When did that happen? Don't believe in coincidences at Ewood these days. That said if it was recent Caddis was preferred to Nayambe so maybe TM has had a downer on him since the beginning.

And yet we don't sign defenders. This is why I find the whole set up at Ewood crooked rather than barren - if we can give him a contract but not a centre half - not even a freebie from the free agents list - then you know something is up.

No fan of Coyle - he was useless - but saying we are in a better shape then when TM arrived is I think ignoring the wider picture. TM has spent around £12-15 million on players, Coyle sold that much on players and got to invest in fees of a paltry £250,000. Granted there would have been a few signing on fees, but likewise for TM's lot of Downing, Whittingham etc. So £15 million plus and we're in a better state- I'd jolly well hope so given that type of investment. Also we're now fighting relegation as oppose to being relegated which is hardly a ringing endorsement of coming on leaps and bounds. TM is hardly all that whatsoever. Just to clarify, this does not mean I was a big fan of Coyle, and thought him an utterly terrible appointment, that only could have been worsened by the odious one K##n. That said, he had a raw deal financially compared to TM, so it's hard to stomach hearing TM has brought us on leaps and bounds.

Interesting. I think Hughes and Souness's third seasons were both successes, although the latter nosedived in the fourth. Overall though, I agree with the principle. I think our current situation is much worse than the standard 3 season cycle as we nosedived for half a year last season too. Also said school of thought doesn't fill me with much confidence because: 1) There has been a change in style (although cannot comment on training etc. although imagine the change of style might necessitate this) and yet despite changing styles we are actually worse. 2) Changing the players - isn't massively happening. Our back line is much the same, we're still reliant on Dack and Graham, even Gallagher a newish signing isn't that new (or that good, but I digress...) So the change isn't massively happening. That said, the changes that are made sees TM at best have a 50:50 success rate - and that is being kind Even should the change come to the players you worry about the quality we would get.

Not sure if it were for money imo it was to force a move through - but they were 100% deliberate and very blatant too.

Any excuse not to play Nayambe, What he's done to inspire such low regard from the manager is beyond me.

Much as I think Mercer's predictions are often about as reliable as guessing the winning national lottery numbers on this occasion I think he has a point. This has to be a win as they are absymal and anything else would be beyond appalling. Given that Barnsley need the win and can't afford to sit back (what better opportunity will they get for 3 points?) then it should be an open game against weak opposition that is ideal for Rovers. I get that we screw up lots and TM isn't great. However he is barely competent not incompetent and and that should be enough on the day. In the grand scheme of a relegation battle beyond this weekend Rovers need to stall/kill any new manager bounce before it can gain any momentum. A win could do more damage to Barnsley than just this game. So not only should we be beating subpar opposition, we really need to as well.

Well this is a real relegation 6 pointer, no doubts about it. Despite losses at home to the other promoted teams I see this being a Rovers win. And heaven help us if it is anything else! Barnsley's form is dire, and given we aren't that good ourselves Barnsley won't sit back as they need the 3 points even more than we do, and this is their best chance to get it. Add in that Barnsley's squad is poor, whilst ours has flashes of brilliance in it and it really points to a home win. The Graham Dack combo still works, especially against weaker lower league teams of which Barnsley kind of fall into that category. Whether we start with this or not will be pivotal to how comfortable the win is, but i'm pretty sure at some point TM will turn to this. IF we don't win - and there is absolutely no excuses why we shouldn't- then TM slips from being a limited/ok manager to a pretty awful one as there is no way we should be losing this whatsoever. However TM is just about mediocre, and whilst our squad is about as unbalanced as it can get (that's a reoccurring nightmare under the Vs) it still has more than enough quality to see off Barnsley, with our without the manager's guidance.

Sums up my thoughts (albeit a bit kind on Walton imo). Imo I think he could still offer a lot either in the centre or wide left. Yes, there's a lack of pace but if a team was busy with Holtby and Dack as the other part of the 3, I feel the better passing and "making space" would compensate for a lack of pace. Similarly if he were pinging it in to Graham rather than Gallagher we also may see more from him. Finally being played as an inverted winger at least in 2 or 3 games is only going to make it harder for Downing and won't have helped at all. A terrible idea from TM to do that, meaning we had no width on either wing. Perhaps underwhelming is as good as we can hope for in the transfer window under TM and for TM Downing's lack of being abysmal makes him a comparative raging success. I do wonder however whether with a better manager if Downing would be a very astute piece of business.

I agree on the fitness thing. Take for example Dack and Evans, who are poles apart on the ability spectrum but neither are great physically. Dack often can look done in for with 15-20 mins to go, whilst Evans is off injured more often than not. Yet both play regularly (justifiably in Dack's case) and aren't nursed at all. Similarly Lenihen seems to be another in that bracket who isn't cautiously managed, despite being very injury prone. Others, less favoured players, seem to just have to sneeze in the wrong place or get a dead leg, and they're out for a month. It is very odd.

Why? Just why? This seems a dangerous obsession. Why weaken players by taking them out of their best position? Thinking on it,, I wonder if there is an element of I need to find a centre mid who is decent as I've dropped another clanger with Johnson. A bit like with covering up the Gally situation by shifting him wide right.

Put him in a back 3 for added protection or move him into defensive midfield with Travis - either way we'd still get his set piece benefits and goals. Yes he was finished in a 4-4-2 but we need his goals and continue to create hardly any chances or shots whatsoever.

