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00:00Hello, I'm the Doncaster Free Press. Welcome along to the latest episode of our Rovers
00:06chat, joined as ever by Peter Katt and Tom Biltcliffe. Chaps, how are we doing?
00:11Fine, thanks.
00:12Yeah, good.
00:13No, thank you.
00:14Yeah, Gremlins dispatched. Yeah, so obviously we've not done one of these for a while. I
00:23don't think we've actually done one this season from looking back. So it'd be a good place
00:28as ever to kind of start and really assess it, you know, six games in, Rovers with four
00:34wins and two losses. Tom, come to you first. How would you assess it? Because I think points
00:40wise, probably most people would have said, yeah, that's fair enough. Twelve, you know,
00:45twelve points return. But how do you kind of look into it in terms of performance wise?
00:53Performance wise, I don't think they've really clipped into gear and put anything more than
00:59a half or so together. The pick of the bunch that I've seen would have been at home to
01:05Gillingham that first half. They were quite good against Accrington, but I think they
01:09were up against a poor side that day. But I've seen, you know, Rovers play better and
01:14get less. And so the fact that they have picked up points and that's what it all comes down
01:19to. I think they're absolutely bang on track and no one's going to remember, I don't think,
01:26anything. There's nothing of note really of this first six games other than the points
01:31total. And I think two points a game, Grant McCann will take that over the next six games
01:36and roll on and roll on. If you go two points a game for the rest of the season, you go
01:40home. And I think that's all he will be bothered about. Meanwhile, he's tried to bed in a few
01:46players, a few of the summer signings. Yes, there have been injuries amongst them. I'm
01:52sure he can elaborate on that, particularly the back line, but he's contended with them.
01:58And the only fly in the ointment was the lacklustre nature of that Harrogate defeat.
02:06But let's look objectively. Twelve points from six. Job done.
02:11Peter?
02:12Yes, I think Tom's absolutely right. You've got to look at the points total and two points
02:19a game, if you average it, that's usually good enough to win you the championship, let
02:25alone go up. So no complaints on that score. I just think I agree entirely with Tom, actually,
02:33strangely enough. I just think there's a lot more to come. I don't think they've hit top
02:39form yet, or certainly what they're capable of. I don't think we've played as well as
02:45we did when we were on that amazing run towards the end of last season in some games. I mean,
02:51there's been signs there. But I think there's more to come from us. I don't necessarily
02:58agree with Tom and what a lot of people say about the Harrogate game. I thought we played
03:04really well in that. And I don't think we've given Harrogate enough credit. When we got to
03:12the top end of the pitch, we couldn't stick the ball in there. And that was a bit of a worry.
03:18The second goal was a bit lucky that Harrogate's shot came off. Well, it was a clearance that
03:26came off one of their players. But I think they set this all out. They're supposed to be
03:36an attacking side playing nice football. I'm not sure they did that. They sat back
03:43and just said, this is on the break. And it worked. And they were superb in defence
03:48when we tried to get back at them. So yeah, I don't think the Harrogate performance was
03:56all that bad, really. The result certainly was the performance overall, apart from
04:04not being able to stick the ball in there. No end product. But yeah, I agree with that.
04:11In terms of, obviously, the only two blocks on the copybook have been, obviously, the Newport
04:17and the Harrogate, two kind of bogey teams that McCann obviously, in the build-up to both games,
04:23kind of said, didn't he? He had an eye on it, wanting to write that wrong.
04:26And Tom, they've not managed to do that in either yet. But it's not grounds for concern just yet,
04:31is it? I mean, like you said earlier, if you win all your home games and if you get two points
04:35per game on average, then it's enough to kind of gloss over that, I guess.
04:41Yeah, it's too early in the season for me, really, to start making statements and kind
04:48of generalisation. But I just think the way in which Newport and Harrogate dispatched Rovers
04:55might be a template that other sides want to go down. And I also have a nagging,
05:01it's early doors, but can Rovers grind it out at Newport and Harrogate and those sorts of places?
05:08And also, how many bogey sides can you actually have? Well, one or two, but I think that excuse
05:14has now been well worn. And let's face it, both of those teams have done, they did the double over
05:19Rovers last season and dispatched them this season, or certainly the first game. So, we've
05:27lost three on the bounce to both Harrogate and Newport, not seemingly having learned.
05:35But it does put a bit of pressure on the home games. But it's really early days. And I would
05:41like to see, just shutting up shop away from home, you'll be able to recall better than I will.
