Grimbeard

We cant keep saying if they win their game inhand. There is more games to go besides that.

So are we sending Warne to a gulag in Siberia or has he been restored and the public subscription is running to build the bronze statue of him tending the wounds of Elliot Embleton?
 

P.G Wodehouse pre match presser, interviewed by Vicky Pollard.
Ah, the stage is set for a splendid showdown at the Memorial Ground in Bristol, a city renowned for its towering IKEA emporium, though on Saturday, the concerns of the Rams faithful will be of a different wardrobe altogether.

As Rovers perch mid-table, a pall of despondency descends upon the countenance of their manager, Matt Taylor, reminiscent of a gentleman fumbling about with a lighted candle in search of a gas leak – a perilous endeavor indeed. Our bobble-hatted maestro, Warne, ever the optimist, is poised to liken Rovers to the greats of Brazil, whilst harbouring hopes of fielding an unchanged lineup and avoiding being gassed out in the face of the Gas.
All eyes will be trained on CBT, eager for a display that truly befits his talent, and young Adams, akin to a bulldog denied a morsel of cake, prowling with determined energy .
The prospect of a sold-out away end promises to infuse the atmosphere with a vigour not typically found in these parts, where even a snail’s clearing of its throat can reverberate for miles – though I must confess, I never said nothing about nothing. Jeeves, ever the sage, forecasts a triumphant three points, yet his wistful gaze drifts towards Blackpool, Exeter, Lincoln and Burton with the endless longing of a man hoping that they don't give us no evils.

All that matters is 3 points.
It's a shame, as rovers are the one team in Bristol worthy of note and the dedication to annoying Bristol city is to be admired, but, we gotta keep winning if we want to get back to the mediocre time.
Also, I just love rants in west country accents "oil knock your block off love"

Bristol Rovers vs Derby County
Saturday 9th March KO 3pm
Memorial Stadium (BS7 0BF)
 
Opponents Form: Decent recently with three wins in their last four matches including their last two. They currently sit 11th in the table albeit with no realistic playoff aspirations or relegation concerns. Whilst their home record in L1 this season is a reasonable W7-D5-L5 it should be noted that they have lost four of their most recent six matches on their own patch with wins over Carlisle (2-1) and Oxford (3-1) dampened by defeats to Blackpool (1-2), Exeter (0-1), Fleetwood (0-2) and Burton (1-2).
Opponents Bio: Rovers are managed by Matt Taylor who is in his third managerial role. After an impressive four years at Exeter he was the man chosen by Rotherham to take over the reins after the departure of our own Paul Warne to Pride Park. Taylor's spell there lasted 13 months before he parted company with the Yorkshire club in November 2023 as the Millers were struggling in 22nd place. Within three weeks, however, he found himself in the Bristol Rovers hotseat replacing the ever-delightful Joseph Barton. 
The club have played their home matches at the 11,000 capacity (3,000 seated) Memorial Stadium since 1996 after leaving their previous home in Eastville. They are officially known as the 'Pirates', reflecting Bristol's maritime history. Or because they just arrrr. Or maybe because their form is historically patchy. They are of course also known as the 'Gas', a nickname which was given them by opposition fans originally but was cheerfully adopted by the Rovers' followers who refer to themselves as 'Gasheads'. The name came about apparently due to their former stadium being sited next to a gasworks which produced a distinct aroma which would waft over the ground. Anybody who sits near a few of our more dedicated drinkers at Pride Park will no doubt relate to that.
Opponents Player Watch: Only one place to start here as the Rams go up against our former beau, Christopher Hugh Martin. The Wardrobe has scored 15 goals this season and is joint fifth in the top scorers chart for the division. Second top scorer after CM9 is Anthony Evans with half a dozen goals. Other notable players are ex-Rams youngster Luke Thomas, experienced former Swansea, Celtic and Preston man Scott Sinclair and Chelsea loanee Harvey Vale who I think we were linked with during the summer. I'm not sure if he's their number one or not but they also have a goalkeeper called Jed Ward who you can only sympathise with.
Rams Record vs Opponents: There have been three FA Cup ties between the two clubs but we'll focus on the 27 league matches there have been between Bristol Rovers and Derby County. The first meeting was on 29th August 1953 at Bristol so hats off to any Ram or Rover who remembers that match over 70 years ago. During the early years of the fixture it was Bristol Rovers who held sway with the Pirates winning the first three encounters, four of the first five and six of the first nine overall. Since then though it is the Rams who have had much the better of it. The overall league record for Derby against Saturday's opponents is as follows:
P27: W12-D7-L8
Away at Bristol Rovers our record  is: P13: W3-D4-L6   Whilst that isn't impressive it should be pointed out that we lost on our first five visits and since then we've gone W3-D3-L1 on their turf and are unbeaten in our last four visits.
Since our relegation to L1 for the 2022/23 season the Rams have recorded home wins against Rovers in both fixtures at Pride Park (4-2 and 2-1) whilst last season we conceded a debateable late penalty in a 1-1 draw at their place.
Other Saturday Fixtures Of Note: We will either be second or third going into the match depending on the outcome of Barnsley vs Bolton on Tuesday night. Peterborough are at home to Northampton on the same evening. On Saturday our priority is of course to earn three points in the south-west but we will be hoping for favourable results in at least one of the following games:
Blackpool vs Portsmouth
Exeter vs Bolton
Barnsley vs Lincoln
Burton vs Peterborough
Expected Team: My guess is that Derby will be unchanged from the 3-0 win against a desperately struggling Port Vale. With fit full-back options rarer than a salad in the City Ground boardroom I suspect it'll be a back three plus the two wing-backs who played well yesterday. 
 
