Lets hope its not a game of two halves again and we can manage to put in sufficient effort for 90 minutes. Jon Taylors twitter message was interesting. I thought inferring his prior diagnosis and treatment hadn't been all it should have been. This isn't an area that can be turned around quickly but very important its seemingly being addressed.
No new signings yet to the frustration of many. But then its not easy attracting anyone to join in our current situation. No point in hurrying and getting another useless bunch.
So its another game with our depleted ,unfit and untalented squad! Not an easy ask for Gary to field a potentially winning team against any opposition. Im going to wait to see the team too before predicting but it doesn't look promising yet.

Lots of anecdotal evidence of shortcomings on the medical etc side of the infrastructure. In Taylor’s case it would be useful to hear more about the failed operations. Physiotherapists do make diagnostic judgements and treat and rehabilitate, but the ultimate diagnostic role where surgery is called for is with the physician and the surgeon.

If some of what we hear is fact, there has been a failure in managing the activities of several areas of the club’s organisation.

Donaldo I assume all operations are done privately. Probably with surgeons recommended by the Rovers team.

It won’t be NHS-funded (I hope!) and of course the older you get the more you learn about matters medical and that there are degrees of proficiency in all professions.

It is not difficult to conclude that most of the best practitioners in any field are likely to be working in the locations which offer the greatest potential for earning the most money. To reach such expertise might involve paying more for the privilege of their services and travelling beyond Doncaster.

I suppose not getting injured in the first place is a good start and being in tip-top condition helps you from hurting yourself and to recover better when someone else’s tackle injures you.

So you might relate it back to specialists at the first port of call, DRFC.

If McS had not been brave enough to draw attention to the fitness problem, we would not be aware of the background to the injuries and what has seemed like a lack of effort rather than running out of energy. That seems to be the note of optimism

More frankness about injuries, transfer targets and timings and wider management and personnel issues in McS’s latest press conference, but as he said when asked some questions about staffing, he hasn’t had time to examine absolutely everything at the club.

The good news is that Bogle and Barlow will be back - and it was notable that he said that the former was the sort who would soldier on through adversity. Perhaps the best interpretation of this in relation the feud with Wellens would be that he is a strong-minded character. Ideally one might suggest that such people are useful members of any team, especially one so obviously lacking in that ingredient. So, possibly an error on his part.

And I’ll go for Bogle and Barlow for the scorers and now with those two in the team, a 3-1 win

The smart money seems to be on 1-1.though more goals is favoured also. Fleetwood possibly short of match fitness due to Covid but fitness isn't Rovers strong point either. However I think it will be a better prepared Rovers on Saturday so I'm going 2-1 to Rovers. Olowu or Barlow.

Wow, it is good to see some more positive predictions - although most of us were wrong at Morecambe. I'll go with Nookie with a 2-1 win for the Rovers. I'll say Barlow to score if he starts, otherwise Rowe.

I hope Andrew does not score!

Brad Halliday went there too, but he has only played 3 times and is out with a long term injury. He would have been a useful asset in our current team.

I'm going for 0-0
Got a ticket for the game today.
Looking forward to it slightly more than a trip to the dentist lol!!

Rovers 1-2 Fleetwood
Bogle to score ⚽
Happy to be proved wrong.

In hope more than expectation 2-1 to Rovers. Barlow with the first.

Lets hope its a game of two halves after all. That was dire!

Possibly the most spineless bunch of wayne kerrs ever to pull on the rovers shirt - in fact make that definitely
Out fought out run and second best in every department to a very ordinary Fleetwood side

I doubt that the present team would be good enough to stay up in division 2 - very very poor

70 minutes and a breakaway attack down the right sees a good pass to Hiwula who, under no pressure whatsoever, fails to control the ball and touches it straight to a Fleetwood player and the attack breaks down. Earlier the ball is passed to him and he must see a Fleetwood player move to intercept, but he just stops where he is and instead of challenging, he just watches.
It is heartening when players like Barlow and Seaman challenge for the ball even if they lose it temporarily, but so many of them don’t bother.
It was so bad that I almost “switched it off”.
There may be something of a core to the team, but it is rather small and even with good signings it is difficult to envisage that they can recover to safety.

The Romantics outnumbered the single Realist - who else, but Mooligan!
3 points to him 0 to the rest.
Rovers 0 : Fleetwood T 1
>>>>>>> Scorer > Score > Result Bonus > Total > Pts B/F > O/all
Donaldo>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 40 >>>>>> 40
PDXMickey> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 50 >>>>>> 50
BVZ>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 6 >>>>>> 6
Crazy>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 25 >>>>> 25
Mooligan>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>>> 80 >>>>>> 83
Nookie>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 58 >>>>>> 58
Selby>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 67 >>>>>> 67
LixmKing> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 9 >>>>>>>> 9
>>>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>>> 335 >>>>> 338