05:47Ricky, last clean sheet on the road, I'm not sure entirely when it was, but I'd certainly do with
05:54one on Saturday. Yeah, it's going back a bit, isn't it? If you're not counting the playoffs,
05:58then I think it's probably April, maybe even March. But yeah, I just wanted to ask you about,
06:04obviously, you mentioned the injuries there. It probably ties into it a little bit, but do you
06:09think he knows his best team, either of you? I think that will evolve as the season goes on.
06:24I think he probably had an idea of his best team before the season started.
06:28And I think that may well have changed now. No, I think he'll still pick teams
06:37on merit, how they're performing in training and the rest of it sort of thing.
06:46I don't think he's going to shut up shop away from home. That's not Grant McCann. I think
06:51there may be some sort of recalibration or whatever, in terms of how gung-ho we try to
07:01be. I mean, on Harrogate, it wasn't a case of getting forward too much. I think we've sort of
07:10built up from the back. We built up gradually, just in the final third. We didn't get the
07:14crosses over and we didn't get any real shots off in a way. No, and like Tom says, it's far
07:23too early to start thinking, oh my goodness, we've lost two games. What are we going to do now?
07:30We've got 12 points from six games. Brilliant.
07:34Yeah, I just think with the best team, I think it'll be horses for courses.
07:40Unless it was a playoff final at Wembley, where obviously everything's neutral,
07:48I think you have to adapt to various situations, various oppositions and so on and so forth.
07:54I think I would be surprised if it's the same team that lined up at Harrogate that is
07:59there on the pitch at MK Dons. Like Peter says, it is a moving beast. Players come in and out
08:06through injury, come in and out through form and Grant has got to be adaptable. He has often
08:13trotted out the line about having two players for every position. He's arguably got more than
08:18that now. I mean, having three right backs and three left backs at League Two level blows my
08:24mind, to be quite honest. But that is where there will be some encouragement, if not lots
08:31of encouragement, for Rovers fans and the staff alike. As this season continues and when the
08:39injuries and the suspensions take their toll, that's when Rovers and that strength in depth
08:45will really come to the fore. On that, as he said, horses for courses there then,
08:52what did he kind of get wrong then? Because I think a lot of us would probably agree that
08:57the three midfield choices at Harrogate weren't right or weren't suitable for that game. So,
09:03I mean, it's just tough on Close, isn't it? I think he's his first league start for
09:07seven, eight months. You know, Clifton kind of faded. Where do you kind of see him addressing it?
09:13I've got a big disagreement about Close because I thought he was the best player
09:23for a long, long time in that game because the game wore on. Maybe his influence wasn't as well
09:29felt, but I was looking at Close in particular and I really rate him as a player. I know
09:35some people might not, or certainly don't, as I do. I think he's made for that role alongside
09:42Owen Bailey because he can play and he can run the game. And if you noticed on Saturday,
09:49certainly for at least half an hour or maybe more, I don't think he ever gave the ball away.
09:55If you look at the game, play it back and see how many times he gave the ball away. And he's
10:02forward. He's progressive in his passing. He gets the ball, he gives it and he tries to move it
10:08forward. So, if there's been any criticism aimed at Close, I don't think it's valid at all and I
10:17fully expect him to be playing on Saturday. Tom? I think Rovers had, going back to the Harrogate
10:26game, which I stress, I don't think they should dwell on too much because that was kind of a bad
10:32couple of 45s throughout the start of the season. I just like to see them have the ball further up
10:39the pitch. I thought they looked, not easy to defend against, but a little bit predictable.
10:46I don't know if that's starting at the back and going forward or starting at the top and working
10:50your way back. I don't, perhaps the one, but then you're changing your shape, I would like to have
10:57seen Joe Ironside in there. I think what he gives you is a platform to work towards, work from.
11:06I'd be surprised if he's not back in soon. I don't think Grant will do it, but I would
11:13love to see him and Sharpe up top. Absolutely love it. From the start, let the opposition
11:19worry about them. But Peter's shaking his head, he doesn't think it's going to happen. Perhaps not.
11:26Well, it might well happen. I don't know what's in Grant's mind, but I always thought Billy
11:32Sharpe before, when he played for us before, liked it best when he was up front by himself.
11:39And Joe Ironside loves that role as well. I don't think, there may be ways to play off each
11:45other or whatever, I don't know. But I'm not, I could be totally wrong and he might
11:51change his shape completely, but I think he likes the shape he plays, 4-2-3-1.
11:59He played off a thing like Jeff United, didn't he? Sharpe, he's played off McBurney.
12:05That was probably their go-to.
