joey_big_nose

I know hope springs eternal but having watched the Bournemouth game I have to say I like the new system which is quite a radical departure from where we were for most of last season, we've actually got quite a lot of good attacking players, so am interested to see if Tony and the team have turned a corner. Desperately needs some quality defenders though or it's all for naught.

Couldnt watch the game yesterday, but watched the whole match back this evening. All in all very unlucky to not get a point, draw would have been fair. Also hard to really say any of the goals were major defensive errors, more that the Bournemouth players made some incisive moves and finished well. Johnson, Evans and Dolan all had chances where if they had shown similar cool finishing we would have scored. Also it was really hard to see if Holtbys goal was offside. Looked very close. Obviously the 433 is going to lead to some pretty open play. But I'm looking forward to it to be honest. In Dolan, Rothwell and Chapman we have players who can come off the bench and scare teams, and we are a very energetic and youthful side who can cover a lot of grass. Del had a surprisingly good game, I like the look of Kaminski. Bell was actually less of a defensive liability (but was an offensive one). Still we do need two really top defenders to kick on. Think this could be quite a fun season for us playing some ultra aggressive football with quite a lot of entertaining attacking players in the team. Expecting mid table again, but it should be a more interesting season.

It's really ballsy move by Mowbray. Straight out of Klopps "heavy metal football" playbook. Level of fitness to make it work is extreme. But I definitely prefer it to last year's initial "lump it to Gallagher on the wing" tactics which were rubbish.

Sorry I meant Davenport.

There is a chance we will be better - if the two or three of the young lads (JRC, Dolan, Buckley, Downing, Wharton, Magloire) make a significant impact, and if either of Brereton or Gallagher offer something (as they didn't last year). Plus obviously hope is Kaminski is significantly better that Walton. So some cause for hope there. But we are an injury to Lenihan or Nyambe away from disaster. And left back is already hopeless. We need to sort that.

He's always been like that.

Fair point! Does say he was born here though. Does his dad own a place near Blackburn?

Was born in Blackburn while his dad was playing for Rovers. Surely bleeds blue and white. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Rathbone That aside why the f*** are we trying to sign another center mid?

Surely we are in pole on this one. He was very appreciative of our staff supporting him during injury. Would be absolutely great to get him. Obviously concern about the injury and if he is all there. But that apart as good as we are going to do at left back. Then it would be down to getting at least one quality experienced cb or 2 quality experienced cb if we let Williams go. Then I think the window will have been adequate (but certainly not good).

I have had a good long think about this game, and on paper it's very hard to see anything apart from us getting a mullering. But then again the Championship is a mad unpredictable league so anything can happen. You've always got a decent chance in any game, and a lot of side that come down from the prem underperform until they get to grips with the league. That said if you were to ask Tindell who his ideal first opponent would be you have to think he would be pretty keen on Rovers. Defensively chaotic, passing focused, not very physical or aerial, who are playing a 433 formation light in midfield. Bournemouth are a very good passing side who can dominate the ball, and that's a very favorable environment....

He had a good run when he played well before the Covid break. But then dropped back to previous standard once we came back.

Everything he said is fair enough. Don't really have an issue with it on a factual or logical basis. But it's a situation every club is in except those with parachute payments. Many Championship clubs have less resources than us and some clubs are signing good players. So we need to do something about it, not just talk about it.

Problem with 433 is the front three get isolated With 4231 at least you have the 10 role to link up. I guess we could develop an approach where we use the same personnel but can switch between the two systems during the game as required. Three at the back however is baffling. I get why we did it at WC2018 and it worked pretty well, but the squads changed a lot and we seemed to move away from it in 2019.

It's disappointing to see games like this when we do actually have a squad at the moment with a lot of excellent attacking options. On reflection I don't really know what is wrong with sticking with 4231? It suits our players and links the team together well back to front. ------------------------Pickford A-A-----------Gomez------Maguire------Chilwell --------------Henserson------Winks -----Sancho----------Foden--------Sterling ---------------------------Kane Great team that, probably only France have a better set of attacking players. Recognise injuries / players behaving like dickheads made a few drop out but you could still just swap around a few names but keep the shape and it would work very well. I like Southgate but I just didn't really understand what he was trying to do yesterday.

Can pass it well but way too slow on the turn and across the turf. Holtby will be playing this role I think, and has looked good doing it.

I only caught the second half but it really looked like 433 to me. I wasn't really watching that carefully though, so happy to be corrected. That several people seem to be if differing opinions about the formation after the game has finished tells its own story too!

He's done pretty well so far. As well as any England manager in the last 30 years. I can't see the point in endlessly changing them. May as well see how he does next tournament.

Formation didn't really work today. It's a 433 similar system to the one rovers have played recently which is infinitely improved if you get a playmaker in middle of the central mid 3. Don't think it really worked with Dier, Rice and Phillips. Would have been a lot better if Winks was available I think. Whenever we've played well recently he is key as he knits everything together. We were very disjointed without him and Henderson.

This season is unpredictable as we are going to have so many young players in key roles. Based on what we've seen I think they may be a slight improvement on last year's squad in terms of attacking but slightly weaker in terms of defence. Wheels could come off defensively and we end up in a relegation scrap. Or we could acclimatise well and make mid table again. If we could sign a quality left back and centre back I would be much more optimistic.

I don't think it's nailed on but we would stand a much better chance. I could just about stomach not signing a CB as we do have promising young players who can play there (Magloire, Wharton, Carter, Nyambe), as well as two pros one of whom is pretty good at this level (Lenihan). However any injuries to Lenihan would be catastrophic hence why we need more senior players. Left back however is a clearly huge problem. Bell can have the odd good game, but is defensively very suspect, plus he gets injured frequently. If that happens then what? JRC at left back? Williams there? Rothwell (!!!) there. Scratching around could Davenport do a job? But these are questions you shouldn't have to ask.

To be honest the most impactful loss we had imo was Cunningham. Armstrong made up for Dack, and our midfield did okay without Evans. But our defence was shocking.

It's crazy that £20m for Callum Wilson is a steal. But you're right.

If it was up to me I would go Kaminski Nyambe. Lenihan. Wharton. Bell. Travis. Holtby. Evans. JRC. Armstrong. Dolan. I think Mowbray will probably pick something similar but with Johnson ahead of Evans, and Brereton ahead of Dolan.

I'd keep giving Evans game time too. Rarely fit but when he is he has looked good the last couple of years.

Hey I don't mind signing more top quality players if we can, but I don't think we will. Just saying if we can't let's go for it with the youngsters.