DPL v Burton Albion

Micky, with regards to Marquis, all I was doing was saying what I had seen.
As a former front man, I have been in that position many times and as such I was just explaining what I thought he had done.
In the event of him trying to roll the ball into the net, one of the two defenders would have had a very good chance of making a sliding block on the shot.
A lofted ball would have been harder to get to.
As for always defending him, I think you will find that I have often criticised him as well.

Paddy Gavin?
Nothing on one by Albert Broadbent mate all those years ago.
Worse than the one by Andy Carrol yesterday.

Obviously I did not see the game, but I did believe that after the PNE cup game a solid base might have been established, but the result at Wycombe showed that the structure did not sit on a firm foundation at all, as the first half yesterday rather illustrated too.

In some matches everyone seems to know where the pass needs to go, where the man will be to receive it, then in the next they look as though they have never played together, so is this a lack of system or what?

Rowe has not seemed up to full speed or as willing to commit to tackles since he came back and I did expect Crawford to forfeit his place after his poor showing against Wycombe, so perhaps GMcC’s judgment was at fault for his initial selection. Clearly it is individual performances, whether it be skill or just greater application, that usually makes the difference and in the last two games GMcC might be blamed for putting out the wrong starting 11.

As for misses, the commentators amuse me by clinging to the belief that they never expect Marquis to miss a straightforward chance; his conversion rate is undoubtedly satisfactory, probably as good as Billy Sharp’s, but his strength is getting himself in the position to strike more often than most.

As for misses, have we forgotten Curtis Main, now seemingly taking some of chances offered at Motherwell?

It is heartening to hear about Tyler Smith’s qualities. You would expect defences to be considerably troubled by May and him buzzing in, around and beyond them with Marquis chasing around too, not to mention Wilks on a good day.

Automatic promotion may well be slipping out of our grasp though and conceding 5 in 2 games does make you want to examine what has suddenly gone wrong with the defence.

Thanks lads.
But not for reminding me about curtis

OK, this is nothing to do with the Rovers, but after the game on Saturday I watched the late Premiership game Arsenal vs. Chelsea. When Hector Bellerin went down and immediately signaled for a stretcher, I knew it could be bad. I just read he could be out for 9 months with a ruptured ACL. The modern game is really hard on bodies - even for really fit athletes.
Let's hope we never have any more problems like that at the Rovers.

Hound, on the Marquis issue, I'm struggling to remember him ever going "round" a keeper. He's always been the smash it/place in past the keeper type of finisher. I think that's what put him off slightly, he would of normally stroked it into the very open corner left by the on rushing keeper.
The other thing is Wilks, do you see him as a C/F or a No.10 sort of forward. He does some brilliant attacking down the flanks, but, he just never seems to get his head up. In the previous two games he's gone past the keeper then stuck it into the side netting due to him not looking where he is. As for this Tyler kid, its only one game, yet i could see him forming a formidable partnership with Marquis.

Hi Zigger.
Surely you can remember Marquis scoring “that one” against Wycombe.
The one when he ran from halfway, sat three defenders and the keeper down before slotting the ball into the net.
He did it against someone else as well but I can’t remember who.

I agree though that he would normally take the shot early.
He wont be the last who ever misses after going round the keeper.
There have been many before him who have done it, including myself, I hit the bar with mine.

Wilks?
It is hard to know what to say about him.
He has obvious strength and pace and a very good left foot.
When he runs at defenders they hate it and invariably have to foul him.
He is also very good at turning defenders when a ball is played into his feet around the halfway line.
In some games this season, especially against Rochdale, he has been unplayable but as we know, he doesn’t often enough get his head up and look for a pass instead of trying a shot.
He was very poor against Burton but he wasn’t alone in that in the first half.
He also isn’t particularly good at helping out defensively.
I definitely see him as a striker though.

With regards to Smith, I have been saying for a while that if we could get a predator striker to play alongside JM it would be fantastic.
Judging from the half a game I have seen him play, I think we may now have that player.
His two goals were reminiscent of the type of goal that Sharp scores.
He also didn’t look scared of putting in the hard yards and did a good shift for the team.

I look forward to seeing him play again.

This could turn out to be a good year Hound.
Only problem I've got is my mates from up north keep texting me saying their star man Maja is on his way and there're coming straight in for Marquis.

As for the strikers instincts, I fondly remember a certain BB telling me, son, you've got something even I can't teach. Knowing where the balls guna drop in the box.
Great memories. Now I look at certain strikers and you can see the vast majority of them have had it trained out of them. Best one in last few years was Vardy. All though I'd put Sharpe in that bracket, could never understand why he never played most of his career in prem. There loss our gain.

The DFP have printed the text of an interview with Darren Ferguson setting out his reasons for resigning at https://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/sport/football/doncaster-rovers/darren-ferguson-speaks-about-doncaster-rovers-exit-for-first-time-full-transcript-1-9554603 .

"A break" (from football) is what he says prompted his resignation, steering clear of a direct reference to the playing budget which he effectively alludes to in relation to last season when "consolidation" rather than promotion was the Board's aim, when he wanted the latter.

I think that whilst he possesses solid management ability he is not a risk-taker. McCann's style and choice of players like Wilks show he is noticeably different. Today with a club like Rovers, lacking obvious Championship resources, the club is most likely to succeed by taking some calculated risks. SOD did do it with the same type of management attitude as Ferguson, but times have changed.

SOD...LEGEND

25b