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Getting a little worried

Discussion in 'Bristol Rovers' started by Bluebaldee, Sep 8, 2020.

  1. Bluebaldee

    Bluebaldee Total Git

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    Our considerable deficiencies up front were laid bare last Saturday v Ipswich - one shot on target over the whole game tells its own story.

    I’m a bit worried about the lack of movement in signing at least one and preferably two strikers. It’s been weeks since JCH was sold to one of our direct competitors (groan) and the season starts in earnest in just four days time.

    Garner has a very limited pool of goodwill to rely on from Gasheads after so many poor results and performances last season and that pool will be rapidly used up if we don’t sign a striker ASAP and make a reasonable start to 2020-21.
     
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  2. Delsy

    Delsy Active Member

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    He's lucky that there are no fans allowed in the grounds at the moment as I believe if things don't go to plan after the first say six fixtures he could be seriously copping some from that mob that stand behind the hutch !
    Still, let's remain positive and a win tonight might just set the side up in good stead for the visit to Sunderland on Saturday when the proper stuff starts !
     
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  3. GreatWesternGas

    GreatWesternGas Well-Known Member

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    I must admit my 'worry meter' is also starting to twitch, I click on the forum every day (more than once most days) hoping to see some mention of a suitable incoming striker being targeted, but as each day goes by, I wonder if we are going to stick with what we've got. Part of me wants to think there are certain targets in the sights, as I genuinely worry about us, if we dont add to our squad. Our lack of firepower will surely be our undoing this season, if we dont strengthen up front asap. I dont pretend to know much about running a football team, and am more than happy to put my faith in those that do, but it is certainly starting to look a little concerning now.
     
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  4. Gastronomic

    Gastronomic Well-Known Member

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    Give it ten games. You can't tell too much from the openers. Some of the forward play looked pretty good, and the new lad from the no league only played in the second half. On the other hand, the defence looked poor, so if we have to score 2 or 3 a game just to get a result we'll be in trouble.
     
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  5. Captain Jack Sparrow

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    He needs more than 6 games and needs more than 10 games. He is changing our complete ethos on and off the pitch. It's all about sustainability and efficiency. This will all take time and to be honest, Im really excited about it all. Training ground will help massively too. Time is needed for all these plans to come to fruition. Patience is needed by everyone. I honestly believe in BG right now and believe that good times will come.

    However, we wont see anything positive unless we can score goals. We only have Ayunga as our only fit striker and he still hasn't played a EFL game yet. 2 more strikers is needed 100%. I reckon it will be 1 permanent and 1 loan. Daly seems to be injury prone already!! If we stay with just Ayunga then no matter how good we are in midfield and defence, if we don't score, we don't win and then the pressure is on. Take the pressure off the team by getting some strikers in. Simple as that. The Ipswich game, we started with ZERO strikers in the starting 11. We can't do that.
     
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  6. Bluebaldee

    Bluebaldee Total Git

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    I guess the thing that worries me the most is that Rovers have known about JCH’s exit for weeks now and we haven’t yet completed a signing.

    Posh knew they would lose Toney so lined up Jonson as a replacement. We’re 4 days away from the start of the season and we don’t have a single striker who had scored a league goal.
     
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  7. GreatWesternGas

    GreatWesternGas Well-Known Member

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    Starting to really look forward to Saturday now!! Sunderland scored 8 this evening, and we are currently struggling against Walsall. Our squad is ok, can't score much, can't defend set pieces if their lives depended on it, but apart from that, we're pretty good, or so I'm led to believe!! What can possibly go wrong Saturday? <doh>
     
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  8. GreatWesternGas

    GreatWesternGas Well-Known Member

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    Oh I nearly forgot - and we can't take penalties either! <doh>
     
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  9. Captain Jack Sparrow

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    We don't know how many replacements we have tried to get so far. We don't know how close we have already come to making a signing. For all we know, we could have agreed a fee for a striker and then the last minute he changed his mind and joined another club. We just don't know. But I hope its not a case of the club acting slowly on his replacement. I hope we have been working hard to get the right deal for the club. We been acting fast in this window, would be a shame if we fell behind and lost our targets when we needed them the most.
     
