the back with some real passion in our defending at last but we need some fire in midfield and our current crop isn't producing. There is nobody to break the opposition play up like a Robbie Savage type or someone of the quality of Tugay to unlock defences. Campbell and Bentley look rusty and need more playing time to find their sharpness but that will come. Murphy, Etuhu, Dunn and Lowe arnt up to the job, the team needs a new heart, bring in Stephen Ireland plus one other Mr Appleton and yes, we will have more of a balanced squad that can make the play offs. Don't strengthen that centre midfield and we won't but at least we won't face relegation that was a real fear before you took the helm.

Stephen Ireland , good player , puts in a "shift" also Frimpong another tough grafter , Arsenal lad a terrier gone on loan to Fulham but does not look like he is getting many games there.

Anyone know what is happening with Singh ? is he still getting his 400,000k a year ?
After all it`s basically the Rover`s supporters THATare paying these fat wages for non contributors , also what is happening to Singh`s pal Hendry what is he doing now to also get his 400k a year , I heard he was supposed to be Gary Bowyer`s assistant with the Reserves and Gary told the club he did not need nor want him , so what are there two doing now as WE can see they are still on the payroll at 400k a year each , that is in fact 8,000 POUNDS A WEEK EACH !

Wonder how much Gary Bowyer earns ? probably 800 quid a week !

Something not right about that.

After ten games I'd said you can judge Appy....well a fortuitous win at Arsenal is the only plus......couple of lucky wins against weak/poor teams....now defensive football in a league were our squad is supposedly superior to the vast majority is a backward step.....draws won't get us in the play-offs.......a good defence is great so long as its not at the expense of the overall team function....scoring goals is the only way out of this division......tick tock.....draws at Blackpool on limited resources is one thing but......time is running out.....

Well straight from the horses mouth and as I have said all along loan players are not what we need - they come with limitations/restrict
ions but as they Venkys are all talk ( like a number of officials at Ewood) and dont have the necessary funds to invest in in good solid players we are were we are - an average mid table Championship side.
Thanks god I didnt spend good cash to watch what has been described to me as one of the worst performances seen at Ewood last Saturday for a long time - and as for Murphy Lowe & Co abysmal displays - why the hell do we keep playing the likes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!
To get to the play off we have to win otherwise the gap either remains the same or we loose considerable ground and eventually run out of games - sadly I think this will be the case - so come on Mr A do your talking on the field and tell your team of hopefuls to do the same.
OUT WITH SHAW AGNEW SINGH HENDRY COAR

Riverside 7 wrote:
We haven't a chance of reaching the play-offs if the manager doesn't try to win our home games. He's been 'parking the bus' at Brighton, Arsenal and Hull but we need to do more to win games at Ewood. On Saturday Appleton's recent loan signing DJ Camplbell was appalling yet he stayed on the pitch for the full 90 minutes whilst the likes of Gomes and Goodwillie remained sat on he bench. Yes, I agree that our main problem is central midfield but surely he could have shuffled the pack for the last 25 minutes or so and tried to win the game. He seemed content to play out a 0 - 0 draw. The missing fans will not come back to watch unexciting, boring football.

Agreed we needed a change on Saturday with 20mins left he should of took off DJ he was useless all match!

Leed's away and a point would be fine, but at Ewood we should be looking to win the game not settle for a draw!

dangerous dave wrote:
Well straight from the horses mouth and as I have said all along loan players are not what we need - they come with limitations/restrict

ions but as they Venkys are all talk ( like a number of officials at Ewood) and dont have the necessary funds to invest in in good solid players we are were we are - an average mid table Championship side.
Thanks god I didnt spend good cash to watch what has been described to me as one of the worst performances seen at Ewood last Saturday for a long time - and as for Murphy Lowe & Co abysmal displays - why the hell do we keep playing the likes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!
To get to the play off we have to win otherwise the gap either remains the same or we loose considerable ground and eventually run out of games - sadly I think this will be the case - so come on Mr A do your talking on the field and tell your team of hopefuls to do the same.
OUT WITH SHAW AGNEW SINGH HENDRY COAR

You are right. Venkys will never build a successful team from loan players and second raters, and that has been the problem since they first walked through the door.
The sooner they realise that this 'football business' costs a LOT of money and invest accordingly we will stay where we are.

After our little run of good results the moaners are back! Now MA has joined in, making excuses for our latest bad result a draw at home, not usually acceptable. But in this instance better than a defeat.
Come on we knew when Kean left it was not going to be easy to get back on track but MA has definitely begun to turn things round. Give them a chance. Until it is mathematically impossible to gain promotion we should at least get 100% behind the team. Nobody deserves it to go right more than the fans but we must all stick together instead of this constant moaning.

A Darener wrote:
After our little run of good results the moaners are back! Now MA has joined in, making excuses for our latest bad result a draw at home, not usually acceptable. But in this instance better than a defeat.
Come on we knew when Kean left it was not going to be easy to get back on track but MA has definitely begun to turn things round. Give them a chance. Until it is mathematically impossible to gain promotion we should at least get 100% behind the team. Nobody deserves it to go right more than the fans but we must all stick together instead of this constant moaning.

Hi Darrener, excuses or not, it's obvious Appleton is trying to manage with one hand tied behind his back.
With no one signed during the transfer window and only unfit (Campbell and Bentley) and other second rate players brought in on loan, again demonstrates Venkys ambition, or more realistically, lack of it.

Overrun in midfiled by the vast majority of teams in this league is a regular feature.

We lack pace down the flanks especially if Olsson isnt playing - you dont need two hands to count the quality of crosses we had on Saturday.

Up front even the crumbs are drying up for Jordan Rhodes and the front two were so wide apart it was unbelievable.

Forget the play Offs just build a team capable of competing be it in this league or the Premiership - defence is much stronger but that doesnt make for entertaining football - too much passing back and along the back four before a hoof up field from the keeper not the most talented kicker around.

