I think this could explain why England haven't won anything.... too many Spurs players! Also very surprised West Ham aren't on that list. Don't think their fans would like to see that Rovers and West Brom have had more England internationals...

Given Morton isn't on loan anywhere and has only played 3 times for Liverpool feels to me like he will be on his way somewhere. Would be a bit weird for him to come back here at the same club but different manager. I would have thought they would prefer a new different environment just for the change. Also the Liverpool loan team aren't daft - they will see that if Travis, Tronstad and Cantwell are fit Morton won't be starting like Baker wasn't. I am sure their number 1 criteria will be who will put him straigth into the first XI like he has been at Rovers last time and then Hull. So I can't really see it.

Yeah maybe thinking about it we didnt even bother registering him? If so that would free up a squad place. Ah we didnt register him.... https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/24568348.blackburn-confirm-efl-squad-list-stance-free-agents/

Based on the above I wonder if we are looking at moving players on to create space in the squad as we literally don't have the room to sign the 3-4 players we want. Until I just looked that up I had no idea that squad sizes are so tight.

Tin hat on - that's a first team squad of 24 players (not included Gilsenan as I would view him more as a U21 player). That's near the maximum for a Championship team I think? Indeed the maximum squad size for the Championship is 25 players + as many non-loaned Under-21 players as you like (only Leonard could come under that I think from the above diagram). So we are only two under the limit, and it would have been one before Baker left. From https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/what-are-the-efl-squad-rules-for-202425-loanee-limits-home-grown-players-and-how-many-subs-are-allowed : " Championship clubs can have squads of up to 25 players, of which a minimum of 8 need to be home grown [see below]. you're allowed an unlimited amount of under-21s on permanent contracts without registering them, but you would need to register any loanees among your 25 players, even if they're under-21s. For home grown : a player to be considered home grown by the EFL, they don't necessarily need to be British (they can be any nationality) or to have been trained by that specific club. All that is required to qualify as home grown is to have been registered with any club affiliated to the FA or the FA of Wales for at least three seasons or 36 months prior to their 21st birthday (or the end of the season they turn 21). We can't see anything to say loanees are excluded from counting as home grown players."

Ooh good question... Id say current is just about better I think. Probably would only have Kaminski and Brereton out of that. Maybe Rothwell over Cantwell but its close. We have a better bench (though not much better) now too.

Hmmm.... Not sure I trust that... Look at Travs salary!

Why do you say second highest earner? Is Baker our second highest earner? According to what source?

Personally I couldn't really see that much difference between Baker and Buckley... So don't think Baker going is an major impact quality wise, but we are more vulnerable to injury. If money is tight I would be tempted to use the wages to top up the budget for a striker as that is what we really really need. A bit risky if we get another centre mid injury, but think it's more risky not to boost our striker options.

I think that weve stopped winning has saved us with JE... We now have 2 points out of the last 15 and the shine has come off. Eustace now gone back to looking more like a middle of the table championship manager who only managed to keep us up on the last day last season. Footballs fickle like that. If West Brom were looking five games ago they might have made him first choice. From JEs perspective - if West Brom have money to spend I am sure he would welcome a move.

A good run and it's an extra game a month, not a lot in the grand scheme of things. The morale boost of a run outweighs a relatively small number of extra minutes. I'd rest anyone genuinely fatigued or carrying injuries, but beyond that wouldn't be too worried.

Could be wrong but I dont think Eustace is a wholesale changes type of manager, think we'll just make 3-4 changes. Cantwell for one needs to play if fit to try and recover some form

Yes, given his pedigree I thought we were signing someone at Brads level but Cantwell doesn't seem to be able to impact games really. Shows some nice touches etc (but recently just as many dreadful ones) but in half a season now there are very few truly impactful moments from Todd.

Very tight game, probably Burnley edged it. After the first 15 mins we didnt trouble them but they created very little themselves. Really disappointed by Cantwell. We got into some good positions but he was very wasteful. I get that its risk vs reward but other flair players we have signed (Dack, Marshall, Holtby etc) just havent been as wasteful as he has been. He was really poor. Thought we should have hooked him before Gueye or ACD...

Yeah I tend to agree... We could start Gueye but we will run out of legs second half and bringing him on really helps. Buckley at 10 would give us the ability to pack the midfield which is useful. I guess game plan will be to not concede and bring Gueye and ACD on around 65 mins to make something. Shame to approach a home derby that way but we cant risk going down to an early goal.

Gueye for me already offers more than Gallagher. His finishing is hopeless but his link up play and quality in the air is pretty good. Dont think Gally got anywhere near Gueyes level of assists. Gueye causes defences problems whereas Gallagher just didnt really. Sam is real conundrum - a big lad who hates playing back to goal, is rubbish in the air, and much prefers to be wide running with the ball at feet despite not really being able to dribble or cross. Couldnt fault him for effort but he is a fish riding a bike. Gueye stays central, gets his head on things, causes issues with his size and strength. So while similarly goal shy he at least is trying to fit the job description of a target man with some decent results

Hes like Lazarus. I think Ive had three rounds now of thinking hes finished at Rovers, but each time he comes back somehow looking better than he was. Till he blows it all up again. Any neutral observer who watched us this season would think we have a really top Championship keeper.

We're out of the top six but actually the only poor result we've had in a quite tough run of 10 games is Hull. Every other one has been decent enough, losing at Millwall narrowly away disappointing but happens. If we can get a result on Saturday then we have a softer set of fixtures across January. Actually not got too many really daunting matches from now till start of April, but then things do seem difficult for the run in.

Thats how to tell the death spiral to f*** off! Theres not a manager we've had since Allerdyce who would have got us back into that game after going behind. Go into Burnley on a high now!

This is the most baffling additional time I have seen ever i think. We should be writing into the football league for an explanation.

That forward line is more about pressing than attacking. The front four will work their nuts off. Have to hope we can force a few errors from Leeds. Championship rollercoaster makes this really seem like a nailed on loss to continue our fall after our rise... Basically will come down to the first goal. If we concede early could get ugly, but if we can hold out then we will have a chance.

In our history we've signed a lot of players for very little who have turned out to be consistently great. Its not impossible, although a bit of a gamble.

Like Sunderland what was remarkable was how solid we were at the back until we conceded then completely fell apart. Hull probably should have scored a few. Continuing the pattern really of recent managers where getting the first goal is so important. Cant believe Cantwell missed that opportunity, hes been brought in to score exactly those sorts of goal... Overall he we probably our worst player, very wasteful. I am a bit worried about him, doesnt seem on it. Two massive games now. If we can come out with a couple of results Ill be quite confident about the playoffs. Does feel like we could be looking at two losses.

Yeah, but I think he would probably choose 10 as his first choice role. I think hed do okay there too if he got a run of games. Still Cantwell and Wieman ahead of him in the queue. Think hell be off in January.

Ohashi has an incredible engine though and is very strong for his size. Id be surprised if Leonard can match that. However given we have 3 strikers and Leonard is one of them he is going to get minutes no matter what. Look forward to him showing how he has come on. We have to use him as a 9 as we are short of numbers there unlike at 10 when we have a lot of options (Cantwell, Wieman, Dolan, ACD, Sigurdsson, Buckley).