Neal

Brockhall is miles away from Ewood in a rather more affluent area near Clitheroe. Depending on traffic it would take you around 30 mins or more to get from Ewood to Brockhall. Youth teams and first team I think all train there still. I had trials when I was younger and it was impressive back then but hard to remember exactly how it looked.

They're struggling now but can't see Alex Neill taking them down, decent manager, he'll do enough to keep them up but could see him walking away if there's no investment.

If that's the case they need to be looking into his performance away at Blackpool... Stands out as one of the worst performances I've seen from any player at any level.

On Armstrong, although he got a fair amount of goals last year, we still have to remember it was out of position, the lad is an out and out centre forward but we aren't going to see the best of him unless we play to his strengths. Its also worth remembering that he's still only 21 so we need to be patient with him to adapt to his surroundings and a higher level of playing. I predict that we'll see Reed as a regular for us soon and that we'll be doing everything to make it permenant at the end of the season. He looks to be a step up from what we have currently, I think deep down Tony will know this and he will suit his long term plans more than Smallwood. Get Rothwell in, we need someone who can dictate play, we have the graft in centre mid but we need more quality. I feel for him really because every time I've watched him he's been MOM, I just hope this hasn't knocked his confidence. If Tony wants to play more possession based football as he recently discussed then we're going to need our better players on the pitch. That said, I can't believe Conway was picked, the lad should only be playing for us in early stage cup games, maybe a late sub appearance here and there when we have injuries. Starting away at Derby though? Nah, time has gone for that and I'm just glad that Mowbray changed it and has probably come to the same realisation as us. Solid point though, I'll take it.

Get Rothwell in, we need someone who can dictate play, we have the graft in centre mid but we need more quality. Solid point though, I'll take it.

Apologies, yes of course, it's a season I've chosen to forget ?

Difference is we're basing our opinion of Bell in a better standard league than Williams who we've seen most of in league 1. Besides, Bell was voted ahead of Williams in league 1 team of the season.

Can understand him leaving in the players with the work ethic as it sets a standard on the pitch for the rest. Think he's smart enough to use the closeness of these 2 games as an excuse to make a few changes. Wouldn't be surprised to see Reed, Palmer or Rothwell come in. Graham will be on the bench on Tuesday I recon, and he will either put Armstrong or Brereton through the middle.

Thought Bell had a good game against Villa, people questioned his ability to get forward but I recall him causing them plenty of problems in the 2nd half. Personally, I favour Bell's pace and the fact he's an out and out left back over Williams who I feel is a better at centre half. I watched Bell at Hull and his pace was crucial a few times recovering to get a block in to stop crosses, something I think Williams doesn't do enough of. Williams always seem to be too far away from his man to stop the cross and puts us under pressure. All that said, I still feel Williams is a decent player and wouldn't be gutted if he was first choice but Bell gives us more going forward and is still growing into being our first choice left back so can still get even better.

Got to say i thought Grealish was poor, he should have left as he looks to be stagnating there or perhaps being found out to be not all that good. I know TM has a hard job to pick an 11 these days, which is a good thing of course but I feel for Joe Rothwell... Lad was given a chance to prove himself and did more than that, technically he's arguably the best player we have after Dack. Think he would have been better in place of Armstrong and then brought Arma on early in 2nd half for Graham. Picking an 11 now is a real headache, I can't remember the last time i've said that.

Not on that side of goal there weren't and seeing as the wall is in that line of sight for the keeper it makes no difference whatsoever. Was a decent free kick of course but makes no logical sense to give him one whole side of goal to aim at when as soon as ref blows you could just drop someone in there... If anything, it will make his mind up that he will have to cross it instead... Which is what our defenders and keeper would prefer. I just don't get it.

Can someone please explain this to me? WHY when a team has a free kick on the edge of 18 yard box does no one put a man on the f*cking post! He doesnt even have to stand on the post, just stand a 5 yards behind the wall and as soon as ref blows drop back to the post. I can understand it when free kick is 30, 35 or 40 yards out but there's no space to play in 20/25 yards out. Hypothetically if you had the option to put men on the post for a penalty then you'd do it... So why does no one seems to do it for free kicks??? 2 goals we could have avoided. Drives me mad.

How good would we have been with Mcginn instead of Smallwood?

Cheeky request but if anyone has a spare ticket going for today then please drop me a message. Come on Rovers!

Cant say I fancy us to take anything from this one, I think they will have too much for us going forward. With Bolasie, Abraham and Kodja we could get punished. We've had a decent amount of luck in some of our early games with teams hitting the woodwork, better players like those for Villa would have made those chances count. I know they had a poor result at Sheffield United as did we at Bristol but I think those additions will make the difference. Certainly take a point right now.

I'm sure the sale of Jason Lowe will cover it...

West Ham in the cup.

Is this common knowledge? Just found out bout this... https://www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/news/ex-gills-player-denies-rape-31605/

How do you know this?

How do you know this?

Fair post. Think Callum Wilson has shown he can score at the top level although he certainly not world class. Danny Rose should still be in the England side IMO, when on form he's a top class left back. Madison and Chilwell are both fair shouts too.

New generation but picks Danny Welbeck ahead of Jadon Sancho at Dortmund and Ademola Lookman... Joke!

Lad just scored 2 in 2 games.

Punished for not taking our chances in the first half. Can't understand why he took off Palmer, to me he looks a class above on the ball. Rothwell has done enough to be starting for us now, felt sorry for him being on the bench after proving himself more than capable. I can see why people were miffed with Bell but before we conceded the 3rd i though he was having an ok game, understandably people are calling for Williams back but It I'm not convinced that he's any better tbh. We can analyse this many ways but we in my view we lost because we didn't take our chances, pure and simple.

See what you're saying, good thing about our squad now is we can pick players based on who we're playing against. I'd personally drop Bennet into holding mid with Evans and play either Rothwell or Palmer. Few instances I've seen Rothwell in holding midfield he's looked good IMO. Sets up play nicely.