Bristol Rovers v Swindon Town Official Matchday Thread (12:30 KO)

[RJack]

If I had to sum up today's game in word then it would be gutless. Dabo was probably the only one to come away with any credit today. Colkett showed glimpses but when you have no one controlling the midfield then it's always going to result in us running around like headless chickens.
Serious questions have to be asked about today's tactics and why we 3 attacking midfielders in a local derby.
Absolutely gutted today but not surprised on the result. I seriously can't see a way forward with this  present team and  questions need to be asked about the motives of the Hierach at SN1 from Chairmen down to coach.  
I don't give a flying fuck that we have talent in the team because without having experience on the pitch to guide the talent then they will continue to play the way they do with the occasional win to give us a bit of hope until the next game.

[Batch]

Please fuck off Williams.

That is all.

[Captain Beefheart]

What the fuck is Williams talking about?

Chatting complete bollocks. These players aren't fighting. They're folding.

[Nomoreheroes]

Williams:
- Game got away from us at the beginning
- Overpowered and overwhelmed
- Got stronger and came into it in the second half
- Opposition out run us and won more second balls. Over powered us in middle of the pitch
- Looks like on todays showing we had no physicality even with Thompson in it
- On another day the midfield would have put in a better performance
- Opposition better than us on the day
- Didnt take chances in second half
- Might have deserved to score in the second half
- If Stewart hadnt slipped it would have been 1-1
- Thompson in midfield: Tried for more of a physical presence
- Tactical change taking Norris off. Felt he wasnt performing
- Chelsea kids: Shown that they have real qualities we can use
- Oxford & fan frustration: If we dont win fans will be upset. In last games. In first derby we had 2 sent off. We showed passion in second derby but were able to win.
- We are completely aware of what the fans think of us
- We are trying to win every game
- Its one thing feeling hyped for the game, its another to walk all over them.
- Dion Convoy: Didnt feature for long. Will get a better feel for his game as the weeks go on
- How do you see a way out? Key is not to buckle under pressure. Key is to be strong and never quit. Lots of people pretend but successful people dont quit
- Full confidence in this group of players. We are all ambitious.
- We are still fighting together and working hard to get out of this.
- Transfer window: Would love to answer your questions but transfers are not in my remit. I trust people are working in the background to get the right people
- I think we can all see that physicality and experience in midfield is lacking. But its difficult to bring those players in.

[tans]

LW: I've got full confidence in the players. We'll keep fighting together, we won't turn our backs on each other.

Good god

[ronnie21]

Williams:
- Game got away from us at the beginning
- Overpowered and overwhelmed
- Got stronger and came into it in the second half
- Opposition out run us and won more second balls. Over powered us in middle of the pitch
- Looks like on todays showing we had no physicality even with Thompson in it
- On another day the midfield would have put in a better performance
- Opposition better than us on the day
- Didnt take chances in second half
- Might have deserved to score in the second half
- If Stewart hadnt slipped it would have been 1-1
- Thompson in midfield: Tried for more of a physical presence
- Tactical change taking Norris off. Felt he wasnt performing
- Chelsea kids: Shown that they have real qualities we can use
- Oxford & fan frustration: If we dont win fans will be upset. In last games. In first derby we had 2 sent off. We showed passion in second derby but were able to win.
- We are completely aware of what the fans think of us
- We are trying to win every game
- Its one thing feeling hyped for the game, its another to walk all over them.
- Dion Convoy: Didnt feature for long. Will get a better feel for his game as the weeks go on
- How do you see a way out? Key is not to buckle under pressure. Key is to be strong and never quit. Lots of people pretend but successful people dont quit
- Full confidence in this group of players. We are all ambitious.
- We are still fighting together and working hard to get out of this.
- Transfer window: Would love to answer your questions but transfers are not in my remit. I trust people are working in the background to get the right people
- I think we can all see that physicality and experience in midfield is lacking. But its difficult to bring those players in.

Utter bollocks, we are not good enough and haven't been all season.

