Blue blood

Forgot about the Taker Cena "match". Now that was another terrible, terrible waste of an opponent for the Taker. Good build up, terrible match. That would have been an epic way to turn Cena, retiring Taker, or with those two as story tellers they could have told an epic match. Neither happened though. As for raw and smackdown on the network both are a month behind which doesn't really help momentum. A poor product doesn't help either.

Maybe it was a how do we boost survivor series thing? After all there is little build up and zero consequence to survivor series these days with brand Vs brand. The only thing going for it is you see some match ups you otherwise wouldn't like Lesnar Vs Bryan or Styles that people think are interesting. Last year they had NXT involved to add intrigue. This year had pretty much nothing going for it. Got to boost ratings somehow.

Yes that was a cool image and a good image to end on. But surely the match and story make a huge difference too. Thinking of Ric Falir and Shawn Michaels retirements at Wrestlemania - although neither actually lasted, as you also say when money is involved - they were both excellent ways to go out. Good matches, good stories, the works. They were, imo, what wrestiling is. A cool visual after a crap match and lame story is not enough for me. Also, and I get Taker is slowing down, a good story and a hyped crowd can elevate a match. Thinking of Hogan-Andre at WM3 as the prime example. The match seemed wow, due to the storyline and crowd, and both wrestlers playing their parts well, even if the match itself wasn't great from a technical standpoint. No reason with with right opponent that this couldn't have been done even with Taker slowing down.

Not sure the Roman match was a big enough storyline to finish on. That being, there was very little storyline. More a crap, we need to make Roman look as good as Brock idea. The feud was badly built up, if at all, with no emotional investment whatsoever. And the match itself was far from a classic. So not sure it was a great way to go out. That said not sure Survivor Series was right either...

Delighted with the result and super delighted for Dolan. Great to prove his previous club wrong in such a manner. And no one can be unhappy with a very comprehensive win. However a note of caution I'm not too sure we learned much new. We knew we can hammer the bad teams - and by all accounts Preston were dreadful (how are they above us?) We've known we need someone pulling the strings and a couple of runners in the three. And we have seen this season that Bereton is a flat track bully. And that is not a knock - it's 1000% better than what he was and what I ever envisaged he would be for us. All in all I'm not too sure how much changes from last night albeit it is good to get a good result (especially Vs Preston) and be reminded of the positives in our situation. A couple of other thoughts. 1) TM going on about how great we will be when we get over Covid and injuries isn't living in the real world. Given Covid and the high volume of games neither Rovers or anyone else will get their whole squad at their disposal at any point. Also when you have 2 or 3 professional crocks its a tad optimistic to say the least! 2) The youngster whose development is perhaps most important to Rovers is Warton. Given how thin we are at the back and our reluctance to spend money there, a dependable solid option provided by him is huge. Really pleasing to see him developing.

It's an odd set of comments no doubt. Glad he cleared the 2 teams bit up - that's a relief to know. As for the rest you might not be sure but you can have a jolly good guess. I mean they're not going to all turn round and bare their arses or all leg it into the stands. Most teams have a style and patterns of play and strengths and weaknesses. The man comes off as utterly clueless.

The fact that Preston are above us again given our resources really annoys me. It's a damning example of how poor we are under TM. 3 years, 12 million and a better wage budget - not to mention no pressure - and we still can't overtake them? Poor do all round. They're above us in the league so reckon a draw is on the cards. Although whenever pressure mounts on TM (and I use the term pressure in the loosest sense of the word) he pulls out a result. So who knows maybe it's time for the 1 win in 4.

Sounds like you are disagreeing with what I wrote but I actually was saying he should get the boot...

The question I ask myself is do we look any more likely now 3 years on to get promoted then when we first came up. And whilst on paper yes, on the pitch it's a clear no. And if for no other reason than that he needs to go.

Is that possible? And yes Evans should have been gone a long time ago.

Bournemouth are the one that surprise me. A rookie manager doesn't often do that well, although I guess Fulham's squad compensated for Parker's weaknesses. But given I don't think Bournmouth's squad was as strong I am surprised they are doing so well. Norwich and Watford less of a surprise imo.

Whilst I think this is an accurate assessment as a strategy it will only end in tears. What's the phrase about standing still is actually going backwards? Goodness we are a mess of a club.

