den

We need some “real men”.

Such a physically weak squad. No one need fear this rovers side.

Are Rotherham top of the championship?

For me two new players in the right positions would make a huge difference. Firstly a central midfielder. Not another 5’7” er who runs around achieving very little and regularly losing possession. I’ve had enough of that. No, we need a solid 6 footer. Someone who does the hard graft. Someone who the opposition can’t easily by pass - and someone who can just give the ball to one of his team mates. A Nzonzi type player, or Graeme Oates kind of midfielder. Then we desperately need someone who can play the central striker role. Goal scorers cost the kind of money we don’t currently have but he doesn’t necessarily need to score 20 goals before the end of the season. As long as he could link the play and still pose a threat. For me he would be someone who’s done the job. Doesn’t matter if it was loan or permanent. I reckon that would strengthen us greatly. That’s what I would try to do. We supposedly now have staff with the ability to recognise our needs and target the right players. I get the impression that they don’t know what they’re doing any more than anyone else over the last decade or so.

I wonder what Vinny Jones or Norman Hunter would have thought about that?

If you’re sure both valves are open could it be sludge in the rad? Could try taking it off and using a hose to clear it.

I’d much prefer referees and the authorities that help interpret the laws of the game to begin to put the fans first in everything they do. You guys pay a fortune to watch Rovers. You’re being cheated out of the entertainment of the game. The only people who lose out with these trivial red cards is you - the fans. red cards should be given when the referee really has no other option.

Buckley shouldn’t have done what he did. That’s not the discussion. But honestly, do we want games ruined for spectators for something as trivial as that? - no. was it really violent conduct? - no. Did the referee have any other option? - Of course he did.

The damning statistic for me Matty is the 11 defeats. Good teams simply don’t lose that many games before the new year.

3rd in the league in December means nothing. You have to look at the full picture unless you’re happy to kid yourself.

Not rovers related, but still nostalgia. Probably the greatest Brazilian of all time.

Who did you think we’d replace him with - Alex Ferguson?

Bottom line to all this is the squad just isn’t of the standard required. Until that changes things can only deteriorate I.M.O.

Yes, possibly. Two points on that… 1) we caught them by surprise with our approach. They just didn’t know how to combat it 2) They looked a poor side, but England might just have made them look poor. The key is how quickly England scored their runs. It gave them long enough to take 20 wickets in all three tests.

McCullum and Stokes instilling an approach to test cricket that I don’t think has been seen before. They aren’t interested in drawing any game, it’s either win or lose - and players individually failing is completely tolerated. There’s no criticism of them whatsoever. So there is only one approach which is to try to win the game whatever the situation and by all accounts the players to a man have bought into it and are benefitting immensely from it. I think we’re in for an amazing era. Let’s see where we go. One things for certain, if this current success continues every other test side will have to follow.

Maybe going to be a bit unpopular here after a good away win. I’ll back @J*B here, Norwich we’re abysmal. If you want opponents to face when things aren’t going great, then games against opponents like todays are a great help. Rovers worked their socks off to a man, from the KO. Absolutely the opposite from their performance against North End. Defensively we coped fairly well but Norwich just didn’t test us like I’m sure they could have done. Nobody let themselves down today for sure but I just thought our quality on the ball wasn’t anywhere near good enough, or anywhere near as good as it should be. However, after the latest results/performances we’ll all settle for the result. As I said, built on pure graft but you can’t get away with just that every game.

They’re as bad as us

Take away the effort- which should be there anyway - I thought our quality on the ball was very poor.

The top gear lads didn’t find it too friendly.

Oops, changed it!

It’s brilliant to watch and the desire to play attractive, attacking test cricket is fantastic to see. England rightly see themselves as leaders in a new era, a new approach. If they are successful and blow teams away regularly other sides will have to follow. As in any professional sport though, It “IS” about results. Play this way and win and you’ll be number one in the world. Every side will fear you. Play this way and start losing regularly and nobody will fear you. You’ll become cannon fodder and derided. As for now, it’s superb. Ben Stokes currently looks like the best cricket captain in the world.

He excites me. He doesn’t look like a footballer though, does he! If I didn’t know him and he was leant on the bar in the queens- and somebody told me he was currently the best footballer in the world, I would never, never, ever believe you. Id have put him down as an Amazon warehouse worker.

What I’m seeing now is a little different to anything I’ve seen in all the years I’ve watched Rovers. We’ve had some really poor managers, really poor players and really poor teams. I’ve never seen any rovers side contribute so much to their own downfall as this lot do. Week after week, through trying to do things they obviously can’t do, they’re gifting the opposition goals and losing games - and they carry on doing it. Madness.

The recent transfer “policy” makes the signings of the likes of Endean, Fryatt, Mcnamee and Branagan some kind of golden era.

TBH building from the back is good, it’s how most international teams play now. JDT’s problem is that he doesn’t have the players to play that game. He can try week after week to get them to do it but doesn’t know what to do when it’s not working. He came into this with no experience of championship football and it shows. I don’t believe he’ll turn this around.