He's quality at our level, but not sure he'll make it in the prem though. Against physical forwards he has struggled when isolated, and the forwards are a lot quicker and stronger in the prem. Personally would say Lenihan more likely to make the step up But we will see!

If he can sort his decision making and final ball out he's going to have an amazing career.

Great result, fully deserved win. Played some excellent stuff. Hopefully kicks off a run for us now. All that said the only player who looked like scoring was Khadra so thank God he did. We need some scoring form. What's annoying is when you are struggling to score set pieces are so important but our corners were all completely terrible. Anyway superb performance, let's kick on.

Near perfect half from Rovers. Ive thought Johnson was finished for a while but he's been brilliant. Dolan superb. Khadra great except his finishing. It's been a really strong performance just without any goals....

Kaminski, Lenihan (c), van Hecke, Wharton, Nyambe, Travis, Rothwell, Buckley, Pickering, Khadra, Gallagher Harsh on Dolan.... Great to see Pickering back though.

Anyone know what the team was going to be?

Yes was at the Preston game. First half the ball was literally holding up up in puddles of surface water. Totally ruined the football. But was totally fine by second half.

Not for me, Giles in a front three seems a waste. Hes got a terrific delivery but beyond that not much more as far as I can tell. If he plays its LWB (but if Pickering is fit I'd rather have him).

I am sure if we played a two up front he would be in the box way way more than he is now. It's not just that he's way out on the right side, it's also that he's expected to track all the way back down the right side, so he really is pulled a long way away from goal.

Yes - if we go up we will in all likelihood get absolutely battered. Only players we have imo who are likely to be able to step up to acceptable Prem standard are Kaminski, Wharton, Lenihan. We've got a bunch who might make it - Travis, Buckley, Rothwell, Brereton, Dack - but I am not that confident about any them. So we'd probably go up, get absolutely minced, come back down, but at least have some money to spend and a couple more years of experience in our young players. That said some teams have gone up and looked totally insufficient on paper and stayed up the first season up (eg. Huddersfield), and some clubs have gone up and had a great squad and got sent straight back down (Fulham recently spring to mind). So it's not a foregone conclusion. But it will be a very difficult season I am sure.

I agree that we do need more than one formation. Though it's a bit weird to say that we haven't got any alternatives.- this season we've played 433, 4231 and 343. Tony has chosen to stick with the 343 because he thinks it's best for us to get results. Defensively it's hard to disagree due to the superb way the back three has performed. Since October only Hull and Forest have given us any real defensive issues which is a phenomenal record. When we played a four before October our defence was not that great. Offensively on the other hand is a different story. The thing that does my nut in is we don't seem to change away from a front 3 even when it's obviously not working. To go to a front 2 and put an extra player in midfield might have helped against Hull and Forest but we stuck with the same setup. Just so dispiriting to see Gallagher up and down the right all the time trying to cross the ball....

Always find Millwall away funny - all the "hooligans" are in their 50s and 60s and struggling with their weight.... doesn't stop them "waiting for the away fans" in a not at all menacing, slightly sad sort of way.

True.... but Hedges does look the very definition of a "wide forward" which is where Tony will play him. Based on recent subs the wide forward areas pecking order is roughly : Brereton, Gallagher, Khadra, Dolan, Hedges. Dolan might leapfrog Khadra and even Gallagher based on some decent subs appearances. Does seem a tall ask for Hedges to get his way up that list unless we have injuries/suspensions. That said we've got three games in 8 days so I'm sure Hedges will get a few minutes as a sub somewhere. Just needs to do something with it.

Dack has't played yet as he is building fitness. And it's pretty obvious he will go straight in at false nine when ready. Buckley they will have to fight it out with Travis and Rothwell for a central mid role. Dack coming in should add goals really. The false nine is perfect for him.

I'm going to the game! One thought.... Nyambe on the right side of the three CB worked really well. He can do in a more budget way what Walker does for England - drive right up the pitch in partnership with the RWB. Creates quite a powerful combination and Nyambe has the recovery pace to get back into position if we lose the ball. Obviously Lenihan is one of our best players, played RCB very well, and our captain, so I wouldn't advocate dropping him, but good to know we have another option. Maybe something we could introduce in a game if we want to change things and create overloads down the right. Team for me..... I really would look at playing Buckley deeper and playing more of a traditional top two. I think ultimately it suits Buckley and Gallagher better. Also Giles has been really disappointing, I would say looks nowhere near as effective as Pickering. So needs dropping. I'd go : Kaminski Lenihan Van Hecke Wharton Travis Nyambe Buckley Rothwell Pickering Gallagher Brereton I think Mowbray will go : Kaminski Lenihan Van Hecke Wharton Nyambe Travis Rothwell GIles Gallagher Buckley Brereton

For me I don't really see why we don't use England's 3142 setup from World Cup 2018.... Play with a holding midfielder, drop Buckley deeper but have both him and Rothwell driving forward. And also it gets Gally and Brereton closer together. Solves the twin problem of the strikers being too wide and needing some passing quality deeper. Anyway never will happen. Despite all the various formations we have used the one constant has been wide strikers. Doubt that's going to change now. Kaminski Lenihan. Van Hecke. Wharton Travis Nyambe. Buckley. Rothwell. Pickering Gallagher. Brereton

Bournemouth literally just had a run of 2 points from 12 in Nov/Dec while second....

Would be harsh on Rothwell though. He was very good defensively today, and quiet but decent offensively I thought.

Khadras got some excellent raw ingredients - pace, trickery, can strike a ball well. I doubt we'd get him, but as a "fixer-upper" like Rothwell or Brereton, I think there's a lot of potential. All he really needs to do is learn to make the simple pass at the right time. But I agree his decision making is so poor at the moment we can't rely much on him over the next three months. Goals and assists will be more surprises than expectation.

Thought we were very good in the second half both offensively and defensively. Though as per the last half dozen games couldn't finish any of our opportunities. The first half was absolutely abysmal and best forgotten. Not a terrible point but you do wonder how we are going to make the playoffs if we can't score.

Rothwells put a real shift in defensively and Breretons started to play a bit more like Diaz.

Something needs to change. Both our wing backs have been really really poor, and this system is all about the wing backs. JRC is having an absolute shocker, and Giles for someone with such a reputation continues to be massively disappointing. I'd get Pickering on at half time, and maybe consider Khadra on for JRC.

For me JRC looks a lot fitter today.

I look at Bruce and I genuinely worry about his health. Looks really really unfit. They've set up tactically perfect for us. Just need to finish the opportunities when they come.

We look a lot more dangerous against 4 at the back. Steve Bruce not done his homework.