A Darener wrote:
After our little run of good results the moaners are back! Now MA has joined in, making excuses for our latest bad result a draw at home, not usually acceptable. But in this instance better than a defeat.
Come on we knew when Kean left it was not going to be easy to get back on track but MA has definitely begun to turn things round. Give them a chance. Until it is mathematically impossible to gain promotion we should at least get 100% behind the team. Nobody deserves it to go right more than the fans but we must all stick together instead of this constant moaning.

As I said our biggest underlying problem is the Venkys - no good kidding ourselves we are simply not good enough.
OUT WITH THE LOT OF THEM

In my opinion mr appleton as made 2 mistakes since becoming the boss,one was letting rochina go, the other is playing jason lowe in midfield where he is absolutely useless why cant the management see this? is there a clause were we can recall rochina? if so do it immediately hes not getting a game at zaragosa, this would enable 1 more loan player to come in,stephen ireland would be the ideal candidate,giving us the drive and desire in midfield.

Harwoodstblue wrote:

A Darener wrote: After our little run of good results the moaners are back! Now MA has joined in, making excuses for our latest bad result a draw at home, not usually acceptable. But in this instance better than a defeat. Come on we knew when Kean left it was not going to be easy to get back on track but MA has definitely begun to turn things round. Give them a chance. Until it is mathematically impossible to gain promotion we should at least get 100% behind the team. Nobody deserves it to go right more than the fans but we must all stick together instead of this constant moaning.

Hi Darrener, excuses or not, it's obvious Appleton is trying to manage with one hand tied behind his back. With no one signed during the transfer window and only unfit (Campbell and Bentley) and other second rate players brought in on loan, again demonstrates Venkys ambition, or more realistically, lack of it.

The squad is good enough to be in top 6. Stop defending and defending and keeping clean sheet at all costs. Appleton needs to mix in some attacking football or else the whole team is going to be injured by defending and stopping the other teams play. Our players are just being punchbag for opposition.

Have we no hungry young players that we could try In midfield,because its obvious to all that the present Murphy,Lowe set up is not working,I remember I similar situation when Ken Furhpy was here and he tried two unknowns in the midfield when we were struggling,one was David Bradford and the other I think was called Macdonald I stand to be corrected and they turned out to do a good job for us,with their enthusiasm and youth.

Well, yes - what we need is a midfield Playmaker.... genius ..we should have thought of that before...
I can see it now, MA is on the phone to the Football Store... have you got 2 midfielders please, one box2box tough tackler and one..lets see.. a Messi or have you got a Tugay? Tell you what give me a Frank Lampard
What you mean they are all sold out??

If it was easy as some of you seem to think MA and every manager in the league would have all the players they wanted and every team would be perfect, there would still be a lot of draws though...
To all who went and watched on Saturday I apologise.. to all the Naysayers I say NAYYYY
We are progressing but it is painful at times, which is what Appy is saying basically
DJC has a lot to do to get himself in the frame, I too did not realise he was on the pitch till the second half, which is when he moved about 10 yards closer to JR, presumably as told to by Appy at half time
I remain an Appy Clapper

juanbbien wrote:
Have we no hungry young players that we could try In midfield,because its obvious to all that the present Murphy,Lowe set up is not working,I remember I similar situation when Ken Furhpy was here and he tried two unknowns in the midfield when we were struggling,one was David Bradford and the other I think was called Macdonald I stand to be corrected and they turned out to do a good job for us,with their enthusiasm and youth.

Brill!! thats it
We just stop feeding them, they only get a meal when we win

That wills top em from slacking, overpaid primma donnas!

Wild Rover wrote:

juanbbien wrote:
Have we no hungry young players that we could try In midfield,because its obvious to all that the present Murphy,Lowe set up is not working,I remember I similar situation when Ken Furhpy was here and he tried two unknowns in the midfield when we were struggling,one was David Bradford and the other I think was called Macdonald I stand to be corrected and they turned out to do a good job for us,with their enthusiasm and youth.

Brill!! thats it
We just stop feeding them, they only get a meal when we win

That wills top em from slacking, overpaid primma donnas!

Ha,ha,I like it might be a good idea,feed them on raw meat

Could be an interesting team selection 2moro. We'll probably park the bus again, It was already going to be a difficult game but with all these injuries it'll be harder still.
Time to shuffle the pack perhaps and see what some of the fringe players have got to offer. Times is hard.
Looking forward to the game though, it's just like the old days now following Rovers, travelling with hope and not having high expectations :-)

COYB

Is Tugay still alive ? Maybe we could sign him on a short term contract. Even if he's out of training and now on 50 ciggies a day, I'd swop him for any three of Lowe, Murph, Dunny, Etuhu.

Iiii1111 wrote:
After ten games I'd said you can judge Appy....well a fortuitous win at Arsenal is the only plus......couple of lucky wins against weak/poor teams....now defensive football in a league were our squad is supposedly superior to the vast majority is a backward step.....draws won't get us in the play-offs.......a good defence is great so long as its not at the expense of the overall team function....scoring goals is the only way out of this division......tick tock.....draws at Blackpool on limited resources is one thing but......time is running out.....

its simple - we are not good enough at the current time to make the play-offs....its not gonna happen, and if we went up we would do a derby and probably take 5-6 years to recover.

i would as a football supporter - not a premiership fan prefer to see rovers win more games than we lose next season and that COULD be achieved in the championship. personally much relief for me that we seem to have avoided the potential threat of relegation (which i thought could have been a real prospect at the start of the season) the other noteworthy element is look at notlob (never see "wandering/in moses we trust" or his many monikers on here these days) and wolves - who came down with us.....i would have anticipated that both these clubs (in less turmoil off the pitch than rovers) would have performed better than us.

i am relieved that whilst the footy is pretty dire at the moment - there is some semblance of 1) fitness, 2) desire and 3) togetherness. the expression Rome wasn't built in a day refers to the original development of the city in Caeser's times - we all need to bear in mind that our particular "Rome" got burned down whilst our own version of Nero was playing violin. there are still burning embers all over the place.....we all hope a phoenix will rise. Nobody is saying that Appleton is Mark Hughes - but he steadied a ship initially by making us difficult to beat. equally, when souness took over from kidd.....we weren't good right away.

tick tock, tick tock - you need to wind you big clock up grandpa!

