12 minutes ago, BlackburnEnd75 said:

I'm a little disheartened by Mowbrays comments about foreign markets. You look at Norwich and a key portion of their squad have been plucked cheaply from the German 2nd division, like with France a few years ago there's always a few markets with good value for money. He must have reasons for doing this probably due to a poor scouting structure. But he also said that he's unlikely to go for lower league players like say North End or doing. It gives a very limited pool of players to pick from especially when you consider we aren't throwing big money in wages around.

It's quite concerning isn't it. Especially when you look at some of the players we've picked up from abroad for cheap. There's a lot of value out there. 

13 minutes ago, Tom Stinny said:

Is it Brereton on loan for the rest of the season? To get game time.

It's Downing. Madon mentioned it on a previous page.

1 hour ago, Tom Stinny said:

Your going to play a right footed right midfielder with average pace and poor defending at left back over another player who is left footed but also poor. 

 

Need to be real do you honestly think the manager will do that. As for never playing for us again that's a wild thing to throw out as well.

 

I'll guarantee you now that William's will start at left back. Also for anyone else whose suggesting Mulgrew as a left back must never watch them play. He'd get destroyed and taken off by half time. 

 

He's no pace. Injury prone and would get no protection. That's why Mowbray plays two holding midfielders because our centre halves can't get around the pitch with pace.

In all fairness to Mulgrew, when he first signed for us he was playing left back and looked great there. Pace has never been a strength of his, but he reads the game well. Gael Givet never had any pace, yet he starred for us at left back. 

3 hours ago, Neal said:

Shamre really, we had one in Josh King but Bowyer wasted him and every time I went to Ewood many fans hounded him. 

With Rovers, King had everything but end product. He probably didn't get the number of games his potential deserved down the middle, but he was really quite woeful for us at times. Bar a stand out season with Bournemouth, would you say he's anything special now? 

22 hours ago, only2garners said:

I'm afraid it is my opinion and sadly, it's the only one I've got. Although in this case there were one or two more on the game thread who agreed Smallwood played well.

Maybe I've missed some outstanding performance away from home but I've not seen anything from Rothwell that could be described as a positive impact. I wonder whether it's the old adage about a player sat on the bench getting better and better in fans' minds as they see the shortcomings of those on the pitch.

I've not been overly impressed with him either. I think the last time I thought he genuinely had an impact was Bolton away.

8 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

Aron Gunnarsson would be a good signing.

Agreed. Although we are well stocked in that area. 

Genuinely chuffed with this. A true sign of how together the squad is at the moment.

I really don't understand how Harrison Reed is playing at this level. He looks a class above. If we manage to get him tied down in January that would be amazing.

16 minutes ago, 47er said:

That's a very big "albeit"!

I'll give you that, but I don't think an anonymous 35 mins up front against a rampant Derby side is enough to write him off. I thought the first half at Bolton showed that we can play some good stuff on the floor and not have to automatically lump it to Graham and see if it sticks.

EDIT Just to clarify, I know Armstrong started on the bench that game and Graham started. I don't feel as though Armstrong would've been any worse had he started, the way that we were playing. 

I don't buy the idea that if we lost Graham we'd suddenly be awful. When Armstrong played through the middle in the cup, albeit against Carlisle, there were signs that we could play a different style successfully if we needed to.

1 minute ago, chaddyrovers said:

Speaking in his press conference, the boss says: “Charlie Mulgrew had a few days off but trained today; hopefully he’ll train tomorrow too and will be fine for the weekend.” #Rovers 

More on injuries: “Ryan Nyambe could join in with training tomorrow, but the match might be too soon. Jacob Davenport is ready to go but needs a game, so has gone to Brighton with the Under-23s.” #Rovers

 

On #Rovers v Leeds, the boss says: “We’ve got three tough games coming up. Let’s make it a really good game on the pitch and a really vociferous atmosphere off it this weekend. We’re in a tough league and the lads are giving their all to win matches.”

Tony adds: “I’ve got a burning desire in my belly because I can feel the positivity at the club. The players want to learn and listen, and I feel we can get our teeth into this job and move in the right direction. We have a real opportunity here.” ? #Rovers

The boss finishes by saying:  “I want to manage in the Premier League again, and I’d like the people of Blackburn to have a team in the Premier League again. I’d like to see the scenes from the Oxford game every single week.” #Rovers

All from Mowbray's press conference. 

 

Nice to hear Mowbray buy into the idea that we could make a real push for the play offs. To do that you need to win games. And to win games you can't just sit off and let then opposition attack you for the rest of the game once you've taken the lead. 

Just as a follow on, the television changes won't necessarily have an impact on my decision on whether or not to renew. I have SkyGo, but that doesn't provide a red button option as far as I'm aware. Plus I prefer to go to games than watch them on TV!

This is a bit of a funny one for me. I bought my first season ticket last season (coinciding with relocation to Liverpool) and bought again this season. I'm finding it difficult to get to mid week games, as the trains don't run late enough for me to get back home after the game. To get to them I have to essentially bribe my girlfriend with love & affection, a ticket to the game and a visit to Nando's pre game to make a bit of a night of it for her.. The whole set up has been working well to date, but as she's working on her PHD, her time is going to become more limited.