"A bit disappointed about their goal, I gave the ball away, but other than that, I was pretty pleased." From Mr Williams himself. "Other than giving a goal away" - outside of Ewood that is considered a failure and a bad performance. And it sums up our defending in general and why at best he and the rest of the defence peak at mediocre. incidentally the article complaining of injuries to Bell and Hart - they're both substandard anyway and no big loss.

Problem is WWE barring the NXT brand has zero slow build. Also once they got him to face Seth Rollins for the title at hell in a cell there was no winner. Either he wins the title, the character is killed before he starts or they do a screwy finish. They (WWE) figured the last option was best, realised it was alienating fans beyond the usual levels (it was spectacularly bad booking) and backtracked at crown jewel. In the process they made Seth and his finisher look weak and competing for a title shot unnecessary, so good job WWE... A Wrestlemania win after a dominant Royal Rumble victory would have been so much better. Much prefer NXT which to me is the best of all WWE attempts as it has quality wrestling, solid storylines over a decent time frame and good character development. Whilst I've initially struggled with as breaks in matches I am enjoying seeing more of the best brand. That said I worry for Survivor Series as 1) will NXT quality be diluted / poisoned by Raw and Smallckdown booking and storylines and 2) even if not then I think a lot of tripple threat marches will get wearing.

Exceptional post. I notice that other North West clubs haven't read the memo of natural level. Burnley and Preston, loath as I am to say it, both punching well above any "natural level" that may be bestowed on them.

I think you are correct that we will get drubbed in most of those games. Right now with how the team is playing you don't fancy us against many teams. I also think we aren't as bad as TM makes us and are capable of pulling off the odd win when we shouldn't and expect one of these to be sandwiched somewhere in this run of fixtures. This along with perhaps a draw in there too will be more than enough to keep TM as safe as houses and no questions to be asked. All that said whether I prove to be correct or you do, 1 point or 4 points is utterly appalling return from these games and shows we are in trouble. A win at Barnsley is a must to help us keep some.distance from the bottom 3.

Great post and sums up why TM is not a man of integrity. Blaming Nayambe (far from the most culpable of our team) for all our failings, lying about how the Leeds game went, being happy with the non-target of competing - where is the integrity of any of that. On a separate note I think the theories that we can't spend money on defenders must be true given a) the amount we have spent on this under Vs and b) the contrast between TMs comments and actions.

I can. In fact (stupid and suicidal as it is) it's one of their more rational decisions in the grand scheme of their decision making...

Thing is a good manager would turn that medicore into good, something better than the sum of its parts. I dunno maybe Mulgrew and Travis as the 2 defensive miss in a 4-2-3-1 to protect Mulgrew from his lack of pace and still give us his set piece benefits. Perhaps a trio of Rothwell, Dack and Holtby means we can have a non scoring lump up front to play off as the 3 behind rack up a set of goals. Perhaps a good manager brings in a canny centre half and all our young defenders fulfil their potential. Maybe he gets a wing back system making Bell and Bennett look halfway decent. Tbh I'm not sure what it looks like but a competent manager would find a way of getting the team better than the sum of its parts.

A good group and a placid group are not the same thing whatsoev the regardless of what TM thinks.

How are we getting such bad luck with injuries? Cunningham granted but even then losing one key player is probably par for the course. Outside of that there's not really been any major injuries and certainly not to our key players. Perhaps Lenihen but 3 seasons of long term injuries may suggest it's not a surprise. And when have we been unlucky? Take yesterday for example. They had 4 times the number of shots we did, and double the possession. Overly simplistic admittedly but that suggests we were well beaten. And that isn't a first. How are we unlucky when we have so few shots each game? Not at you Gaviar just pointing out how daft these views are...

In fairness to Smallwood he was a means to an end - promotion - that he did well. Agree he should have gone in the summer though. Or Evans who I really don't rate. If Johnson is a busted flush then TM is really floundering in the transfer market. Not sure how many of this season's signings have improved us. Downing? Cunningham briefly and unfortunate he got an injury. The City lad blows hot and cold. That's a horrendous success record when only 1 definitely improves the team and a couple kind of do. This suggests January won't be any kind of salvation for us as even of we do bring in players, most of them are duds.

Constructive comments. On what grounds are you "more than happy." That phrase implies you are very pleased with how TM is doing and he is exceeding expectations. What's your justification for such a glowing recommendation?

Agree that 3 teams isn't that many as we would like by a long stretch. However I would say it looks very clear that those 3 teams are worse than us by a significant margin which is a plus. What happens next season without that (appreciate you are saying it's not enough this season) if any of the promoted teams are decent is very worrying. Hopefully TM will be gone by then but who knows with this lot in charge. My thoughts are there are clearly 3 teams worse than us right now who look no closer to getting it together than we do. Not masses of solace but it's much better than every club looking a more competent outfit than us. Should have said also Millwall winning means they're on a mini revival at the moment with 2 wins in the last 3. So yeah can see why you would be worried. Am not Uber confident myself but in a weakend of another crap performance I am encouraged by how very weak 3 other teams are looking.

Spot on. Money isn't the only indicator of interest and ambition. Having no proper corporate/executive structure, allowing managers to constantly underachieve and put in woeful performances, presiding over 2 relegations all suggest they don't give a stuff. Don't think other than last season they have been great with the money either.