Wish MA had more ambition to try and win the game by changing JD Cambell for one of the other strikers in the latter stages, He was too happy to leave it as it was when we needed to win.

hasslem hasslem wrote:

Iiii1111 wrote:
After ten games I'd said you can judge Appy....well a fortuitous win at Arsenal is the only plus......couple of lucky wins against weak/poor teams....now defensive football in a league were our squad is supposedly superior to the vast majority is a backward step.....draws won't get us in the play-offs.......a good defence is great so long as its not at the expense of the overall team function....scoring goals is the only way out of this division......tick tock.....draws at Blackpool on limited resources is one thing but......time is running out.....

its simple - we are not good enough at the current time to make the play-offs....its not gonna happen, and if we went up we would do a derby and probably take 5-6 years to recover.

i would as a football supporter - not a premiership fan prefer to see rovers win more games than we lose next season and that COULD be achieved in the championship. personally much relief for me that we seem to have avoided the potential threat of relegation (which i thought could have been a real prospect at the start of the season) the other noteworthy element is look at notlob (never see "wandering/in moses we trust" or his many monikers on here these days) and wolves - who came down with us.....i would have anticipated that both these clubs (in less turmoil off the pitch than rovers) would have performed better than us.

i am relieved that whilst the footy is pretty dire at the moment - there is some semblance of 1) fitness, 2) desire and 3) togetherness. the expression Rome wasn't built in a day refers to the original development of the city in Caeser's times - we all need to bear in mind that our particular "Rome" got burned down whilst our own version of Nero was playing violin. there are still burning embers all over the place.....we all hope a phoenix will rise. Nobody is saying that Appleton is Mark Hughes - but he steadied a ship initially by making us difficult to beat. equally, when souness took over from kidd.....we weren't good right away.

tick tock, tick tock - you need to wind you big clock up grandpa!

I agree, its bleeding obvious to anyone with a modicum amount of a football brain that we aren’t good enough…..should we all accept that? No we shouldn’t………
…….Rovers (on paper) have the third most valuable squad in the Championship, that alone should be sufficient to guarantee we are in the shake-up at the end of the season, no matter who the manager is. Another season in the Championship means it will be even harder to get out (upwards;-) Next season we won’t have the third most valuable squad(in theory that should mean the third best team:-)with three teams being relegated from the PL each season will put us down the pecking order by three, season after season we’ll then become another Barnsley, Burnley……By far our best chance is to get promoted this season then the Regime might invest, without doubt they won’t invest next season if we stay in the Championship, perhaps the opposite might be true and they’ll try to cash in on Rhoades etc..

I think Bolton is a bad example (I’ll give you Wolves)…ironically the only two squads valued more than Rovers….Bolton’s recent results are quite impressive only losing narrowly to a superb Watford side in their last seven games. I’ll have 50p with you that Bolton finish above Rovers…..we’re going to draw a hell of a lot more games…Appy knows defeats mean the sack, his self-preservation is the only thing that matters here….Gung ho attack isn’t in his makeup…tick tock

not so appy

playoffs looking hard now can be done but i cant see it.

will venkys keep the faith in Appleton if we don't get the playoffs

Sad to say, but going up with this over-valud squad would be a disaster, it would be Derby or Burnley again. Venkys just are not going to spend the cash to improve any squad which went up.
It has been a damage limitation since Apple took over, before then we were in some danger of relegation and I agree with those above who opine that relegation was a serious threat earlier.
It now seems the ship is steady. The big puzzle is what Venkys will do when we don't go up. Judging from last season's fiasco when they only dimly perceived the relegation threat, they could well be crossing their fingers and praying to God, Krishna and Ganesh. But there must be a plan B - I hope it's selling up.

Good to see a decent crowd at Ewood on Saturday. The play offs may still be on but they are looking less likely. It will be interesting to see what happens to the squad at the end of the season. It is looking really bloated. Look at the various forwards - Rhodes, Kazim-Richards, Best, Goodwillie, King, Campbell, Nuno Gomes plus half the Portuguese national youth team brought in by the global adviser. And Mr Appleton is still looking for players on loan. It looks like there is going to have to be a big clear out one way or the other.

Iiii1111 wrote:

hasslem hasslem wrote:

Iiii1111 wrote:
After ten games I'd said you can judge Appy....well a fortuitous win at Arsenal is the only plus......couple of lucky wins against weak/poor teams....now defensive football in a league were our squad is supposedly superior to the vast majority is a backward step.....draws won't get us in the play-offs.......a good defence is great so long as its not at the expense of the overall team function....scoring goals is the only way out of this division......tick tock.....draws at Blackpool on limited resources is one thing but......time is running out.....

its simple - we are not good enough at the current time to make the play-offs....its not gonna happen, and if we went up we would do a derby and probably take 5-6 years to recover.

i would as a football supporter - not a premiership fan prefer to see rovers win more games than we lose next season and that COULD be achieved in the championship. personally much relief for me that we seem to have avoided the potential threat of relegation (which i thought could have been a real prospect at the start of the season) the other noteworthy element is look at notlob (never see "wandering/in moses we trust" or his many monikers on here these days) and wolves - who came down with us.....i would have anticipated that both these clubs (in less turmoil off the pitch than rovers) would have performed better than us.

i am relieved that whilst the footy is pretty dire at the moment - there is some semblance of 1) fitness, 2) desire and 3) togetherness. the expression Rome wasn't built in a day refers to the original development of the city in Caeser's times - we all need to bear in mind that our particular "Rome" got burned down whilst our own version of Nero was playing violin. there are still burning embers all over the place.....we all hope a phoenix will rise. Nobody is saying that Appleton is Mark Hughes - but he steadied a ship initially by making us difficult to beat. equally, when souness took over from kidd.....we weren't good right away.

tick tock, tick tock - you need to wind you big clock up grandpa!

