Nerves are already cranking up for Sunday Are capable of producing two good displays in a row?

Yes there's been a lot made of poor Leeds not getting the penalties they deserved and how our time-wasting sorry superior gamesmanship got in their way of them physically being able to put the ball in the net. I thought Bamford threw himself forward when he realised he'd been outmuscled by Fadz for one of them, bit pathetic if you ask me. Edit: just watched that Bamford attempt to handle the ball in, that's an absolute joke, totally missed it at the time (busy jumping around celebrating). People complaining about our "dark arts" - that's another level. On timewasting, it's strange how no one mentions the fact that, in the first half especially, the amount of rolling over on the floor by their lads was beyond a joke, must have wasted 2 minutes alone - any contact was being milked to death. There was also even a moment in the 2nd half where we won a free kick and the Leeds player who was penalised just ran off with the ball and threw it away. 🤷‍♂️ Also watch any fan clips from the game in the home ends and you can see Leeds fans have an odd sense of how long a second lasts - can barely get to "Mississ-" before the next number comes along 🤣 I've been sick to death of teams doing it to us, and watching Rovers teams of recent years plain refusing to take part in any dark arts as the clock ticks down, hence why we're one of the worst sides for conceding and scoring late goals. I actually thought Ipswich at Ewood were the one of the worst teams to do it in recent memory, no one will mention that due to their status as media darlings.

We almost don't deserve to stay up after a performance like that - they (and I use the term "they" intentionally) are so lucky that other results went our way last night, let off the hook big time, but only for last night. I agree with other posters that arguing over managers and tactics is pointless when the one common denominator over the years is the dumbing down of every aspect of the club from off-field to on. Attitude bleeds down from the top (see Man U for a high profile example), and the resulting failure of the Bowyer side to gain promotion, our relegation to League One, the constant post-January bottle-job act, and now this current shit-show: they all bear the same mark, the same common thread. I'm in envy of clubs like Luton, Stockport etc where every employee is pulling in the same direction.

I've always defended JE as I thought one of his sides would rarely have a performance like that in them - but that was up there with the likes of Reading, Sheff Utd, away under JDT. I just think this squad is weak as sh*t whoever is at the helm, and we know where the blame for that lies.

Looking back on JDT I'm totally torn 50/50. He gave the club some much needed ambition (that ultimately was his downfall), made Rovers into media darlings with the Cup runs, he gave good "interview", his charisma lifted the club above its station for a short while. I think everyone felt a buzz during his tenure, a rare thing, something you can't just buy in. I notice how Rovers content online doesn't seem to be so forthcoming after games as it did under JDT, I definitely felt a desire to constantly scroll for news and comment about us in between matches, not just for dirt on the owners this time but actual football talk. Rovers have never been so much in my waking thoughts for the right reasons as they were in his short spell, not since the days of Hughes etc. You just felt part of something finally, and a relief to not have to just think about our illustrious owners for a short while. Football is all about hope, and he gave us bags of it. But I don't think anyone can call JDT a fantastic coach, sorry. I've never seen a Rovers team crumble under pressure so easily using such suicidal tactics. Does anyone think him and his team studied the opposition? That feeling going a goal down knowing you weren't coming back into the game, no thanks. His ambition and charisma went someway to papering over the cracks. The first 20mins against Sunderland this season was some of the best football I've seen us play in decades, yet it was unsustainable and that for me, is bad management. You can't play how you want with the squad you have, and it shows a lack of care in the role, possibly arrogance, to let the shit behind the scenes get in the way of results, no matter how bad it was for him, you can't just "phone it in" at this level and down tools, the players will always follow suit, the perfect storm. He seemed to be able to get away with the Turf Moor disaster, PNE at home, Rotherham, Sheff Utd away - I doubt any other manager will get that much of a free pass. I know some fans who took those games and performances very very badly, fans who only see what is on the pitch and don't care about his media image and what was said after games. If you want a good exercise on a quiet night in and you've got nowt better to do, do what Roverschat did a few months ago and go through all of JDT's games and note down which ones were "good", there's not as many as you think. I think JE has been hard done to by certain comments, maybe the "selected by Waggott" tag hasn't helped - he's inherited a total rag-tag bunch of players full of different approaches, the squad lacks so much depth and experience - I think it explains the lack of new manager bounce - turning this ship around is a tough ask. His approach is pragmatic, how it should be done given the circumstances, a "normal" approach. I just want to see us compete, be hard to beat, and they're showing glimpses of playing better football than under JDT in my opinion, or using what they learnt under him and mixing it up. JDT’s last 11 games: GF: 11 GA: 27 Points: 6 JE’s last 11 games: GF: 14 GA: 11 Points: 12 That's enough for me. Millwall and Plymouth were frustrating, but it's a transition.

