Bristol Rovers vs Walsall Official Match Thread

The irony in all this is that Garner’s coaching history is with manager’s that played fairly basic football. Pulis, Pardew, Warnock, Coppell and Holloway aren’t exactly Pep clones are they.
Assuming that possession based football has always been Garner’s true intention, then his career has been one big lie.
But then I’ve always thought him to be a fraud.

Didn't watch tonight's game as it's the trophy, plus it's my wedding anniversary. Just had a look through the last few pages. Thought we must have put out our strongest side after seeing most of the comments. Then checked to see we rested a lot of the player's that should be key this season. Ehmer, Westbrook, Nicholson didn't feature at all. Grant and JLM were on the bench and obviously Anssi was on international duty. Trying a centre back in midfield with a youth player making his debut.

Suprised anyone actually cares and paid £10 when most people boycott the games anyway.

Roll on Saturday. That's when it actually matters. With no striker I'm surprised Sunderland are only 4/5. Some of you on here should put you live savings on at those odds, after all we have lost the first 3 league games already.

Brendan Rodgers at Watford: 41.9% win rate
Reading: 26.1%.

BG makes the reading win rate look like a whopper.

If things continue as they are with BG no team will give him a chance again other than as a caretaker after acting as assistant to a since dismissed manager.

I know you meant it tongue in cheek but never advise anyone to put their life savings on a bet. There are some who will read that and bet more than they can afford. Only bet what you can afford to lose although I do agree at 4/5 it is good value, I would expect it to shorten nearer kick off.

Rickie Lambert: "he was a very expansive coach, who focused on attacking and playing football on the deck. He was very organized, but imaginative, and had a great understanding of players. He’s a real modern coach." He said: "Ben's a very nice fella. Everyone liked him."

I don't think a manager should lose his job on results alone but when the staff and players have lost confidence in him. If this hasn't happened I would continue with him at least for the near future.
Wael has made a big investment in him a whole new squad and completely different style of play to the previous manager. If confidence is still there inside the club I would bite the bullet. On paper it looks like we will be thrashed on Sat but we can only lose three points the same as if we lost 1-0. Another reason for staying with it is stability. An appointment of a manager is the hardest position to fill successfully. The Liverpool's, Chelsea's, Man City and United have all made the wrong choices. So it's not as though there is a perfect successor waiting around the corner.
Garner is going to make huge mistakes because he's inexperienced. Holloway did the same before he learnt the hard way and took Blackpool to the Prem and no one wanted to succeed at Rovers more than him. It's frustrating for us because although we may not have a coaching badge between us we have seen it all before and mistakes that other managers have made. On the positive side I think we have two first teams with almost every player having a high degree of technical ability. I thought his subs last night were very good and signs that Ayunga, Daly and ML could be an effective strike force. So imho stick with it until he's lost the confidence of the staff and players and take defeats on the chin. A replacement doesn't come with a guarantee.

Dont buy this inexperience excuse. It's not as if he just stopped playing and became a manager. Majority of his working life has been on the coaching or assistant side. Of course players like good old ben makes the coaching fun by moving the cones around so they look good.

But he is not and never will be a manager of a successful lower league team.

I have just watched the highlights on YouTube and I am concerned about the similarity and common factor in both goals. For the first goal Baldwin does not show enough aggression and desire to disrupt the player attacking the ball allowing a free header. For the second goal Tutonda comes out to challenge the crosser but slows down before getting there allowing a free cross and again it didn’t look like the aggression and desire to stop the cross was there. It raises some questions for me:

1) Are we fit enough - I thought we tired after 35mins in both halves?
2) Is the focus on playing style and good football at the expense of grit, determination and desire?
3) Are we earning the right to play the football Ben wants?