Bloody hell lads, cut the kid some slack. Help him or don't, but there isn't any need to lay into him. Take your pent out frustrations out by giving the missus a seeing to or something.

"No ones ITK on this forums" 100% record for you so far Madon - keep it up.

Smallwood had a hell of a game. Maybe shouldn't be an automatic starter, but he's certainly a good body to have around.

If he costs us £10m+, that means he’ll have performed... bring it on, Ben!

The damage was done when we didn't beat them at their place, it was there for the taking.

Wish we could have signed Reed permanently.

Also, any excuse to post this

Alternative headline---"Mowbray cottons on at last"

Dack was ill you could see it and I wonder how many others out there were too. TM has transformed this club from when he took over. We were a mess on and off it. He has stated all along and even before the season started that this is a work in progress. If we went up this year we would come straight back down. I don't mind another year in the Championship if it means we are getting stronger. Agree completely that Jacob Murphy is exactly the player we need. Raya is young and will only improve and become a quality Premier league player. Left back is an issue as is a centre half. I like Lenihan, Mulgrew and Rodwell but 1 more is urgently needed. All I am seeing from some people is a complete over reaction to an extra time defeat by a premier league team. That was by no means our strongest 11 but we went toe to toe with them for the most part of it!!

Proud of the boys tonight. Square legs selected for round holes by Mowbray and the makeshift defence couldn’t organise themselves for long spell. We will not be successful at this level with Raya in goal. Travis was MoM again today, don’t care which sponsor gave it to Lenihan. We deserved better that to lose 4-2. Had it been 3-2 or 4-3 I could have stomached it but to listen to that smug, classless bunch after a smash-and-grab that eclipsed ours at the weekend, well, I hope they are relegated.

How can it be fair and sporting to use VAR in the cup but only at PL stadiums ?

Graham’s work rate is phenomenal he puts players 10 years younger to shame

Smallwood and Bell are so poor. Their speed of thought is far too slow for our current division, let alone playing a team at a higher level. I really hope Mowbray is looking to upgrade on both in the very near future.

Blackburn should be a city. Infact as far as I can tell it is one of only two settlements in England to possess a Cathedral yet not have city status, the other being Guildford (which was only built quite recently). Very simple - if having a cathedral is the mark of being a city - then Blackburn qualifies and places like Preston and Brighton don't. If it is more to do with size/population then Blackburn still qualifies as it is bigger or similar to many cities in England. I can't see one reason why Blackburn shouldn't be awarded city status except it is in the wrong part of the country. If it was in Wales or Scotland it would have been awarded by now, like much smaller and less relevant places like St Asaph and Stirling. It marks a failing of local government that cathedral-less rivals with similar populations like Preston, Brighton, Chelmsford etc. have managed to secure status ahead of Blackburn.

Not on IMO for anyone not attending to have a go at attendances, regardless of circumstance.

I was quietly confident before I read this kiss of death.

Good to hear that the Lithuanian is signing here permanently after the big 5 wanting him. Looks a talent.

Fair. My point is just that if we're saying return of Smallwood = Rovers have lost again, we should at least be losing when he was on the pitch. I thought he did well, but in any case, I think tonight has summed up where we are quite nicely. This team isn't ready yet, but there are signs that several of them could compete given time and a few of the right additions.

Because he oversaw promotion from League 1 and has us mid-table as newcomers, mainly on the strength of players he revived or brought to the club on a comparative pittance? Sometimes I feel like the indignity of playing in the Championship (and, shudder, League 1) makes us overly hostile towards the team and manager. There needs to be a reasonable balance between lowering expectations to realistic levels and avoiding settling for too little, but I think we're currently focusing too much on the latter at the cost of the former.

I'll make sure we get a profit. I just Tweeted Marcelo Bielsa to send me the Brereton on fire in training video. Just wait till that goes viral. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!

Positives too take from that for sure. I’m not Smallwood’s biggest fan but he was probably MOTM tonight. Travis again was excellent but he was gone after 90 minutes, put a huge shift in. 120 minutes on the clock and Bennett is running 50 yards to cross the ball in to the box, you cannot fault him for effort. Reed did very well and Graham and Lenihan also put big shifts in. We were always going to struggle with such a makeshift defence but on the whole I think we were the better side. Hopefully it hasn’t taken too much out of them as we should be beating a poor Ipswich side on Saturday. Heads up boys.

If we don’t invest in some proper defenders this window, serious questions need to be asked of our recruitment policy. Not loans, not ones for the future, not emergency back up, not converted midfielders. Proper defenders. The reluctance to pay anything more than a nominal fee for a defender is really coming back to bite us at this moment in time. It’s blindingly obvious we need to strengthen this area, and failure to do so could prove disastrous... also makes the Brereton signing seem all the more ludicrous!

