I'd say that's a strange move unless we've got another striker coming in.

I didn't notice any szmodics injury other than the dead leg he got on his hamstring early on. Hopefully it's just the kick he got.

Overall it was a largely enjoyable cup tie where we dominated and creates plenty of chances. Ultimately it should've been more than a 3 goal margin but our deficiencies were on show again. 2 really poor goals, one from a set piece and the other started with poor defending from a throw in. We also missed a lot of chances. Some other random thoughts: We were playing well before he came on but the team improved drastically when tronstad came on. I really like him. Whoever on the transfer thread said that they didn't rate him because he doesn't get goals and assists simply doesn't understand football in my eyes, he reads danger really well. Adam Wharton is a joy to watch. I appreciate that he tries those killer balls even though they don't always come off. Moran I thought was poor 1st half and a bit better second half. He recycles the ball well but other than that doesn't offer enough for me. I don't see it with Telalovic at all. There's a reason we don't know if he can finish, he doesn't get in the right positions and at his age it's hard to say that can be taught into him. Leonard on the other hand, misses chances but gets them because he's got it between the ears. He works harder than ennis and his link up play is decent. I think he's the best option of the 3 available (not that it says much). Hyam as I've said somewhere else in this thread doesn't look right to me. Szmodics has proven to be a bargain. Where would we be without his goals.

He doesn't look right to me at all. It looks to me like he's not putting weight through his ankle properly or is some kind of discomfort. He's not moving right. I wonder if he's been rushed back if she should've had that ankle surgery.

Trying to work out these moves by Broughton as on the face of it ain't looking great, he's had the following forced upon him: Hill recalled against rovers wishes - screws with the squad balance, frees up some wage money Buckley loan cancelled against rovers wishes - he's injured, screws with wage budget We lack some quality, experience and depth. We can't afford proper quality even on loan, we can't afford the wages of proper experience so perhaps he's thinking what he can do is bulk out the squad slightly with cheap loans. Add the young crewe cb who fits the model. Travis making a fuss wanting more games in his natural role so they use his wage to free up some incomings with perhaps a small loan fee going towards the cb. Maybe we wouldn't be able to replace hill properly unless we could get one out. Or what I think most likely is happening is he's been handed a big bag of nothing, he's a relatively inexperienced director of football who wants to do something so he's player trading for the sake of it and is potentially making a bad situation worse. As always time will tell but I'm not optimistic.

Has been injured through it all only been back a week or two I think.

Where is there any evidence to suggest Travis is being left out for financial reasons? To me he's not played much because tronstad and Wharton are both better suited to this system and Travis at full back is a last resort. We were wide open with Travis and Wharton in cm earlier in the season. I don't see anything nefarious there.

Iverson from Leicester is available this transfer window. If they believe the funding issues / Raya money will be sorted in the summer a loan to buy deal would work well, fixing us both short and long term. It was never the plan to be in the market for another keeper this window but things have changed and they have to correct the mistake. Get one in and loan/sell either which ever one gets some interest.

Szmodics - 100% absolutely, even at 28. He's the top scorer in the league for f sake. We could get more than couple of mil we payed for him, undoubtedly. i Get your point though.

If you wanted any game to break a bad run it would be this one, with their poor away record. Changes are going to have to be made but I'm not entirely convinced about who go's out and who comes in. With JRC, hyam and Wharton unavailable the back 4 picks itself. I'd like to have dropped brittain who isn't playing well and I've come to believe he unbalances the team (compared too hill). I don't think Travis at right back would make the team stronger. In midfield, szmodics fitness permitting if a guarantee. As probably is Sigurdson on the left after 2 assists vs Hull. I believe tronstad and Wharton as a pair are pretty good. Whether they've got the freshest of legs after this period of football I'm not too sure. Personally I'd get find a way to get Travis or garrett in there to give us a bit of energy and perhaps help stop counters especially down the right hand side in the gap left by brittain. This pulls szmodics out of his 10 role but until we can get a couple of bodies back I'd look to shift him into the front 3 on the right hand side where he finished the Hull game. None of the other attacking mids / wingers are showing anything atm. Striker wise I just think JDT has to pick the striker he thinks can get the most out of in the long term. Telalovic did okay vs Hull but so did ennis off the bench. I'd go ennis. In summary I'd have something like this: Leaky Leo Brittain. Carter. Hill. Pickering Trav. Tronstad. Wharton Szmodics. Ennis. Sigurdsson Subs: Hilton, Gamble, Duru, Garrett, moran, Markanday, Leonard, telalovic, +another academy lad who won't realistically get on the pitch.

Unlikely to stay 11 v 11 this is the referee is handing out yellow cards for every foul (that he actually gives!).

I only managed to get the game on in the 32nd minute so everything is going great as far as i can see....

The lad looks a good young player at a relatively low fee. However cb is the one position we are well stocked in terms of depth and quality. So as it currently stands he'd be coming in as 5th cb. Makes me assume one of the others will be leaving, so either Hill is being recalled or Carter is being sold for say around £5million. If he's replacing nobody then it looks a bad use of funds. If he is replacing hill then I believe the money would be better spent elsewhere and is a bad use of funds. If its to replace Carter in the squad then it makes some sense as it will only be a fraction of the fee we would likely receive for him. Maybe this will make a bit more sense in a weeks time.