I agree, its bleeding obvious to anyone with a modicum amount of a football brain that we aren’t good enough…..should we all accept that? No we shouldn’t………

…….Rovers (on paper) have the third most valuable squad in the Championship, that alone should be sufficient to guarantee we are in the shake-up at the end of the season, no matter who the manager is. Another season in the Championship means it will be even harder to get out (upwards;-) Next season we won’t have the third most valuable squad(in theory that should mean the third best team:-)with three teams being relegated from the PL each season will put us down the pecking order by three, season after season we’ll then become another Barnsley, Burnley……By far our best chance is to get promoted this season then the Regime might invest, without doubt they won’t invest next season if we stay in the Championship, perhaps the opposite might be true and they’ll try to cash in on Rhoades etc..

I think Bolton is a bad example (I’ll give you Wolves)…ironically the only two squads valued more than Rovers….Bolton’s recent results are quite impressive only losing narrowly to a superb Watford side in their last seven games. I’ll have 50p with you that Bolton finish above Rovers…..we’re going to draw a hell of a lot more games…Appy knows defeats mean the sack, his self-preservation is the only thing that matters here….Gung ho attack isn’t in his makeup…tick tock

not so appy

"The third most valuable squad in the Championship ". True, but not the best due to poor dealings by Kean and Singh in the transfer market. Hence our position and the standard of play were witnessing on the pitch.
Remember, was it eight Portuguese that Singh signed in the summer, and we were wondering what that was all about.

Knocking on the door? We should be smashing it of its hinges! On Saturday we looked scared to venture too far forward. I was frustrated at the amount of possession that we threw away with needless bad passing. An £8m striker ain't going to score if he has no service. With Bentley back he should provide that service; as he did for RSC. MGP looked lazy and not beating the first defender from a set piece is unforgivable. OK DJ was quiet, but that's was down to service and it will take time to form a partnership. Leeds didn't look that good and I think we gave them too much respect. COYB's smash Leicester tomorrow and do what Reading did last year.

We need to start rebulding a squad for next year and forget about play offs just get 50 points and start scouting for midfielders with power and pace.Stephen Ireland was a player I thought we would bring in during January but he ignored him maybe he was correct who knows.I dont think Rochina is the answer as he never did it at all for the team it was all about self glorification and that was only once or twice in two seasons..

We need to start rebulding a squad for next year and forget about play offs just get 50 points and start scouting for midfielders with power and pace.Stephen Ireland was a player I thought we would bring in during January but he ignored him maybe he was correct who knows.I dont think Rochina is the answer as he never did it at all for the team it was all about self glorification and that was only once or twice in two seasons..

Iiii1111 wrote:

hasslem hasslem wrote:

Iiii1111 wrote:
After ten games I'd said you can judge Appy....well a fortuitous win at Arsenal is the only plus......couple of lucky wins against weak/poor teams....now defensive football in a league were our squad is supposedly superior to the vast majority is a backward step.....draws won't get us in the play-offs.......a good defence is great so long as its not at the expense of the overall team function....scoring goals is the only way out of this division......tick tock.....draws at Blackpool on limited resources is one thing but......time is running out.....

its simple - we are not good enough at the current time to make the play-offs....its not gonna happen, and if we went up we would do a derby and probably take 5-6 years to recover.

i would as a football supporter - not a premiership fan prefer to see rovers win more games than we lose next season and that COULD be achieved in the championship. personally much relief for me that we seem to have avoided the potential threat of relegation (which i thought could have been a real prospect at the start of the season) the other noteworthy element is look at notlob (never see "wandering/in moses we trust" or his many monikers on here these days) and wolves - who came down with us.....i would have anticipated that both these clubs (in less turmoil off the pitch than rovers) would have performed better than us.

i am relieved that whilst the footy is pretty dire at the moment - there is some semblance of 1) fitness, 2) desire and 3) togetherness. the expression Rome wasn't built in a day refers to the original development of the city in Caeser's times - we all need to bear in mind that our particular "Rome" got burned down whilst our own version of Nero was playing violin. there are still burning embers all over the place.....we all hope a phoenix will rise. Nobody is saying that Appleton is Mark Hughes - but he steadied a ship initially by making us difficult to beat. equally, when souness took over from kidd.....we weren't good right away.

tick tock, tick tock - you need to wind you big clock up grandpa!

I agree, its bleeding obvious to anyone with a modicum amount of a football brain that we aren’t good enough…..should we all accept that? No we shouldn’t………

…….Rovers (on paper) have the third most valuable squad in the Championship, that alone should be sufficient to guarantee we are in the shake-up at the end of the season, no matter who the manager is. Another season in the Championship means it will be even harder to get out (upwards;-) Next season we won’t have the third most valuable squad(in theory that should mean the third best team:-)with three teams being relegated from the PL each season will put us down the pecking order by three, season after season we’ll then become another Barnsley, Burnley……By far our best chance is to get promoted this season then the Regime might invest, without doubt they won’t invest next season if we stay in the Championship, perhaps the opposite might be true and they’ll try to cash in on Rhoades etc..

I think Bolton is a bad example (I’ll give you Wolves)…ironically the only two squads valued more than Rovers….Bolton’s recent results are quite impressive only losing narrowly to a superb Watford side in their last seven games. I’ll have 50p with you that Bolton finish above Rovers…..we’re going to draw a hell of a lot more games…Appy knows defeats mean the sack, his self-preservation is the only thing that matters here….Gung ho attack isn’t in his makeup…tick tock

not so appy

yes we should accept it! i view the remote chance of promotion with dread.

and as for falling down the pecking order with three teams coming down - really??? qpr is a basket case, villa money dried up - club in turmoil, wigan could go through the divisions, unknown argie at saints, reading topsy turvy

bolton and rovers were (according to the pecking order) favourites to bounce straight back cos of their prem squads and experience - pecking order dont amount to a hill of beans.

and as for valuable squads etc - you can prove 'ewt you want with dodgy stats.......i can prove you have a decent iq - but we all know you got no common sense! ;-)

Teams finishing 6th usually require about 73-74 points. This means we need at least another 28 points from the remaining 13 games. Yes, we may be getting better results than before January, but we are hardly producing championship winning form. We need to concentrate on shipping out the deadwood and scouting for better quality replacements for a better promotion push next year.

