joey_big_nose

No, Hedges played left back.

Love that we're 2-0 up and we can roll out Big Mak...

Been really impressed with Travis. Hes passing the ball much much better than he normally does. Apart from a silly yellow its been a really first rate performance from him. Dolan has been very good too. Hedges needs hooking but I dont think we have another left foot to come in on that side.

I guess it comes down to Eustace's philosophy for home games against mid table opposition. Do we setup to try and score, or to not concede? I am really not sure at the moment. He's a hard one to read... seems defensively focused but has had the team quite attacking at times, and the players we have bought have tended to be more offensive. Will be interesting what he goes for. I would like to see someone start in the centre of the pitch who can pass the ball forward (Cantwell, Wieman or Buckley). But to do that will mean either dropping one of Travis or Tronstad which seems very unlikely, or putting a ball player in at number 10 or playing a three in the midfield. The age old problem we have had of not wanting to drop good pressing players (Dolan, Hedges, Gallagher last season) for ones who can pass the ball...

He's a real quality player. Surprised that QPR have managed to hold onto him for so long. Would have thought a parachute club would have got him by now.

I think playing both Carter and Pickering as full backs in a back four will be a problem personally... neither provide the outlet needed... So I would maybe consider moving to the below. Brittain has been preferred to JRC at right back but if JRC is properly fit Id like to see him have another shot. Pears JRC/Britain Carter Hyam Pickering Travis Tronstad Wiemann Dolan Hedges Gueye I'd think about going to a back 3 as it suits our players better imo, but it's hard to justify when our defensive record has been so good.

Hedges did okay imo, except his final ball which can be said about everyone in the team. Worst player by far was Baker imo, did nothing.

I was a bit surprised given we had an extra man that we didnt get Brittain on to give us a better delivery in from the right. Carter over lapped a couple of times, but think Brittain would have had more joy. Our balls into the box were atrocious.

Really poor game quality wise... So disappointing we did so little with the extra man. Happens so much... The key thing is to make sure you get the balance right in midfield to use the ball and make the right passes but we didn't do that... Even when we brought Wieman and Cantwell on.

My bad, swore he got a yellow earlier

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.