This is a wind up right?

Funny you say that. I was saying today that this was my least favourite rovers side of the last 30 years. With the exception of a few (szmodics for example) I find them a tough bunch to root for, and it's not down to ability for a lot of them. The relegation side of 16/17 wasn't great but I certainly felt more connected with them by the end of the season then I do to this lot now.

Good reminder that Hyam is still our captain. No wonder we are as weak mentally as we are with him as our leader. Also a good reminder that the manager choses to pick him He also chooses to play with a back 5

So assuming the squad is everyone under contract with dolan and gally retained with none of the loans extended. I think the priority would be A starting centre forward A starting goalkeeper A starting winger A left back to challenge Pickering Once you've got those then you can look at other areas and moving people out. If you've got a starting striker then you can look to move gally on for example or cash in on dolan. Youd sell whichever keeper you got a bid for. You've also got the potential exit of szmodics which could cause a rethink. From that your then looking to Potentially replace szmodics A backup striker Another body in cm Either a rb or a cb

Personally would to see us go back to a 4-2-3-1. The back 5 hasn't really worked for us except at Leeds where we've had to play very deep. This will be a much different game and I predict a similar situation to the Millwall game if we stick to the same shape, where we are allowed the ball and countered on.

He bottled one at the back post where there was a goal for a lad his size if he was brave enough. He wasn't. Doesn't have the desire or the instinct.

What happened to Eustaces 'no excuse culture'. He left him on and brought mcfadzean on. No excuses for eustace tonight.

I don't get eustaces obsession with 5 at the back. We are chasing the game!!! How many goals did we score in that shape, we didn't look remotely threatening. We are back to lumping aimless balls into the channels for gally. I just don't get it. I really don't. I actually find what the manager has done since half time completely baffling if I'm honest and I'm now worried about our survival chances again.

Imagine your scott Wharton in the dressing room and being told that you're coming on off instead of Hyam after that. Oh and your being replaced by a geriatric. Imagine your harden Carter and having to look at hyam playing where you should, and they've brought on the geriatric instead of you.

Eustace will really go up in my estimation if he takes hyam off at half time. I don't think there was much wrong with the way we set up but since the 1st goal we've lost our heads. Would look to get Buckley on in cm and get control of the ball a bit more.

In defence of JDT, look at the front 4 we had out vs Sunderland. Hedges. Szmodics. Dolan Gally. Apparently that's the first time they've all played together this season (in a 4-2-3-1, they were all available vs Stoke and hedges played wing back). As they've all been injured at various points. That's our best front 4, if jdt had been able to play that with those players fully fit we wouldn't have been dragged into it. Throw in jrc fit and even pears being consistently available and you can see my point. However to quote souness you've got to wee with the willy you've got and by the end we weren't doing that under JDT.

I'll be honest I usually don't care about a player once they've left the club, even if they leave on good terms. But Wharton is the exception. I'm rooting for the lad and think he's got the potential to hit the top. I love to watch his tugayesque style.

It all depends how you look at things tbh. For some we were in a death sprial under jdt and hadn't won't in 11 and weren't playing well, con Edington goals left right and centre. I personally don't think jdt would've take us down, I think we'd have lost more but we wouldn't won a couple somewhere. Jdt benefited from Adam Wharton but Eustace has had pears and gally available who despite their obvious flaws are still the best options we have in their respective positions. When jdt jdt had us 7th at the start of December I genuinely thought he was working a miracle at that point. Eustace has made us competitive in every game but its about points, and his sides haven't done enough in games to win any. He's had a mostly fit squad, he's now had time to work on shape on the training ground. To quote the man himself there's no room for excuses. So far he hasn't delivered at all other than some 'good draws'. A draw on Friday and Monday would've probably been sufficient but when you lose you need a win to get back to parity. I'll reiterate my post on the other thread. If we lose the next 2 I'd replace with Johnson otherwise what's the point.

Quite conceivable we get nothing from the next two games. If that happens he'd need to be put on gardening leave and replaced with johnson until the end of the season. Wouldn't cost any money to do that in the short term.

Steve kean is that you?

Yeah leave off Eustace. He's only had 7 winnable games. He'll turn it around once he's had a summer and the lower standard of teams in league 1 will really help.

It was so obvious to me and those around me that he should come off at half time. Euseless

I thought the crowd really got behind the team in the 1st half to try and get them going. They didn't respond and the crowd fell back into apathy. It's on the manager / players right to do their jobs.

I've had a think about it, with the injuries we've got there's not an obvious answer here. Working on the assumption that Pears, tronstad and Hedges all remain unavailable and brittain will be fit. I'd go 4-4-1-1. Walhsted Brittain. Hyam. Wharton. Pickering Siggurdson. Ayari. Buckley. Gilsenan Szmodics Gally Even as I type it I shake my head. Obviously it looks very weak in midfield but the other options particularly out wide would be moran, markanday or dolan, of those perhaps dolan simply for work rate but like many other he's not exactly deserving of a start. I'd play gilsenan as a wild card option, there's no such thing as a perfect time to chuck someone in but he might step up and not quite feel the pressure of the more established players. Cm has to be ayari and Buckley simply because moran and garrett aren't up to it there.

We created nothing today. And scored largely down to a horrendous unforced error from a Millwall defender (great finish though). I felt we tried to play passing football in the first half, just slowly and lacking the player rotations that made us a fairly good attacking force under JDT. With McFadzean receiving too much of the ball and no movement, naturally we didn't create a single chance. It didn't take long for us to start hoofing it to nobody. The return of the short corners was also most unwelcome and the ayari one at the end was mind numbingly dumb. Ultimately we are in the position we are due to how we have been run but criticism should be given out to eustace and the players on this occasion. The players are very clearly hiding in my eyes (szmodics as often is the case sticks his chest out) and Eustaces tactics are frankly poor consisting of let's get men behind the ball and hope we don't get beat. Looking very much a waggott appointment right now.

Bar a statement about the McGuire nobody has come out and explained anything to the fans at large. It's a disgrace in my eyes. I also think it's counter productive as if they explained the issues then I think quite a lot would swallow the party line. I imagine there will be something that prevents GB from doing his scheduled march transfer review thingy.

Yeah wouldn't blame the medical department. They will present the risks based on his injury history and his medical. Anything beyond that is not their decision to make.

I'd be really surprised to see szmodics available on Saturday and if he is I'd be tempted to home back until the 2nd half. Sounds as though gally might be fit as too with tronstad. I'd maybe consider the big crewe lad if there is some wear in the cbs. 5 outfield players played 120 mins on Tuesday and with the fixture list as it is we've got to careful there. I'd go: Pears Hyam. Fadz. Wharton Brittain. Buckley tronstad Pickering Markanday Dolan. Gally Subs: wahlsted, o'riordan, Billy, duru or gilsenan, chrisene, garrett, moran, siggy, telalovic

Pears Hyam. Wharton. Pickering Brittain moran Buckley GarrettChrisene Telalovic. Dolan Subs: wahlsted, Fadz, Billy the kid, Batty, duru, ayari, siggy, gilsenan, gally I'd give szmodics the night off, I'd only give gally the 2nd half and hope we aren't out of it by then.

I'll be blaming the ownership tbh. We were 5 points clear when he left. The let's blame JDT for relegation is a bit of a stretch. Ultimately we don't know where we would be if he stayed, we were on a bad run but we had a buffer to the relegation zone. A manger with most of his key players fit and a slightly deeper squad should keep this team up.