Team to play Leicester:

Kean
Henley, Hanley, Dann, Rekik
Bentley, Lowe, Pedersen
Rhodes, Gomes, Nunes

If we are not gonna go up then at least lets not go up playing good football, and actually give it a go. Nunes can drop in to a midfield four on the left when they are attacking...

Harwoodstblue wrote:

dangerous dave wrote:
Well straight from the horses mouth and as I have said all along loan players are not what we need - they come with limitations/restrict


ions but as they Venkys are all talk ( like a number of officials at Ewood) and dont have the necessary funds to invest in in good solid players we are were we are - an average mid table Championship side.
Thanks god I didnt spend good cash to watch what has been described to me as one of the worst performances seen at Ewood last Saturday for a long time - and as for Murphy Lowe & Co abysmal displays - why the hell do we keep playing the likes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


!!
To get to the play off we have to win otherwise the gap either remains the same or we loose considerable ground and eventually run out of games - sadly I think this will be the case - so come on Mr A do your talking on the field and tell your team of hopefuls to do the same.
OUT WITH SHAW AGNEW SINGH HENDRY COAR

You are right. Venkys will never build a successful team from loan players and second raters, and that has been the problem since they first walked through the door.
The sooner they realise that this 'football business' costs a LOT of money and invest accordingly we will stay where we are.

Yes I agree. Venkys made their position clear in January when they successfully negotiated the transfer window without spending a penny!

RTID wrote:
Team to play Leicester:

Kean
Henley, Hanley, Dann, Rekik
Bentley, Lowe, Pedersen
Rhodes, Gomes, Nunes

If we are not gonna go up then at least lets not go up playing good football, and actually give it a go. Nunes can drop in to a midfield four on the left when they are attacking...

That is just about spot on!

bburnrover wrote:
We need to start rebulding a squad for next year and forget about play offs just get 50 points and start scouting for midfielders with power and pace.Stephen Ireland was a player I thought we would bring in during January but he ignored him maybe he was correct who knows.I dont think Rochina is the answer as he never did it at all for the team it was all about self glorification and that was only once or twice in two seasons..

Yes, It's the Cup or nothing. This season has been a disaster with poor management and decisions. My only fear is we will lose our one or two decent players in the summer. Build for next season now!

hasslem hasslem wrote:

Iiii1111 wrote:

hasslem hasslem wrote:

Iiii1111 wrote:
After ten games I'd said you can judge Appy....well a fortuitous win at Arsenal is the only plus......couple of lucky wins against weak/poor teams....now defensive football in a league were our squad is supposedly superior to the vast majority is a backward step.....draws won't get us in the play-offs.......a good defence is great so long as its not at the expense of the overall team function....scoring goals is the only way out of this division......tick tock.....draws at Blackpool on limited resources is one thing but......time is running out.....

its simple - we are not good enough at the current time to make the play-offs....its not gonna happen, and if we went up we would do a derby and probably take 5-6 years to recover.

i would as a football supporter - not a premiership fan prefer to see rovers win more games than we lose next season and that COULD be achieved in the championship. personally much relief for me that we seem to have avoided the potential threat of relegation (which i thought could have been a real prospect at the start of the season) the other noteworthy element is look at notlob (never see "wandering/in moses we trust" or his many monikers on here these days) and wolves - who came down with us.....i would have anticipated that both these clubs (in less turmoil off the pitch than rovers) would have performed better than us.

i am relieved that whilst the footy is pretty dire at the moment - there is some semblance of 1) fitness, 2) desire and 3) togetherness. the expression Rome wasn't built in a day refers to the original development of the city in Caeser's times - we all need to bear in mind that our particular "Rome" got burned down whilst our own version of Nero was playing violin. there are still burning embers all over the place.....we all hope a phoenix will rise. Nobody is saying that Appleton is Mark Hughes - but he steadied a ship initially by making us difficult to beat. equally, when souness took over from kidd.....we weren't good right away.

tick tock, tick tock - you need to wind you big clock up grandpa!

I agree, its bleeding obvious to anyone with a modicum amount of a football brain that we aren’t good enough…..should we all accept that? No we shouldn’t………


…….Rovers (on paper) have the third most valuable squad in the Championship, that alone should be sufficient to guarantee we are in the shake-up at the end of the season, no matter who the manager is. Another season in the Championship means it will be even harder to get out (upwards;-) Next season we won’t have the third most valuable squad(in theory that should mean the third best team:-)with three teams being relegated from the PL each season will put us down the pecking order by three, season after season we’ll then become another Barnsley, Burnley……By far our best chance is to get promoted this season then the Regime might invest, without doubt they won’t invest next season if we stay in the Championship, perhaps the opposite might be true and they’ll try to cash in on Rhoades etc..

I think Bolton is a bad example (I’ll give you Wolves)…ironically the only two squads valued more than Rovers….Bolton’s recent results are quite impressive only losing narrowly to a superb Watford side in their last seven games. I’ll have 50p with you that Bolton finish above Rovers…..we’re going to draw a hell of a lot more games…Appy knows defeats mean the sack, his self-preservation is the only thing that matters here….Gung ho attack isn’t in his makeup…tick tock

not so appy

yes we should accept it! i view the remote chance of promotion with dread.

and as for falling down the pecking order with three teams coming down - really??? qpr is a basket case, villa money dried up - club in turmoil, wigan could go through the divisions, unknown argie at saints, reading topsy turvy

bolton and rovers were (according to the pecking order) favourites to bounce straight back cos of their prem squads and experience - pecking order dont amount to a hill of beans.

and as for valuable squads etc - you can prove 'ewt you want with dodgy stats.......i can prove you have a decent iq - but we all know you got no common sense! ;-)

" i view the remote chance of promotion with dread."

