Groundhog

Was thinking on the way home last night, trying to keep my brain warm: If/when Gallagher is back - does he walk straight into the team? Where would you play him if so?

The great thing about Leonard is that he moves around a lot, seems to have a natural instinct to make clever runs, run the channels, get the other side of his man etc - he does remind me of Rhodes as another poster pointed out. If he can build on that with strength and more nous in front of a goal then all the better. Rovers are desperate for someone to aim at, an "out ball", and once he gets up to speed with the daily grind of the Championship he'll be a real asset.

I keep thinking about this. Everyone wants a striker. We have no money to spend, our hands are tied. Most clubs sell their good players and reinvest, we let millions of pounds worth of talent leave on contracts written before GB arrived. He inherited a total mess. There's every chance GB is frustrated and could end up leaving himself. Hirst, if he scored that penalty against Cardiff, and got one in off his arse in any other game, might have been a different story. He's not scored many for Ipswich but the fans seem to like him, they're playing well and he gets assists. I think Ennis was a relatively free hit, and I'm positive he thought we'd buy someone else further into the window. His appearance record and his injuries are worrying, but there is a player in there if our treatment room can do something, anything with him. Telalovic is/was a gamble, a desperate move with no money available. He has the physique, has scored in the reserves, you never know...

Exactly. It's sad to think really, he'll probably go and we'll never know what could have been... We're playing like this with a threadbare team, and scoring goals finally, all without a recognised striker.

We must be the only team who look more likely to lose the more goals we score. At 3-0 I thought "this has 3-3 written all over it". When we take the foot off the gas, we really do. I don't really know what's happening, just seem to look leggy, we stop keeping hold of the ball, our midfield disappears and it starts to snowball, the opposition smell blood and keep pushing for more. After our 2nd, we started playing simple easy football, keeping the ball, simple passes - after our third we start going all gung ho again, one too many lay offs, balls into danger - we don't seem to sense danger at times, even if the entirety of Ewood does. One moment where Moran laid it off first time straight to them in the middle of the park, when he could of put his foot on it and bear down toward goal, sticks in my mind. BUT I admire us for going for it, the same style, who cares as long as we win, I enjoy watching us play, it's brilliant at times and it gets the crowd going - one particular move of one touching passing in the 2nd half deserved a goal. I thought Tronstadt was my MOTM, yes I agree he gave the ball away a few times and was sloppy in the first half, and along with Wharton seemed to be completely cut out of the game during Brum's resurgence, but he was always making himself available, always moving and getting the right side of the ball, never stopped doing the basics all night. I enjoyed that little midfielder's union celebration with Adam toward the end of the game too, "job done". Other than SS's goals and James Hill's enthusiasm at the end, Wharton's outside of the boot pass to Brittain in the second half, like a snooker ball screwing off a cushion, was worth the price of admission alone. COYB

A "dud DOF"? Without him we wouldn't have JDT. Crazy comment.

Gave up watching that, mainly down to the horrible little cappuccino stain on his upper lip 😂

I really like what I've seen of Hill so far, seems a good positive presence off the pitch too, great attitude. He was getting really stuck in yesterday, bit of leadership too, great to see. "never fall in love with a loan" oops too late

Yes, immensely, makes me teeth itch

Just gives the ball away all the time. Before the subs were made it felt like the game for him to come on, and I was willing him to perform, first few touches looked good. Needs to regain that spark he had when he first broke in. He checks back too much, tries too many cute layoffs.

Anyone close to the bench see Travis's reaction to being subbed? From the riverside I just saw a shirt being flung to the floor...

Garrett was soft as shit when he came on last night, one late tackle and the rest powder puff, beaten too easily. I really enjoyed the game up until those subs killed it. It was fantastic entertainment for a neutral, but I feel sick this morning. We were watching two of the youngest sides in the division, Sunderland just as "inexperienced" and young as us in relative terms, yet somehow they managed to dig deep and weather that early storm and assert themselves on the game, something we can't seem to do. I don't think it's down to Mowbray, they just seemed to have a "no fear" mentality.

He was unlucky with that shot, he has some nous about him that others like Dolan seem to lack currently. He's pretty lightweight though, quite easy to knock off the ball if the opposition have any physicality. Sat on the Riverside last night and it was noticeable that he stayed fairly central and didn't pull out wide to offer something for us. I thought when Leonard went off we suddenly lost a lot of running down the channels and movement in general.

When we got it back to 1-1 we were still looking to go forward with the same pace and for some reason we just lost our heads, seemed to stem from a couple of loose passes from Travis and Wharton, and the game turned. We went from totally in control, frightening at times, to completely under the cosh. A real Jekyll and Hyde performance in that first spell. It needed someone to just put their foot on the ball, take the sting out of the game, regroup and build again. It was horrible to watch. It's the hope that kills you - that first 25 was some of the best football I've seen in recent years, the pace in which we attacked was fantastic, lots of incisive balls inside the full backs. JDT must have told us to just go out and blow them away, our best chance of building a lead - but when we don't take our chances, as many have said already, we have no plan B. We're always looking to play those killer three passes up the pitch even when we're struggling and need to keep it tight. Seriously what happened in that first half? We totally lost it around 35mins, it was insane.

Yeah it's awful when a handball decision doesn't go your way isn't it, how quickly they forget - especially when a point from a converted penalty could have seen us in the playoffs. Let's hope they finish 2 points short. Saw a comment today "I wish we could just win the championship every year and not go up" 😂 (though I can imagine if we ever went up, I'd be thinking the same after a few games!) Still think they'll be too much for most teams, especially if you stand off them and let them play, that young winger Koleosho looks a handfull.