12:08It has happened. And I mean, on Saturday, they were both there together. It was a case of needs
12:15muster, in a way, I suppose. It's not going to be on and then bring Billy off. I mean,
12:21I think more interestingly, it's a win or a loss.
12:31Didn't quite catch that last bit there, Peter, but yeah, it's still there.
12:39No, I mean, I thought, I think, can you hear me now?
12:43Yeah, I can hear you, Peter. Go on, give another crack.
12:58Yeah, sorry, what I was saying was, I think a more interesting question was,
13:02if we only play with one up front, who do you start with? Ironside or Sharpe?
13:06Well, for me, I think Ironside is, I mean, I think he's brilliant. Not just goals, but hold-up play,
13:13he's a menace, he's a pest. He'll take two defenders, two centre-halves out the game.
13:18I'm not saying Sharpe can't do that, but I think Sharpe at Harrogate, I don't know,
13:23you'd have to go back and look at the stats. Touch-wise, I don't think he got
13:26an awful lot of the ball, certainly first half. I think Ironside involves himself.
13:30And I think if you're benching him, he's a blue-chip player for this division.
13:35He's benching me as well.
13:38Yeah, I just think he offers so much and it's hard.
13:42And then you've got Billy on the bench to bring on later.
13:53With that, yeah, very hard. Who would be a manager? Well, those three wouldn't,
13:58because they've got opinions on the game and all the supporters who go every week as well.
14:05Just wanted to touch on the defence as well, Tom. Obviously, there's Nixon's out, Maxwell's out,
14:11Wood's out. You mentioned it before, I was going to mention the fact that there are six full-backs.
14:18Maxwell, Nixon, Sterry Senior, Fleming and Emmanuel, who we've not mentioned.
14:24When they're all fit, and I don't know how long Emmanuel's deal is for, it says short-term,
14:29that is a lot of options. And considering he only has one defender on the bench,
14:33usually a centre-half, it's a lot of options, isn't it? Probably too many.
14:38It is when I'd probably play a back three, I think, with a draft left of a three.
14:46Anderson and Aluwu. Yeah, he's got plenty of choices. I don't entirely know that Grant knows.
14:54Already, we're a month into the season and two of your full-backs go down with serious
15:00knocks for some time. And your centre-back, a kind of linchpin centre-back at that in Richard Wood,
15:07is out. He was at the races the other day, I've seen the photos of him, and he's still got his
15:12foot in a moon boot, so that doesn't look great either. But against this backdrop,
15:19we have seen the emergence and it seems to be quite a stark contrast, really. I've been blown
15:26away, really, by Jay McGrath. I thought he was superb against Gillingham. I love his aggression,
15:32left-sided ball, playing centre-half. They come along quite rarely and I just hope this
15:39trajectory can be continued. Yeah, I'd agree with that. I really like McGrath. I thought
15:48he played against Everton, didn't he, initially? I thought he played well in that game.
15:54Yeah, I think we're all right. Anderson and McGrath are back, not a problem. We lose one
16:02game and all of a sudden Tom wants to change it to three of the back. I'm not sure we're going to do
16:08that. I think Aluwu's an interesting one as well, isn't he? I think he was great against Everton.
16:15I know they let three goals in, but up against a lot better opposition. I thought he was very
16:21unlucky to kind of lose his place after that. Again, you mentioned there when Wood's back,
16:26you've got Wood, Anderson, Aluwu, McGrath at the six full-backs. That's ten defenders. I mean,
16:33it's just madness, really. Going back to last season when there was a wealth of options,
16:39too many options, weren't there? But then when you get going on Saturday,
16:43Tuesday and there'll be the EFL Trophy, FA Cups and all the rest of it and I just think that,
16:56yeah, you're going to need them. It's this rest and rotate. I wouldn't bet against most
17:01players this season playing 35, 40 games just because of the sheer volume and the regularity
17:08of which they come round. So, Grant's absolutely spot on that he's going to need them all.
17:14That was a key point as well last season when they got to the playoffs. I think
17:18when that run came around, I think the most anyone had played was 25 games because of
17:23so many injuries. I think that's that longevity because they weren't drained by playing every
17:29week. So, it kind of worked in the long run. But yeah, I think it'd be totally different this season.
17:33Sorry, Peter.
17:35Sorry, now there seems to be a bit of a lag. We've got the gremlins again. But no, I mean,
17:42it's like Grant and Cliff are like yin and yang, aren't they? Grant likes to go for it. Cliff likes
17:51to shore it up at the back. So, that's maybe where you've got quite a few defenders because Cliff's
17:56having a say as well now and again. And Grant, you know, wants these wingers, these wide options.