Really, I see it the only chance of investment, be it via TV monies, worst case scenario -more parachute payments..

Serious question what will another season in the wilderness archive? The squad without dout will be weaker Venkeys will make sure of that by selling our main assets which will be the only way to fund Appy's loan/castoff signings for next season...."common sense" and talking about Rovers...now that's a first....perhaps a little emotional intelligence would help you;-)

Iiii1111 wrote:

hasslem hasslem wrote:

Iiii1111 wrote:

hasslem hasslem wrote:

Iiii1111 wrote:
After ten games I'd said you can judge Appy....well a fortuitous win at Arsenal is the only plus......couple of lucky wins against weak/poor teams....now defensive football in a league were our squad is supposedly superior to the vast majority is a backward step.....draws won't get us in the play-offs.......a good defence is great so long as its not at the expense of the overall team function....scoring goals is the only way out of this division......tick tock.....draws at Blackpool on limited resources is one thing but......time is running out.....

its simple - we are not good enough at the current time to make the play-offs....its not gonna happen, and if we went up we would do a derby and probably take 5-6 years to recover.

i would as a football supporter - not a premiership fan prefer to see rovers win more games than we lose next season and that COULD be achieved in the championship. personally much relief for me that we seem to have avoided the potential threat of relegation (which i thought could have been a real prospect at the start of the season) the other noteworthy element is look at notlob (never see "wandering/in moses we trust" or his many monikers on here these days) and wolves - who came down with us.....i would have anticipated that both these clubs (in less turmoil off the pitch than rovers) would have performed better than us.

i am relieved that whilst the footy is pretty dire at the moment - there is some semblance of 1) fitness, 2) desire and 3) togetherness. the expression Rome wasn't built in a day refers to the original development of the city in Caeser's times - we all need to bear in mind that our particular "Rome" got burned down whilst our own version of Nero was playing violin. there are still burning embers all over the place.....we all hope a phoenix will rise. Nobody is saying that Appleton is Mark Hughes - but he steadied a ship initially by making us difficult to beat. equally, when souness took over from kidd.....we weren't good right away.

tick tock, tick tock - you need to wind you big clock up grandpa!

I agree, its bleeding obvious to anyone with a modicum amount of a football brain that we aren’t good enough…..should we all accept that? No we shouldn’t………



…….Rovers (on paper) have the third most valuable squad in the Championship, that alone should be sufficient to guarantee we are in the shake-up at the end of the season, no matter who the manager is. Another season in the Championship means it will be even harder to get out (upwards;-) Next season we won’t have the third most valuable squad(in theory that should mean the third best team:-)with three teams being relegated from the PL each season will put us down the pecking order by three, season after season we’ll then become another Barnsley, Burnley……By far our best chance is to get promoted this season then the Regime might invest, without doubt they won’t invest next season if we stay in the Championship, perhaps the opposite might be true and they’ll try to cash in on Rhoades etc..

I think Bolton is a bad example (I’ll give you Wolves)…ironically the only two squads valued more than Rovers….Bolton’s recent results are quite impressive only losing narrowly to a superb Watford side in their last seven games. I’ll have 50p with you that Bolton finish above Rovers…..we’re going to draw a hell of a lot more games…Appy knows defeats mean the sack, his self-preservation is the only thing that matters here….Gung ho attack isn’t in his makeup…tick tock

not so appy

yes we should accept it! i view the remote chance of promotion with dread.

and as for falling down the pecking order with three teams coming down - really??? qpr is a basket case, villa money dried up - club in turmoil, wigan could go through the divisions, unknown argie at saints, reading topsy turvy

bolton and rovers were (according to the pecking order) favourites to bounce straight back cos of their prem squads and experience - pecking order dont amount to a hill of beans.

and as for valuable squads etc - you can prove 'ewt you want with dodgy stats.......i can prove you have a decent iq - but we all know you got no common sense! ;-)

" i view the remote chance of promotion with dread."

Really, I see it the only chance of investment, be it via TV monies, worst case scenario -more parachute payments..

Serious question what will another season in the wilderness archive? The squad without dout will be weaker Venkeys will make sure of that by selling our main assets which will be the only way to fund Appy's loan/castoff signings for next season...."common sense" and talking about Rovers...now that's a first....perhaps a little emotional intelligence would help you;-)

EI?.......my backside!!!! you softarse

read my lips: WE ARE NOWHERE NEAR GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE PREMIERSHIP

it is quite simple - he whole turmoil surrounding our club and the total imbalance in our squad cannot be solved with an "abaracababara" and will take more than a summer of up n coming/been n gone players coming in.

you need to be more realistic with your perspective. i dont know you - but you are obviously one of those premiership glory hunters that never went to a game before 1992 and thus have no idea what it means to be a rovers supporter......you should stick to playing football manager on your laptop

hasslem hasslem wrote:

Iiii1111 wrote:

hasslem hasslem wrote:

Iiii1111 wrote:

hasslem hasslem wrote:

Iiii1111 wrote:
After ten games I'd said you can judge Appy....well a fortuitous win at Arsenal is the only plus......couple of lucky wins against weak/poor teams....now defensive football in a league were our squad is supposedly superior to the vast majority is a backward step.....draws won't get us in the play-offs.......a good defence is great so long as its not at the expense of the overall team function....scoring goals is the only way out of this division......tick tock.....draws at Blackpool on limited resources is one thing but......time is running out.....

its simple - we are not good enough at the current time to make the play-offs....its not gonna happen, and if we went up we would do a derby and probably take 5-6 years to recover.

