The Doncaster Rovers dilemma

Doncaster Rovers are arguably the Championship’s most attractive side to watch – but, this season, it hasn’t got them very far. Sean O’Driscoll’s men are 20^th in the table and just five points above the drop zone.  James McMath asks if it is time for Rovers to betray some of their principles in a bid to secure safety.

In a division dominated by physicality, industry and organisation, Doncaster Rovers are a breath of fresh air.

Sean O’Driscoll has built a team of players for whom technique and intelligent passing is second nature. They play a modern, short passing game and prefer a patient, thoughtful approach. In the second tier, it is a rare helping of eye candy.

Their chosen formation is always contemporary and often inventive – this season they have used the 4-2-3-1 brought to prominence during last summer’s World Cup and a highly original, if a little bonkers, 3-2-2-2-1, made famous, well, never.

In short, they are a joy to watch. But that’s easy for a neutral to say. Rovers fans might not agree.

Their team is without a victory in eight matches and have won only once in 15.

It’s a run that has seen them sink to fifth-bottom and left them staring nervously over their shoulder.

Injuries have hit them hard, particularly the loss of top-scorer Billy Sharp, who has hit 16 this season.

This time last year, Doncaster were in with an outside chance of making the play-offs. A year on, they’ll be thankful just to stay in the Championship.

Time to change?

In their last outing, Rovers were brushed aside 3-1 by a Hull City team who typify the Championship: robust, direct and well-drilled.

After that defeat, Rovers boss O’Driscoll said it was time for a change in mindset.

He said: “If we think we can outscore teams, we’re naïve. We’re in a serious situation.

“If you want to survive in this division, the players have to be committed.

“We have to do it a different way that we’d like to. We’ve got to do it with 1-0 wins instead of 4-3s.

“We’ll never be a defensive team, but we need a mindset that we won’t get beat. Then we go from there.

“We have look at staying in the division, then you go from there.”

It is perhaps a lazy comparison to make, but there’s a touch of the Arsenals about Doncaster’s dilemma. Do they stick to principles, or scrap for safety?

A couple of 6ft 2in-plus additions down the spine of the team and a willingness to grind out a few 1-0s would serve them well. But that would be surrendering, abandoning an ideology.

It’s an indictment of the Championship, and perhaps English football on a wider scale, that a team like Doncaster is struggling to make an impact.

Here’s hoping they stay up. The division will be better for it.

Doncaster Rovers, English Championship, Football League, Sean O'Driscoll