I kind of get the playing out from the back thing. But isn't it the case that only about 4 teams in world football are technically good enough to pull it off.

It has the hallmarks of a modern football fad, to be pursued at any cost. And yet with all the analytical tools and time devoted to tactics in the modern elite game presumably JDT could explain why he continues to play that way.

It's a strange one for me.

Not many thinking Pickering was an upgrade on Amari Bell now I'll wager.

1 minute ago, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

Some of these players are utter fucking cowards. 

but it's OK cos we're brave in possession

I know. Let's keep giving them set pieces. ffs.

Think I'll wash the car

look like conceding from every set piece

I'm getting the Brentford relegation match feeling. Glorious, plucky, unavailing victory.

It's always London where the pain comes isn't it?

18 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

I don’t think there is a single player in our squad I wouldn’t rather have as a centre forward (false or otherwise) than Ryan Hedges today. That includes goalkeepers.

I hope to god he’s out wide and Brereton is up top. 

I can't think of a game where Brereton has played down the middle under either manager.But I agree it's worth a go.

24 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Presumably they advise booking online as they are charging an extra £2 to anyone who does. That and it saves them having to do it at the Club shop.

How pathetically petty that is. £18 discount then. If that's how they treat their friends eh? mind you we should expect nothing less from this regime as has been remarked upon ad nauseam.

I really must be stupid. But then as this Watford fan put it so very well:

"There will be some people, unfamiliar with the concept of paying to be repeatedly inconvenienced, miserable and cold, who do not understand how any kind of dilemma exists here. The idea of doing this to yourself is manifestly imbecilic. But for football supporters, turning your back on your team is treachery. Our job is not just to enjoy the good times but to endure the bad. Turning up to watch a successful team means nothing; it is buying expensive season tickets for rubbish ones that defines us. More than that, it is only by enduring the bad that we can appreciate the good. Misery is an investment in future happiness."

Just been reading the club email as thoughts turn to parting with the hard-earned (as if I'm not going to, fool that I am).

You have to laugh:

To secure your seat, simply click below. We strongly advise booking online to avoid queues and inconvenience. 

Don't get knocked over in the rush! Queues if you please! About as big a queue as at a local election polling station at 10pm.

9 hours ago, Penwortham Blue said:

Unfortunately, this time there will be no Simon Garner (2), Chrissy Price or Simon Barker to put it in the back of the onion bag ☹️

and assuredly no David Speedie. Sigh.

How are we not above Millwall. Painfully ordinary. But they do have a centre forward which helps.

at the same time I respect Gavs visceral bitterness. all welcome surely.

should we have a vote?

longsiders v sympathetic claret 

I think SC is the more intellectual but really I'm happy with both. Free speech! Just no more than two.😆please.

1 hour ago, Norn Iron Rover said:

I'd earmarked this one back in October as my annual pilgrimage to Ewood and, despite Sky/Ryanair's best attempts to scupper my plans, flights, accommodation and tickets are now all sorted.

Hoping for another good performance and, with a bit more quality/luck in front of goal, a very valuable 3 points to take us to the final game of the season still with a decent chance of the playoffs.

COYB!

Your mindless dedication does you credit. 

I hope you are a native Ulsterman inveigled into the Blackburn cult!

If an exiled Blackburnian then equal respect. 

10 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

You don't want to play Dolan up front but want to BBD there who doesn't play there or didn't press from the front? 

Why move Szmodics from playing from the number 10 role where he is playing well and in good form to playing wide left? 

You complain about playing players out of position but you just done it twice in your team selection? 

It's all a bit rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic isn't it and there's just fewer chairs as the weeks have passed since January.

I thought we looked best with Hedges left Gallagher down the middle (I know he's injured now) and Thomas right, with Dolan as a wide back up sub.

But it's beyond academic now.

Amen.

28 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

As for JDT I fluctuate. On one hand with what he was dealt, the squad he was left with and Broughton messing about, you can only praise him. I do however have big reservations about how we have sat back on leads at times, his use of Morton, and the daft passing it round the back needlessly. All are worrying signs. 

This is absolutely the correct analysis. Very concisely and perceptively put sir.

As Scrooge said on Christmas Day:

"I don't know what to do! I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man."

I'm hoping for the best and expecting the worst, yet strangely I've gone from weeks of trepidation to actually looking forward to it in a perverse way. One has to try to enjoy it somehow.

1 hour ago, Rochdale_rover said:

Awful

 

So many bad performances

 

Rubber dingy men volume 4

🤣🤣which "men" were in volumes (fleets?) 2 and 3?😅

Somebody (who presumably doesn't really like him) bought my mate a hospitality package tonight.

The star guests? Tony Diamond and Mark Patterson.

Fitting  somehow. The circle of life.

Now what were those generous season ticket terms again...

Now I hate DIY. But I'm actually going to build a flat pack chest of drawers in preference to watching it. And I've got Sky.

It's just become that unbearable.

40 minutes ago, Neilbristol said:

Hi mate. Cheers. The fans made the day. So good to watch Rovers live with our fans but shame we couldn't put some chances away.  I get that this is a project and it will take time for it all to click. Hope Broughton can really support JDT this summer. JDTs interviews seem quite genuine and he analysed today's game well as per. Just need some better players..I wonder if Morton has contractual obligations to play X mins? 

I heard that it was £10,000 off his loan fee of about £300,000 for every appearance.

Might be nonsense,  but plausible I think.

No recriminations today. They played at their maximum. A paper thin squad just ran out of steam. Can't ask for any more.

The tactical change was a bit ToMo, but on another day it might have looked like a masterstroke.

An empty feeling but they were excellent.

I need this thread so badly when we lose.

Love all you guys.