i would as a football supporter - not a premiership fan prefer to see rovers win more games than we lose next season and that COULD be achieved in the championship. personally much relief for me that we seem to have avoided the potential threat of relegation (which i thought could have been a real prospect at the start of the season) the other noteworthy element is look at notlob (never see "wandering/in moses we trust" or his many monikers on here these days) and wolves - who came down with us.....i would have anticipated that both these clubs (in less turmoil off the pitch than rovers) would have performed better than us.

i am relieved that whilst the footy is pretty dire at the moment - there is some semblance of 1) fitness, 2) desire and 3) togetherness. the expression Rome wasn't built in a day refers to the original development of the city in Caeser's times - we all need to bear in mind that our particular "Rome" got burned down whilst our own version of Nero was playing violin. there are still burning embers all over the place.....we all hope a phoenix will rise. Nobody is saying that Appleton is Mark Hughes - but he steadied a ship initially by making us difficult to beat. equally, when souness took over from kidd.....we weren't good right away.

tick tock, tick tock - you need to wind you big clock up grandpa!

I agree, its bleeding obvious to anyone with a modicum amount of a football brain that we aren’t good enough…..should we all accept that? No we shouldn’t………




…….Rovers (on paper) have the third most valuable squad in the Championship, that alone should be sufficient to guarantee we are in the shake-up at the end of the season, no matter who the manager is. Another season in the Championship means it will be even harder to get out (upwards;-) Next season we won’t have the third most valuable squad(in theory that should mean the third best team:-)with three teams being relegated from the PL each season will put us down the pecking order by three, season after season we’ll then become another Barnsley, Burnley……By far our best chance is to get promoted this season then the Regime might invest, without doubt they won’t invest next season if we stay in the Championship, perhaps the opposite might be true and they’ll try to cash in on Rhoades etc..

I think Bolton is a bad example (I’ll give you Wolves)…ironically the only two squads valued more than Rovers….Bolton’s recent results are quite impressive only losing narrowly to a superb Watford side in their last seven games. I’ll have 50p with you that Bolton finish above Rovers…..we’re going to draw a hell of a lot more games…Appy knows defeats mean the sack, his self-preservation is the only thing that matters here….Gung ho attack isn’t in his makeup…tick tock

not so appy

yes we should accept it! i view the remote chance of promotion with dread.

and as for falling down the pecking order with three teams coming down - really??? qpr is a basket case, villa money dried up - club in turmoil, wigan could go through the divisions, unknown argie at saints, reading topsy turvy

bolton and rovers were (according to the pecking order) favourites to bounce straight back cos of their prem squads and experience - pecking order dont amount to a hill of beans.

and as for valuable squads etc - you can prove 'ewt you want with dodgy stats.......i can prove you have a decent iq - but we all know you got no common sense! ;-)

" i view the remote chance of promotion with dread."

Really, I see it the only chance of investment, be it via TV monies, worst case scenario -more parachute payments..

Serious question what will another season in the wilderness archive? The squad without dout will be weaker Venkeys will make sure of that by selling our main assets which will be the only way to fund Appy's loan/castoff signings for next season...."common sense" and talking about Rovers...now that's a first....perhaps a little emotional intelligence would help you;-)

EI?.......my backside!!!! you softarse

read my lips: WE ARE NOWHERE NEAR GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE PREMIERSHIP

it is quite simple - he whole turmoil surrounding our club and the total imbalance in our squad cannot be solved with an "abaracababara" and will take more than a summer of up n coming/been n gone players coming in.

you need to be more realistic with your perspective. i dont know you - but you are obviously one of those premiership glory hunters that never went to a game before 1992 and thus have no idea what it means to be a rovers supporter......you should stick to playing football manager on your laptop

And I obviously don't know you.

pwl wrote:

Harwoodstblue wrote:

dangerous dave wrote:
Well straight from the horses mouth and as I have said all along loan players are not what we need - they come with limitations/restrict



ions but as they Venkys are all talk ( like a number of officials at Ewood) and dont have the necessary funds to invest in in good solid players we are were we are - an average mid table Championship side.
Thanks god I didnt spend good cash to watch what has been described to me as one of the worst performances seen at Ewood last Saturday for a long time - and as for Murphy Lowe & Co abysmal displays - why the hell do we keep playing the likes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



!!
To get to the play off we have to win otherwise the gap either remains the same or we loose considerable ground and eventually run out of games - sadly I think this will be the case - so come on Mr A do your talking on the field and tell your team of hopefuls to do the same.
OUT WITH SHAW AGNEW SINGH HENDRY COAR

You are right. Venkys will never build a successful team from loan players and second raters, and that has been the problem since they first walked through the door.
The sooner they realise that this 'football business' costs a LOT of money and invest accordingly we will stay where we are.

Yes I agree. Venkys made their position clear in January when they successfully negotiated the transfer window without spending a penny!

Exactly, and that is exactly what I expected and stated so on here.
They didn't let me down.

Iiii1111 wrote:

hasslem hasslem wrote:

Iiii1111 wrote:

hasslem hasslem wrote:

Iiii1111 wrote:

hasslem hasslem wrote:

Iiii1111 wrote:
After ten games I'd said you can judge Appy....well a fortuitous win at Arsenal is the only plus......couple of lucky wins against weak/poor teams....now defensive football in a league were our squad is supposedly superior to the vast majority is a backward step.....draws won't get us in the play-offs.......a good defence is great so long as its not at the expense of the overall team function....scoring goals is the only way out of this division......tick tock.....draws at Blackpool on limited resources is one thing but......time is running out.....

its simple - we are not good enough at the current time to make the play-offs....its not gonna happen, and if we went up we would do a derby and probably take 5-6 years to recover.

i would as a football supporter - not a premiership fan prefer to see rovers win more games than we lose next season and that COULD be achieved in the championship. personally much relief for me that we seem to have avoided the potential threat of relegation (which i thought could have been a real prospect at the start of the season) the other noteworthy element is look at notlob (never see "wandering/in moses we trust" or his many monikers on here these days) and wolves - who came down with us.....i would have anticipated that both these clubs (in less turmoil off the pitch than rovers) would have performed better than us.

i am relieved that whilst the footy is pretty dire at the moment - there is some semblance of 1) fitness, 2) desire and 3) togetherness. the expression Rome wasn't built in a day refers to the original development of the city in Caeser's times - we all need to bear in mind that our particular "Rome" got burned down whilst our own version of Nero was playing violin. there are still burning embers all over the place.....we all hope a phoenix will rise. Nobody is saying that Appleton is Mark Hughes - but he steadied a ship initially by making us difficult to beat. equally, when souness took over from kidd.....we weren't good right away.

tick tock, tick tock - you need to wind you big clock up grandpa!