Absolutely dire - like Donaldo, I found it difficult to keep watching. Foolishly, I was expecting some of the spark they showed in the first half against Morecambe, but they came out lifeless, and against a better team would have been murdered within about 30 minutes. At the moment I feel like Selby in that this team would have serious problems in League 2.
The DFP were more generous with their ratings than last week - they gave Hiwula 2. I think it would have had to be 0 for Cukur if they had given him a rating.
Donaldo mentioned two "classic" Hiwula errors, but other players also assume opponents will not run to intercept passes.
I thought Smith and especially Galbraith were way below their normal form and too often reverted to sideways and backwards play.
Williams defensive play was a little better than earlier in the season, but he made some dreadful cross field passes, and wasn't it him that had a good chance with almost the last kick of the game but tamely rolled the ball straight to their GK?
I'd have give positive marks to Dahlberg and Seaman, although Dahlberg's kicking distribution needs to improve. Seaman was a little unlucky with that bullet of a volley. OK it was a little too near to their GK and at saving height, but it would have beaten many GKs. Considering his lack of gamete, he looked lively and at least tried hard and challenged the opposition. I look forward to when he is fit enough to start and play 90 minutes.
In his pre-match talk, GMcS talked about most of the injured players. I did not know so many will be out for so long. Would we be in our current position if John, Taylor and Okenabirhie had been playing all season - and now we add Anderson?

I summoned up the courage to watch the highlights just now and the only time a Rovers man tackled was Rowe who challenged the player who crossed the ball from which Fleetwood scored. Typically, the nearest to a challenge is when Rovers defenders stand in front of the opponent with the ball, not even getting close enough to restrict his passing options.

I looked back at the comments after the first game of the season against Wimbledon which I actually saw in Doncaster. The attitude was the same then.

Cukur hasn’t changed and Barlow seemed more lively than most of the rest then and yet still gets subbed. Rovers are unrecognisable from McCann teams and those put out by Moore in better times. You see more skill, effort and movement in FA Cup games from level 5 and 6 teams. So many of them don’t run into space, take on opponents when in possession or to try to dispossess opponents.

We would complain in the past if the result was bad for us, but we would always see a bit of good football from Rovers in games. We got none whatsoever - literally - yesterday and that is the norm. So many of the players do practically nothing.

At least they are not disgracing the proper red and white hoops and their names and numbers are impossible to make out, appropriately anonymous. The awful colours suit the weak-as-water football we have to put up with.

We have friends over next weekend and when my wife said she’d organised an afternoon out on Saturday, I felt no regret at being unable to listen to the commentary. Painful it is.

Let's hope that's the nadir for Rovers. I'm beginning to think it might have been better for a completely new broom to be appointed. GM has been dealt a very poor hand but he's also been part of the set up for some time and making the sweeping changes to all aspects of the club that are necessary will be even more difficult for him. Is it time to plan for League 2 now or forlornly hope for that miracle? On the face of it he probably needs nearly a completely new set of players not the odd signing or couple of loans. It's still baffling though the lack of fight and effort witnessed this season from so called experienced professionals.

While still hoping for a miracle, I think planning now for League 2 makes a lot of sense. To start, what player with any real talent would want to join us this January? I suppose someone from the National League might.
Also when (and if) all players recover from injury, we will have a big squad and there may be a core that would work well in League 2. The problem will be the talentless surplus that will be still under contract.
We certainly have the potential for too many centre-backs, and that is without thinking about Joe Wright.
There certainly are several comments on the DFP that say the problem has been relying on loan players for so long. They can be a big help, but not for building longterm success. GMcS needs to quickly resolve the situation with our current loanees. He says Smith and Galbraith are happy here, but I think there is a chance Dahlberg and Galbraith will move to more successful clubs. I just hope we have the right to return Cukur as well as Vilca.
After the Radio Sheffield comments I looked at Hiwula's stats at Coventry. Somehow he managed to score 14 goals in 54 appearances!
Another question is who is out of contract at the end of the season? Probably just the ones that might be worth keeping!

I see that Cukur's loan deal has terminated by Rovers and that we have agreed terms for 2 permanent signings subject to the players' existing clubs formally releasing them. We are also after 1 more permanent signing and a couple of loan players.
We seem to have learned from the experience in the summer by having a definite cut off date for the targeted players to be released beyond which we will move on to other targets.

Kieran Agard signed. Lots of experience but could be another injury risk based on his recent history.

I thought appointing a new head of sports science probably more crucial at this stage. Agard's form at MK Don's impressive. Let's hope he stays fit. We now need a couple of players who can create chances for him.

The back room staff have a long-term impact and our current need is very much short term, so that must be the priority. We need some points now, not in 6 weeks time. Agard looks well suited to our needs given the fact that he is not getting enough games at Plymouth and comes here knowing that he will be pretty certain of starting regularly. He will also not baulk at relegation, having been in L2 before, so a good signing. We have to hope that the new medical/training/fitness personnel will keep him going. I would say a shrewd choice by McS.