joey_big_nose

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.

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....