Safe journey to those who make the trip and COYR.

Two things I’ve learned today:
1) It seems we can’t “trust” the number of goals a team score/concedes or the number of points a team accumulates. Maybe final league tables should be determined by XG
2) if you produce enough fancy looking graphs you’ll probably impress someone (probably just yourself though) 😀

David Squires on … Mark Clattenburg, sliding bores and the drop ball furore
https://www.theguardian.com/football/picture/2024/mar/05/david-squires-on-mark-clattenburg-nottingham-forest-dropped-ball-furore

That's nice.  Although they still seem to have less points and a worse goal difference.  Who'd have thought it possible.  Bloody computers, can't trust em.

EEEK!
I want you to go and find a nice, quiet room. Sit yourself down, and have a long, hard think about what you've done.
 

Ah, but will we have deserved it? 😉

It shows:
1. That random stats can show whatever you want them to show.
2. Some people have far too much time on their hands.
3. Er....that's it.

It shows:
1. That random stats can show whatever you want them to show.
2. Some people have far too much time on their hands.
3. Er....that's it.

It shows:
1. That random stats can show whatever you want them to show.
2. Some people have far too much time on their hands.
3. Er....that's it.

It shows:
1. That random stats can show whatever you want them to show.
2. Some people have far too much time on their hands.
3. Er....that's it.

EEEK!
I want you to go and find a nice, quiet room. Sit yourself down, and have a long, hard think about what you've done.
 

It shows:
1. That random stats can show whatever you want them to show.
2. Some people have far too much time on their hands.
3. Er....that's it.

It shows:
1. That random stats can show whatever you want them to show.
2. Some people have far too much time on their hands.
3. Er....that's it.