For weekend games, I make the 2 hour trip there and back (I was surprised by how long it takes all in all) by myself with no qualms at all and enjoy the day out. Typically I have to miss 3/4 weekend games a season due to scheduling conflicts, so that coupled with my midweek travel issues, mean that I will seriously have to look into the cost benefit of purchasing a season ticket next season. 

That being said, if I don't buy one I'll make the journey to Ewood any weekend I'm available and purchase a ticket with Club 1975 membership. Plus it may free me up to attend a few more away games. 

Really don't know what to expect from this one, but after the showing against Sheffield United I think we'll come out fighting. Just bought my ticket for the game and looking forward to it. Never been to their stadium before.

I'll put my hands up to say I've been one of Nyambe's biggest critics over the last season or so, however he's made great strides already this season. It looks like the full season playing in League 1 has done him the world of good.

He can still look clumsy in possession, but people have already mentioned he's often able to recover well using his pace and strength.

My main concern with him at the moment is his use of the ball in the final third. He doesn't seem to have a cross in him, so he always has to cut the ball back to Bennett to whip it in. It doesn't take a genius manager to pick up on that and essentially limit anything meaningful coming down our right side.

28 minutes ago, Swanson said:

 Coleraine midfielder Brad Lyons could still make a move to Ewood Park, with Rovers waiting to see if the deal for the 21-year-old is sanctioned by the Football League.

Rovers submitted the paperwork on Friday and are still waiting for approval for the Northern Irishman who would join on loan with a view to a five-figure permanent move.

On the failure to add to his squad on the final day of the loan window, Mowbray added: “I was pretty relaxed about everything really.

“I don’t want to talk about specifics but there was one player we were trying to add who the fans know about.

“It was a frustrating day for him really. They didn’t get the incomings they wanted and it’s a shame as it was a done deal pretty much and yet it didn’t happen because they probably got frustrated.”

Reading between the lines, that sounds as though Chapman will be joining in January. Obviously providing that Boro sign the necessary replacements.

3 minutes ago, had.e.nuff said:

Just to throw a spanner in the works its a tiger maybe he is off to Hull

Haha fair enough. I haven't seen the image. Just a lot of mentions of big cats. 

By the sounds of Mowbray's comments, he'll either be signing here or staying put if it gets too late in the day or Boro don't sign enough players to warrant him going. 

Just to be an arse and add to the silly Chapman destination debate, Millwall are known as The Lions.

He's always posting pictures of his dog on Instagram, so maybe he's just an animal lover. 

- I expected Whittingham to be our stand out player last season and potentially our new captain at the time of signing.

- For one of Gestede's first games with us on loan, I spent the whole 90 minutes calling him a donkey and claiming he wasn't good enough. How wrong I was. What a player; especially in the air. 

Just now, RovingRover said:

TeamTalk suggesting a trio of clubs are after Charlie Mulgrew. Article doesn't really make sense. With the transfer window closed, why would we sell our captain, main CB and primary goalscorer from Freekicks.

Such a strange link. I don't see the appeal of Turkey unless it was one of the big boys. 

I was half expecting it to be teams like Boro, Derby and Celtic for some reason. I'd have been half concerned by the link then. 

2 minutes ago, AAK said:

Makes me wonder whether Dack is really injured or not. I have heard through grapevine that he is up in Court again next week.

He's posted various stuff on instagram where you can see him lying around with some sort of recovery strapping on his leg.

Not to say that isn't misdirection advised by the club, but it does seem very unlikely.

I've no problem with us potentially signing Rodwell. Mowbray has made it clear that it would only happen if he accepts an affordable wage, plus he'd have a point to prove to sort out his career. 

As initial back up for CM & CB, it could be an absolute bargain on a free transfer. If he performs, we could have a £5-£10 million player on our books. 

I don't buy into the desperation comments. If an opportunity like that pops up, it's definitely something to consider. I'm not surprised that he's got a few options open to him. 

4 minutes ago, BigBar said:

That's hilarious...all the talk of prem clubs, top championship clubs all clamouring for him, chairman milking it on twitter....eeeeeeeh Fleetwood! Off you pop! ?

11 minutes ago, markhayhurst said:

Marcus Maddison on lone to Fleetwood as on brother James Twitter feed 

Think people have got their wires crossed with that one..

Isn't that James Husband, hence the 'Hubby' tag. They played together at Norwich.

Rothwell, Evans and Bennett all put in a massive shift last night. They were brilliant and a big reason why we managed to get ourselves back in to the game so well last night.

Rothwell in particular impressed me. Looks like we've signed a bit of a gem.

We know that Mowbray likes his players to be versatile. Bennett, Williams, Travis & Armstrong are shining examples of that. Brereton seems to fit the mould in that he can play comfortably as a lone striker or as a wide forward. Providing he signs, I can see him and Armstrong sharing the lone striker and left foward roles in our current formation long term.