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  10. Captain Jack Sparrow

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    Sunderland scored 8 past a bunch of kids. The Villa team didn't use much of their U23 squad as a lot of them were away on international duty. It was literally men vs boys. I would take that result with a pinch of salt to be honest. And our team had an average age of 22, still no strikers who has played a full EFL game, used a fair few of academy players, played a LB in a back 3 and played a CB in midfield. Last night was obviously used to give players more game time and to make use of the full squad. Certain players were not used so they can be fresh for Sunderland. Bulk of the squad was not used. And there was positives too. Mehew's debut and his goal. Ayunga getting off the mark. Tutonda was my MOTM. More experience for Hargreaves and Walker. Daly got himself on the pitch. And BG can surely see a lot more is needed in our defensive duties of set pieces. Best to know now than 4 games down the line. It's still a pretty new squad and it will take time for everything to click.

    I am seriously not worried about the Sunderland game. Yeah we may lose. Yeah it may be another 3-0 defeat or worse. But seeing the bigger picture, short term pain now for long term gain in the future. Things will eventually get better at the team get more use to each other and BG's idea's. Basicly, use the Ipswich and Walsall games as extra competitive friendlies for the use of game time for fitness and tweaks of tactics. Best we were out of the EFL cup early because the schedule would have been manic. The players get a free week for the training ground now. Use the EFL trophy for the same. Just concentrate on the league campaign.
     
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  11. Gastronomic

    Gastronomic Well-Known Member

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    We'll see a stronger lineup v Sunderland, so hopefully the lads will pull something out of the bag.
     
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  12. old timer

    old timer Well-Known Member

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    Is Annsi Jaakkola on international duty or still not fit
     
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  13. Bluebaldee

    Bluebaldee Total Git

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    He should be back in goal on Saturday - hopefully. He was on the bench for Finland’s games so is fit to play and the international players have now returned to their clubs.
     
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  14. old timer

    old timer Well-Known Member

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    Thanks Bluebaldee I was hoping that was the reason
     
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  15. samwise_new

    samwise_new Well-Known Member

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    sunderland lad in peace chaps...
    villa kids did ok, did themselves no harm and actually for the first 10 minutes were faster out of the blocks, they kept plugging away but you could visibly see them falling away as the game wore on...but yep, men against kids, not a fan of throwing them in against league opposition but it is what it is in the eyesof the great FA/EFL.

    pay no heed to the score, we probably had more early chances against hull and could not score (well, two disallowed but you know what i mean) and hull never really got into the game till late on, first game 'nerves' and the best thing for our lads is that there is no crowd to instantly start to complain ;P

    that was also basically our '2nd 11', lads who did not have game time against hull, mainly...although we have looked a much more cohesive unit than in recent seasons, expecting news of a wee bit of a takeover so don't hold much sway to saturdays result...it is gonna be a long season and for a change it looks as if the club might be getting things together, you probably hit the nail on the head though, 'going through change' is a damn slow process and we fans are not known for our patience...anyway, good luck for the seasonand hope you do not have to wait as long as we have for the change to start to happen. ;)
     
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  16. Bluebaldee

    Bluebaldee Total Git

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    The last time we met was our last league game before lockdown. We won 2-0.

    I don’t think that will be repeated on Saturday. I hope I’m wrong of course.

    Good luck for the season, apart from Saturday & the return (if we ever have one the way this bloody pandemic is going).
     
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  17. samwise_new

    samwise_new Well-Known Member

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    the worst thing about that was we had actually been showing a little improvement, then came lockdown...there seems to be an actual plan to our game now, whether there is a plan b is another thing altogether, players bought/given game time who fit the plan, i hate doing predictions but there is a very small outside chance this could be our season.
     
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  18. Captain Jack Sparrow

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    I would have been quietly confident if we still had JCH. But....
     
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  19. samwise_new

    samwise_new Well-Known Member

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    you could buy mcgeady off us, we dont want him and he would improve any team in this league...he does not get on with our manager.
     
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  20. Delsy

    Delsy Active Member

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    Quick, forward this thread over to BG and the team, I’d have Mcgeady in our team like yesterday !!
     
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