The Brereton comment is a criticism of our terrible owners. Anyone but Vale. Dolan for one. Brereton central, even bloody Gallagher. Even Leonard. No doubting that he has limited options, Vale is the worst of them. He would struggle in League 2. But even with all that, there is no excuse for such a performance, one of many in recent weeks. We are not improving.

We did enough to beat them comfortably? Most did ok? What game was you watching?

Absolutely appalling. A lot of the flak has rightly gone upstairs after the last week but that was not acceptable, on the back of so many woeful performances. Tomasson deserves so much stick for another no show, no game plan, no tempo, no passion, nothing to cling on to. If this is a Jon Dahl Tomasson team, we are going one way. Why does he keep playing Vale, he is appalling, offers nothing. Imagine defending the choice to let Brereton run his contract down.

I'm not sure that he will, he clearly wanted a striker that Broughton was unable to give him and he always plays him on the left.

Burnley are 17 points clear of 3rd place, Sheff Utd are 10. Fulham finished 8 clear of third last season, with relegation sorted with a couple of games to go. The number of teams that get promoted on parachute money is stark. The play off format gives more something to play for, but it can't be the most competitive in the world.

Makes sense if true.

With these owners we will not become successful at trading due to their insistence at over ruling managers and removing autonomy regarding potential player sales. There is no point in anyone under them even trying to do that when the owners are so set on scuppering such a plan.

We could go with Brereton up top, an actual goal threat who can run in behind and hold the ball up.

He isnt going to say how shit he is though so id take it with a pinch of salt.

New head of recruitment is Welsh.

If Brereton was in form off the left then I would not move him but he is not effective from the left in a 4231 like he was in the formation last winter because whilst he played from the left he was much more central and further forward. It then gives us the options of Thomas, Dolan and Hedges competing for the wide roles either side of our main 2 goal threats. Playing Vale is like having 10 players.

I don't see why the theory has to be that Vale is doing things that us mere plebs cannot fathom or understand. Sam Gallagher is very average but he is far better than Jack Vale. He is not prolific but he will always score close to 10 goals, sometimes from wide which is pretty underwhelming still but is incomparable to someone with 1 league goal in his career at this stage. Vale doesn't link play at all, he doesn't put himself about, if the ball comes off the ground he never ever wins headers and the ball tends to bounce off him. It often does with Gallagher but defenders would take a game against Vale over Gallagher any day. Vale even with such poor options is not the best we have. There is little onus on you for Vale getting into goalscoring positions which is half of the battle of "creating chances." The onus is not just on the players around Vale to create him chances, his movement is poor. He can't hide behind the "system" as a central striker who has not shown signs of creating chances for himself with clever movement. Dack has also scored 4 goals this season, you point to the "subtlety" of Vale's movement as a reason for that. Even if we accept Vale's movement as a big reason for the goal at Bristol City, and that amble to the side is becoming as infamous as Myles Anderson's tackle! For the other 3 goals, Vale wasn't on the pitch! I don't see where the confidence comes from that it will be addressed next window. Broughton has had 2 in which he signed Hirst as "first choice" in one and nobody in the second.

It is a must win tomorrow for me to end a poor couple of months and try and regain some form. Wigan are shocking, we are at home v bottom of the league. If things start badly on the back of recent performances and off the field woes, the crowd could easily become disgruntled. It's on the players and the manager to get a good response tomorrow.

Agreed. In the summer a conscious decision was seemingly made that Buckley would successfully transition from an attacking midfielder to a holding midfielder and with Rothwell leaving, another attacking midfielder was brought in. There was a semblance of reason to that theory but his big strengths last season were winning the ball high up and playing players in on goal, his best spell by far in a Rovers shirt was as a false 9 with Brereton and Khadra either side going beyond him, as much as that form really nosedived once the whole team dipped and we didn't have Brereton fit and scoring goals running in behind. His main assets are restricted playing so deep and he dawdles on the ball, he takes too long on the turn and lacks the awareness to avoid being pick pocketed.

I wonder if Leeds will go for a new manager. They have a decent squad and are in terrible form under an energetic but rather irritating manager that struggles to get results.

Dyche straight in with a bang at Everton with the same players. Well drilled, a threat from set pieces and a new lease of life. I wish they had stuck with Lampard.

If that's something you are clinging on to, it suggests that there hasn't been much in the first place to cling onto! You compare him to a youngster in Adam Wharton with a similar amount of game time if not less, you can point to a man of the match performance at Blackpool, a goal v Birmingham, an excellent performance away at Boro and a superb assist at Hull for starters.

Underwhelming goal record, Cardiff fans seemingly in unison that he isn't very good, and whenever I have seen Cardiff on Sky and he has played, he has been part of an impotent Cardiff attack. Granted I didn't watch the game at Cardiff earlier in the season as I was away in which he did score a very good goal. Mark Harris, Sam Gallagher and Jack Vale would be possibly the worst set of strikers in the league.

He would have been struggling had @JoeH not mentioned that!

Because my point is that it is partly his fault that he seldom has a chance of scoring a goal! Your two highlights of Vale this season in the league that you have repeated is him strolling into the channel against Bristol City and a shot he had saved at Blackpool.

It had, but I think the main thing this season is playing him further back. A more sensible choice would have been to spend the Szmodics money on a partner for Travis and have Buckley as an option further forward. That would have blocked the pathways though, unlike a loanee who plays every game and the attempted signing of arguably the best midfielder in the division last season on loan.

It was may be, not maybe. The point of entertainment was meant towards neutrals watching us by putting it on TV. I know as a supporter that it is about results, I was bored rigid after that Cardiff game but was still happy. I don't agree with your point that people would have a different perception if it was an older British manager, see how Allardyce was treated, but that is a totally separate argument. I am not calling for no televised games, just a limit per club to think of match going fans ie the most important.

Mark Harris? No thanks. Gus Williams seemingly just recommending lots of Welshmen.

Owen Coyle made over 600 appearances as a professional striker. Steve Kean played at a higher level than anyone on here! The brunt of all of your arguments seems to be attempting to use "professionals" judgements rather than giving your own opinions against mine and others. Are "so many professionals" impressed with Vale? And even taking that as a given, think of all of the professionals that have granted poor players so many games. Jason Lowe played over 200 games in the top 2 divisions before he was seemingly found out. If his movement is good, why does he never find himself in goal scoring positions? I think you also place too much stock in scoring against kids, there are a million and one historical stand outs at that level that fizzle away, it means little. Being a better finisher than some of our other 9's is hardly a benchmark, our only other one is Gallagher! And even amidst his faults, I know who I would prefer 1 on 1. I mentioned earlier that a big reason that Jack Vale has barely had a chance in the league is because of Jack Vale. He is never in good positions. I don't get how you and Joe seem to be so focused on Vale's apparently good movement. He never really gets into good positions, especially in the box.

There may be a couple of/ af few ocassions within that timeframe whereby it The majority of scheduled weekend games should be Saturday at 3pm. I have never once said that TV shouldnt show games. I have long since called for a limit to how many games that can be moved within a certain timeframe. No more than 2 games every 6 weeks perhaps? Thats along the lines of my solution that you regularly dismiss with the "its been like this for 30 years" line. We are 8th now, we are boring to watch, why do they keep putting us on against similarly boring teams like Wigan, Cardiff and Rotherham anyway?