Yeah, such is the way of the Championship and in particular Rovers you cant really say any of the upcoming final games are any more or less likely to yield wins than the last six. Apart from Burnley running away with it each game seems as winnable or losable as the last.

Gregg and JDT brought in quality imo so far. Really like Hyam, Brittain and Szmodics. Thomas also a good singing let down by nothing to aim at it in the middle. And got a lot out of strugglers like JRC and Pears. I'm intrigued to see what kind of proper forward we can turn up. Haven't had a good one since Graham. Could be one of our best seasons next year imo. Feels like - despite the extreme frustrations of recent weeks - we are building to a point where we have a lot of quality all over the pitch, and just need the spearhead to make it all work.

Well I've given up on the playoffs so that's something. And in terms of budget I think O'Brien would have cost us around half a million on his own (20k a week for six months/26 weeks) so there's probably a bit of cash knocking about. And that's before we move BBD off the wage bill. Reckon we will spend similar to this season in the summer (2-3 million on Szmodics, Brittain and Hyam).

Agree with this because, unless Leonard turn out to be a revelation, we didnt have anyone who can finish. Weve got no problem getting into good positions and getting in behind. What we cant do is finish. I hope Gregg has got some top strikers identified and budget secured.

Thought we actually played pretty decent forward passing football all the way through and got in behind them quite a lot. But just no real striking instinct to make the most of the opportunities.

It's amazing how well we can play without looking like we are going to score any goals. As I have said if we can get a couple of decent strikers to replace BBD and Gallagher, hold everyone else together, then I think we will do very well next season. It's a shame we didn't sign a decent striker in Jan as we would be nailed on for playoffs now.

I reckon we wont make the playoffs now personally so have emotionally given up on it and will just enjoy watching the team develop and improve (and with JRC, Wharton, Dolan, Carter etc there is quite a lot of mileage in that). If we do make it it will be a nice surprise. Id play Morton, Wharton and Travis as the midfield three. And give Leonard a start to see how he does and send a message to Gallagher and BBD. Kaminski JRC. Carter. Hyam. Pickering Travis. Morton. Wharton. Thomas. Leonard. Szmodics.

Looking at the remaining fixtures I think we'll probably stick with this kamikaze style for all the games except maybe Burnley. Weve used it against Sheffield Utd twice already - one win one loss. So cant see us changing it for the likes of PNE or Millwall. Extra body in midfield I do like, so hopefully we will keep that. But reckon JRC will continue as the most rogue "right back" in footballing history.

Hes a bloody strange right back if so. Even Cafu used to focus on at least being on the right side.

Travis cant do that as hes on the right wing! Never seen us so attacking.

To be fair JRC was partly so effective as he had a completely free role, and Carter was asked to cover the entire right side on his own. If we put Brittain in at RB and move JRC into the middle I doubt he could really play the same way. JRC would be expected more to offer a deeper option in midfield. For what it's worth I'd stick with the same team against Hull but drop BBD for Thomas and start Leonard. Also I imagine Kaminski will come back in. Kaminski JRC Carter Hyam Pickering Travis Morton Wharton Thomas Leonard Szmodics Its a big call though to leave both BBD and Gallagher out. Still think we are going to concede every game at the moment the way we play. Though it is refreshing to see an real attack first philosophy.

For me I'd be surprised of we make it now. Weve got a series of games against better sides than Huddersfield and as good as we are going forward we look very brittle at the back and struggle to covert. To get the points we need we need to not concede but it feels like every game we will give the opposition goals and continue to make hard work of finishing the many opportunities we make.

JRC was playing as a left inside forward most of the second half.

Yeah I had it around 10 mins, and I'm not usually that fussed about extra time. How could it be 5 mins. Fantastic performance in the middle third. Not good enough in the back and final third. The abiding impression is we have to work so hard and play so well to get goals but the opposition doesn't need to do much to get theirs. The sort of ultra attacking setup we are going for it does leave us very open. Carter and Hyam aren't the quickest, and to effectively leave them as the only players back for the entire game is incredibly risky. Luckily Huddersfield didn't have real pace, I worry when we do play it. Still without really looking that threatening we gave away two easy goals. Overall I admire JDTs tactical ambition and look forward to see what he can do with a few new players. I'd say if this is the way we're going to play we need a proper fox in the box striker, but also someone who is an absolute physical colossus in midfield to cover huge amounts of ground on their own. Also quicker centrebacks seem a necessity.

First time shot, already like Leonard

I hesitate to criticise Carter and Hyam too much, their left completely exposed. No cover from central midfield or full back. We're playing like we reckon we're peak Liverpool or Barcelona.

Feels like we're going to a get a red card at some point

Reckon we will see Lenoard at some point.

In terms of how many players we commit forward its probably the most attacking Ive ever seen us play. But lack of a proper striker makes it so inefficient in terms of actually threatening the goal. And the defence is noy good enough to be left so hugely exposed. Were playing with quite a lot of arrogance really which isnt substantiated by the facts.

Yeah and you can see no one bothers playing a short ball into him in front of the defence as its as good as giving the ball away. Honestly if we had a 33 year old Danny Graham in the team and wed be solid for the playoffs.

If anyone has one spare ticket please let me know. Didn't realise it would sell out! Obviously happy to pay full face value.

Probably Travis would be on the right of the three with Garrett holding. I think taking Szmodics also a big call... The reason we are getting overrun in midfield isn't really about the players imo, its more the tactics. We are prioritizing putting a lot of players in the channels. Travis spends as much time on the right wing as in the middle. Same with Szmodics on the left. The idea being to combine and overwhelm the opposing full back. It's worked well up until the last two games but as always I think the opposition have figured it out. We're leaving big gaps in the middle with Morton left on his own so the opposition will now just play straight balls through where the space is. We need to adjust something (dropping Morton for one thing as he seems so vulnerable to losing the ball in dangerous positions) but I am not sure taking Szmodics out playing another CM is the right thing. Maybe dropping Gallagher, moving BBD centrally and playing Szmodics on the left could work.

Yeah. Morton and Travis both had shockers. Couldnt find good forward passes and lost the ball cheaply time after time. Really disappointing as Trav has been so good recently. Almost verged on the amateurish. Wharton literally didnt put a foot wrong in his 20 mins. Id be really surprised if he does not start on Monday. Seems nailed on to me. Part of me wonders if Garrett could come in and give Travis a rest too. But that's probably unlikely.

Interesting interview. Im a bit surprised that neither the interviewers or JDT mentioned that the game before and after the substitutes was completely different. Jon said "we created as many chances as Norwich". But what he didnt say is 80% of those chances were between the 75th and 95th minute.

Yeah, if we'd won yesterday I would be more worried about Monday, but since we lost I actually feel like our chances in Huddersfield have increased. Bizarre but that's the way we have been this season.