Mr Miserable - or is it Mr Angry here, presenting his introduction to the the forthcoming (mis)match.
Northampton, defeated by McSheffery's Rovers early in the season, have more or less sustained their form since then and are strong promotion contenders. Rovers have not, the current man in charge having managed to preside over a steady decline in fortunes under his superintendence. The trend has been invisible to him and he repeatedly makes extremely unsubstantiated claims apparently suggestive to him of actual progress, towards, most specifically it seems, the better quality execution of the process of football playing.
The standard well-established norms of judging quality have to be subjected to some mysterious interpolation in order rationalise the reaction of both Schofield and now Copps who has joined the Head Coach in his positive assessment of progress.
Football is a branch of the entertainment business, but we do not go along so that we can laugh at the Head Coach's unrealistic assessment of the performance afterwards. We go to be entertained by a good sporting contest with our team putting up a good show, never mind the execution of some process.
I expect we will lose - say 3-0.
DPL v Northampton Town
posted on 25/3/23
Will it be the pain in Zain or will Zain drops be falling on heads and helping us score? Probably the former.
posted on 25/3/23
3-0 to Northampton.
posted on 25/3/23
Haven't got a clue
Rovers 1-3 Northampton
Lavery to score ⚽
posted on 25/3/23
2-1 to Northampton, Seaman to score. I wish he had given Goodman a chance - perhaps T Miller will show why hw was signed, but I'm not holding my breath.
posted on 25/3/23
I can see why Northampton score few goals - it took two gifts from Mitchell for them to score against a pathetic beyond belief Rovers. How come such a team is now second in League Two?
I stopped watching after Mitchell's second gift.
Has Lavery ever been able to control a ball with one touch? After a well-taken headed goal last week, it was a really bad miss from Rovers best move I saw. He timed his jump well, but managed to send it straight to their GK.
posted on 26/3/23
I agree Mickey. Northampton were not impressive, but judging from the extended highlights, Rovers seemed find themselves in possession of the ball more frequently. What they did with it was a study in ineffectuality. Instead of holding on to it or moving it away from the opposition Rovers seemed to be looking for trouble, obviously losing the ball as a result. They never seem to be able to "ride" a tackle, let alone make one. Tackles in the game totalled 34, of which we only made 10.
It is the most demoralising football I think I have ever seen any team play and it is week after week. When we beat Southend 7-1 the home side were not anything like as bad as Rovers are.
Coppinger supported him wholeheartedly in his recent interview and I can hardly bear to listen to Schofield himself because his view of what is going on is so absurdly misguided. He is detached from reality.
posted on 26/3/23
One just has to listen to Schofield's after Northampton game comments to agree that he is detached from reality.
I have not heard Copps' interview - perhaps a good job as it would depress me even more.
posted on 26/3/23
Lies, damned lies and statistics. However there is no getting away from the fact that our position in the EFL is the worst since we came back in to it. You can't realistically put a y positive spin on where we are now. Why can't the board see it and do something about it? It's obvious by now that DS is never going to be the saviour of Rovers and if he stays next season we're probably doomed to follow Scunny.
posted on 27/3/23
THE DFP lists 10 still out-of-contract at the end of the season. Who would you like to retain?
I'd vote "yes'" for Mitchell and Seaman; Younger was promising, but will he always be injury-prone?
"No" on Agard and Williams, and probably on Barlow and Ravenhill (although both have shown talent at times, and could be OK with another manager.
The decision on GKs would depend on retaining Mitchell - can't let all go at the same time.
I've yet to watch Westbrook, so "no comment"!
posted on 29/3/23
Thinking about the current players is somewhat depressing. Mitchell earns his money, but perhaps his shoulder dislocation might have reduced his confidence. Nevertheless I agree he ought to be retained. So many of the rest have got worse with their lackadaisical performances. They could be actors in a film about an unsuccessful team.
You would not have to do much to adjust Danny’s remarks to make his comments a Monty Pythonesque joke.
So I find it difficult to imagine this group under this manager ever being successful. For all my years of watching and listening to Rovers games I have always felt a thrill of excitement when they score a goal - until this manager came along and drained away my enthusiasm and now I feel nothing - sometimes, like the goal at Crawley I felt sympathy for the opposition.
Maybe I don’t want Schofield to get any more wins because he is obviously unable to do his job effectively and the results prove it beyond all reasonable doubt.
I just hate the way he has them playing.