joey_big_nose

To be honest for me I think we play pretty much identically as under Eustace. Whats is impressive is the focus and discipline has been maintained with no drop off.

Looking at how we are playing, the players coming back, the fixtures and frequency of games reducing significantly we really should be feeling pretty confident about playoffs. Hard to as a Rover though!!

Recruitment this year has generally been very good (Gueye, Ohashi, Wieman, Baath all performed well). Im curious given the chaos behind the scenes how thats happened. Even Forshaw who seemed a real desperate signing has worked out very well for minimal money.

Gerrard to end of the season sort of makes sense... Depends how trashed his reputation is. If he genuinely cant get a prem job then he might see it as a way to reestablish his name. Kind of risky for him if he fucks it up, but if he looks at the squad, where we are, I could see him backing himself to make a splash. From our perspective if he just came in focusing on motivating the players and not messing around with the tactics I could see it working. But all only possible if Gerrard wanted a 3.5 month deal, as if he talks about any long term plans we have nothing, and probably hes the wrong guy anyway.

Agreed - I think the Fans Forum etc should share and cite it at any meetings with the club.

Thought this article from the Guardian is about as good a dispassionate summary as you can get... anyone who asks what is going on at Rovers get them to have a look at this. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/feb/13/blackburn-rovers-venkys-blunder-goodbye-john-eustace-championship#:~:text=Questions remain over the Rovers,India with ongoing court battles. For those we know who are inclined to be sympathetic to the owners it should hopefully inject some realism and context on where we are relative to other Championship clubs.

Hey we all get it wrong. I never thought Brereton-Diaz would make an impact let alone score 22 goals in a season and thought Pears was finished after Wigan... Travis as well has gone from a modest player to a top one. I am just surprised so many wrote Gueye off as he has such obvious (to me anyway) qualities to consistently beat defenders.

I might be wrong but over the last few years we have tended to be quite good against mid table teams but usually lose against teams in the top six and bottom three. I think our record against bottom three sides is really really poor in recent years. This year a bit better - against Plymouth, Luton and Hull we are P4 W2 L2 so far.

Well I guess Dennis and Kargbo have been brought in to get beyond Gueye. I would see one of them coming in for Wieman. Gueye to be fair to him (as evidence by his extraordinary heatmap against WBA) is actually very good at dropping in and playing in midfield too, and helping out the defenders when we are in a low block... He is a forward who prefers to play in the number 10 areas more than on the shoulder like a proper number 9. Maybe the way we will setup would be better described as Pears Brittain Sanderson Hyam Riberio Travis Buckley Dolan Gueye Kargbo Dennis Quite like that.

Buckley isnt going to get beyond Gueye though... In 4231 we need someone to run in behind Gueyes flick ons and hold up. Id be quite interested in changing to a 433, playing all of Tronstad, Buckley and Travis in the middle, and ask the wide players to play higher and closer to Gueye. But thats a big change which I don't think we will do as the 4231 is working well.

Number 10 is our major question at the moment... Wieman lacks pace and presence to impact the defenders on the break but he is very good at making the right decisions off and on the ball which he showed again with his lay off to Gueye. Id be inclined to see what Dennis can do in that role. But we will need him to drop into midfield if we are struggling to compete there. Not sure if that's in his game.

I doubt it was meant in any racial context. Its a big thing to call someone out that way. That said not sure parasite is the right word as they aren't getting anything out of the club. Its hard to find the right term for the relationship as its so bizarre. Absentee land lord not right - theyd still make some rent? Malevolent overlords would require some engagement.

I'd say BBD transformation was way more surprising. Never looked like he could make an impact at all for a whole season but then started scoring for fun. Then went back to having minimal influence on games again. A real conundrum. Gueye has always looked like he could cause issues for any defence imo, even when he was off the boil from September to November.

Seems like a very nice bloke but my guess is he needs a more of a leader to work off. Doesn't seem like he would be the type to be able to dig out the team if performances drop. Is a bit of a tricky call as with 14 games to go in a good position we don't really want someone to come in and radically change things. But we do need someone I think who can command authority, keep the team motivated, and figure out how to use the new players.

Yeah I think in our team night we had Pears, Hyam, Travis, Brittain, Buckley, Hedges, Dolan, Gueye who have all had phases of "not fit to wear the shirt" abuse. Football is not a linear thing where players are always good players or always bad players (well at the extremes it is, but not for most). A player can look awful in one formation, tactical setup, team selection, but then very good in another set of variables. Hedges is the one really singled out at the moment, and there is no escaping his play in the final third is very poor... But take him out and lose that robustness off the ball and carrying the ball down our left can have a lot of unanticipated consequences.

Ahem... Just call me the oracle. I always think about forwards in terms of can they beat defenders for pace, for strength, in the air and with skill. Big Mak has got all four which I don't think Ive seen in a Rovers shirt since Santa Cruz. Obviously a lower level in the Championship but hes as good as you get in this division. Just his finishing not quite there until last night... Long may it continue! Some of his tight control ball to feet was exceptional last night.

I totally sympathize with Eustace's decision, no long term plan, next season looks really worrying. But in terms of this season we actually look like we are in a much better place than recent years.

Nice to think we have Carter, Beck, Tronstad and Ohashi all coming back. Will mean them plus Kargbo and Dennis we will have a real punch at the end of games. Squad actually feels much stronger than in a long long time. Hope Batth has nothing significant.

Thought Trav, Hyam, Buckley were all very good too. Everyone had a good game really except ACD, even Cantwell managed to play a part Need to figure out how we want to use our subs with all the new signings. We need to finish stronger than we have been, we were quite lucky to not concede in the last quarter of the game.

Yeah he looks the best all round striker we have had in a very very long time. Loads more to him than someone like Brereton-Diaz He's guaranteed to cause any team at our level loads of problems. Now hes acclimatised really expecting him to keep this form going.

Hmmm not convinced at all about bringing on Cantwell and ACD. Reckon we will lose the midfield now... Prove me wrong lads.

Iain Dowie

Loving the heading back across from set pieces. Always look dangerous. Gueye looks to me like he will be our next big money player.

Great away performance so far in difficult circumstances. Really solid in defence and midfield. Offering little in the final third though... Guess just a matter of time till Dennis and Kargbo come on imo for Hedges and Wieman. But worried with Baath off that we may be a bit less solid at the back.

Think Carlsley will be paid well and have high standards coming from the England setup. Hes also got a decent reputation to protect. Doesn't make sense to me from any angle