Ince got MK Dons promoted. Coyle got Burnley promoted. All managers, if they don't sink after a stint at a single club generally have one success on their CV. It's what gives them a bit of longevity. As it is 1 prior promotion doesn't prove much. And whilst I think he is better than the ones I've mentioned, I don't think TM is far superior or a huge upgrade.

We've played 7 decent teams in the league and not beaten a single one. Time for TM ro jog on. I have no faith in the owners choosing a better manager given their attachments to an agency, but even so I think that TM has really run his course. He's run out of ideas, is getting a squad to underperform and still has a shed load of the same mistakes being made. This is a manager on a down and we need to get rid before he takes us with him.

Agreed. And going beyond one game when the likes of Millwall, Luton, Barnsley and Preston are all above us, you really have to question what the manager is doing with his resources. ,

If you are referring to us only signing managers from one agency I agree you have a point in that it's difficult to replace him. If you are suggesting that there aren't better managers a club of our calibre could appoint, then I would suggest you are highly mistaken. In the time TM has been floundering, Rowett, Houghton and Warnock have all got jobs with clubs no bigger than ours. (Maybe Forest, but surely historically only.) I'm not sure who is currently out of work, but even that is a fallacy connected with Rovers - there's a school of thought you can try and get managers who are in other roles. TM isn't the pinnacle of managers by any means. And if people think he is, they should be calling for Vebkys to clear off for making that the case.

And how we are slowly progressing. Was talking today with my Dad about Hughes time at Rovers. 1 season to keep us up, one to make us a prospect and a top half team, a third to get us challenging for Europe. In contrast our progress under TM is glacial.

I appreciate it doesn't help having a crap ref, but let's be honest, we're not very good are we? I mean, ok on paper we look like a good side, but we haven't beaten a single decent team. We've hammered the dross, and that's highly laudable, but to not have beaten a single one of the 7 or 8 decent teams we've played is pretty poor and worrying. We're going nowhere fast. Season will be over by January.

Strong team, well other than the defence which as ever looks threadbare. Should be more than capable of getting the win. And if we don't it's another blow to our promotion ambitions. We can't afford to fall further behind. But I expect a good result today.

Rooney says he wants the Derby job. If he gets it I am pretty certain it would relegate them.

Agree on Cairney. Raya I think with another season could have doubled in price. Certainly wouldn't have depreciated. Also talking about an extra 2 or 3 million, even if solely that, makes a huge difference to Rovers finances, so it's not much of an only in our context.

Not sure this would be a debate if either a) the other defenders were always fit or b) we had adequate cover. As it is neither is the case. Given the 8000 midfielders we have you do wonder why we play it so risky in terms of numbers and questionable fitness in the defence. For example - regardless of ability - Evans isn't massively missed because you have Holtby, Rothwell, Travis, Trybull, Johnson and Downing who can all play there. Bennett too I guess. Whereas defence is much thinner on the ground. Groundhog Day at Rovers though with a cobbled together defence.

Yes especially when we had one in the books who was known to be injury prone. In fact neither of the other two are particularly injury free. Surely that's for the manager to sort out rather than Dom! But knowing that we already had injury tendencies in that area made signing an injury prone player even more risky. That's not rocket science. The more I think on it, missing out on Bauer has cost us. Tosin was better but on higher wages which perhaps could have been used elsewhere and was only a one season benefit. Bauer would have given us a dependable long term option who was often available, which I'm not sure Ayala is. This year I am not as sure, although if we had Bauer it wouldn't be a question we are asking. Missing out on Kipre was a blow, but surely our European scouting network could have found someone of equal ability with a tad more fitness.

All squads can afford to carry an injury prone risk or two. The benefits can outweigh the costs in these situations. What a squad cannot carry is more than a couple of injury prone players. I would suggest we are carrying far too many, which on top of Covid and long term unfortunate injuries is a real killer

Their best is shoddy and poor. Their worst is abusive and criminal. Goodness knows how people can like them or what frame of reference they are using to come to that conclusion. I treat another human like that, say a family member, and they would view things in a very different light. Also have we forgotten - Hughes, Souness even ignoring (though we shouldn't) the years Jack was here and in charge the standards were still high. How can we have forgotten that?