Well he was on a yellow so he would have still gone off!

Red card changes the calculations completely... Gueye on is a no brainer... Cozier - Duberry as well to run at them. But we need someone to come in and pass the ball well as they will sit deep. Is Cantwell fit enough? Will he be disciplined to come deep and pickup the ball? Feels like we should give it a go with the extra man.

Feels like this game is made for Ohashi and Gueye up front together. Id take Baker, Dolan, Hedges off for Britain, Wieman and Gueye. Go 352 and see how their cbs handle that...

Oh if they offer it hes going to take it. No second tier manager in the history of football has refused a top tier job. But I cant see how board or whoever will decide picking a manager in the Championship who has achieved so little (so far) as a good idea.

Now though? I mean he won 4 games in 18 I think last season at Rovers... And in 22/23 - the main season he was at Birmingham as he signed October 22 - they finished 17th (!!). Its a massive for a premier league club to go for a manager whose record has been pretty poor in the Championship except a run of games at Birmingham at the start of last season and five games with Rovers this season... I cant see it personally. Just very hard to justify a premier league appointment on that data.

Maybe... but one good thing about the way the Championship works is if your manager is worth nicking he's usually got you promoted, or at least in the playoffs. And if he gets you promoted he's going to stick around. A prem team isn't going to have any interest in your manager unless he has a promotion. Same for top Championship clubs. It would be quite weird for him to miss out on promotion/playoff and also get nicked by another club. I think we should be able to keep him for this season and next. The main risk of him leaving would be if he felt he wasn't getting supported by the club in the transfer market, but tbh he's got a lot of good players in this summer so he's probably feeling pretty positive on that score. So the recruitment team and owners needs to keep that up over the next few windows and it will be okay.

I think we could play 2 up top if we took a leaf out of Luton's book from a couple of years ago and go 352. Pears Carter Hyam Pickering Brittain Travis Tronstad Beck Dolan/Wieman Yuki Gueye I reckon that would work very well. Beck's made for that marauding LWB role. Quite like to see that lineup at somepoint (though obviously wouldn't change anything at the moment given the run we are on). In terms of this game I would stick with same team as Bristol - with Gueye, Cantwell, Wieman, Cozier-Duberry, Pickering, SIgurdsson, Brittain, Buckley, JRC all available to come on if needed. Can't think of when we have had so much on the bench.

JRC hasnt looked generally fit in his performances this season. Think he needs to work up his base level. I reckon once the games start coming thick and fast in November to January he and the others on the fringes will see a lot of game time. In my view Championship is a real two speed race. August to October and Feb till May its quite manageable and you only need maybe a 16 man squad. Its about a consistent first team. But that middle November to January is absolutely brutal. To survive it normally you need 20ish players rotating in and out. Rovers (like a lot of Championship clubs) have really suffered over Christmas as we just haven't had enough quality players. Having a few good ones on the fringes is a good sign imo.

Think we could play both together, they would suit each other style wise. But weve done so well with one or the other I suspect we will stick in the same vein. My guess is we will stick with Big Mak to soften them up and Yuki to finish them off. Its something to be able to get to an hour and bring Ohashi, Wieman and Cantwell off the bench. And Duberry looks a player too....

Was a bit on the fence with Yuki - fantastic work rate, and surprisingly decent in the air despite being average size but thought hes not careful enough on the ball, quite wasteful and clumsy.... But very much like Szmodics he finds space and his finishing is phenomenal. Got more about him physically than Szmodics too.. Swapping Szmodics and Gallagher for Ohashi, Gueye and Cantwell is looking absolutely phenomenal business at the moment.

We've looked very very good defending and attacking with real quality off the bench.... If I was a neutral watching this Id fancy us to be right at the top end of the table. Love the Championship.... Never know what you are going to get. Looked dead on our arse in Feb right through to the end of the season but a proper pre season and a window and we look like real contenders.

I'd say Gueye and Weiman are obvious big upgrades over what we had, Gueye on his own looks a transformative player who could be one of our best ever buys in the Championship, and I like Ohashi but not completely convinced he will continue his early form. Can't consistently beat a player which is an issue imo... but he needs time. Certainly started very well though. Everyone else (Cantwell, Beck, Baker, Toth, Cozier-Duberry, Batth) we need to see play more to come to a view. But feeling positive about all of them except Batth and Baker who look more like fillers to me. But way to early really to call.

