I've gone from a huge sceptic of BB to now thinking he's critical for us. Good players are good because they offer the team something of value and deliver on it consistently. Brereton does that in three ways : 1) He offers an out ball when we are under pressure where it sticks to him consistently - he very rarely loses it (which is mad considering he could barely trap the ball a year ago) 2) He can run with with the ball from deep and consistently beats his full back. When he does lose it he almost invariably wins a free kick. 3) He has started to offer a consistent goal threat and has started scoring goals. Looks like we will get 10-15 goals from him this season (I know he has only two so far, but he is generating the chances). Considering he was terrible at all three of these things six months ago it's an extraordinary turn around. Don't think I've ever seen a player at Rovers go from so valueless to valuable to the team..... Usually you can see the quality is there, but with Brereton it really wasn't evident that he had anything much going for him until pretty recently (to me anyway...). Now that left sided role is his. Good on him!

Reckon hes loads better than Raya already.... He exudes confidence, commands his box better, plays as a defender better, doesn't seem to have the mistakes in him like Raya has (though Ghent fans seem to think he does so maybe we have been lucky?). Similar sort of quality of distribution. Maybe not so good at shot stopping though. But outweighed by the above imo. Looks our best signing since Dack or Armstrong.

It's not just experience though. Kaminski is a different sort of keeper to any we've had, or most you find anywhere in this division. Genuinely good outfield player - positioning, heading, passing. He's pure quality. My early feeling is he will be player of the season potentially.

I reckon our guys are great! They never say anything negative about the club but what do you expect?

Just looked at the fixture list - we have 2 weeks off now then 12 games in 6 weeks up to 2nd Jan. That is brutal, I guess more intense because of the late start of season. Looking through the list there's no obvious games to be written off like Watford or Bournemouth away. All look winnable (or losable...). Full squad is going to be required. Probs want 20 points out of those 12 to be serious about top six.

Really fantastic performance and good result. Really should have been 2-0 up at half time though.... That said QPR came right back into it and there wasn't much in it. When they went more direct after the subs we struggled as per our other games against direct sides. Not that convinced at the moment we will finish higher than last season, but we will be more entertaining at least. Probs difference between us being mid table and solid top six team is a dominant pacy centreback and left back. I think Ayala and Douglas are going to struggle in our system ultimately as not very quick. BTW really impressed with JRC - had an excellent defensive game. Has always looked dodgy at lb wrote but was very good today.

Fantastic performance so far except for finishing. We seem to have QPR beat across the pitch. The key for me on why we play so well today versus the last few games is : 1) Kaminski lets us play so much higher. He forms a third CB with the defenders going wide when we are in the opposition half. Pears just can't do that and it means the whole 433 doesn't really work as it sits too deep. 2) Rothwell allows us to run from deep so effectively and transition to attack. He covers a lot more ground and uses the ball a lot more effectively than Evans, Johnson and Trybull. 3) QPR haven't done their home work and seem to like to play open and and a high line. Also they don't seem have any special players who can beat out 1 on 1. The absolute key players for me in this system are are Kaminski and Rothwell. Without them we need a different way of playing.

Reckon this season will be largely decided by injuries, even more than a normal season. Obviously we are not going well. For me if we get Kaminski and Armstrong back then we are in a hugely better place than without them.

Don't see how Johnson can play in the wide positions of the three mids - those roles need to cover a lot of ground, he can't. He is slow on the half turn I agree, but the first few games where we had him anchoring and Rothwell and Holtby either side the balance looked really good. We should try and persist with that imo.

Bad news about Kaminski.... Bell would be a big improvement over JRC at left back imo. Only really need one of Johnson, Evans, Trybull for the holding role. If I had to pick I would go for Johnson as he offers a goal threat, height and physicality. I've been a bit non plussed by Trybull. Tidy enough but doesn't really press or offer much physicality and is fond of sideways and back passing. Needs to work a lot harder for me and pass forward more.

I disagree. Kaminski in there and we can move 20 yards up the pitch and be a lot more effective attacking and allround. Still ideally you want both obviously.

Does anyone know who is likely to be fit this weekend? We really need back (out of those who have a reasonable chance), in order of importance - Kaminski, Armstrong, Williams, Douglas or Bell, Johnson. Reckon if we can get at least Kaminski, Armstrong and one of Williams or Douglas or Bell we can go in with some confidence.

I'm beginning to wonder if the pressing game we have been trying to play has a role in our injuries. Would mean the intensity of training would be higher than other tactical systems.... Seems plausible?

Defence as a whole was much better with the deep line we played and packing the box. Great to see after some defensive horror shows. On the flip side our attacking threat completely disappeared. Somehow we are going to need to figure out how to be effective defensively and have an offensive threat at the same time. I'm sure when Kaminski comes back (hopefully Saturday) we will push right out, be much more offensive and start generating a lot of chances again. But equally we will also be a lot more brittle defensively.... Basically I think, when everyone's fit, we have a good system (433) for our midfielders and attackers, but we don't have enough pace across the back line to really make it work defensively and will keep conceding stupid goals.

When is Kaminski back? Pears has had easily his best game in terms of shot stopping . But poor distribution and his lack of playing outside the box has made us so much poorer as a team.

Williams off - this is ridiculous

We've definitely substantially improved since Rothwell and Evans have been on.

And one who should play on the right....

Best defending as well though. Strange game.

For me we seem more urgent without Trybull.

If we're going to keep a deep defensive line we need a major rethink at half time. How do we create chances? We look absolutely clueless. Either we sit deep and just ping it long to Gallagher and get someone up beside him (Elliot?). Or we stick with the 433 and have the balls to push the defensive line up 20 yards. At the moment we are just parking the bus desperately defending as we have a system to play one way, but we are petrified to expose Pears and our defence.

Boro just let our centrebacks have it, not a bad tactic!

We either need to drop another body into midfield or push up the defensive line,

Only a matter of time. 433 is really not working with a deep defence.

Like the team - as good as we could do in the circumstances. Reckon we will get a right doing sadly though....