Brereton missed an absolute sitter. Just a tap in and skied it.

Objectively. Scored a lot of goals in Belgium. Hasn’t in the PL. Unknown quantity in the championship. I don’t know if it’s dumbing down or sheer desperation for a centre forward who knows where the net is after so long.

Why don't we come back from going a goal down? Answer to that's easy. Not enough goals.

They looked good when they were here, they clearly wanted it more. I remember wondering why I was there when the third went in, some of the players hadn't wanted to be there since kick off it seemed. Travis was awful at fullback after doing an okay job previously. Carter was thrown in at CB, and was clearly not up to the standard. Adam Wharton was knackered from the game a few days earlier. Dack was played too far forward. Hirst up front and despite people saying he showed "good touches", he was awful. Needlessly tip tapping about at the back. Then Edun came on and managed to be the worst player on the pitch for twenty odd minutes. Notably we aren't too much better off now. At least Hirst isn't an option.

Especially upfront more like. I hope I don't have to witness Gallagher and Vale upfront together ever again.

Probably wishing we had a decent fucking striker.

Mowbray neglected both in his last two years. Liked his wingers.

It's not completely bullshit. They were misled by a handful of opportunists who saw them coming. Then after they'd alienated the football world they had to scrape the bottom of the barrel and a new bunch came along for an easy pay cheque. That's no reason to defend them though, they could have done something about it but let things slide on both occasions. The buck stops with them. And they've done very little to right the wrongs that were done. Their recruitment is still based on their business model, which doesn't work for football. They have no respect for the fans, the club or its history. Stubborn know it alls with a silver spoon to bail them out. They'll always be known as laughable failures in this country.

No one knows. Too stubborn to write it off as a failed experiment. What they are doing is ordering a Premier League team with a side order of attractive football and player sales, whilst wanting to do it at all at a cut price. They'll hire expensive yes men to say the right things which seems more important than actually getting the job done. So they spend millions every year on the same or worse results as the last. In short they want to do it, but it's got to be done their way. And their way is all wrong but anyone in a position to tell them won't as they are picking up a decent cheque for keeping their gobs shut.

Gallagher was never worth £5m.

Gallagher and Szmodics were massively over priced.

I'd say that's as much of a problem with the quality of our forwards.

"However, he is yet to register a goal in the league" sounds perfect.

Not good enough Gav.

Who scores the goals from this midfield maestro?

We're still bearing the brunt of years of a lack of investment in goalscorers I'm afraid. It's all so predictable too and not just an issue with Mowbray, Broughton and Tomasson. I'm all for clubs supporting their managers but Waggott should have been demanding we have a number 9 when Mowbray was trying to buy up every cheap 5ft 6 winger he could.

I just don't see how you can adapt with those players. Stop faffing about on the back fine, would be happy to see that but do we go more direct? If we do who scores the goals (sorry for repeating myself)? Which of our fullbacks consistently protect the box from crosses coming in? I strongly believe we've got a squad were we have a core of 7 or 8 players we can rely on, there's a smaller group of inconsistent players like Buckley, Hedges and Dolan, and the rest are there to rotate or step in for an injury. Kaminski Hyam Ayala Brittain Wharton Brereton Dack Who else would you keep for your promotion winning eleven? It's quite damning that I wouldn't rely on any of the others.

For a team with any aspirations of being promoted, Gallagher shouldn't be anywhere near the first team. He did have a decent chance today and fluffed it so I don't know how playing him as a number 9 would help things. He'd still miss more than he hits. He'd just miss more often. Sounds ludicrous but with better forwards we win that in the first half today. Same as Boro.

It was more a point on our ludicrous transfer strategy than you really. You can get away with having an off day if you have players that don't fluff their chances. That's the difference between the winners and losers.

I've been watching Gallagher for long enough, and enough glimpses of Vale to know we'd struggle to score today. Seeing two kids in midfield also gave it away for me. I feel sorry for you if you walked into that one without realising what you were getting into.

I agree with all that but I reckon even with everyone fit our first 11 is imbalanced due to the lack of firepower and weak in centre midfield. Relying too much on kids, too many passengers and not enough goals. It was never going to sustain itself. And we all knew that, you only have to look back on what people were saying at the end of last season and in pre-season. Sorry if anyone thinks I'm being too objective. Inside I'm crushed.

Yeah but no one can tell me that when they saw Morton and Garrett as the heartbeat of the team it filled them with delight. That was my point. Morton would be fine if we weren't relying on his efforts so much. Same as Garrett would be fine to bring in for the last 15 to get experience. We shouldn't be starting him. I've never known a Rovers team to rely on teenagers so much.

Who scored?

He's not the one signing them so no worries there.

I didn't think we'd get battered but I thought there was a good chance we'd get beat. Look at the state of that teamsheet. Look at the state of the subs bench. I don't expect us to win any games with Vale and Gallagher upfront. Garrett and Morton in the middle and JRC and Pickering as fullbacks. How the team has fallen.