[Nomoreheroes]

White again:
- Williams says players with stature are few and far between. But we have to look at how we bring players in
- Obika not available is a big loss
- Because of the loan philosophy the continuing revolving door makes it difficult and you have to question whether its the best way.
- Do these players have a great affinity with the club?
- But we have to go this way because of the lack of funds.
- This team is nowhere near the team that got to the play offs
- We're short
- Easy option is to take unproven players from Prem. You would like to think we could get someone who is not getting a game in the Champs.
- Player recruitment has always been the main thing. You can only improve players by upto 10%.
- Can we rejig our scouting network to bring in Conf players, improve them and sell them rather than improving other's loan players?
- Ref Norris off: Talked about Hylton getting more results than Feruz. Norris battled against 3 players often. But none of them got any service.
- Are we pinning our hopes on Obika? This is why we have to look at recruitment as everyone wants goalscorers and they are few and far between

[Johnny Reeves]

Good goalie,poor defence,lightweight midfield,forwards with little or no threat,frontman/manager who bores the shit out of me and an owner who got a debt ridden club on the cheap and got it apparently debt free now.
One person seems to have done allright here,if there was anyone interested in buying the club why would they and why would he sell anyway?

[JoeMezz]

Williams:
- Transfer window: Would love to answer your questions but transfers are not in my remit. I trust people are working in the background to get the right people
- I think we can all see that physicality and experience in midfield is lacking. But its difficult to bring those players in.

This is the problem, Williams knows we need physicality and experience, but he has no say in who comes in. Williams is a puppet really

[Nomoreheroes]

This is the problem, Williams knows we need physicality and experience, but he has no say in who comes in. Williams is a puppet really

That's true. But what he was saying between the lines is that they type of player we need doesn't want to come here.

[joteddyred]

Every week we seem to go further backwards.

We've got a coach who's way out of his depth and has no say anything.  We've got a chairman and DoF who seem incapable of bringing in the players that are needed.

League 2 here we come without a doubt.

[garethgillman]

That's true. But what he was saying between the lines is that they type of player we need doesn't want to come here.

That's my thinking and maybe we are trying too hard to get someone who wouldn't come here and we need to lower our expectations e.g. instead of a champs player coming down, get a league 2 who can still improve.....

I can't see money would be an issue as we had Thomas, Ricketts and el-abd so money is available for players (wages) and will bring in those type of players but it's convincing them to come play here and finding the ones who will fit into the way we play.

[Nomoreheroes]

Thompson:
- First half cost us
- They dominated
- We know it wasnt good enough
- Midfield battle was tough.
- Difficult to press when you are outrun
- When you have creative players on the pitch but cant get the ball for them you are doing the team a disservice
- We were way off it in the first half
- Disappointed that we didnt take chances in the 2nd half
- Inconsistence? Story of our season. Allowed heads to drop when we go behind.
- One of the most promising bunch of lads in the division
- Dont know if physicallity is the thing. Desire and making tackles if the issue.
- Tension from the crowd? If I was in the stands i'd be giving the same abuse!
- Need to do well against Oxford to change the mood
- Tim and 'the gaffer' have said numerous times that we need to forget about previous performance and focus on what lies ahead
- Competition for places is always good.
- Your contract is running out. What next? I'm a fan of the club. Of course you would like to achieve things but contract is a secondary thing.
- Would be disappointed to leave Swindon if he had not led them into the Champs first.

[Nomoreheroes]

That's my thinking and maybe we are trying too hard to get someone who wouldn't come here and we need to lower our expectations e.g. instead of a champs player coming down, get a league 2 who can still improve.....

I can't see money would be an issue as we had Thomas, Ricketts and el-abd so money is available for players (wages) and will bring in those type of players but it's convincing them to come play here and finding the ones who will fit into the way we play.

That's what White was saying: Don't get loan players from teams above us as they dont have the clubs best interest at stake. Get people from lower down the leagues who we can improve by 10% ourselves and sell them on for a profit.

[Reg Smeeton]

 So only a -1 GD, nobody sent off, and maybe only NT getting a card. Jones being injured could be a blow, but at least we've now cover in the Chelsea kid.

 We've got approx 3 days in order to save our season and probably medium term future.   This squad as presently constructed,  "led" by the management, owner and D oF will go down.  The vague hope that the other strugglers won't pick up is sadly wrong thinking....you need to play relegation football, that won't worry the likes of Oldham, Bury, Chesterfield....get ugly. We're not capable of what is necessary.