Great match so far, Dolan looking bright.

It’s really not. I’m not his biggest fan but I take exception to unwarranted vitriol and boring, repetitive posts about how awful he is. No world beater but far from the worst striker we’ve had in the last ten years, never mind the whole Venkys era. I agree that he’s by no means a top 6 striker and we paid over the odds for him but we could be worse off. Imagine we had Hirst, Vale and no Gallagher.

So now the goalposts have shifted again?How many games are we talking then? Is a season enough? Actually scrap that, not worth engaging with this nonsense 😆

Being forthright and indulging in hyperbole doesn’t make your opinion more valid. Marcus Antonsson Leon Best Nuno Gomes Joe Nuttall Daniel Butterworth David Goodwillie George Hirst Edinho Junior Jordan Slew DJ Campbell Anthony Stokes There’s 11 ⬆️ it wasn’t difficult, and in fact of them has only recently left. Gallagher isn’t a great player but he’s a decent championship striker. The problem is he’s not suitable for a side aiming to be in the top 6. That’s not his fault and it doesn’t make him the “WORST” striker we’ve ever had.

100%. Only the names have changed.

He 100% wrote his own Wikipedia entry. Who else would have the patience to document his moves between the Latvian FA and Taiwan 😂 I see a Rovers fan has now added their own edit to his page 🙈

Pele was sadly before my time and not much footage exists of him in his pomp but his achievements and legacy are without question. One of the greatest to be sure. There’s a saying in Northern Ireland - Maradona good, Pele great, George Best! I’d have Messi as the best I’ve seen, and would argue for him to be one of the five best ever (in no particular order): Maradona Pele Best Messi Cruyff

Yep, to have a recognised striker capable of a double figure goal tally would make a big difference.

Good there from hedges and Brereton but final ball lacking. Hedges has improved a lot this season. Need BBD to get his shooting boots back on. Remember when he was overflowing with confidence? Made such a difference.

Canada were very impressive. Daylight robbery, I was rooting for you tonight!

Fantastic that you agree with equal rights for gay people. I have a gay brother and I’m sure he’d be delighted to hear that there is so much support for “bumming” 🙄 Your penultimate paragraph is spot on though and there is no way that the WC should have gone to a country with such extreme views on cultural and moral customs that most of the west share. However, the WC is in a country that do not share our values. Morality is subjective and we have no right to tell anyone in another country how to live their lives or try to force our values on them, no matter how repulsive their values seem to us (the point being that they consider our stance on sexuality, freedom of religion, and personal liberty to be repulsive and we would be up in arms if Saudi or Qatari players tried to highlight the supposed moral degeneracy in a typical western democracy). That’s part of living in a country with liberal, progressive values. If we feel so strongly about it then don’t send a team, don’t watch the matches and don’t broadcast the footage. But equally, don’t go to those countries and expect them to bow down to our self-declared moral supremacy. Ignorance is a nebulous word that can mean many things to many people. Some might say that a person who categorises an entire country and cultural group as “warped by misogyny and homophobia”, or categorises those who disagree with them as “useful idiots” is ignorant. Keep politics out of football I say, and the best way to change the world is to lead by example. Not to denigrate, cast aspersions, and demonise those who are different to us. I won’t visit countries like Qatar, Russia, or North Korea, simply because I know that my brother would be in fear of his life if he tried to live his normal day to day existence there and would not be welcome. It doesn’t mean that I think any less of the people or the culture that produced them. It’s not very long since a hero of this country was punished with chemical castration for the “crime” of being gay. That doesn’t invalidate our culture. In the 1950s the UK was full of wonderful people, many of our parents generation who might have produced many fantastic contributions to world culture. Would it have done any good to demonise those people? In time I would imagine that morality will change in the Middle East, and in 100 years perhaps the UK will be considered a backward part of the world, or our great grandchildren will look back on us with disgust. We’re all products of the society we live in but not always responsible for the policies or crimes of the ruling classes.

I seem to be in a minority of one but Garrett didn’t stand out as our worst player for me. I’m disappointed in how little involvement hedges and brittain have had, I think hedges touched the ball once in that first half. BBD showing some flashes, Gallagher apart from the early chance has been mostly anonymous. We definitely came into the game more towards the end, I think because Burnley committed to a more direct passage of play which gave us good chances on the counter. Overall not too disappointed, we’re playing a better team at their place. Could easily improve things by slowing the game down and getting it wide to stretch Burnley. Our passing has been very poor, I think because we’re trying to pass through the middle and it’s just not working against the Burnley press. Would Hedges and Brittain perform better on their natural sides? Could Dack bring some unpredictability and magic to the midfield battle in place of Travis or Garrett? A yellow at this stage is a ticking time bomb for Travis, agree with those disappointed in him for picking one up. Hyam has been very good when called upon - physical and aggressive, and positionslly aware. Kaminski is basically the reason we are not at least one down, two incredible reaction saves. Burnley definitely have the advantage but I don’t think we’ve been awful. Our play has been lacking in a creative sense but we’ve been solid. I think we’ll see a bit more from Rovers in the second half and I’d settle for a draw right now.

