Id be surprised if a prem club paid big money for BBD mid season. He's having a great run, but there's plenty of question marks on whether he could score in the Prem. 25m on him would be a massive punt. I reckon we'll still have him. The ones that worry me are Rothwell and Lenihan, both playing brilliantly, some club is going to offer them significantly more wage than we are, and sign pre contracts. I'm sure Venkys are considering authorizing increases contracts. Just bloody do it!

But Rothwells corners were fantastic today, including the one for the goal.

Incredible defence, absolutely sensational, and we carried a real threat on the break and set pieces. Time to believe everybody! Everyone played really well, but personally I was blown away by Buckley who was something else. Won the ball back, ghosted past defenders, superb passing, dominated at right back. The false 9 thing that never really worked with the 433 looks great in the 343, I think because the two wide strikers can play a lot narrower as the wing backs provide the width. Pears, Van Hecke, Travis, Lenihan, Rothwell, Pickering were all brilliant.

Pickering has been excellent also.

Pears has been exceptional. Good on him, I'd totally written him off. Goal was surely offside I think? But saw some saying it was an own goal? Apart from the one chance right at the end our defence has been excellent. I really love the balance of the side. Looks like we can score more on the break. As someone else said I'd like to see Gallagher at some point.

We're 4th in the table, just had a great win against Preston - really surprised there is no Bournemouth thread up yet? Thought I'd jump in 🙂 Anyway, looks like Ayala and Gallagher are back but no Kaminski. Id be very surprised if either starts though, probably will be an unchanged team. I'm probably more impressed with this current Rovers XI than any I've seen since we got relegated to the Championship. Defence is very solid (which we have never had), good quality midfield, and an attack that scores regularly. We genuinely look like we could make top six. That said feel there is a very good chance Bournemouth will beat us as their quick technical players will cause us a lot of problems, and they have a lot of quality I'm their squad. A point would be great, three would be sensational. Just looking forward to watching.

Yeah I can't really see why Brighton would let us have Khadra or Van Hecke at an amount we can afford. Also doubt their wages would fit our structure either. We'll just look for new season long loans next season. It's been a very long time since weve signed a loan from the Prem. Gestede? Sad fact is you get paid q a lot more to sit on the bench in the Prem than play in the Championship.

My view is pretty much everyone from England to Chelsea to Barnsley to us is using 343 when you want to be defensively tight. Our 433 got minced repeatably last season by teams playing 343. It's very much a standard tactic with an ever growing % of teams using it. Mowbray has come a bit late to the party on it tbh, I think last season the idea was to play a high intensity 433 exclusively like Liverpool and try and batter teams which started well but ran out of steam over Christmas and as other side's figured us out. This season the philosophy changed to be more of a counter attacking 4231 with the option of a 343 when required against other 343s. Now what's happened is the 343 is performing very well so we've made that our main approach. So I don't really think we've ended up here in a premeditated way. But to be honest planning too much when there are so many variables is not that smart, you need to be flexible and TM has and were in a good place. That said if we'd shown similar flexibility last year I think we would have had a better season tbh. We pushed the 433 for far too long. But such is life.

Getting way ahead of ourselves but if we did manage to sneak promotion we would be onto a hiding whoever we got as manager as while we now have a really strong set of 14 or so Championship level players probably few of them are Prem level. Only Kaminski, and maybe Wharton and Buckley if they keep developing. Diaz has been great but I struggle to see him making that big an impact on Prem defenders. Same with Dolan. We'd need to sign a vast number of players to be competitive, or we just go in with a free hit mentality and see if we can grind out survival.

I just think they have the quick technical players who we just won't be able to cope with like Fulham. Im expecting us to struggle to beat their press and make mistakes that let them score. We'll see.

Gallagher been quite decent this season.

Reckon the 3412 suits Gallagher (and Diaz) much better than the 433 or 4231 as they can get closer to each other, as the width is provided by the wing backs. I think Gallagher will do pretty well in the system when he gets fit again. Having Diaz, Gallagher, Dolan and Khadra for those two striking roles looks pretty good tbh. When Dack is back we will be able to share the in the hole role between him and Buckley too. I'm really liking how things are shaping up. Feels much more like square pegs. Fully expecting Bournemouth to turn us over but confident we can get back on track after that.