Lovely dummied "assist" for England's third for the 21s. Typical Adam. From about 8 mins in:

Unfortunately, we are the dross of the championship - it feels like every other team has the ability to pick up points except us.

The Fleck signing was totally desperate, a massive gamble, I consider myself a positive fan at the best of times but even I can't sugar coat that one. As soon as you read he'd broke his leg twice you knew what was coming. I feel for the lad and I'd obviously love a fully fit Fleck in the team. Only way it made sense if he was a regular unused sub and just in and around the dressing room to give out some experience to the younger lads, but now that's not even on the cards. Doubt his experience could do anything about players not tracking back though...

Whatever we think of Burnley now, they'll still probably beat us home and away next season, IF we stay up. Such is the state of our predicament. I had a weird Rovers related dream again last night, I was presented with two choices: a1) relegation, Venky's sell up but we stay in League One for years suffering administration and job losses or b) stay up, Venky's remain as owners, we get beaten by Burnley every year they yo-yo back to the Championship, and we just drift along in this turgid limbo state for eternity. Sigh. Have a lovely day everyone.

I totally get why Eustace played Moran on Saturday, I would have done the same, he looked good on Tuesday night. But, Newcastle didn't harry and press like Swansea, he had time in that game. To be fair to JE he hooked him at half time, I doubt he'll start again. If this is another Morton situation, supposedly, that he has to be played, then that's another poor indictment of the state we're in - add it to the list.

Please, please get them to bin the Chilli Poopers! Horrible band. We should also have I Am The Resurrection in it's entirety too, and players and officials should be made to wait on the pitch to kick off for the full duration of the guitar solo 😂 Great work on the playlist @Miller11 - are you responsible for the trad version of No Nay Never too? Nice touch that.

Ewood looked great last night, even better when I got back to see the TV highlights, there's something about the BBE and the Darwen End glowing at night that looks "proper". Why the club can't be more creative/competitive with it's pricing, I don't know it really frustrates fans.

The Birmingham performance is really confusing, I can't get that out of my head. How it's the same team is beyond me. It's fine margins though, Telalovic puts that header away and it's a well grafted point. All I can think is that Newcastle weren't that much of a physical threat, and they allowed Moran and Dolan time and space.

I keep flitting between thinking it'll be another season like our relegation to League 1, where the usual 50 points wasn't enough, and a season where it'll be a very low points total. Surely Sheff Wed, Hudds, QPR can't keep their recent resurgence in form up, there has to be a downturn in results for those teams soon, law of averages would suggest. Likewise with us, we must be due a mini run of our own to see us climb out of the mess. There's 12-13 games to go, I can see all the teams getting 3-4 wins each, gonna be tight as a gnat's clasp purse. Edit: looking at the fixtures, there's a sequence of weekends where most of the teams at the bottom all play each other. It's bonkers.

I had to watch some of the game again on iPlayer over me cornflakes this morning, mainly to see if some of those referee decisions were actually real... Ones that stood out: Ayari winning the ball with a good strong tackle, free kick to Newcastle Garrett, great tackle on the line near the dugout, wins the ball cleanly, free kick to Newcastle Markanday gets bundled over from behind on the edge of their box, no free kick Dolan has his shirt grabbed by both hands and held away from the ball in the centre circle as we're on the attack, no free kick He books Moran immediately early on for a soft professional foul, next actual challenge by a Mag, nowhere near the ball, given nothing. Special mention to Longstaff and Burn, thought they'd be players up for a scrap but lots of moaning and lying down, bit pathetic really. Longstaff got a really clean tackle and went down like a sack of shit, having a right whinge at the ref and directed some abuse toward the Riverside - get up man! Another special mention to Danny Murphy for critiquing Sammie for not lifting the ball over their keeper, bloke has put in more effort than you ever did in your entire Rovers career, can barely run and you're telling him he should finish better.