18:03He loves that sort of thing. And in the end, that sort of thing might, you know,
18:09the partnership might be successful because of that. Because, you know, they're both
18:15keen on different things, as it were. You know, I mean, back in the old days, Dave Cusack said he
18:22loved to win 1-0 every game sort of thing. Well, I think Grant would like to win 4-3 every game.
18:30But, well, he wouldn't mind if we scored four goals, put it that way.
18:34And Cliff might be more the Dave Cusack way.
18:40The last two home games, they've won 1-0 and looked fairly tight. And that's why I was a bit
18:46surprised in the last couple of, well, all three away games that they've conceded.
18:51Speaking of away games, obviously, we'll wrap it up with obviously Milton Keynes on Saturday.
18:59Strange one because, you know, they were one of the favourites for promotion. They've started
19:04really, really poorly. Four defeats from six. Obviously, they got tonked by Wimbledon.
19:10They've got a bit of a run at it. They've got a bit of a run at it. They've got a bit of a run at it.
19:13They've got a bit of a run at it. They've got a bit of a run at it. They've got a bit of a run at it.
19:15Really poorly. Four defeats from six. Obviously, they got tonked by Wimbledon, their big, big rival
19:22last Saturday. So, they're in a bit of a state of flux at the minute. How would you kind of assess
19:27it, Tom? Because it'd be a real feather in the cap, wouldn't it, to go there normally and get
19:34three points. But I think certainly at this moment in time, they're under the cosh, aren't they?
19:39They'll come good, MK Don. I'm telling you, they will come good.
19:42I heard them as to win the league.
19:45The two wins that they have got on the board have both come at home. And I think they've got that
19:52strength in depth. They need to remain patient with Williamson. I think they've recruited quite
19:58smartly. Perhaps gone a bit too heavy. But I fully fancy them to come good. So, yeah, Rovers getting
20:06something from the game on Saturday, regardless of their league positions. The league table
20:10shouldn't even be printed at the moment. I think would be really good for Rovers.
20:18I, as always, would take a point on the road and then roll into Chesterfield the week after.
20:25Grant will want all three, no doubt. But I think Rovers have got there. They've had a long time
20:31to stew on that Harrogate performance by virtue of the fact it was on Sky and so on and so forth.
20:40I just hope that they can put a line in the sand, put those first six games to bed right.
20:49This is when the next batch of games starts and all be well. They'll get 12 plus points out of
20:55that run as well. Peter? No, at the risk of being boring, I agree with Tom again. I think this is a
21:08really dangerous game. I mean, we want to bounce back after Harrogate, obviously. But they really
21:13want to bounce back at the start of the season. And they will come good eventually. Let's hope
21:18it's not this Saturday. So, if we took a point there, I'd be quite happy with that and then
21:27carry on and build. But there aren't any easy games in this league. We made it look as if it
21:35was last season when we just kept winning and winning and winning. I thought there was an
21:40interesting point you made earlier about almost getting found out or teams getting used to
21:48understanding who they're playing against and how to play against us.
21:52And I think that will continue throughout the season. But it didn't necessarily help
21:58teams last season in terms of stopping the run we were on. Overall, I think I agree with Tom.
22:10It's far too early to be making assessments and that. I think so far we've done really well
22:16points-wise. I think there's loads, loads more to come. And in Grant, we trust.
22:23Well, what I would say, Ricky, is that if Harrogate and Newport are Doncaster's bogey sides,
22:29then MK Don's, or the same is true for Rovers at MK Don's or against MK Don's,
22:34seem to have a fairly decent record. I don't remember MK ever winning at the Eco Power or
22:39the Keepmote previously, if in Doncaster at all. I think they might have lost a couple of times
22:46down there, but that's when they had the likes of Dele Alli, etc. And Rovers going through a bit
22:52of a state of flux might have been under Ferguson or someone like that. But Rovers lost last season,
22:59Luke Molyneux scored. But generally speaking, they fare well against the MK Don's. Don't know
23:06if it's their style, the way they like to own possession. Honestly, I think a lot of this
23:15division is you're better off without the ball because teams with a lot of the ball make more
23:20mistakes. Yeah, I agree. I agree. It should be an interesting one. Anyway, hopefully,
23:27like you said, Tom, they can keep that good record up. So yeah, thanks for tuning in. Thanks for
23:32your time, Peter and Tom. That seems a good way to wrap it up. And we'll do one of these,
23:37hopefully sooner than we did the last one. But yeah, thanks for tuning in.