For me the hugely improved defence is a few things ; 1) Committing to 343 which is the most defensively robust tactical setup imo 2) Pickering and Wharton making the left very secure when it's always being weak. Both have been excellent. 3) Travis now being fully fit, and Rothwells work rate much improved giving a solid midfield shield 4) Paying a much deeper counter attacking rather than possession game, so we are much less vulnerable on the break. 5) Having 4 good players who can play CB on the floor and in the air so if someone's out with suspension/injury another one can slot in. (I suspect Carter would do okay too).

Defence is absolutely sensational imo, good in the air, good on the deck. It was superb throughout the match. Pears had absolutely nothing to do. Attacking wise offensively we were shocking first half. Second half better and scored a good goal and probs should have had another on the break. I look across the XI and everyone is quality at this level. Buckley despite the conditions had some great moments on the ball, Khadra and Brereton were superb with the goal. Rothwell broke through with his runs. It wasn't an attractive game, very attritional. But Rovers had obviously the better defence and the better attack. We were quite fortunate with the penalty shout it has to be said though. Also have to say Pickering is the real deal. What's different this year is the defence is good enough to get results regularly no matter how the rest of the team plays.

Let's see how it goes...

Lenihan is pretty quick and Wharton not slow. For Championship level they are both decent on the ball. I think they suit 343 very well.

I dispute that tbh. I think the three we have are well suited to it. Both Wharton and Lenihan have distributed reasonably well and got forward. Ayala just wins everything in the air and keeps it simple. They haven't had any problem beating the opposition press. Also Pickering does seem very well suited to left wing back. Good delivery, good engine. We've probably got the most complete XI we've had since relegation with the one weak area of right wing back getting forward Previous seasons oppo could do simple things like target left back, or Williams in the air, or press our back four with a 343. For Preston today it's hard for them to pick out a winning strategy imo. We've got three really good headers at the back who also cover the channels well, good shielding from the middle four, and genuine pace on the transition.

Rayas incredibly mobile and commanding though. Pears is very hesitant.

A reasonable forecast would be that Bournemouth will beat us. We should beat Hull, Barnsley, Preston. Huddersfield and Birmingham up in the air. Say draws each.. So 11 pts...

Looking forward to this one, I'm going with a mate. First time since moving up north. Would love Ayala and Kaminski be back. And if we are sticking with 3412 (and it has been working well) I would like to see JRC get some time at right wing back. We really should win this one if everyone's fit, we look much defensively better. Lenihan, Ayala, Wharton across the back line is a really tough setup for set pieces, and pretty solid on the floor too. Hard to get much change put of them as we have shown recently. If Ayala's out I think Van Hecke will do okay. Losing Kaminski will be a massive blow though. Pears seems a really poor keeper to me.

Lenihan is an absolute top player for us, always has been. I've been surprised that we've been able to hold onto him okay. He's only ever really attracted premier league interest from Sheff Utd a couple of years back. He's good in the air, committed, physical, reasonably quick, leads, can get forward, chips in with goals. Only real major concern is his positioning where he gets caught out pretty often. But at our level I think we can live with it, and that's probably why he's still in the Championship.

I don't know of course but I'm pretty sure if we were doubling their wages they would have signed by now. I cant see anyone not taking double when you have risk of injuries. My impression is whatever they are on we are only offering modest improvements.

I'm hoping if we sustain this run through December a combination of the players feeling inclined to stay and Venkys being inclined to spend will see all the key players sign. Wishful thinking maybe, but we'll see.

To be fair to Mowbray he bought Kaminski, Pickering and Brereton out of that lot. He also brought in Khadra who scored yesterday, stuck with Brereton and Buckley when they were getting a lot of criticism, brought in Van Hecke. And he's run the training sessions. There's not really much grounds to say we are winning despite Mowbray at all. If he gets the stick when he loses let's not withold the credit when we win. It's not logical or fair imo.

Mowbray gets a lot of abuse, but no one could say Buckley, Rothwell, Brereton and Dolans natural game is to press. He's done a very good job in terms of turning them into players who are always looking to close down the opposition.