The Bristol Rovers Question

[krama]

According to sky, Bristol have 54% possession!

...who cares....? that does not make you win the matches.....goals do...

Is that so? Well I never.....

[Giorgio]

Is that so? Well I never.....
Get shot down by a some for not making a useful contribution......make what I feel is an interesting contribution and STILL get shot down!!!

..not criticizing your comment, just telling my opinion...I have seen too many football matches where a team played well, had more
ball possession...and lost, cos the other team created one chance, scored and won...

[krama]

Is that so? Well I never.....
Get shot down by a some for not making a useful contribution......make what I feel is an interesting contribution and STILL get shot down!!!

..not criticizing your comment, just telling my opinion...I have seen too many football matches where a team played well, had more
ball possession...and lost, cos the other team created one chance, scored and won...

Fair enough Giorgio....my apologies to you.

[ZENITH R]

Just seen the goals on SSN.

Three good goals - a lovely cross from Kakay onto Smith's head for the third. Super finishes from BOS and Pav too.

Their goal has been given as an og, but it clearly bounced off Kakay and hit their number 6 before going in. Disappointing to concede so late, but not a disaster.

[krama]

Thanks, will have a look!

[sparkypark]

According to sky, Bristol have 54% possession!

...who cares....? that does not make you win the matches.....goals do...

Is that so? Well I never.....

Sky says Bristol had 51% possession. (It did say 54% earlier on). We had more goals, more shots on target and withstood more corners - so a decent night's work.

[Bear-Grills]

...We had more goals...

All that matters

[Greyhound]

As one of the 5,007 at tonight's game, I can report back on almost all of what was an easy win, barring the large pillar obstructing my view from the SAR stand. Firstly, lining up without Smyth on the pitch and with Pavel in a central midfield role made me gnash my teeth somewhat. I am not one of these who can't tolerate players being played 'out of position', but if there is one thing you can say about Pavel, be it the attacking or the defending Pavel, be he on the right or the left: he is a wide player. Even in what was essentially no more challenging than a practice game, he looked like a square peg in a round hole. What on earth are we trying him out there for when Ryan Manning would have been a better fit (although arguably also a wide player)?

As for Smyffy, 's apparent dislike of him is another problem I am just going to have to learn to live with. One of the brightest things about the end of last season was the emergence of Smyth, and now he can't even get a start in the sodding Carabao Cup.

Those two points aside, there was little to get excited about this evening. Rovers were obliging visitors, as they often seem to be, playing neat, attractive football, and failing to take their chances. We punished them down the left with the pace of Osayi-Samuel, and put away three good goals without ever looking like we were totally in control of the game. An early two goal cushion gave us the luxury of of avoiding any dicey moments.

It was good to see Hall back. He is a long way from being the Hall we may hopefully come to admire again, but a few more games like this and he will have his match sharpness back. I thought Ingram, Hamalainen and Kakay also had good games, and it was nice to see a brief flash of Charlie Owens at the end. That said, we looked vulnerable at the back, largely because our midfield left the back four exposed and they were caught flat footed a few times. Cousins had a good game, and Osayi-Samuel was probably our best player. Washington and Smith were pretty disappointing overall, in ways that we are all largely familiar with.

Credit to the decent following that Rovers brought with them - they must have been disappointed to have been Rangers' easiest scalps in a long time.

[White Duck]

Just back.... solid performance against a poor but willing team. Shame for the large support they brought with them but they were never in contention.

Great to see Hall back, he played well and will hopefully remain fit. Baptiste decent, great cross from Kakay for the 3rd goal but he looked dodgy at the back, Ham played well, especially 2nd half.

Cousins generally average to poor and did himself no favours if he wants to get into the 1st team. Pav tried hard in a central midfield position and scored a great goal. Chair involved a lot in the 1st half but faded in 2nd, replaced by Smyth who was willing but didn't do a lot. BOS man of the match, good goal and some great runs: hopefully we'll see a lot more throughout the season from him.

Smith was terrible in 1st half but stronger in the 2nd and headed in powerfully for the 3rd goal. Wash did what he usually did: plenty of endeavour but never looked like scoring really.

And good to see a couple of the U23s get a few minutes too.

Positives all over the place: well done Rangers.

[the big IP]

Another home draw against a London premiership team, hopefully 14-15k on the gate and a few quid for the coffers.

[Don Gibbons]

Is that so? Well I never.....
Get shot down by a some for not making a useful contribution......make what I feel is an interesting contribution and STILL get shot down!!!

..not criticizing your comment, just telling my opinion...I have seen too many football matches where a team played well, had more
ball possession...and lost, cos the other team created one chance, scored and won...

A team will win games if it can (1) defend well & (2) successfully counter-attack

Hence 50%+ possession is not a necessity to regularly win football games

In 2015/16 there was a team that won the English Premier League with a Season average possession of just 42%

.

[John in Hemel]

Who would have guessed that all it took was a transfer embargo and ffp fine for us to take the cups seriously?

[UxbridgeR]

I'm not sure I'd classify making 11 changes to Saturday's starting line-up as taking it seriously.

Yes, it worked this time, but it's a high-risk strategy that could have easily backfired

[dm]

Apparently, last night's 11 changes was, bar post war fixtures, the first time that's been done in the club's history.

[Don Gibbons]

Apparently, last night's 11 changes was, bar post war fixtures, the first time that's been done in the club's history.

Might suggest that the squad is deeper & stronger than many believed two games ago