Raya had a bit of a mare tonight in all honesty, but people saying he's not good enough for us and we need a new keeper need to give their head a wobble! He's made some outrageous saves this and last season that he's had no right to get to.. He's 23 years old, has come through our academy and should be supported. In my opinion he'll be a top Premier League player in years to come, hopefully with us!

We conceded 2 in 90 minutes. One of those was an enormous deflection. There were a couple of times when the defending was not good enough, especially for their second, but there's no need to exaggerate. If we're talking about reserves, how about the fact that we only had one first team central defender available?

Change the record mate. Nothing ever good enough. The desire and drive was there, but maybe not the ability at key times. We were not humiliated and many of the players you slate did well. You really need help.

Conceding 4 at home to Newcastle reserves and a club in turmoil on and off the pitch that didn't really want to through anyway is pathetic no matter how you try to dress it up.

Nope.

Why? Two years in there's no evidence either he or the players have the slightest idea what our best line up/formation is.

Enjoyable game. Premier League class won through but we could have nicked it. When you look at our injured and ill list we were 7 or 8 players down. Disagree there is nothing to play for- only 6 points off 6th means there is plenty to play for. Should be a fun last 19 games.

Shouldn't have taken Smallwood off. Not his biggest fan but thought he nullified them through the middle. Murphy looks like a player we could do with. Gutted to lose but hey ho it's all about the league now. Hopefully the sickness bug clears up and we can put a proper defence out on Saturday. Even after 120 minutes DG was still chasing everything. Would start Nuttall on Saturday though.

Yet another bug that has 'swept through the camp' maybe it's not a new multimillion pound striker we need but some hand sanitisers?

I am getting really pissed with the whole Rothwell situation

Another chance not taken for Brereton. Time for him to step away from the first team, whether it's with the U23's or on loan. He's not ready yet and we can't afford passengers in the team.

This formation/system is a new one... I always moan that too much is expected of our full backs... well, today they seem expected to cover the centre back position, as well as full back and the wing... despite Bennett and Reed seemingly being deployed as wing backs? Don’t think this is gonna take off! if we switched to a proper flat back 4, I think we will be pretty comfortable. Despite scoring two Newcastle are pretty dire! Only looked dangerous due to this silly system.

Why did we sign Brereton?? Sorry but offers nothing.

Personally think we’ve been the better side all half (even in conceding).

That striker we shouldn’t have given a new contract to who’s past it with the assist. Armstrong with the goal!

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2019/january/lyons-seals-st-mirren-switch/

A signing that will cost Rovers £10million+ over the next 3 years and the lad's not even good enough to start in Graham's absence! Didn't see him at Sheffield when he did start but when he's come on as sub, I've seen nothing at all to suggest we have a player on our hands - to me, at best looks like a free transfer 'chance'. Really hope he starts tonight but wont be sat in the JW holding my breath.

I'm expecting a tough game on Saturday. Lambert will have them up for this one.The juries out with Judge after a really bad injury but James Collins in the defence will make a big difference. He could be a " John MacNamee " style signing for them.

Well they do as you could halve that 11,000 (if not more) if it was normally priced.

New Order - World In Motion

No he should stay on the bench where he belongs, we got better midfielders than Smallwood at this club and they should be playing CM/CDM, not on the wing.

Think Evans and Mulgrew won't be risked. I'd go Raya Nyambe Lenihan Rodwell Bell Bennett Reed Travis Armstrong Dack Graham Subs: Leutwiler, Grayson, Smallwood, Rothwell, Butterworth, Brereton, Nuttall.

Pink Floyd - Shine on you crazy diamond

That was less about Tom Cairney and all about trying to build a team around Lowe and Evans and make captain fantastic into something he wasn't so he was worth a few quid. GB did some cracking stuff at rovers but that was a balls up.

" Proper " wingers are born and not made.

Having a Nandos is the qualifying criteria these days.

The thing is, there is a key variable within your analysis. You say we have more or less the same team that got promoted. Would you not agree that, considering the money we had in the summer, that is a slight on our summer recruitment? Which 5 teams do you perceive to be worse than us, and which teams are we above that has surprised you? We have a 10th to 16th level wage budget and had 10m to spend. For all the grandeur about the league, which admittedly is entertaining, it is also littered with crap. I also think you are underestimating the ease to which we got promoted last season. Both us and Wigan finished on incredibly high points tallies, and for us that factored in a really poor start in which we initially struggled to accumulate the consistency that after a dozen games saw us overcome a 12 point gap with ease. The level of consistency in terms of results always takes precedent over the performances. This is something to which I feel is commonly underestimated when people use "for a promoted team." We are a Championship side who even in a season of even for Venkys extreme negligence only went down on goal difference.