Really worrying the ifollow figures are so low, I thought they would be decent as you would have the fans up and down the UK and internationally as well as local fans. Also we started the season well, playing attractive football and have a decent team. To only sell 2k or so is very troubling. Have to say future of the club is looking pretty bleak.

Team above would be my first choice but from Mowbrays comments likely to not have Ayala, Williams, Holtby. Kaminski touch and go too... Probs will end up Kaminski JRC Lenihan Wharton Douglas Buckley Johnson Rothwell Elliot Arma Brereton Really should be a win for us.

Yeah. I don't think the Brazillian, Spanish, French or Germany press and fans are any kinder than our lot. There were riots in Rio and when Brazil got thumped by Germany, and the press in all those countries write horrendous stuff about the team, manager etc when things go poorly. I think the difference seems to be the FA doesn't take it on the chin and just move on, rather it seems to try and mitigate the risk up front by making conservative. Sure that happens in all countries FAs, but maybe more so in the UK. Last "attacking" manager was probably Hoddle. Allardyce, Woy, Capello, Eriksson, McClaren all managers who built their careers on creating solid sides. Southgate hadn't really even had much of a career before taking over.... I could understand it in the periods where we didn't have many good players, but we do seem to have an exceptional crop in the offing at the moment. I think we should be more adventurous, and if we take a hiding live with it.

I reckon we have as much chance as about 10 clubs, so we can dare to dream. But only a little bit really...

You could argue that teams like Germany, Netherlands and Brazil do well because they do take a lot of risks, and as a result take a drubbing time to time. Liverpool another example. If i was to level a criticism at England is we have generally always prioritised not getting beat, and I think a lot of that is how browbeaten the FA is by the press and the fans. Losing is not an option.... When was the last adventurous England team? If you put the experiment with 433 to one side with Southgate you have to go back quite a long way.

Probably our best performance for years.

Genuinely think it's pretty good. You get the top sides in Europe playing one another regularly. Before between tournaments you basically had no idea how the team is shaping up. Obviously it's a poor third place compared to World Cup and Euros, but loads more interesting than qualifiers or friendlies. I suspect qualifiers may be faded out entirely in favour of the nation's league in the longer term.

Fair enough. That explains Southgates thinking. Pretty depressing though, suggests we will prioritise not conceding, and as a result be a very dull team to watch. For me the "champions don't take risks" thinking is a bit flawed.... Liverpool who have been very successful take a shedload of risks. What about Brazil? Hmmm. In effect we are playing the likes of Dier and Rice ahead of Sancho and Foden which seems daft to me. Not only are they more attacking players they are simply better... Realistically it's hard to see Southgate losing his job before the Euros, but have to say outlook is not promising.

Reading back through the thread this caught my eye - where did you get this impression from? Quotes from Southgate or staff? The whole 343 thing with two holding midfielders is crackers. Looking forward to going back to 433 as you suggest.

I like the nation's league as you get competitive games like today where you can measure where you are against top teams as opposed to loads of pointless friendlies which tell you nothing. And today showed we've got a long way to go still. It really feels like we are playing this system to manage the opposition rather than play to our strengths. It's daft as we've probably got the best set of young players we've had in 20 years. What's the point playing three at the back, 2 full backs, Henderson and Rice in the midfield? So very conservative.

Yeah, I grew up in the home counties and it's weird. Everyone has slightly different accents but nothing particularly locatable - just generally "Southern" - the two key exceptions being an Essex accent and proper Cockney which are immediately identifiable and you know exactly where the person is from.

Luton is a bit far from the Bow Bells to be called cockney.... Not sure what to call a Luton accent to be honest?

Reckon holding onto Armstrong will be very tough, but I think everyone else will stick around.

I reckon Buckley is going to be quality. He's started crunching into tackles - a few gooduns against QPR. Once he bulks out think he will kick on. In fact if you think long term we have a team that could grow together over the next 3-4 years --------------------------Kaminski Nyambe------Lenihan-----Wharton-----??? ------------Buckley-----Travis-----Rothwell ----JRC/Dolan-----Armstrong-----Brereton Just a gap at left back, and I'm not totally convinced by Wharton at CB but, elsewhere a really young team kicking on well.

Apparently there's decent hope Kaminski will be available. Could have most of the squad back I think? 433 team picks itself really. Suppose the only question will be JRC or Nyambe at right back as Douglas will be back. I think Tony will go for JRC like he did against Wycombe. Also I guess if Ayala and Williams are back there is a decision to be made on who partners Lenihan.

Jesus F'ing Christ. Is anyone publishing coronavirus stats per club? We seem to be hit by this very hard....

Early days I suppose. Though Friedel had a reputation as an error prone keeper before he came to Ewood....

Its all about covering the pitch effectively though, the 433 has been at its best with Rothwell and Holtby either side of Johnson as they cover loads of ground. When you only have 3 I'm the middle your workrate needs to be exceptional and they have provided that. When we switched to two sitters with Evans and Trybull and Buckley in the hole the 433 for a game or two the formation lost its dynanism as the two sitters just didn't cover the ground. Midfield just got bypassed. Think the same sort of thing could happen with Dack if we try and put him in the hole. Suddenly you need two sitters and it messes with the balance. Reckon if Dack does play in the midfield it will probably be a straight swap for Holtby. Rothwell is just so good carrying the ball from deep you can't really drop him. Shame though as Holtby is class. And then also we've got to find somewhere for Travis to fit in.... Obviously could drop Johnson but he has been excellent. When everyone's fit we have really good midfield and attacking options for this level... It's been a long time since we've been able to say that. Just need the injury list to be less ludicrous.....

I don't really agree to be honest. Everyone thought we were buggered when Dack for injured but we went on a great run without him. He's a top player but it's not a given he will be better than the existing players, especially coming back from a major injury. Ultimately we need the best team out there. Sure he will fit in somewhere it's just tricky to figure out where that is.

A couple of months ago I would have thought when he comes back Dack play centrally with Armstrong left, but given Brereton's improvement we have a genuine problem now. If everyone's fit our best team is probably that below : -------------------------Kaminski Nyambe-----Lenihan-----Williams-----Douglas ----------Holtby-----Johnson-----Rothwell -----------Eliott-----Armstrong---Brereton I can't really see dropping any of the forwards or mids if fit - all of them are good value for their places. So I guess Dack will just come in wherever injuries or suspensions happen. Sure that will happen pretty quickly though given we have two games a week through November and December.

We're very fortunate that we could probably just swap Dack straight in for him from a goal scoring perspective in January. I think Dack up front with Brereton and Elliott either side would work pretty well. I am concerned though that losing his pace would be a big blow. Armstrong gets a lot of joy against high lines. We would lose that so smart opposition managers would maybe just push up a bit. Anyway, we should try everything to keep him imo. Add Dack's goals, Travis' physicality, and hopefully a defensive improvement from Ayala and Douglas and we are really onto something I think second half of the season

He's not a striker though, he's a wide forward. I don't think he will ever play through the middle. Not his game.

I bloody well hope not. We've got nine players for 3 roles - Travis, Holtby, Rothwell, Johnson, Evans, Trybull, Davenport, Downing, Buckley. On top of that we've got Dack, JRC and Bennett who could play there but will probably play elsewhere in the team. Any cash we have in January should be squarely aimed at the defence which really needs more pace and power I think. Teams with good physical and pacy forwards take us to the cleaners.

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.