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Ismael doesn't seem to do logic at times. Pickering would have been my choice for the Derby game for sure but he seems to be completely our of favour as does Ribeiro.

Pratt was playing in grassroots football up until 2019 which possibly accounts for him being a bit of a throwback compared to Litherland & Atcheson who both grew up in the academy system

Logically that should have swung things Pickering's way shouldn't it?

I believe Litherland would have been the centre half to step up to the first team based on what I have seen of him and Pratt but injury has stopped him progressing. For me he is better equipped to handle all aspects of Championship football. What might have swung things in his favour is the fact he is left footed given Ismael's penchant for left and right footers at centre back. However Pratt got his chance and took it exceptionally well so right now he has the shirt and (in the short term) it's his to lose.

Why?

I suppose it will depend on how much they need an excuse to not sign anyone.

The Tom Robinson Band - Glad to be Gay

Surely you don't think that side is so good that we could have afforded to play with 10? 😉

Top quality summary once again from @DE. 👌

Matchday 16 Summarised Read the full article on the front page and let us know your thoughts.

They managed to do so with Ohashi, hopefully whoever was competent enough to do so has not been hounded out of the club since

I'd be inclined to sit him out regardless

🤣

Any news on if Miller is ok to play?

But but we're in a playoff spot 😂😂💀

King would have been injured. Beckham wouldn’t have got back. Mourinho had it right - he wanted to sign Gerrard and intended to play Gerrard and Lampard as CMs. “They’re good enough to work it out over time”, he said in a later interview. No need to be too clever, play your best 11 players.

Whitbread acquired Duttons in the 1960's but, if my memory is correct, stopped their brewing operation in High Street (Blackburn town centre) in the late 1970's - Samlesbury was one of Whitbread's 'super' breweries and came into operation the the early 1970's. Whitbread sold their beer business to the Belgian owners of Stella Artois about 25 years ago and that business is now part of the biggest brewer in the world (Anheuser-Busch InBev) - from little acorns...!!! Lion Brewery was taken over by Matthew Brown about 100 years ago who in turn were taken over by Scottish & Newcastle in the 1990's - S & N closed the site at Little Harwood within 2 or 3 years of their acquisition. Thwaites was Blackburn's oldest brewer with its iconic Christmas Star on its roof. Sadly, Thwaites' beer business declined pretty rapidly and a number of its brands were sold to Marstons Brewery about 10 years ago who in turn are now part of Carlsberg. All that remains of the Thwaites brewing operation is a craft brewery at Mellor Brook but Thwaites still do have a number of hotels and pubs. Talking of pubs and pub runs, I would think there are a good number on here who will remember the 'Revidge run' starting at Bulls Head, Wilpshire, up Pleckgate Road, along Revidge Road and finishing at Woodlands (top of Preston New Road). Of those 10 / 12 pubs, sadly I think there are only 3 / 4 still open. A blurry blast it was!!!

Only six points now with Sheffield United winning today (albeit with us having a game in hand). With that said, I'm not too concerned at the moment. Portsmouth and Oxford are going to struggle this season. Portsmouth will probably be okay in the end, but Oxford will do well to stay up again. I don't think their squad as a whole is Championship standard, so Rowett is going to have to pull everything out of his bag of tricks to keep them safe. Swansea are looking poor again - a lot riding on the hiring of Vitor Matos, who has only ever managed one club in his short career in the Portuguese second tier. Could be an inspired appointment, could be an absolute disaster. Massive risk. Sheffield United had a good win today, but it was Sheffield Wednesday so I'm not reading anything into that. Their overall form, even since Wilder arrived, is still pretty dire. I expect Wilder will keep them in the division, but it hasn't been the swift ascent to safety that many were predicting when he arrived. January will be crucial for them. I'm not convinced Philippe Clement of all people is the answer to Norwich's problems. He's been failing in management since 2022 and doesn't have any track record of reviving struggling clubs. He's almost exclusively been hired at clubs which already have a sizeable reputation and aren't in serious danger of being relegated. Maybe it'll work, but his previous work doesn't really align with what Norwich need, so it's a shot in the dark. I don't expect many others will get dragged in, but WBA are falling fast with a rookie manager (Ryan Mason) in charge. I don't think realistically they're going to get sucked into a relegation battle, but if we won our game in hand we'd be above them, and the table doesn't lie. Rovers should have enough to stay up this year, assuming our injury situation doesn't get too serious and Venky's don't do their usual and sabotage us in January. Neither of those scenarios are guaranteed by any means, so I remain concerned, but at this moment in time we look reasonably OK.

I think Ekitike is a decent signing, but they absolutely didn't need Isak. They should have cut off that pursuit the moment he downed tools and went on strike. It's not like £125m was a cut-price deal. Salah hasn't been great but he's still their top scorer and joint-top assists so far this season (granted that's only 2, but still), so 🤷‍♂️ he's a 33 year old right winger - if they're still relying on him to drive everything then they only have themselves to blame after the amount of money they've spent. I actually thought Salah was one of the only Liverpool players to come out of the Forest game with any credit. There are a lot of players ahead of him in terms of needing to be criticised. he's obviously declining as any player begins to at that age, but I don't think he's even close to being their main issue.

They haven't had much to celebrate this season tbf. Every game in the Championship this weekend had a player scoring their first of the season, with the exception of Ipswich vs Wrexham in which nobody scored. That can't have happened too often.

I distinctly remember De Bruyne and Salah failing to make much of an impact at Chelsea once upon a time

Yeah it’s getting beyond pathetic at this point now 😂. Ain’t it funny to see their meltdown losing to a rovers side who’s lower than them 🤡🤡🤡

Not sure the victory is worth the level of celebration no matter the opponent. Imagine if they go down!

I think you’ve cracked the dilemma there.

That smell always reminds me of walking into town with my grandma heading towards the old market.