DavidMailsTightPerm

They managed the referee perfectly - not certain about the game

At this moment in time - more pi**ed with the abysmal referee than I am TM. Preston must be the biggest cheats I have seen at Rovers for years. Deliberate obstruction, feigning injury, time wasting - they had everything.

Everyone knows you are only coming to watch the ex-Premiership Champions.

A bit worrying looking at the table - that 11 point gap looks small considering our results over the last month or so.

Hate the guy is harsh to the extreme. Up to end of January most would have been happy with his tenure. Even if he goes - he will be a success in my eyes as he has given us back something that resembles a football club.

Perform like this in the next two matches and the crowd will start to turn against TM. It is amazing that an ex-centre-half can't set a team up to defend

It might sound obvious - but it all comes down to taking chances. It is a bit chicken and egg - because we don't make the most of our chances it puts additional pressure on our defence. You could argue vice versa - but in lots of matches we seem to miss chances at key times prior to conceding . Against Hull they had a good chance to take the lead - they missed it and we went to win comfortably. Against Reading we should have scored at least one prior to them scoring - again a different match. Brentford - we had chance to make it 3-0 and missed it - again would have been a different match. Even yesterday - we had more than one chance to make it 1-1 while Boro continued to miss chances at our goal. This division is extremely tight - I don't think there is much to choose between most teams.

I think the second half showed he can still motivate the players - just wonder he can't do that at the start of a match.

What nobody knows is who TM enquired about during the transfer window. Given our wage constraints - perhaps he thought he couldn't afford to bring in better than what we have. After today's performance many would say it wouldn't be difficult to improve on what we have - but IMO part of that performance was down to the system played - and individual mistakes from our captain. I will be interested over the next few games to see if anymore youngsters are given an opportunity - for me if he wasn't able to bring in better than what we have would much prefer to see them given a chance.

I actually disagree about Reed - think right midfield is his best position - in the centre he chases the ball too much and gets caught out of position.

What has happened to Williams - not so long ago he was our player of the season. Not that there was much to beat that season - however he was consistent making very few errors. These days he is so error prone I fear every time he is on the pitch.

To be fair to TM - the game has moved on, with tackling largely banned. Defensive master classes are few and far between these days - even from the top teams.

And prior to that we won 4 league games in a row. Just as then I didn't suddenly think TM was a managerial genius - I don't suddenly think after three defeats that we need to get rid of TM (like some are saying).

There has been times when TMs tactics have been spot on - even Weds night the high pressing up the pitch we employed should have brought goals. Ì can't say I agree with all his selections - but I am not party to injuries, fitness performance metrics, training etc that TM sees. Imagine DG played the full match on Weds and picked up a muscle injury - fans would then be asking why he played. TBH football managers are on a hiding to nothing - as fans always know better AFTER a bad result - but are generally quiet when a manager gets in right.

Not doubting you - but how is the 12m split ? 7 for BB, AA 1.75, Rothwell 0.5, Davenport ? Ultimately how TM is going to be viewed will rest to a large extent on BB - sounds like had a half decent match last night - but needs to add goals to justify that large fee.

Having money in any division is no guarantee off success - look at Mourinho at United. I think people forget what a mess the club was in when TM took over. Many predicted we get relegated again. So please don't under estimate how well he did to get us to second. Even this season to hopefully keep us up is further progress.

Football genius ?

Can't understand why Rothwell doesn't get more of a look in. He must be lazy in training - as his cameos (barring the odd one or two) have generally been good.

Yeh - eight wins in a row for City - a team in such bad form we should play off the park - shocking.

Bennett to centre mid

Was Conway not brought on for Dack ?

I do wonder whether TMs comments were more about getting a good deal for Chapman. Initially he was going to be sent out on loan to build up fitness - now he isnt fit enough to go out on loan - whats the money he will be on the bench in 2 or 3 matches ? Chapman (if can stay fit) could have more of an impact on the remainder of our season than most players we could have bought. In league 1 he was the perfect impact sub (something we have missed) - if he can repeat that at Championship level we will be laughing.

Obviously whether this is a good signing will depend on his fitness. I fear that he will always be prone to hamstring injuries. However - what a player to have on the bench. His cameos last season were outstanding - if he can repeat we will have a star on our hands.

I think today showed the best and worst of Travis. More than once he was caught in possession and on a different day could have given away a goal. However on the positive he gives an entirely different dimension to the team - with his tireless running off the ball and mostly tidy in possession. IF we make top 6 - his continued good form and fitness will be key.

Travis is in that team ?