See Spuds have just signed a defender for £43m: https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12914269/micky-van-de-ven-tottenham-complete-43m-deal-to-sign-wolfsburg-defender Obvious now why they needed to get Ash for a bargain, don't want to break the bank eh? Football is insane.

This must be between Hyam, Carter and Pears surely... I'm only joking though - I agree I get why we're doing it, hearing the boos is frustrating and just ramps up the pressure for me. if people could put aside their knee jerk reactions and stop heckling and just see what we're they're trying to do it might help, but it is understandable when you're desperate to see us move up the pitch and the opposition are just bearing down on us. I think people get frustrated as you can see that the lads doing it maybe aren't 100% sure of it and their own ability. Allardyce's tactic to make sure a team is always in the opponent's third as much as possible helps bring the average up for the amount of chances created, we almost do the opposite... Hyam does like a square pass maybe a tad more than others, but it's mainly down to having nothing in front of him to pick it up. Now that A. Wharton is back in, we have someone finally to pick it up from the defence. It's my one query about JDT, is he playing this system regardless of player, wanting to imprint this style on the club as a whole? The other approach is for a manager to come in and review what players he has and create a system that works with what he's got, not the other way round. I think that's where our inconsistencies lie and hence it being a transition season. It's funny how football has evolved, one manager starts to develop it (the German clubs, City etc) and it filters down through the leagues, albeit with a lower standard of player to carry it off (Russell Martin's Swansea for example), we're starting to see teams counter acting it through hard work and nouse, see Luton. Watching this, there's similarities between us and Brighton in the way JDT has us setup, and also how many times have we seen this done to us this season:

Mowbray has only "succeeded" this season due to teams around him falling apart. It's been a shocking race for the top 6, more like "who wants 5th and 6th the least" rather than a race. They've shown a slight uptake in form compared to everyone else and they've snuck in, that's it. Hyam doesn't score an own goal against PNE and Sunderland are 2 points outside the playoffs, hard luck. I'm sorry I don't get the love in from the media, he's probably good with young players, always lets his teams go out and play but when the going gets tough I don't think he can handle it. Just like when were in the top 6 last season in January, I feel like we were there in spite of the manager, not down to his tactical genius, he had no clue how to fix it when results started to wobble. With Sunderland, it's a fair achievement considering their injuries, but it's the same situation - those players have dragged themselves up there due to some sort of siege mentality not because Mowbray is a genius - they've got some talented loans too.

I remember, and I agree. I'll add him to the list, with Rothwell, Lenihan, Armstrong etc using our club as a "lowly" stepping stone to better things, fed up of watching players play with their heads elsewhere. I want players like Szmodics who want to drag the club up the league and further their career at the club, rather than away from it.

Exactly, I never look into it. The desire for "content" from so many press outlets means that managers and players just need easy sentences to fall back on and not over commit. Way of the world.

I hope he does. I've really enjoyed his time here.

This is what keeps me awake at night. I genuinely think achieving promotion and the money it generates is a problem for their accountants. Then again I don't think I fully understand the club's situation. Can anyone explain it in nutshell? Are Venky's funding the debt, or just letting the black hole get deeper and deeper... How much do they inject to keep the club running per year? Keeping the club ticking over by funding the debt, and operational losses in line with FFP is one thing they are doing "right" I suppose, but it feels like Stockholm Syndrome, is that the bear minimum they are doing? I must admit I need to read up on FFP. I suppose when we've been moping along under Waggott, Mowbray etc, letting a general malaise drift over the club, losing millions in the transfers of star players to frees, totally neglecting the season ticket offer and matchday situation, then it really is a mess from top to bottom. We are so far behind other clubs.

I just think he needs space to play, he can't bundle the ball past players who get tight on him and stand him up - he popped up with two goals when the game started to stretch. He keeps trying to score the same goal each time, but I suppose that's down to him coming in from the left. He must be so easy to play against. I really do wish him well and I don't think he's actively been playing within himself, maybe there is a psychological aspect to it with not wanting to get injured, I don't know, it's hard for us as fans to not assume you can give 110% in every challenge, every moment. He still tracks back and works hard, he's in a rut and other teams have worked him out. Against a solid, pressing team who work hard, he has little choice but to spend the game in his own half with his back to goal. He's not a target man, he offers little out ball unless it's play over the top diagonally. Anyway, onwards and upwards, let's find a new striker to get behind. Like I said before, he's paid Mowbray back handsomely, just not us...

We got back into that as Millwall totally fell apart, and JRC moving into midfield and the addition of Dolan finally got the opposition turned around facing their own goal. One of the better JDT substitutions this season. It was like watching us at times in certain second halves these season, Rovers are one of those teams that look more vulnerable 2-0 up than we do at 0-0 - and Millwall felt similar. They allowed us space in behind, which is perfect for the way we play, and the more they tired the more it opened up. Some of their lads were dead on their feet. As soon as you put pressure on us and surpass our effort, we don't have a chance. See Luton 2nd half, B*rnley away, Rotherham etc. Give us space and it's a different story.

I wish he'd won that header at the front post for the Coventry equaliser, instead of turning his back on it. I'm fed up of watching opposition forwards bust a gut to fly through the air and out jump and muscle their opponents.