Bit harsh on Toney imo but somebody always misses out. If he was at Arsenal he’d have made the squad for sure.

Didn’t catch the game today but I’m chuffed that Dack played well/worked hard. Would be amazing to get him back in the first team or as a serious option from the bench.

Must be the stress he’s under this season.

Dack’s absence from the first XI is one of the biggest debating points around our club at the minute and, as always, the biggest debates leak in to different threads. Chaddy is entitled to respond and represent his views on this. Why don’t you leave instructions on board etiquette to the moderators and do the message board a lot of good yourself.

It’s a good question, and a good article that raises a lot of discussion points. I had doubts about JDT regarding his relative lack of experience at this level, and whether changing manager would make a difference with our dysfunctional owners at the helm. The table doesn’t lie though and even though we’re inconsistent we’ve had some great results (Watford especially when we made them look very bad indeed). New signings have worked out beautifully, the youth team graduates have been impressive, and some players have really kicked on - Hedges especially has been like a new signing, but Pickering also, and Dolan has been a bit more productive as well. Some players have gone backwards - Travis and Buckley no longer seem to be the bright future of our club and most would prefer Morton and Wharton over them now but they are young and still developing. It’s a concern that JDT doesn’t seem to value Dack but we don’t know what is going on behind the scenes - JDT spends all week with him and has a far better understanding of what he’s capable of and how well he fits the system. After two years out did anyone really expect Dack to come back to his best? The inconsistency may settle down as JDT gets to know this league, the opposition, and our strengths and weaknesses, and young players mature and develop their game. I genuinely didn’t expect much from this season. We’re implementing a new management system, the squad was heavily depleted with 3 first teamers leaving for free, and every year we’re out of the top table we lose ground on our competitors. So far we’ve exceeded my expectations although the inconsistency makes it seem like we’re doing worse (if that makes sense?). I think that our squad and resources dictate that we’re an average championship level club at this stage, so for me we are a decent side and doing better than could be expected. I don’t think we’re good enough for the prem, and if we were up there now we would be humiliated. Every season we tell ourselves “this league is bang average”, yet every season 3 teams are better than us and get promoted. That’s the nature of the championship, and we are stuck in the middle of an average league with nothing to say that we have the right to outperform other teams or consider ourselves above the competition. We are a club with potential - great facilities, genuinely great youth prospects, and a proud history and passionate fan base. We’ve got imo the best player in the league in BBD and early signs are that something could be building with our young players and a coach who has shown potential and will learn in the job as we progress. I don’t think we’ll be sat in 2nd come the end of the season though so if that is the metric used to judge whether we’re good or not the answer from me is no. If we judge our team on potential, professionalism, passion, then yes I think we’re in a good place. And that’s not bad considering that we’d have failed on those measures for a long time from Venkys taking over until TM came in.

It’s not a fact and, as others have pointed out, it’s a statement devoid of sense and has nothing relevant to say. Might as well say “So what you are saying is in all the games we have lost, there is no way the result could have been different if we had elected to JDT playing up front from the bench. Because we know for 100% certainty that by not putting him on earlier resulted in defeat.“ So the above statement is true, but it is also worthless and without meaning. Many things didn’t happen but they can’t all be responsible for us losing the match. Defeat was not the result of the decision not to bring on Dack, although if he’d scored the winner then he could have been one of the reasons for victory. If you think about this slowly you should perceive the logic.

Bit of a long shot but can anybody recommend a pub in Liverpool that might be showing the match?

Don’t know how justified this one is but what about David Bentley? Never see him mentioned among the great players that have been with us but Bentley was a class act for us for a while. I remember the hat trick against Utd, a few England caps, a protracted transfer saga, and a big money move to spurs that didn’t really work out for him. Then he came back on loan I think and was fairly shite. Think he retired early on as he lost the love for the game. Probably one of our record transfers I’d imagine.

We own this city was top notch 👍👍

What’s your opinion on it so far Mike? I was expecting to hate it but I’ve been surprised at how excellent it has been. Darker and with less humour than thrones, and the narrower focus on one dynasty is a welcome change. my favourite parts of thrones were the tight plotting and the scheming and machinations of the central cast. So far that’s been the focus of HoTD and I’ve loved it. Also started the lord of the rings prequel but got bored after the first two episodes. Visually stunning but it suffers in comparison to thrones - it’s a bit twee and po-faced, and everyone takes themselves very seriously.

Watched it last night. Definitely up there for me as well, amazing film 👍

His value to us is far more than £10m given that we had only a few days to replace him, we wouldn’t see any of that money reinvested in the squad, he’s far and away our best player and one of the stars of the championship, and our owners are billionaires that are willing to underwrite the club’s debts to the tune of £100m+ No way should we let a content and dedicated player go for a risible amount just because that’s the only offer on the table. I’m glad the Venkys stuck to their guns on this one.