Kaminski wanted to go and made it clear he wanted to go. They dug their heels in for more money and got some of it. Selling kaminski to a prem team isn't the issue here for me.

I'd say of the 3 people who have to take blame for the current situation JDT is still at the bottom of the list. We are on a bad run and he's not done much to address it. But the hand venkys have given him is exceptionally poor and ultimately some of the players he's been given by broughton aren't up to the standard. There's no quality in that front 3 at all, there's no quality on the bench to mix it up at that end of the pitch either. Too many kids and those finding their way who aren't there yet. A squad with holes and no depth. No striker with a nose for a goal. A keeper who makes regular mistakes. A severe lack of athleticism in the side, no pace, no power and no strength. I'd say JDT deserves stick but I look at that today and you have to hold your hands up and say a different lineup would be just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, ultimately it wouldn't make too much difference. Where we go from here I don't know. We need bodies in, and that'll have to be injuries returning because there doesn't appear to be a pot to piss in. Pears, Hedges, Dolan, JRC and Gally make us a marginally better side so I hope that's enough to arrest the worrying slide.

Anyone think it's possible that Hill might be recalled by Bournemouth in January?

Has markanday ever played for us as a no.10? I don't think you can say it's his best position if he never plays there.

What are we saying would be a good crowd tomorrow? 17,500? Or is that over ambitious. Its hard to gauge

I think what has not been mentioned is how much the game has changed in the last 4 or 5 years. And I'm not talking about Pep. I'm talking about the rule change which allows your own teams players into the penalty area on a goal kick. Its massively changed the game second only in my lifetime to the introduction of the pass back rule. Teams are much more incentivised to pass out from the back because of this and the stats back it up. The trend is much more to do with this specific rule change and not as much to do with trendy following pep as people are making out. Clear advantage for the team that can do it properly hence why the best teams do it. Whether weaker teams should be passing out like they do I'm not sure and think may revert back over the next few years as the goals given away will outweigh the benefits. Tbf even now you see a lot of more direct sides sometimes take advantage by looking for the short pass in the area on goal kicks and then going long after one pass. Essentially football and the evolution of the game and tactics is all about space... where is it and how can we exploit it. Goalkeepers becoming better on the ball is a natural evolution of the two rule changes mentioned. I'd be interested to see if the average size of a keeper comes down ever so slightly over the next few years. A poster above wondered how Friedel would cope in the modern game and im unsure what level he would end up as even he said in an interview relatively recently he'd struggle with it. The higher starting point, being encouraged to come further off your line in general play and the ball/passing skills to play out. Friedel for example was never a very strong kicker like Paul Robinson was but he was very consistent and his bad kicks or his kicks off his left foot were always aimed towards the touchline to minimise damage. I'd agree keepers appear weaker on crosses. For me this is likely to be them facing more technical teams / less physical styles coming through academies, simply they are less exposed. Perhaps the modern balls which deviate so much more through the air are a contributing factor to more parrying on shots and this has rolled over to crosses also? I'd also like to know also if the types of shots keepers are facing has changed much in the last 10-20 years because in my head I'm not sure it has.

Who is that?

Interesting talking to North end fans who were very confused with the result. They said they should've been a 3 or 4 nil up at half time and let they back into the game which they then ran away with. Good job we're very clinical then isn't it

9I can't really think of many positives from that, a day where nothing went right for us. Truth be told we never laid a glove on southampton with 11 men. We allowed them good possession and field position without an effective out ball and countering threat. We were never going to out play them at their place but I still felt the game plan didn't really help. I suppose that is on JDT who I remain a big fan of. Some really tired performances, mentally and physically. All that exacerbated by a moment of pure petulance from Brittain who has let himself and his team down with that stupidity. He got booked on Tuesday for doing pretty much the same thing so I do wonder if there's something going on with him personally or if he's just bloody thick. If I was JDT I'd ask him to find his own way home. We've got some winnable games coming up and hopefully a few players to come back so I'm clinging to that right now.

I don't understand how that isn't a yellow card and say the brittain one in the 1st half is. Makes no sense. Zero consistency

Pleased for Leo tonight. Had possibly his best game in a rovers shirt. He got a bit of love from the blackburn end at the end which should help build his confidence. His timing is good as Pears is getting close to a return, I'd stick with Leo. Thought Tronstad was brilliant for 70 mins. But like others he tired. Adam Wharton is pure class and we missed when he came off as we struggled to keeper hold of the ball. Other notes: Brittain better at right back Siggurdsons ability to find the net means a longer run in the side is probably due. Ennis showed some promising sides but needed to show for the ball more. Moran was dreadful and did well to stay on the pitch as long as he did.

Your half right in my view. Wharton is better taking the ball on the halfnturn than morton can. Difference is morton could do it better than the other midfielders and was better defensively than Wharton. He was also physically more developed than Wharton was last season. It was still a mistake to play Wharton more at the start of 2023 when he came back from his injury.