Oh, and we seriously missed Rothwell. Because JR on an average day was better than what our midfield has shown over the last 3 games.

That was awful. However, it’s also probably the game where it has dawned on me that Adam Wharton could be the real deal.

What An Ass that signing is.

When did having to have left footer or “left-sided” central defender become an issue. I don’t remember many of our great defences having left-footed centre halves.

Depends if you like the original. If you liked the original you'll like the new one. If not you won't. Mainly because it's practically the same plot line. Maverick does something stupid. Instead of a bollocking he gets sent to top gun. Students unknowingly embarass instructor in a bar. Instructor walks into class next day much to their shock. Students don't get on during flight training. They bond a little bit in a topless homo-erotic sports scene. Someone close to Maverick dies. Mav may not carry on, but he does. Proper mission comes along at the end. The selected pilots for the mission aren't what peple expect. Mission is unpromising at one stage but eventually becomes good. Pilots, who previously dont get on, get out of plane on deck of aircraft carrier and embrace.

I'd much prefer two quality, permenant centre back permenantly. And no I wouldnt be happy with a loanee replacing Lenihan. I'd clearly rather have a player of sufficient quality who is ours. But that's not the point I've been making. If we are to bring in a loanee, and we can't make JPVH a permenant, then I'd be happy with bringing him back as a loan signing.

There.

Agree on all of that. But if on transfer deadline day we’ve brought nobody in, would you say we don’t want Van Hecke on loan, it’s either permanent or nothing?

Agreed. Badly worded. I’m not saying I don’t want him. But I’d rather JPVH as I doubt VDB would have made the impact and be as successful as Van Hecke was here last year. Van Hecke is proven at Ewood as being exceptional. But my general point is, you can’t say you want Van Den Berg on loan but under no circumstances do you want JPVH on loan unless it’s a permanent. That’s crazy.

So if we can’t get Van Den Berg, you still wouldn’t want JPVH on loan ?

Then why would you want an unproven , younger centre half to come in on loan. But not a player who has already shown he was our best centre half last year by being player of the year. Who is 100% proven in this division We would all much rather we signed him permanently, but if that really isn’t possible then why wouldn’t you loan him, especially as you are clearly open to loaning a centre half ?

So we don’t want anybody on loan at centre half then?

We've tried Dack up top on his own and it just doesnt work. He's marked out of it too easy as he cant lose his man. His goal last night, and the majority of his other goals, are him finding space when running into the box. Timing his arrival perfectly. The way to play Dack would be to have Gally up front and dack running off behind him. Basically turn SG into DG. That can leave Brereton in his wide role to join in as he see's fit. I'd be going more like this. But who you'd put on the left I don't know. Edun? Dolan? Sammie? Buckley? None appear ideal for that role . Maybe Edun to cover Pickering behind him Kaminski Britain Phillips Ayala Pickering Travis Morton Brereton Dack ????? Gallagher

Kevin Ball probably saying "he got the ball".

Two centre halves haven’t been at fault - again. The rest have been shocking. Hate how we have 2 strikers who can supposedly head the ball, and yet we get throw ins 10 yards from their goal-line and work it back to Kaminsky. Brittain hasn’t played well at Reading or in the first half here, but looked decent in his first game. However I have to say Sammie is lucky to be starting. Outside of the well taken goal against Swansea I’ve seen little other than energy. I don’t understand how we seem to want to pass,pass, pass and play football everywhere on the pitch, but the most technical player we have to play that game is on the bench.

With what’s available I don’t mind that line up IF Brittain and Eden are allowed to and can get forward.

He was very safety-first against Reading. Not that I mind. Rather that than do what Gally did for the 3rd goal.

Well that was bad. Im all for making the pitch as big as possible, but not when you haven’t got the ball. They need to get closer to each other, with and without the ball

No way he lets his contract run down for a big move and then chooses to go to Nice if there are genuine Spanish or Premier League options. All this could do is set the ball rolling on other bids.

I emailed the club and asked why the oldest stand in the ground, with facilities straight from the 80s had had an over 20% price increase. This removed the cheapest tickets available, making the minimum price for a season ticket £430 in one of the most deprived areas in the country. Unsurprisingly, I received no reply. I know the bottom level season ticket prices were one of your criticisms of the club over the summer. However in you summary of your meeting with SW you didn’t mention this at all. Did you raise this criticism and what was his response?

Not the point I was making, but agreed.

Think big.

He was playing right in front of me in the JW upper and I didn’t think he was that bad. It was everyone else giving the ball away cheaply that was stressing me.

I’ve not come off Ewood enjoying a 3 points as much as that for a long time. They didn’t even play well, but boy was there plenty of labore. Having said that, the two goals were quality.

West Brom have played well both games. They battered Watford for long spells. This is the first real test of the season for me. We will have a good handle on where we stand come 5pm.