Think Nations League is pretty good when we were in Group A - competitive games, and teams are taking it more seriously. Spain winning the Nations League last time bed the team in and set them up well for the euros. But now we are down in Group B it's like friendlies or qualifying. Just playing games which are not really a contest at all.

Results not been that good for JDT...couple of big losses. JDT is a great manager when the going is good, but as impressive as his attacking stats were and beating prem sides in the cup etc, that he faired so poorly against sides near the bottom and top of the Championship, and virtually never got us back into a game after we went behind tells its own story. He's got an attacking philosophy that would make Kevin Keegan blush, and if you haven't got the players for it (as he didn't really at Rovers and I doubt he has in Sweden) it's a problem. Still remember watching us home against Sunderland last season with all sorts of smart combinations, massive overloads down the channels with Travis overlapping Moran and Brittain , every outfield player in the opposition half, probably the best passing football I have seen since the Prem. But we lost 3-1....

So confused that Weiman keeps getting dropped! I would go Pears Brittain Carter Hyam Beck Travis Tronstad Wieman Cantwell Hedges Yuki Subs : Toth, Duru, Pickering, Baath, JRC, Buckley, Sigurdsson, Dolan, Cozier-Duberry Best looking bench we have had for a while.

Personally I would not start Foden with Kane... think you get more out of playing someone wide who gets beyond Kane than Foden coming inside all the time and clogging up the number 10 area. I think that's a better decision than dropping Kane for say Watkins and keeping Foden on the left. Kane has done a lot more for England than Foden ever has... And the way football is these days you just have Watkins and Foden on the bench and bring them on 60 minutes together for Kane and Gordon and change it up. You have both options. I think if we properly focus on it we can figure out these combinations, and commit to a core of 18 players who can play together fluidly in different setups.

Kane remains the most prolific striker in Europe.... England shouldn't bench him. They should figure out how to use him as effectively as Bayern Munich do - which is about getting the wide player ahead of him. Signs are that Carsley is looking to do this which is good.

Kane's definitely going to start for England next world cup, so we should run with it and figure out a way to make the most of him. Didn't realise Walker was 34, probably not going to make it. But that he is still so fast at this age maybe means he has got a Ronaldo like extra long career on the cards? I know we've got a lot of right backs but none have really nailed down the role. Anyway I'd be happy whoever we pick at full back either side as long as they are decent and we stick with them. To put a bit more flesh on it - I'd say we can have the next six months to experiment a bit, give some of the new lads a go etc, but come the spring it really has to be "this is our best XI" and work hard on finding the right way to play. Spain went from being a competitive to brilliant side this year by finding the right balance across the team.

I'd say playing 4231 like this would be ideal for England - Pickford Walker Stones Guehi ???? Rice Wharton Saka Bellingham Palmer Kane We have a lot of good players, but we need to settle on a first choice XI and bench and really really work on getting them to play as a unit - play the same players give or take every game. Our issue will be if piss around chopping and changing every game over the next two years and rock up at the world cup still without a clear idea of what our best team is and not knowing how to play together. To lead is to decide...

Benson gets a lot of stick but from an outsiders perspective he must look pretty good given Steele, Raya and Kaminski have all gone on to the premier league... Wonder how manu other gk championship coaches would have as good a cv.....

One thing that is a bit weird about Toth is he has (so I have read) great stats and 76 starts in the Hungarian top league, but he hasn't got any starts for the national team despite first getting called up in 2021. Would have thought he would by now? Didn't go to Euros either.... Bit of an odd one.

Yeah but he's away on international duty I think?

As much as Pears suffers with mistakes we saw how calamitous it can be to bring in a keeper out of their depth and then destroy their confidence..... Leo was unbelievably poor One big thing Toth does have in his favour though is under Eustace he will be a lot better protected than Leo was. But we have to make sure he is acclimatised. Its very hard for a keeper to recover when they have a bad start. I wouldnt be rushing it.

Not starts, but minutes from the bench.

Well he might not be ready but I think if we rate him we have to play him. Can't let Tyjon leave like Phillips and Finneran. I think as a club we are going to have to change our philosophy to play the best prospects we have very young so we can keep them. The bench being 9 spots helps a lot... using two of the spots for the best academy talent does not seem unreasonable.