The more outside influences, that are aware of the problems at the Rovers the better.

Agreed entirely this is an income generating competition each round potentially =£ our players need mins together especially after watching the new ones yesterday we are Rovers we should be going for this competition

Alright, watched the game on RoversTV now, here's my ratings: Toth (6) - good shot stopping but poor distribution. Doesn't command his area well as he often went for punching the ball away from several crosses. Needs to stop chipping the ball in own half. Ribeiro (6) - is supposed to be part of a back three when in possession but got caught out of position a few times during first half when roamed into central midfield for some reason. McLoughlin (6,5) - looked solid, didn't make any clear errors from what I could see. Hyam (5,5) - doesn't look comfortable on the ball. A liability whenever we decide to play out from the back. Alebiosu (7) - good going forward when using his pace. Fouled in the lead-up to their goal as he was being held. Needs to work on his crosses. Tronstad (4) - surprisingly bad performance. Several misplaced passes in which one of them nearly led to a goal. Travis (5) - was at fault for not stopping Price going on the inside for their goal; looked like he didn't even try. Has great work rate but zero drive going forward. Has his mind elsewhere? Hedges (1) - Completely anonymous throughout ninety minutes. Zero attacking intent, zero quality going foward. The man is stealing a living at this point. De Neve (4) - struggled badly with the physical part of the game. Poor deliveries from set pieces as well. Henriksson (3) - thrown in straight away and looked way off it. Were more interested in fouling opponents. Ohashi (6) - Tried to work out chances on his own with limited service. Probably should've gotten a penalty in the first half. Subs: Kargbo (8) - possesses great pace, managed to get several WBA players booked whenever he made an attacking run. Poor crosses however and will have to work on it. Think he would be way more effective and dangerous playing on the right hand side instead to attack the half-space and drive into the penalty box as his decision-making isn't always that good when cutting inside from the left. Miller (6) - has a great long throw but doesn't look very athletic or technical. Is not suited playing as a fullback unless he forms a back three when in possession. Gueye (6) - won a few aerial challenges but didn't get enough service from his teammates when entering the box. Needs to be closer to opposition defenders to push down their defensive line. Tavares (N/A) - played last ten minutes but was rarely involved in the game. Tactical approach (3) - poor from Ismael tactically, thought the team were second-best in the first thirty minutes. WBA were more aggressive in winning the challenges, had more intensity and more attacking intent during that period. Tempo went down quite a lot during second half, we controlled possession but weren't particularly close in creating any chances of note. Felt there was a lack of ideas and creativity when entering final third and just went for long balls in the last ten minutes when chasing the game. Hopefully it gets better when Cantwell is back. Also find it laughable that we lost so many challenges and duels having recruited players for that specific purpose all summer.

30k must be Wrexham

All part of Rovers 'layering' this. Trying to hoodwink fans into believing that other clubs are throwing around ridiculous amounts of money and to try and persuade fans that we are doing the right thing by not matching that. They need to come up with a convincing reason for his departure at this juncture, so grossly exaggerated figures will fit will with the 'poor little Rovers can't compete with that' narrative.

Bollocks

They mustn’t have been watching yesterdays game then.

Sorry to intervene as I am newish on the board but why in the name of God does Chaddy need time to sit down and read them? It takes 5 minutes to read both sets of minutes and make an opinion either way. Genuine question are you (Chaddy) a club plant/mouthpiece? Seems you see or hear no wrong at Ewood?

This is a much better post than was originally being made, which led to my reaction. I too would like some clarity on why the minutes differed between the three versions.

And if they are of equal ability then fine, but when you’re in the pound shop market I’d rather prioritise mobility, defensive situational awareness, timing of when to make a tackle and the ability to head the ball away. It might be because we rarely have had that left/right combo throughout the 90s and 2000s, when we generally were defensively good, that I feel it’s over-appreciated.

Travis has been offered 30k a week by another championship club.

Wharton has something that only the absolute top players have. Vision. It’s why he doesn’t need two touches. You can’t coach that.

When's the draw for RD2

The gap between the 2 teams that night despite the scoreline was immense. It would have taken more than Wharton to change that. Zubimendi is very good. Not sure Wharton is better than him yet. And certainly not far better. Mainoo is not particularly good.

I didn't really rate Saxton tbh but 6th and 5th is still better than we've managed in the last 15 years. I was thinking more specifically of the Don Mackay era.

Gotta take down the guards before you storm the castle

Where ever its played I say we turn out for it.

Bit of revisionism methinks. Under Saxton, before Jack started paying for stuff, we finished 10th, 11th, 6th, 5th 19th and 12th, not much different to our last few years.

No, one bloke, just a bit schizo. Any news about comings or goings, amongst the intra-cranial bickering?

But it won’t be true at all levels of football. The further you go down the heap the less two footed players can be. How many times have you seen a right footed defender cock up a clearance because a) they miss kicked because they’re weaker on their left side b) they tried to make what should be a left footed clearance into a right footed one. Also it’s not just about passing the ball out efficiently, it’s also about tackling off your dominant side and being comfortable jockeying opponents down that side. Not ever right footer is effective at perfoming these tasks on the left flank.

That will be reflective at all levels of football. Craig Short and and Henning Berg were both right footed last time we got out of this league. If you have a choice of centre backs you think are even then get the left footer, but ultimately you should be getting the best defenders we can you can with our budget, not limiting our options by eliminating approximately 80% of the potential centre backs we could be looking at.

My objective is not just to parrot what Ismael says he wants. I can have my own opinions outside of this. It is allowed. I don't see how resigning Forshaw and Hedges fits into any of these profiles for example. Just wastes resources on inadequate players.

It’s not a witch hunt, it’s you calling it that not me. I just want to know, why the two sets of minutes differ so much and maybe you will also when you get round to reading them both.

You’re quoting players of absolute top level international class. They’re probably extremely comfortable playing off either side. Unfortunately we aren’t shopping in that market anymore. In our current impoverished state having a left footer and right footer makes sense. You only had to watch McCloughlin passing it out yesterday to realise that.

They’re ambivalent about it. If the balance sheet dictates it they’ll be good with that.