I agree, its bleeding obvious to anyone with a modicum amount of a football brain that we aren’t good enough…..should we all accept that? No we shouldn’t………





…….Rovers (on paper) have the third most valuable squad in the Championship, that alone should be sufficient to guarantee we are in the shake-up at the end of the season, no matter who the manager is. Another season in the Championship means it will be even harder to get out (upwards;-) Next season we won’t have the third most valuable squad(in theory that should mean the third best team:-)with three teams being relegated from the PL each season will put us down the pecking order by three, season after season we’ll then become another Barnsley, Burnley……By far our best chance is to get promoted this season then the Regime might invest, without doubt they won’t invest next season if we stay in the Championship, perhaps the opposite might be true and they’ll try to cash in on Rhoades etc..

I think Bolton is a bad example (I’ll give you Wolves)…ironically the only two squads valued more than Rovers….Bolton’s recent results are quite impressive only losing narrowly to a superb Watford side in their last seven games. I’ll have 50p with you that Bolton finish above Rovers…..we’re going to draw a hell of a lot more games…Appy knows defeats mean the sack, his self-preservation is the only thing that matters here….Gung ho attack isn’t in his makeup…tick tock

not so appy

yes we should accept it! i view the remote chance of promotion with dread.

and as for falling down the pecking order with three teams coming down - really??? qpr is a basket case, villa money dried up - club in turmoil, wigan could go through the divisions, unknown argie at saints, reading topsy turvy

bolton and rovers were (according to the pecking order) favourites to bounce straight back cos of their prem squads and experience - pecking order dont amount to a hill of beans.

and as for valuable squads etc - you can prove 'ewt you want with dodgy stats.......i can prove you have a decent iq - but we all know you got no common sense! ;-)

" i view the remote chance of promotion with dread."

Really, I see it the only chance of investment, be it via TV monies, worst case scenario -more parachute payments..

Serious question what will another season in the wilderness archive? The squad without dout will be weaker Venkeys will make sure of that by selling our main assets which will be the only way to fund Appy's loan/castoff signings for next season...."common sense" and talking about Rovers...now that's a first....perhaps a little emotional intelligence would help you;-)

EI?.......my backside!!!! you softarse

read my lips: WE ARE NOWHERE NEAR GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE PREMIERSHIP

it is quite simple - he whole turmoil surrounding our club and the total imbalance in our squad cannot be solved with an "abaracababara" and will take more than a summer of up n coming/been n gone players coming in.

you need to be more realistic with your perspective. i dont know you - but you are obviously one of those premiership glory hunters that never went to a game before 1992 and thus have no idea what it means to be a rovers supporter......you should stick to playing football manager on your laptop

And I obviously don't know you.

are you morst in disguise?

We've not a hope in hell of the playoffs & i'll stand on my promise of wearing a Rovers shirt whilst showing my @rse on the steps of dingleville town hall if we go up. We're in a mathematically worst position now than when Appleton took over with less games left. The only thing he's done is tighten the defence up, the football is shocking, DJ is here for the money (why did he walk away from hull?). Until we're rid of Venkeys that's what we'll be a mid table side in the 2nd tier. No chance of us going down, Appleton will bore us all to death to prevent that, but we'll not advance as a team. Call me a pessimist but that's the truth. Won't affect my stance, I'd support us if we were non league. Born a blue , die a blue but at least I'm a realist!

I dont think we have a serious chance of getting a play -off position but more importantly if we did, winning a two leg tie and a Wembley final and if you cant do that, a play-off position is just useless. The only difference now under Appleton from Berg is that Shebby isnt embarrassing us on radio, the defence has bucked their ideas up and Hanley is looking good and the animosity towards the managerial position has ebbed. Appleton is very defensive, there were long punts up the field to Rhodes and he doesnt make the right subs. I disagree that we can have another go next season. We will have a weaker squad in a second season and then we will also have those clubs that have dropped down to compete with. I also feel like an aged Tugay would do better than that midfield lot. We need a good engine or the rest will get nowhere. The game on Saturday was so boring. A lad in front of me spent most of the game playing a game on his iphone.

blackburn managed to keep the balance of being tight under bowyer and maintain an attacking style, scoring 9 goals in 4 games shows that its not beyond them if their put their minds to it and if the man in charge believes in them to express themselves.

hasslem hasslem wrote:
had a night out on the tiles last night with angry from accrington, dangerous dave, modan and indiapatel..........

what a laugh them guys are.....my sides are hurting from laughing so much

I don't go out

Riverside 7 wrote:
We haven't a chance of reaching the play-offs if the manager doesn't try to win our home games.
He's been 'parking the bus' at Brighton, Arsenal and Hull but we need to do more to win games at Ewood.
On Saturday Appleton's recent loan signing DJ Camplbell was appalling yet he stayed on the pitch for the full 90 minutes whilst the likes of Gomes and Goodwillie remained sat on he bench.
Yes, I agree that our main problem is central midfield but surely he could have shuffled the pack for the last 25 minutes or so and tried to win the game.
He seemed content to play out a 0 - 0 draw.
The missing fans will not come back to watch unexciting, boring football.

He talks a lot of sense though apparently.