1Wildsmith 6.5 - Solid enough after two shaky starts, but in truth, was well screened and had little to do. Still better than last time out, though that's a very low bar. A welcome improvement nonetheless. 
35Nelson 7.0 - Mooted before the game that playing in a 3 does not suit Curtis overly and he was slow to get into the game, though he did look better by the end. Perhaps he's just acclimatising to the role, but I'd still question whether we sacrifice the back 4 option to accommodate Bradley.
5Bradley 7.0 - Another solid enough performance. The haters will hate, don't they always, but he's playing well enough to my eye. Whether a back 3 is typically what we really want, I'm not sure though, but it's not my call and I've now bored myself saying it.
6Cashin 7.5 - Another solid enough game. He's a 7+ pretty much every game these days and if ever there was an incentive to get promoted, keeping the likes of Eiran at the club would be it, to my mind at least. 
23Ward 9.0 - Feeling a bit smug after putting him up as needing to start yesterday, though I have to admit I didn't see that performance coming. When we look back on this season, this will be right up there with the best outings we've seen all year. He was a menace from start to finish and with Joe as a RWB and Ryan as an RB, we look ridiculously strong on the right flank now. I noted one wag suggesting we were starting with the slowest WBs in the league. Didn't look that way to me! 
8Bird 7.0 - Quietly effective without tearing up any trees. In fairness, he seemed to content to keep things ticking along and he did that well enough. I don't mind that as I think he'll be critical in some harder games to follow. I do wish he'd signed for an extra year with a caveat though, as £2.8 mill might look stupidly cheap this time next year. Owes us fook all IMO, though I'll be gutted when he leaves.
32Adams 7.5 - Never lacks effort, but there was more than just endeavour about him again and he's now added to the man-crush list. A really excellent loan and I'm desperate to see us tie him in if there's anyway that deal can be done. We're a different team with him starting.
4Hourihane 6.5 - Didn't even notice him, sorry Conor. Gave you a median score plus 0.5 for the win.
17Sibley 8.0 - Suggested he might be the wildcard and this was his best performance in some time, indeed without Ward, he would have been my clear MOTM. He had already looked brighter of late in any case and is clearly not just accepting his team responsibilities, but now relishing them. Quite why it's taken so long and so many coaches, I don't know, but it's very much a case of better late than never, assuming he can kick on from here. Get him re-signed in any case, please!
11Méndez-Laing 7.0 - Looked more himself back in his natural environment and I think he'll get to understand Gayle's movement better with games. With Bird to unlock teams through the middle and Nate and CBT out wide, Gayle must be licking his lips right now.
27Blackett-Taylor 7.0 - had been mildly concerned about him, though on reflection, I've no idea why, though possibly as I don't really know very much about him. Still limited evidence, but he looked a lot brighter yesterday. A 7/10 may be over-egging it slightly, but there's signs of distinct promise. If he grows into the team I could see Nate getting far less attention and that's gotta be a positive.
25Gayle 8.0 - One thing I'd not noted about him across what has been a really good career, is his work rate. It's genuinely Collo-esque and if anything says 'I'm not just here for the shekels' that's it. His movement, runs, just everything about him screams a league above this level and he took his goal with aplomb. I fancied he'd be deadly at this level and I've seen nothing to change my mind. Those who chose to write him off without doing any homework on him at all, it seems, well they look pretty silly right now. Without being mean, long may that last! 
10Waghorn 6.5  - Little chance to shine or show his stuff so gets the median plus win bonus rating. I'd not be surprised to see Waggy feature significantly over the run in as he too has class to spare at this level.
7Barkhuizen 7.5 - Been driving me nuts in the last few games after previously rediscovering some good form. If he could finish like he takes up a position, then he'd be a Premier League player, but this was a decent outing in the grand scheme and another welcome return to form. Consistency now please Tom!
12Smith 6.5 - Perhaps unlucky not to start given his impressive form of late, but I think PW had a clear vision for this game and given the result, who am I to argue? Median plus 0.5 again.
WarneWatch - With the lad squandering leads in recent outings and conceding ground to teams around us, this game was huge. Other results di not really help us much, so not conceding further ground was an absolute mandatory condition and one Warne met head on. We can talk about the quality of his football until we're blue in the face and many on here do precisely that, but these types of game do somewhat answer his critics and whilst I wanted a back 4, I thought the gaffer got it spot on in the end. Vale were poor, but they were resoundingly 2nd best, bar that weird 15 minutes of mass hysteria and while we have tougher tasks ahead, another 3 goals to build our GD further and 3 more points in the bank with a clean sheet... well that's good enough for me! Brizzle next week, where the competition have easier games on paper, so another huge test of our credentials, but I feel quietly confident all the same. Well done lads, and well played Mr Warne. Onwards.

Tbf @angieram picking Ward was the action of someone who had watched the game. Sibley would have been the easy and not unreasonable pick, whereas Ward was the correct pick.
 

Where are the Hendersons?

So crap that we’re second in the table. 

Remember Stevie Powell ?

You say the same garbage every week. We don't usually lose, so you are usually wrong.

Do you so know little about football that if someone points out that Sibley is not a full back, and hence we are not playing with 5 at the back, that you post a sarcastic response that the poster thinks of themselves as some sort of tactical genius.
In the same way that posters continually moan about Warne's press conference, there are also people who think 3 cbs equals a highly defensive 5 at the back.
As was mentiond earlier in this thread, thess debates are so tiresome and moronic.
Good debates are around the style of play, which system suits our players the best, do we have the right players, is the manager improving the players etc.
"Why does Warne say the opposition are good" and "why are playing 5 across the back vs this team" is just really boring.
Have we ever played 5 at the back this season? We have either played 2 cbs and 2 full backs, or we play 3 cbs with 2 high wing backs.

Haven't we had this conversation before? Do you not realise that what he says in press conferences is for public consumption and it's only right that he shows respect to the opposition (regardless of how rubbish they may be). Who, in their right minds, wants to hear him say in a press conference "we will will win this one"? Do you think that if Man City had played Maidstone in the FA Cup Pep would have said "we will win this"?
As for worrying, who says he is worrying? I just see it as him as either a) just saying something to sound polite and/or b) recognising that regardless of what position the opposition are in they may pose some kind of threat.
It feels a bit like groundhog day but I'll repeat what I said last time you raised this further excuse to have a moan at PW: I'm convinced that what he says publicly and what he says to the players is very unlikely to be the same thing. I'm sure (and hope) than when he speaks to the players he will be telling them that this is definitely a game we should be winning. However, even in that more private conversation, I'm sure, whilst wanting to instilling confidence he will be wary being complacent.
I really don't understand why you, and those that liked your post, can't see this and seem to take such comments way too seriously.